what to do in Thailand at 47?

[Cypress Hill]

Set a goal for him e.g. try and make it to age 48, without boredom, without going broke, without jumping off a building, without becoming a drunkard, without catching STD, without being ripped off by she who must be obeyed or anyone else for that matter? alt=whistling.gif>

Best trait to have here is the ability to be happy alone.

Too many who come here can't stand having only what's in their head for company so they're prime targets for flaky, one-straw-from-a-nervous-breakdown farangs forever asking for loans.

Either that or they end up buying/building houses for needy bar or internet-dating boilers with financial imperatives and leech-like extended family

[Craig krup]

This is all what's scaring the crap out of me. I could retire, but what the hell do you do all day. Last Summer in Isaan was a little trial run, and very quickly you discover it's a bloody long day. I've written a couple of kindle books - one sells reasonably okay - so I thought I could write some more. It turned out that the whole culture shock thing, the heat, the lack of compulsion....all of it meant that I did nothing. Now maybe that would have worn off, but still, even if I did write from 0800 to 1200 could I really fill every day? I can't write for much more time than that even when the going's good. If I went to the gym, went to the food court, grabbed an iced coffee and shlepped around the park, watched BBC News, did some reading, had dinner, had a massage in a tent in the park......could I really do that, or something like it, every day?

An awful lot of the guys hitting the Chang at 1100 around the "Top Man" area of Udon Thani, having just shifted a plate of grease for brekkie, really needed something else. I'm guessing Pattaya is exactly like that only raised by orders of magnitude. My pal did a Masters degree with Insead over the last couple of years, and that filled in the mornings. But then again, he only had a couple of hours after that before the kids arrived back from school, so that gave him plenty of structure.

[SoiBiker]

How about spending some of the time studying Thai and learning about the culture?

[slipperylobster]

Why Thailand ? Or why just Thailand? Have a 90 year old friend who just wonders from Indonesia to northeastern China. He he sees friends along the way. Thailand is for people who lack ambition.

That is kind of a blanket statement. I, for one, am pretty much traveled out...having 40 countries under my belt during my lifetime. There are those that would not mind settling down in one place...and visiting other places occasionally. Lacking ambition is not the proper term...for everyone. Living in Thailand actually has challenges.

I do agree that, if this is your first time in Asia, by all means, go ahead and travel freely. Some of us finally got a long stay visa, and like to time any departures when it comes time to renew.. In fact, I find very few expats that have not done their share of neighboring countries.

Edited March 31, 2015 by slipperylobster

[slipperylobster]

I see retirees who sit around drinking coffee at low budget fast food places for two or three hours back home in the USA, then going home to watch the news. For me, mornings are much more interesting here. Inexpensive gyms, bicycling around the reservoir, tending the garden, a bit of shopping, an afternoon swim, chatting up with the neighbors (mine are nice)....and some leisurely hours on the internet just catching up on mail, news, software, ideas, crafts. Also restarted playing around with the guitar and experimenting with different music software for accompaniment. People stop by just enough to have little conversations. We have property in Udon and Mae Hong Son to travel to..but rent in Chiang Mai. I think our day goes by too fast. We are always comfortable, and have several crafts and hobbies. I am in the process of using software for landscaping, pool and farmland. We may never utilize it...but it sure is fun, bouncing around ideas. Looking at knockdown houses, solar paneling, freshwater pond/swimming pool (use plants and home made filtration and pump the old water up to a higher level and build a minature waterfalls (filtering water in "steps").

If you plan your day around alcohol, then you already lost.

