Poll of the Day > Anyone been to Thailand?

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wolfy42
03/07/23 12:59:25 PM
#1:


So many many moons ago, when I was a kid mostly (under 18), I went to mexico a few times with an uncle. Back then the exchange rate was insane, and you could get tacos for 10 cents (best tacos I ever had), full steak and lobster dinners for $5 and everything was insanely cheap (guitars, leather jackets etc). It was amazing.

Now adays though it's the same price there as here, and I have not been back.

But recently I saw a reelz on facebook, a girl who does videos of all these places she eats/visits, did one on a 5 star resort in thailand. OMG it was amazing. You have your own indoor pool per room, along with a really nice big universal pool for everyone, the food was free (full buffet) etc and it was like $80 a night (which I thought was insanely low for that level of a resort it was beautiful.

So I decided to look up other resorts and there are even 4.7 star hotels there for only $10 a night!!! Most of the ones right on the water are more than that, but some are still only like 24$ a night etc. The prices there are so low compared to anywhere else I have heard of, and the food looks freaking amazing (and is also super cheap.

Much like Mexico back in the day, Thailand has a conversion rate of 3cents baht to 1 usd, or basically 33x as much value from the dollar. That looks at least like it would lead to spending a fraction of what you have to spend here in the US to live like a king there.

I have looked it up online and so far don't see any really big red flags or reasons not to move to thailand or at least visit there for long periods of time.

You can btw, get a retirement visa that lets you stay there permanently, which I qualify for (only requirements is 50+ in age and the ability to have 25k in a bank account for 2 months prior to traveling there (800k THB).

Obviously before doing that I would want to visit and make sure I actually like it there, but it certainly looks promising. Thought I'd ask on here if anyone has any experience there.

I am retired btw, but have no income at all, and won't till Social Security kicks in in a decade (if it is even still around). I did my research and I can still recieve social security from Thailand (and obviously it would go waaaaay further there).

I live currently on 1000 a month, and am hoping to eventually get a job online or another source of income. That much money in Thailand though would go way further (I rent a room here and spend $100 a week on food, have car insurance and a cell phone (both very cheap) and that is my total expenses each month).

In Thailand I could probably live at a really nice resort or rent an apartment, eat WAY better and still have money left over, so it might totally be worth moving there.

Anyway have experience traveling there? Any advice?

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Far-Queue
03/07/23 1:29:48 PM
#2:


My sister taught English there for 2 years but I never visited unfortunately. She loved it.

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wolfy42
03/07/23 2:32:37 PM
#3:


Far-Queue posted...
My sister taught English there for 2 years but I never visited unfortunately. She loved it.


I've been watching videos of people who retire there, most are well...significantly richer than me, they spend like $3000 a month but live like kings with a full time maid and a huge villa etc. Seems crazy good. They do recommend having about $2000 a month to retire there, which I won't have even close to that much, but they say you can live on around $1000 but will probably have some problems.

I looked up apartments for rent on craigslist though and saw a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment with tons of space for $212 a month, internet and utilities are like $50 all together, and food is much cheaper there, not exactly sure why they say you need $2000, perhaps they are just used to living a rich life style already and think just renting a normal sized place and eating/paying for utilities/internet is slumming it.

Cheapest flight I could find to Bangkok from Seatac is $357 so that isn't too bad, and it's $80 to get the visa. Prob would have to give up getting any kinda job though, but I would also not need one as much due to cheaper prices. The food also looks insanely good (Street food, with meat on sticks of all kinds, looks so yum and mega cheap).

Going to do a bunch more research and also have a friend who sadly isn't 50 yet, but might be interested in spending time there (he could get 2 90 day visas before having to return to the states, and do it again). Rent/cost of living is so cheap that even having to pay $700 every 6 months (round trip flight) would still be way cheaper then living most places in the US.

Rather go with a friend then by myself both to split costs(that $212 place could easily work for both of us, and that would drop the cost including internet/utilities to under $150 each a month).

Only thing that worries me is it looks to good to be true, even with all the videos etc, it still seems like everyone in the world would move there at those prices.

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
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Far-Queue
03/07/23 3:14:37 PM
#4:


This is going back over a decade so I'm not sure how the costs hold up today but what you're quoting there seems in line with how my sister described things. She had considered moving there herself in part because the cost of living is so low and more importantly the quality of living there was reasonable considering the cost.

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wolfy42
03/07/23 3:34:45 PM
#5:


Far-Queue posted...
This is going back over a decade so I'm not sure how the costs hold up today but what you're quoting there seems in line with how my sister described things. She had considered moving there herself in part because the cost of living is so low and more importantly the quality of living there was reasonable considering the cost.


