Gary

I bought several years ago and it was a temptation to buy a cheap shoe box sized unit. I took my time and asked a lot of the expats and their biggest complaint about their condos was the small size of the bargain units. I would advise you to look around at complexes that are well established. Take a first hand look at how the complex and grounds are maintained and even meet the potential neighbors. Ask how much the maintenance fees are and how much is in the general fund. Those figures are given to all the owners every year. Check out the security. The complex should be gated and security shou

My apologies to anyone who changed to Citibank because of my prior posts praising them. Previously there was no ATM fee but there was a one percent foreign exchange fee. Out of the blue sky they raised that fee to three percent. No where on their web site does it mention that. In fact it still says one percent. After several days waiting for their email reply to me, they told me that I was notified through my monthly statement. I opted for paperless statements long ago and since I keep track of my account via Internet I don't download the statements. I have notified them to change my accou

I just bought a new car too, and the dealer has NO red plates. They taped a piece of paper inside the wind shield and told me the new plates would be available in 30 to 45 days. They told me that the police wouldn't bother me. ??????? I think I'll stick close to home until I have the new plates. I have a pickup truck also so that's what I'll be driving when I have to go any distance.

In the past you could NOT apply for a retirement visa with a visa on arrival or a tourist visa. That has been changed and they will now convert a tourist visa and give you a non Imm visa in Bangkok. After you have that, you can apply for a retirement visa. The three month bank history is a recent thing and so far the guys have either gotten extensions until the three months have passed or the new rule has been ignored. Getting a retirement visa in the US didn't work out for me either. You need a police report saying you have no record, financial statements and what really stopped me was th

Well Bud, I've been telling you for several years to pack it in and get over her so you can enjoy whats left of your life. A friend of mine lived in Southern Kalifornia for fifty years and last year made the move. He lives like a king for a lot less than you have coming in and has never been happier. He is 82 years old. He has a 51 year old Thai wife, bought her a car so she can drive him around and recently bought her a house. Yes, its all in her name, BUT so are the payments. If she wants to keep the house and car she has to keep him too.

The dollar/baht exchange rate yesterday morning was 35.15 to a dollar. This morning it is 35.97. That's the biggest one day move either way that I have seen for years. I hope it keeps going in this direction.

VERY wise decision. What did you buy?

Preferences as to which plane is more comfortable is simply bullshit. If you didn't know what you were on, Boeing or Air Bus you wouldn't know the difference. The difference is how they are fitted out. I have been on shit Boeings and Air Buses. Some airlines have bigger and better seats and some have a better entertainment setup.

A friend of mine left several square inches of his skin on the road. He sold the bike and somewhere found the ugliest little Daihatsu that I ever saw. Pipe bumpers front and rear. I rode in it with him ONE time. He challenged everyone and everyone got out of his way. He paid 50,000 baht for that little bucket of bolts.

Paypal SUCKS! If you ever have a problem you will find your account limited. In truth it is NOT limited.It is frozen. Then you will find out that there are no people who work there. Everything is done with computers. You will not be able to log into your account because it is "limited". They ignore emails from anywhere outside your account and you can't log into your account so the only way is via the telephone. At that point you talk to several computers. I wasn't even able to cancel my account. I ended up canceling a linked credit card and instructing my bank to ignore ANYTHING from Paypal.

Take the money you will save for hospital bills and buy a little Suzuki jeep. They are not expensive and are a lot of fun. OR, bite the bullet like I did and buy another car/truck. I now have a new Ford Focus Ghia and a Nissan pickup truck. You KNOW which one I drive. A hint, it's not the car.

I hate to think that I partially agree with BHY but the WiFi built into my IBM laptop is MUCH better than USB plug in. I don't use the GPRS a lot but I do subscribe to AIS 1-2 Call by the month. They automatically take about 53 baht per month from my pre-paid credit for 6 hours of time. I check my email with my cell phone and when I have my laptop with me I can hook up to the Internet from anywhere in the country. Dial *138 to setup an account and buy time. There are several options available in the English language. Dial *139 to check your time balance. I think D-Tac charges the standa

My Citibank account allows me to do everything online. The free bill pay service, account maintenance and wire transfers are all done online. Since I live here I have seen no good reason to use online services from my Thai bank. I can check my balance anytime with any ATM machine so why bother? I'm also a little skeptical about security here. ATM machines here are enough worry.