[MaeJoMTB]

This is all what's scaring the crap out of me. I could retire, but what the hell do you do all day. Last Summer in Isaan was a little trial run, and very quickly you discover it's a bloody long day. I've written a couple of kindle books - one sells reasonably okay - so I thought I could write some more. It turned out that the whole culture shock thing, the heat, the lack of compulsion....all of it meant that I did nothing. Now maybe that would have worn off, but still, even if I did write from 0800 to 1200 could I really fill every day? I can't write for much more time than that even when the going's good. If I went to the gym, went to the food court, grabbed an iced coffee and shlepped around the park, watched BBC News, did some reading, had dinner, had a massage in a tent in the park......could I really do that, or something like it, every day?

An awful lot of the guys hitting the Chang at 1100 around the "Top Man" area of Udon Thani, having just shifted a plate of grease for brekkie, really needed something else. I'm guessing Pattaya is exactly like that only raised by orders of magnitude. My pal did a Masters degree with Insead over the last couple of years, and that filled in the mornings. But then again, he only had a couple of hours after that before the kids arrived back from school, so that gave him plenty of structure.

Your mistake was Issan, plenty to do in ChiangMai, and plenty of people to do it with.

[Craig krup]

This is all what's scaring the crap out of me. I could retire, but what the hell do you do all day. Last Summer in Isaan was a little trial run, and very quickly you discover it's a bloody long day. I've written a couple of kindle books - one sells reasonably okay - so I thought I could write some more. It turned out that the whole culture shock thing, the heat, the lack of compulsion....all of it meant that I did nothing. Now maybe that would have worn off, but still, even if I did write from 0800 to 1200 could I really fill every day? I can't write for much more time than that even when the going's good. If I went to the gym, went to the food court, grabbed an iced coffee and shlepped around the park, watched BBC News, did some reading, had dinner, had a massage in a tent in the park......could I really do that, or something like it, every day?

An awful lot of the guys hitting the Chang at 1100 around the "Top Man" area of Udon Thani, having just shifted a plate of grease for brekkie, really needed something else. I'm guessing Pattaya is exactly like that only raised by orders of magnitude. My pal did a Masters degree with Insead over the last couple of years, and that filled in the mornings. But then again, he only had a couple of hours after that before the kids arrived back from school, so that gave him plenty of structure.

Your mistake was Issan, plenty to do in ChiangMai, and plenty of people to do it with.

I know exactly what you're saying. The girl at immigration - I'm not making this up - actually looked to the side and had an uncontrollable snigger with her hand over her mouth when I said I was heading up to Nong Khai. The railway cop at Hua Lamphong saw me rushing and said "Chiang Mai" - pointing - and I went "Nong Khai", and he said with a quizzical look, "Nong Khai?!!"

I really fancied Chiang Mai but I've had an awful lot of people tell me that it has become little Bangkok. Just too many people. The other thing that really put me off was the air quality - obviously it sits in a bowl, so the burning season is a particular problem, but there's a particulate problem at the best of times. I never used to worry about this but looking at the actuarial numbers you're talking about years off your life, and a painful and distressing last few years, if you inhale a lot of particulates. One of the blokes in the Pikul Apartments in Nong Khai actually had a big condo that he owned in Chiang Mai - Ron from Portland, are you out there? - and he was renting for a month in Nong Khai just to get a break from Chiang Mai in the summer. The thing that he said which I thought was really weird was that Chiang Mai didn't have anything as nice as Nong Thin park. Now the park is nice, but the parks in Udon Thani are bigger and nicer, so Chiang Mai must be a bit tight for green quietness.

But yeah - more farangs, more competition for things like gyms and cinemas....Chiang Mai has a lot of advantages.

On the subject of "what to do at 47", one of the really annoying things is the way your body starts to limit you. I quite fancy working out in a Muay Thai gym, but I did karate as a kid, and my left hip feels really odd - I think pivoting around it does it no good. So your options for amusing yourself start to diminish as you get older. In Udon you'd pretty much have to learn to play golf just to become part of the whole "Wing 23" golf club scene.

[JB300]

One thing I would suggest your friend does is to take a break between giving up work & emigrating anywhere, not only will this give him the time to sort all of his things out, but it will also give him time to get used to not having to spend 8+ hours a day at work & allow him to explore what he'd like to do with his time.

