Magazine Article About Living In Luxury In Thailand

[Taggart]

A Canadian financial magazine, Moneysense, has a recent article about vacationing and living in Thailand and Malaysia.

The article's title is "Calling all snowbirds" Thailand and Malaysia make luxury affordable.

Sorry there's no link to the article, but here are a few highlights, with a few comments of my own. I myself only visit Thailand for a few weeks, averaging once every two years or less, and been doing this with my wife since 1986. So being a vacationer, I'm not an authority on Thailand, but I thought the article had a few inaccuracies.

>>>The couple live on roughly $27000 CDN (921,129 baht) per year in Pattaya<<<

>>>In posh resort towns such as Thailand's Phuket and Krabi, where opulent waterfront hotels attract rock stars and fashion models, you can rent a two-bedroom, two bathroom condo apartment on the beach for as little as $1,500 CDN (51,174 baht) a month, full maid service included.<<<

>>>I recently spoke to a 60 year old U.S. expatriate who has lived in Bankrud, Thailand, for a decade. Jeff, as I'll call him, rents a handsome two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment beside a tourist resort, 150m from the beach, for about $180 CDN (6141 baht) a month. "If I get something like Alzheimer's,"he says, "I can hire a registered nurse to care for me full-time, for 11,000 to 12,000 baht per month [roughly $380 CDN.]."<<<

If Jeff is on his own and develops Alzheimer's I hope he can find a nurse that's 100% honest. How he's going to get the money out of the bank to pay her, is beyond me. I may be wrong, but I think if his mind goes, then the Thai officials may ship him back to the U.S.

>>>Wal-Marts don't exist and McDonald's is still a rarity, even in major cities.<<<

Did the writer not notice the number of Lotus and all the other big discount stores in most major towns dotted around Thailand? As for McDonald's I see plenty of them....just rarely eat there.

>>>You can rent a fully furnished bungalow in Pattaya with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, air conditioning and access to a communal pool for $650 CDN (22,175 baht) a month or you can go all out and lease a luxurious beachside house for $2000 CDN (68,232) a month.<<<

>>>Massages, facials, pedicures and manicures start at $6 to $12 an hour (205 to 409 baht) at Pattaya's numerous spas. Or you can give yourself a full afternoon's's pampering, including massage, herbal steam, body scrub, red clay body wrap, aromatherapy bath and a traditional Thai facial for $178 CDN (6,073 baht).<<<

Next the writer goes on to explain what it costs to buy a luxury apartment in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. It's his next statement that I thought was inaccurate (or misleading), since the last I heard a foreigner can buy a condo in Thailand.

>>>In contrast, Thailand welcomes foreign renters, but makes it impossible for foreigners not married to Thai citizens to actually own property.<<<

[Florin]

Thailand is great for the overall feel of the place, but I've gotta say, nothing beats Malaysia in terms of bang for buck...every time I went there I found it a very civilized experience without charging an arm and a leg like Sin/HK/Korea.

[wamberal]

Thailand is great for the overall feel of the place, but I've gotta say, nothing beats Malaysia in terms of bang for buck...every time I went there I found it a very civilized experience without charging an arm and a leg like Sin/HK/Korea.

Keep a very close eye on your credit cards when holidaying in Malaysia, card fraud is a big problem.

[Florin]

In what sense? I normally would never use a credit card in a foreign country to pay for lunch or for purchases at the supermarket and I doubt the major hotels would do such a thing.

[naka]

Having lived in both Thailand and Malaysia I would agree that you will

get a better rental property in K.L. than in Bangkok for the same price.

Naka

[think_too_mut]

What's posted from the article is half-truth, nothing to rely on.

Somehow, 2 bed, 2 bat apartment is 6K baht (way underpriced but not impossible) while hiring a nurse is 12k baht (regular price for Bangkok).

[wamberal]

In what sense? I normally would never use a credit card in a foreign country to pay for lunch or for purchases at the supermarket and I doubt the major hotels would do such a thing.

So you are guarding yourself against credit card fraud.

There have been a number of instances of identity capture from cards even here in Australia, and the perpetrators have invariably been Malaysian.

[skylar]

Pretty badly researched - but it just means that there won't be a glut of old northern hemisphere farts clogging up the beaches as it makes Thailand look fairly undesirable to a retiree Can you imagine living without a Wal-Mart?!