I use Citibank in the US and wire transfer to Siam Commercial here. The money is always there the next business day. There is a flat $30 US charge regardless of the amount transfered. The exchange rate always matches the rates shown on my Yahoo home page. Siam Commercial Bank has a small charge but I have never really found out what it is. I divide the amount of dollars into the amount of baht that is deposited into my account.

My IBM has WiFi and bluetooth built in. I always take a look to see if there are any WiFi signals available. Many are now being password protected so you won't be able to use the protected ones anyways. If there are no usable signals, I turn on my phone's bluetooth and hook up using GPRS. I use AIS 1-2 Call. It's slow but usually works OK. WiFi is great and many places offer it free to their customers. It's much faster than GPRS.

Maybe a graduated barfine taken a few steps further would work better, The first discount say at 11:00 PM then the 200 baht near closing, maybe 1:00 AM. A friend of mine in Bangkok has different prices through the week. Slow nights are bolstered with cheaper bar fines and busier nights are higher. His business may be different because he depends on the expat trade and keeping the business steady night to night works better for him.

This is just another example of how the playing field here in the Kingdom damn sure isn't level. Some farangs beat the odds for years and a few for a shorter period. Just when they think things are finally going well they get the rug pulled out from under them. I would never encourage anyone to go into business here. Spend your money and enjoy your life. If you are too young and/or poor to be able to afford to live here without working, NEVER think you can start a successful small business. Stay in your own country and earn and save as much money as possible. Many have tried and very few h

I know an old retired guy who gets about $600 per month from Social Security. He likes to drink, play pool and short time. He knows every free food night in every bar in Pattaya and Jomtien. I live on less than that but my circumstances are a little different. I live in my wife's home up country, pay no rent and have income from condo rent from Jomtien. A single guy with a normal sex appetite and renting an apartment/condo can live VERY well on 75,000 baht per month. I know I did.

The question now is how LOW can it go. It appears to be in danger of dropping below 36 to a dollar. When I first moved over her in 1991 it was 25 to a dollar. Will it get back to that point?

I too use an IBM (Lenovo). I just bought a new T43p that is loaded with all the bells and whistles. It retailed for $3,600 and I got it for $1,555 because the new Duo Core is a hot item now and the IBM is a Centrino 2.26 Ghz Single Core. It was a last year leftover. It has a three year international warranty. I still have my IBM 600 that is over 6 years old. It still works great except the keypad took a shit. My wife now uses it with a remote Thai/English keyboard. She wouldn't use the built in keypad if it did work. In the past the IBM's were pretty well bulletproof. I hope this new one i

Take a look at the true value. You are able to find some VERY nice condos for around 40,000 baht per square meter. What makes an unknown unfinished condo worth double that price? I personally think a man would have to have rocks in his head to buy pre-construction and pay double or more than what he can buy an existing unit that has a track record and is ready to move into.

I'm 61 and have health insurance through a company named LMG Pacific. It's an American company. The insurance agent is on Second road in Pattaya. This link will put you in touch with them; http://www.insurance-in-thailand.com/index.htm

Be aware of the 240 volts more that the plug. Most plugs here will take the two round plugs as well as the flat ones. Most of the phone chargers as well as the computer power blocks use the flat pins. Most modern chargers accept 100 to 240 volts. You shouldn't have to buy anything if you have two flat pins.

I don't think the inflation rate is that high unless you are just talking about whoremonger's inflation. The exchange rate of 36.7 is another thing. It SUCKS!

The British pound is damn sure holding up better than the dollar. The exchange rate just dropped to 36.92 to a dollar. I was waiting for the exchange rate to get to at least 39 to a dollar before I made a wire transfer. I sure fucked that up.