Even better would be to wind down working over 6 months by moving to part time...

Edited March 31, 2015 by JB300

[MaeJoMTB]

This is all what's scaring the crap out of me. I could retire, but what the hell do you do all day. Last Summer in Isaan was a little trial run, and very quickly you discover it's a bloody long day. I've written a couple of kindle books - one sells reasonably okay - so I thought I could write some more. It turned out that the whole culture shock thing, the heat, the lack of compulsion....all of it meant that I did nothing. Now maybe that would have worn off, but still, even if I did write from 0800 to 1200 could I really fill every day? I can't write for much more time than that even when the going's good. If I went to the gym, went to the food court, grabbed an iced coffee and shlepped around the park, watched BBC News, did some reading, had dinner, had a massage in a tent in the park......could I really do that, or something like it, every day?

An awful lot of the guys hitting the Chang at 1100 around the "Top Man" area of Udon Thani, having just shifted a plate of grease for brekkie, really needed something else. I'm guessing Pattaya is exactly like that only raised by orders of magnitude. My pal did a Masters degree with Insead over the last couple of years, and that filled in the mornings. But then again, he only had a couple of hours after that before the kids arrived back from school, so that gave him plenty of structure.

Your mistake was Issan, plenty to do in ChiangMai, and plenty of people to do it with.

I really fancied Chiang Mai but I've had an awful lot of people tell me that it has become little Bangkok. Just too many people. The other thing that really put me off was the air quality - obviously it sits in a bowl, so the burning season is a particular problem, but there's a particulate problem at the best of times. I never used to worry about this but looking at the actuarial numbers you're talking about years off your life, and a painful and distressing last few years, if you inhale a lot of particulates. One of the blokes in the Pikul Apartments in Nong Khai actually had a big condo that he owned in Chiang Mai - Ron from Portland, are you out there? - and he was renting for a month in Nong Khai just to get a break from Chiang Mai in the summer. The thing that he said which I thought was really weird was that Chiang Mai didn't have anything as nice as Nong Thin park. Now the park is nice, but the parks in Udon Thani are bigger and nicer, so Chiang Mai must be a bit tight for green quietness.

Air problem is over for the year.

CM is surrounded by mountains and jungle, plenty of trails to walk along, big river running through the middle, no need for parks.

(Although there are 4, two on the corner of the moat inside and outside, exercise park next to CM Uni, and Huay Keow waterfall and park just after the zoo)

On the subject of "what to do at 47", one of the really annoying things is the way your body starts to limit you. I quite fancy working out in a Muay Thai gym, but I did karate as a kid, and my left hip feels really odd - I think pivoting around it does it no good. So your options for amusing yourself start to diminish as you get older. In Udon you'd pretty much have to learn to play golf just to become part of the whole "Wing 23" golf club scene.

Maybe no karate, but at 60 I'm mountain biking 40 Km most days, new hobby I started at 58.

Fitter now than I was at 30 and my body is way better than at any other time in my life.

Edited March 31, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[slipperylobster]

Spend 3 hours a day reading and posting on Thai visa . The rest of the time being a Daywalker wandering the streets.

worst advice ever.???

[Darren palmer]

Just get a hobby is number one, drinking and girls is not the way forward, ( fun for a wile ) but you will end up as one of these poor sods you see on the news with no money and jumping off your condo balcony, thailand can be a great place to live i love it, been here 10 years, but if your a fool it can chew you up and spit you out, seen it so many times ive given up counting, alot of guys seem to leave the brain at the airport.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Darren palmer

[slipperylobster]

Nobody mentions this...but there IS a good park in Chiang Mai, just ten or fifteen minutes away (if you go early).