Thanks, it would be a huge move, and even just visiting is expensive, so i'm doing as much research as I can:)

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
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Jen0125
03/07/23 3:58:48 PM
#6:


How do people just retire to other countries? How do they get visas to live without working?
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wolfy42
03/07/23 4:11:57 PM
#7:


Jen0125 posted...
How do people just retire to other countries? How do they get visas to live without working?


In thailand you have 2 requirements to get a retirement visa (basically can stay there forever, but can't own land (you can buy property though, condos etc).

First is you must be 50+, before 50 you can still live there but you have to use 90 day visas that can be renewed once, and then have to leave/return to the country. Way more expensive. The 50+ visa is renewed every year (within 90 days of it ending) and can go on forever without leaving the country.

The other requirement is 24k$ in a bank that can be verified, that is a yearly requirement so you can't go under that amount. They consider that enough money for anyone to live very comfortably in their country, so if you can prove you have that, your golden.

That is it.

You can even get social security from the US there (though still can't get it till the normal age (60-62 depending on circumstances). In theory you can get it at 50 if your disabled though.

Social security would be enough to live pretty comfortably there, but not enough to even barely survive here, so I wouldn't be surprised if that becomes much more common in the future (especially in a decade from now when I could get social security).

There are other places you can move to/retire but not many as cheap. Thailand seems to have a high standard of living, VERY good medical care, good food, safety/security (possibly better than the US with all the shootings etc), and very low cost to live there.

Seems too good to be true, but the research I have done so far seems to support it.

Still along way from even taking a trip there to check it out, but it could be a direction for me to go in the next year or so.

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
Friends don't make their friends die Hanz. Psychopathic friends do.
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Jen0125
03/07/23 5:19:24 PM
#8:


Jeez I hope I can retire outside the US I fucking hate it here
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ReturnOfFa
03/07/23 10:16:08 PM
#9:


Only been there a week and mostly only around Bangkok since it was the end of my trip. Only advice? If you're coming from Laos, exchange your cash at the border from one of the people bothering you to exchange your cash. It's next to impossible to find a bank in Bangkok that will exchange it.

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Krazy_Kirby
03/08/23 2:53:52 AM
#10:


isn't a major reason people go there for the prostitutes?

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Far-Queue
03/08/23 5:11:16 AM
#11:


I'm sure that's a reason for some people to travel there.

It's also a reason some people travel to Nevada.

What's your point?

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wolfy42
03/08/23 12:16:30 PM
#12:


Krazy_Kirby posted...
isn't a major reason people go there for the prostitutes?


No clue, didn't see that in any of the research I did, but then again I was looking at research about retiring there. Admittingly there are some people my age or older that probably would be interested in prostitutes but I sure am not one of em. Wouldn't even have been interested when I was younger. Never even believed/liked casual hook ups, forget about prostitutes.

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
Friends don't make their friends die Hanz. Psychopathic friends do.
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wwinterj25
03/08/23 1:03:27 PM
#13:


Krazy_Kirby posted...
isn't a major reason people go there for the prostitutes?

I mean travelling just for that seems a bit pointless unless you can't get any of those on your own doorstep.

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teddy241
03/08/23 2:01:43 PM
#14:


Jen0125 posted...
Jeez I hope I can retire outside the US I fucking hate it here
Please leave then.
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Far-Queue
03/08/23 2:09:42 PM
#15:


teddy241 posted...
Please leave then.
Finance her relocation then.

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What's better than roses on your piano?
Tulips on your organ.
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teddy241
03/08/23 2:13:05 PM
#16:


Far-Queue posted...
Finance her relocation then.
LOLoL
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teddy241
03/08/23 2:17:17 PM
#17:


Too bad we cant have her forfeit her citizenship and allow someone else in who would LOVE to be here instead. Be good for both parties.
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wwinterj25
03/08/23 2:26:30 PM
#18:


Yeah because citizenship is really limited in USA.

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Jen0125
03/08/23 2:29:06 PM
#19:


teddy241 posted...
Please leave then.

I would love to
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wolfy42
03/08/23 2:41:22 PM
#20:


Jen0125 posted...
I would love to


I really wish I had left with my wife when she got sick in 2010/11, before we blew all our money on medical bills after we reached our insurance cap. Getting sick in the US can ruin you fast. If we had, she would still be alive and we would be living comfortably somewhere else.

