js007

You need 800K in the bank or a combination of income and a bank deposit that would equate to 800K. 800 divided by 12 months is 66,666 baht a month. Thus, if you have 400K, you need monthly income of 400K divided by 12, or 33,333 or so. They'll also accept a monthly income of 65K. J

I think the rooms are a little bit bigger. I stayed in one of the smaller rooms a few times and didn't have any complaints. j

If you have to be absolutely on Walking Street you could try the Windy Inn. I stayed there once and it was OK, but sort of expensive for hat it was. Otherwise, try Secrets, it's just off Walking Street. J

It's funny, but just yesterday I was reading an article by a guy who was of the opinion that the Euro was just another fiat currency, like the dollar, and that the economic fundamentals behind the Euro were just as bad, or worse, than the economic fundamentals supporting the dollar. In other words, don't invest a dime in Euros unless you want to lose your money. Where that leaves everyone, I'm not sure. The Chinese Yuan? Singapore dollars? Thai Baht? Japanese Yen? J

Are you sure about all that? My Wamu account supposedly has free ATM use. Can you just use the ATMs? Or, if you get money every month or just have a big balance, can't you set up some sort of recurring transfer? J

I just checked again and the NWA prices are still silly, considering its NWA. So, I went to the Thai Air site and finally got it to work. They were quoting OK R/T fares for November (JFK, non-stop to BKK), with a March return date. Economy - $1070; Premium Economy - $1530. There was also a middle class of economy with no change fee for $1311. Anyway, the premium economy flight is good, if you can afford it. The non-stop flight goes fast and the food is good. I can get to JFK cheaply from the midwest. J

I have some NWA miles, but when I went to their website to try to use them, the prices all seemed to be a bad joke. I could get better NWA prices from Orbitz. Of course, maybe the NWA prices were higher because I was trying to use miles. Maybe I'll use the miles for a hotel room or something and buy the plane ticket somewhere else. The R/T tickets for November seemed to be going for about $1200. I really only want a one-way ticket, but I'm afraid they'll give me trouble for that, so I'll look for a refundable ticket and get a refund on the return flight. J

I hate to rain on your parade, but some knee surgeries can really lay you up for a while. I worked with someone who was out of work for two months following knee surgery. Bed rest, physical therapy, etc. Do you have time for all that in Thailand? Of course, maybe you'll just need something simple. j

In and of itself, I don't see the dollar rate as that much of a problem. A few years ago you got 38 baht, now you get 31 or so. I can live with that. Another factor, though, is Thai inflation. If prices for everything are going up, that's an additional drag. Still, the rents seem reasonable and food is still cheap, so... For me, I'll just make whatever adjustments are necessary to live within my means. I'll be back there in a few months. J

Yea, that "misc" category can get out of hand quickly. Some guys write down every baht they spend. Maybe some of them can provide a better breakdown. One thing I forgot was water. You've got to buy that all the time. I also forgot the occasional top up card for my cell phone, my disposable contact lenses, OTC meds, and so on.

Thee are plenty of threads on here about the cost of living in Thailand. If all you want to do is eat and sleep and watch TV or whatever, it doesn't have to cost you a lot, especially if you eat Thai food. On the other hand, if you go out screwing around every night at the bars, you can easily go through 150K baht a month. Living there, though, you probably wouldn't want to do that long term. Here's a rough estimate of monthly costs for Pattaya at the lower end of the spectrum: Rent 10K baht Electric 2K baht Food 5K baht, perhaps less Internet 1.5K baht Laundry 1K baht Transportation 1K baht Misc 2K baht Let's say you can cover your basics for 20K baht. That would leave you 28K baht for entertainment. Not very much. You could go out and spend 4K baht seven times a mont, at most. Keep in mind I didn't include costs for medical care or visa runs. j

Have it wired in. That might take a few days. You can deposit travelers checks, but they'll charge you the same fee as if you were cashing them. J

Plasma TVs? I think they're about to stop manufacturing Plasm TVs, if they haven't already. Still, they're not half bad, or so they say. I'd buy one but I already have an LCD which I'm going to have to get rid of as soon as I go back to Thailand. Someone is going to get a good deal. J

Technically, if you have the Embassy letter showing an income in excess of 65K baht per month, there should be no need for a Thai bank book. However, it has apparently become some sort of an unwritten rule that you have to have a Thai bank account with some money in it. That's what I read before I applied for my retirement visa and so that's what I did. I opened a Thai bank account with 42,000 baht. When I went to apply for my visa extension based on retirement, I had a letter from the US embassy showing a monthly income well in excess of 65K baht, but I also brought the bank book. But that wasn't good enough. I also needed a "letter" from my bank. I started to argue with the guy but thought better of it. So, I went to the bank and got the "letter" at a cost of 200 baht. What it said, I'm not sure because it was all in Thai. But, once I had that letter, the people at immigration were happy. It was late in the afternoon by then and they told me to come back the next day to pick up my passport with the new retirement extension. So, no, you don't need 800K in your bank if you have enough monthly income, but they do like to see a bank book and bank letter. J