(Huay Tung Tao)..or as I am told....Chiang Mai Beach. Go swim in a lake, excellent biking/jogging/walking.... get there early, nice and cool. On weekends and late nights ou get more people. It is strictly a morning thing for us. Food and Massages too. We moved out of Udon, but enjoyed Nong Prajak park. I would say Nong Prajak was quite ok....but got really crowded for walking in late afternoons...noisy speakers for aerobics..and fast bicycles mixed in with scooters and tons of people. Morning was good.

[NickJ]

Do whatever it takes to turn Thailand into a western country

[nithisa78]

Won't work if you have to ask. Thailand is on Planet Earth, for the many who are alien to that fact. Its a beautiful world we live in. If it isn't beautiful where you are, it won't take long and you'll not know where you are, again. Then you can be a Thai blame it on. How could we be responsible for what's going on in our lives. What does 47 have to do with it? Is that the box you're thinking out of? Its the RTP, the roads, the this, the that. It couldn't be me. If the shoe fits wear it.

[drgoon]

Shag bargirls for a year or two until you run out of money....

[nithisa78]

Never give up on the Country of your birth and keep your home there. If your financial resources allow swap your cold Winters in Europe and rent six Months in Thailand.

Regulations in Thailand are forever changing and always be prepared to lose everything you bring. Don't be tempted by a pretty Girl to end up as meat on the table for herself and extended Family. If you do marry make sure the Lady is well educated so that you do not spend the Evenings looking at walls and ceilings and really not communicating.

Away from the big Cities Thailand does not offer anything except better weather and the attractions of normal tourism.

If you are an experienced and talented Business Person then much of this can be turned on its head. There is serious money to be made here but don't buy a bar. Often they don't make money but are a front for long term residence.

avoid this character's box at all costs. he offers zipity do dah.

[Craig krup]

Just get a hobby is number one, drinking and girls is not the way forward, ( fun for a wile ) but you will end up as one of these poor sods you see on the news with no money and jumping off your condo balcony, thailand can be a great place to live i love it, been here 10 years, but if your a fool it can chew you up and spit you out, seen it so many times ive given up counting, alot of guys seem to leave the brain at the airport.

Kipling nailed it - "And the epitaph drear: A fool lies here who tried to hustle the East".

[slipperylobster]

By all means....if you are looking for a long term girlfriend or wife....find one that communicates. Look around at the other people in the shopping mall/restaurant/whatever. Are they really communicating, or is the guy feeling like a wall flower, while the girl stares into a cellphone, or chats up her family/friends while he sits idly beside her. Or he starts baby talking to her.... me no looky looky other one sure.

My best companion is my wife...she can sit and talk to me for hours...on news events, ideas, hobbies, goals or just joking. Never had that with any woman. Make sure that is number one.

Edited March 31, 2015 by slipperylobster

[Craig krup]

Nobody mentions this...but there IS a good park in Chiang Mai, just ten or fifteen minutes away (if you go early).

(Huay Tung Tao)..or as I am told....Chiang Mai Beach. Go swim in a lake, excellent biking/jogging/walking.... get there early, nice and cool. On weekends and late nights ou get more people. It is strictly a morning thing for us. Food and Massages too. We moved out of Udon, but enjoyed Nong Prajak park. I would say Nong Prajak was quite ok....but got really crowded for walking in late afternoons...noisy speakers for aerobics..and fast bicycles mixed in with scooters and tons of people. Morning was good.

Nong Prajak is an irritation when the school empties and nobody stops the kids riding their scooters around the cycle path, and (indeed) wherever they please.

[weegee]

If you got any brains....then you should buy a oneway ticket to somewhere else....You are too young to spend time here.....lol

[HooHaa]

To be honest when i first came here i was 49 ,and i rogered anything with a pulse as long as it was female ,now my life is entirely different and very busy ,is that any help?

Isn't that what we all did (apart from SB)?

no, some us got here well before 50.