You don't have to give up US citizenship to leave either, lots of places you can move and live comfortably with way better medical, less crime, no school shootings etc. Hard to know that in advance, or that you even need it/it would be better, since you can be comfortable here in this country working away, until things go wrong/bad.

I could have taught anywhere in the world probably, easily supporting us (not to mention the money from selling our house, and all the money we wouldn't have spent on medical), and also gotten way better medical care for Linda. Can't go back and change things sadly, but damn I wish we had even considered it back then. It just didn't even register as a possibility.

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
Friends don't make their friends die Hanz. Psychopathic friends do.
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pionear
03/08/23 3:43:43 PM
#21:


Krazy_Kirby posted...
isn't a major reason people go there for the prostitutes?
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/8/2/AADtvSAAEQaG.jpg

Plus you have alot of Trans Females there too. Go watch 'The Hangover 2'

As for visiting, not the 1st East Asian country I would visit (that would probably be Japan) but I wouldn't mind going there.
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wolfy42
03/08/23 5:44:33 PM
#22:


I would love to move to japan but I hear it's really expensive there. If I could still teach English I would try it, but with my eyesight I don't think I could pull it off, totally blind in my right eye and my left is getting there.

We saw the hangouver and part 2 when it came out. I think the line was Bangkok got him? Also, Chow so cold....lol. Was funny. Mike tyson and a Tiger I remember as well.

Was talking to a relative about it a bit today. Main thing is i'm totally a hermit now and I doubt that will change at this point even if I move into a place where I can go out regularly etc. I live 30 mins from town, and get snowed in most winters. Also my car got hit by a tree and I have not spent the money to repair my rear window (replace it) or fix the big dent in the trunk (so I can't drive while its raining/snowing (which is often in Washington).

Car has to be renewed (tags) in April, so I may just sell/junk it (only $400 if I have them come tow it, but I bet I could sell it on facebook etc for 1k). Don't wanna buy another car though, so will probably just use Uber to get into town once or twice a month for groceries (or have safeway deliver).

Seems like a huge change though to be honest, and I can just move here and rent a room for $500 somewhere in town where I can hopefully work and go out easier etc. That isn't THAT much more than living there, and doesn't require me to leave the country etc.

The fact they have WAY better medical there though, and insurance is 15$ a month, is a big deal, add in that you can rent full apartments (3 bed/2 bath I looked up just outside bangkok was $210 a month), and the food is much cheaper as well, and it's still very tempting.

Kinda scary though because it's such a big change, and so much work to move, plus leaving everything behind etc. That being said they also have WAY better public transportation and even getting taxies etc are way cheaper than here.

Still just kinda checking different options, but so far I have not seen anywhere with as high a standard of living, good healthcare, and low crime/safe, that is as cheap.

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Tacobot 3000 "Saving the world from not having tacos."
Friends don't make their friends die Hanz. Psychopathic friends do.
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Zareth
03/08/23 6:09:14 PM
#23:


wwinterj25 posted...
I mean travelling just for that seems a bit pointless unless you can't get any of those on your own doorstep.
People don't go there for 18+ prostitutes

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ReturnOfFa
03/08/23 10:46:30 PM
#24:


teddy241 posted...
Please leave then.
what crawled up your butt lmfao

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SoreChasm
03/08/23 10:51:31 PM
#25:


ReturnOfFa posted...
what crawled up your butt lmfao
Probably lost big at the casino today.

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teddy241
03/08/23 10:59:56 PM
#26:


ReturnOfFa posted...
what crawled up your butt lmfao
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/6/AADUYLAAEQfU.jpg
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ReturnOfFa
03/08/23 11:00:33 PM
#27:


Krazy_Kirby posted...
isn't a major reason people go there for the prostitutes?
people also like the food, culture, beaches and more. weird, hey?

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ReturnOfFa
03/08/23 11:01:39 PM
#28:


teddy241 posted...
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/1/6/AADUYLAAEQfU.jpg
ok, you've got me laffin now XD

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grimhilde00
03/09/23 10:04:44 AM
#29:


was planning on going July 2020 for my 30th

something else happened that kinda got in the way of that

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kriem
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grimhilde00
03/09/23 10:10:43 AM
#30:


but yeah had some friends taught English there and loved it there

had a friend live in Vietnam and also really liked it there but idk what the retirement visa is like

when I left the country I chose somewhere I'd fit in socially more, most Americans I know who left for Eastern Asia stick to groups of friends that are Western still, so there's that

but if you're retiring there and don't care, idk try to be a good resident at least

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