The house looks nice. Did you lease the land, or is it owned by you Thai wife? Secondly, do you have any idea what land goes for in that area? I've been looking at condos, but have also entertained the idea of leasing a plot of land for 30 years and then having a small house built. In 30 years I'll be dead. J

I don't know. Last time I was there I waited a grand total of about 15-20 minutes. The next thing we know, they'll be charging $$$. J

In California, it's known as the "one form of action" rule, and has been around for a long long time. In short, if they sell the house at auction under the deed of trust, they get the proceeds of the sale and cannot go after the borrower for a deficiency judgment. It's tricky, though. This rule usually applies to just the original purchase money loan. The theory was that the lender was well able to appraise the value of the underlying asset. It was thought that such a rule would dissuade lenders from making imprudent loans. Of course, lenders packaged the loans and no longer cared, but that's another story. California is one big mess.

The term "sub-prime" doesn't really imply that those particular loans were usurious, but simply that the loans were made to "sub-prime" borrowers. They might have been charged an extra 1/2 point on the loan to cover the extra risk. Or maybe, they got a "no doc" loan and were thereby free to lie about their income and assets, and again, were charged an extra 1/2 point or so for that privilege. In any event, the net result was overpriced real estate for everyone and a bunch of people who can't afford to pay their loans. Their houses go into foreclosure and are dumped on the market, lowering the comparable home prices impairing the security for all real estate loans. Also, over the past 10 years or so, people used the increased value of their homes as an ATM of sorts, but because of the decreasing real estate values, that source of cash is no longer available to many. In short, there's a credit crunch and the banks are on the verge of failure. It's all fun to watch, but the Fed is screwing everything up by trying to rescue the banks. That causes inflation and kills the dollar. Less baht to fool around with. J

Yea, I've had my problems with Thai Air's site. One day I went nuts just trying to enter my customer name and PIN. It would let me do it from Thailand, but not from the USA site. And lord only knows how a person finds out what tickets cost. J

I'm sure if I had a copy of the federal budget and a red pen I could redline some programs and expenses. I don't really keep up on it though, but from what I do know, a lot of money is wasted. Take the farm programs, for example. A few weeks ago I was looking into it for my brother, who owns a bunch of land. Some of the land he rents out to a farmer, and some of it borders a waterway and is basically a wooded floodplain. Anyway, there seems to be a government program for just about everything. For his floodplain, there's some sort of a "save the wetlands" program. They make you promise to keep it as it is, and in return they give you some absurd amount, per acre per year. Of course, that's what would happen anyway, but why not take the money? Ditto for the farm ground. They'll actually pay you NOT to farm anything. That's just one example, but you get the picture, I'm sure. j

How to pay for healthcare? Well, maybe they could cut out some of the corporate welfare? Maybe cut off the war spending? Maybe cut cut some of the other domestic programs? How much do they pay to millionaire farmers for no good reason? I could go on, but you have to agree, they waste a lot of money on nonsense.

As for the Democrats and health care? First, I'm not so sure they could pull off any major change, regardless of what they say now. Too many people have a vested interest in the current system. Secondly, I do believe that whatever they do they'll figure out some way to pay for it. Third, we're all paying now anyway, to a certain extent, for all the people that don't have healthcare. It might actually be cheaper in the long run to set up a plan for those willing to participate that would cover routine health maintenance. In other words, keep the people healthy in the first place. As it is now, they show up in emergency rooms and receive treatment, often when their medical problems have progressed to the point of being serious. As for taxes? Go ask Warren Buffet. Even he'll tell you that it's not fair that he pays less tax, as a percentage of his income, than his secretary. J

Bush is a nutcase, to be sure, but with any luck, the next president will be a Democrat with some sense. Of course, by then it'll be an impossible job to clean up the mess the Republicans made. With a Democrat in office, I think we can look forward to higher taxes on the wealthy and a fairly quick slowdown in war spending. If all that happens, the dollar may stabilize. All bets are off if McCain somehow wins. He'll continue to support a funding of the war machine and the crazy policy of deficit spending out the wazoo. Republicans = national bankruptcy. j

There used to be a place over on the other side of Sukumvit from the Majestic Suites, off on one of the Sois. It was called Business Inn, and from what I could tell by sitting in the coffee shop one night, it might qualify as a cheap charlie place. J

With regard to the JFK to BKK flight on Thai Air. Are you trying to book economy or premium economy? Usually, the premium economy is around $1600-$1700, whereas the economy can be round $1200 or less. If it's more than that now, I'd maybe look for another carrier if you're trying to save money. J