[slipperylobster]

friend of mine want retired at 47yo in Thailand, he asked me if it s possible and what he is going to do all day long in LOS.

so guys, what you do in Thailand? when you are supposed to work hard in farangland and pay tax and wife.

The perfect age for a girl for a man is subtract 7 from age then half so tell him to do 20 year olds

And the perfect age for a man for a girl is to subtract all his money....then divide the total years left in the old geezer and try to cut that in half.

Edited March 31, 2015 by slipperylobster

[mrfaroukh]

The best you can do in Thailand at 47 is to somehow remain here until you are 50 and then get a retirement visa and spend rest of your life here.

[Craig krup]

The best you can do in Thailand at 47 is to somehow remain here until you are 50 and then get a retirement visa and spend rest of your life here.

I'm 50, but how certain can I be that I won't go completely crackers

I've got a mental picture of waking up in Andalucia. It's 15 degree and it'll briefly be 25 later. It's weird for a Brit, but not that weird. My Spanish is bad, but improving. The grammar will never be half right, but a lot of the words are similar and it's generally much easier than Thai. Kindle Unlimited works, so I've got a ton of reading. The built environment is attractive - cobbled streets and enforced traffic laws. Wheat, oats and milk are cheap, so I eat a big European breakfast full of plant-source nitrogen. I've got health cover. Admittedly if someone pressed the EHIC card rules there might be an issue, but basically I'm covered. I can go for a bike ride and nearly everyone is sober with a driving licence. The civil guards and other law enforcement will probably make sure the peace is pretty much kept. I can work if I need to, and I've no visa problems. I've got some status if there is a dispute. Culturally I've got a pretty good idea of what the rules are. There's a mixed bag of Brits around, and the locals don't see me as too exotic or other. If push comes to shove I can probably, at most times of the year, get back to the UK. If I stay in Spain they'll uprate my pension in line with inflation. I don't think I'd go crackers, and if I did I think I could escape fairly easily.

If I wake up in Udon Thani and it's 25 degrees. It will be 35 later on. The built environment is pretty bleak - concrete - and nobody enforces the traffic laws. The language is very difficult so my 400 words allows me to buy things, but little else. "Cultural products" - books and the like - are difficult to source. Anything European - like oats - is two to three times more expensive, so I eat a lot of low nitrogen rice, which causes me to lose 5kg in a month. I'm taking a chance on health cover, or I'm spending (say) £35 a month on it. A bike ride could be my last. I need a visa. I've little status. I don't really understand even at the most basic level how others see the world. Too many of the Brits and Europeans I might meet have agendas I don't like, and associating with them could land me in it with them. A month respite in the UK is £600, or more. My pension won't be up-rated when it comes to it....

For a young retiree - or (at 47) de facto near retiree - there are a lot of considerations which make Thailand a more testing environment. If you are very self-possessed it might be workable, but you've loaded the dice, I think.

[steven100]

just shag and drink ... all day every day ...

[MaeJoMTB]

. I've got health cover. Admittedly if someone pressed the EHIC card rules there might be an issue, but basically I'm covered.

Ends this year, existing cards valid for 30 months from issue then finished, no new cards issued.

(As far as I know the UK has ditched it's participation)

And the young Spanish girls have no need of elderly British gentlemen, they have social security.

So

Your comparison is deeply flawed.

PS

I am also thinking of buying a place in Andalusia, did you mention every other property seems to be a bank repossession and 25% are unemployed?

But at least my Thai family don't need to pay for a VISA.

PPS

Oats may be cheap in Spain, but what about yellow mango, currently 25bht/Kg in Chiang Mai (rolled oats 88bht/Kg).

Edited April 1, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Craig krup]

And the young Spanish girls have no need of elderly British gentlemen, they have social security.

I am also thinking of buying a place in Andalusia, did you mention every other property seems to be a bank repossession and 25% are unemployed?

But at least my Thai family don't need to pay for a VISA.

Oats may be cheap in Spain, but what about yellow mango, currently 25bht/Kg in Chiang Mai (rolled oats 88bht/Kg).

Call me a prude but I really wouldn't feel right being around someone who saw me as a meal ticket. Frankly, I'd rather have a "Barclays".

It's the repossessions which are making Spain such a buyer's market. I wouldn't risk anything on the outskirts with possible planning permission or similar problems, but some of the village houses right in the middle of the "Peublo Blanco" villages are brilliant.

I know there are foodstuff comparisons running in both directions, but a European hypochondriac gets 2/3rds to 3/4s of their calories from wholemeal bread, split peas, kidney beans, cottage cheese..........all pricey in Thailand. For other folk - especially anyone who doesn't mind consuming a load of oil and sugar - it's less of a problem. I'm maybe a bit set in my ways.

[MaeJoMTB]

I know there are foodstuff comparisons running in both directions, but a European hypochondriac gets 2/3rds to 3/4s of their calories from wholemeal bread, split peas, kidney beans, cottage cheese..........all pricey in Thailand. For other folk - especially anyone who doesn't mind consuming a load of oil and sugar - it's less of a problem. I'm maybe a bit set in my ways.

I make all my own bread, works out at 15bht for a wholemeal loaf (I do a very nice wholemeal topped with rolled oats).

I also make my own dairy products (very easy) 125bht for 5l of raw milk = 500gm cottage cheese (farmers cheese) or 3l of yogurt.

While western food is expensive to buy 'ready made' in Thailand (too few customers), you can often make it yourself for very little money.

I'm retired, I have plenty of time to make stuff myself.

So another thing to do at 47 in Thailand,

Learn to cook and make most of your own food without additives or preservatives.

Edited April 1, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Craig krup]

I make all my own bread, works out at 15bht for a wholemeal loaf (I do a very nice wholemeal topped with rolled oats).

I also make my own dairy products (very easy) 125bht for 5l of raw milk = 500gm cottage cheese (farmers cheese) or 3l of yogurt.

Brilliant. I fell apart in five weeks because (it seems) no quantity of chicken sticks, fish and rice will actually meet my nitrogen needs. I was even looking for Indian breads on the assumption that i) India isn't that far away, ii) calcium propionate and sealed bags mean no wastage, and iii) Indan breads will be full of nitrogen from wheat and chickpeas.

Making your own bread has to be the way forward. 110v presumably means a slight nuisance finding a bread maker, or you need to use an oven, and sourcing wholemeal flour might be a little bit of work, but once done it makes the whole country a better place

A big hot banana bread and a pint of Buddy Bean is "no jok" - boom, boom.

[He would pun would pick a pocket].

[fey]

friend of mine want retired at 47yo in Thailand, he asked me if it s possible

If you mean can he be allowed long term stay based solely on being retired, No. He can get a non-imm visa ( O or O-A) based on the intention of eventually obtaining extensions of his stay based on retirement once he is 50, along with a few other requirements regarding finances.

There are some other options available while waiting until he turns 50, although most would mean some traveling in and out of Thailand to obtain visas. It would be helpful to know more about him and his plans.

There is one option for Baht 500,000, the Thai Elite Card which would allow him to stay for 5 years.

Sure he can. Get a triple entry, then see the neighboring countries, just for the heck of it. Get a nice furnished condo for six months out of the year and then travel back home to see your friends/relatives for a few months. You can do that a few times...then bam...you turn fifty...and you then know enough about whether you want to die here in Thailand or not. In other words....you need two or three years trial here...leave one foot in your home country....that foot is called a bank account and a residence. At fifty...you can put both feet here....or continue.

squandering 500,000 (16k usd) on an elite card is pretty idiotic when you could take a short trip for another visa. even a millionaire with their head screwed on would not be up for it. also, in that bracket your going to enjoy trips anyhow whether it be to visit family, holiday or whatever.

i dont get the whole elite card thing.