Turbota

This is all good info in this thread. I used Mr. Toom once before ... the driver showed up at the airport in a real old junky car. Think it was an old Volvo or something ... Never again with Mr. Toom. Tried another company on the trip after that one. Might have been called Pattaya Limo Service (or something like that) ... They were a no show! Had to get a metered taxi from the airport down to Pattaya at midnight. The driver had no clue where anything was in Pattaya. Drove around lost for about an hour. Well, in about a week, me and my wife are coming to Thailand again from the PI.

redwood .... Thank's for the great explaination! That explains what I was trying to understand. Instead of wire transfering money from an account in the US (and the wire transfer fees), I just thought it would be easier to just write a personal check from my credit union in the US and deposit it into my baht savings account .... wait the required time for the check to clear, and then just withdraw money as needed .... at least that's how most of us do it here in the PI. Ron,

While living here in the PI, I bought a 1 year old very low mileage Toyota Camry from the Toyota dealership here. The Chinese businessman that owned it before me just trades every year for a new Camry, so it wasn't abused .... Great Car! I understand the Camry is now being final assembled in Thailand, so parts and warranty work should not be a problem there. Do you see many late model Camrys there in Thailand? Ron,

Eneukman ... Thank's for the reply, but I really was not needing info on the requirements for a Retirement visa ... Basically, all I was wondering is how you guys living in LOS get you money from your foriegn bank account to your hand anytime you need money for rent, food or whatever while actual;y living in Thailand. As you did say, when you open an account in a Thai bank, they give you a debit card so you can pull money from the various ATMs around town from your Thai bank account as needed for living expenses. Since that money that you every once in awhile [deposit] in your Thai ban

Got a banking question for you folks living in LOS: I live in the PI, but may move to the Pattaya area soon on a Retirement visa. How do most expats do there banking here in the PI? We have 2 choices of bank accounts here ... A Dollar account or a Peso account. Most of us have US funds in a bank or credit union in the US, so opening a Dollar account in the PI bank is the best bet. After we deposit the minimum required $500 in our Dollar account in order to open the account, then we just write a check from our bank in the US and deposit it into our dollar account. After the c

Thank's for the info ... I posted these same basic questions on the Thai Visa message board and got the following answers from someone that obviously knows more about this than I do .... Just to share with you: 1. I wonder if they use the Gross or Net amount to figure out if you meet the 65,000 baht requirement or not? I actually get more than 65,000 baht per month, but it is only 60,000 baht after they take out taxes and insurance. Gross amount - but be advised the rate used will not be the current bank rate. Believe it was 36 but with recent increase of baht value expect it may be le

I am really confused on this whole visa issue that seems to be changing all the time. Here is my situation ... I am living in the Philippines, but now want to move to Thailand. I am a US citizen, over 50 years old, and am getting a US Fed Gov retirement/pension as a former GS-13 employee. Putting money into a bank account setup in my name here in Thailand is not a problem. I read the thread below which may not contain ciurrent info about getting a Retirtement visa, and seems to have some very conflicting information. http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28499 Any

Well, thank's everyone for the good info. Really appreciate it. Overall prices in LOS are pretty reasonable ... with the exception of rent. I would have thought that rent would be alot cheaper in a country like Thailand, but I am wrong .... Rent appears to have really increased alot in the last 5 years since I last looked at rental costs. Looks like Thailand maybe now has a much larger middle class than it did 4 or 5 years ago. Oh well

Electricity is very high in the PI now. Much higher than LOS Rent, internet costs and drinking in the bars are cheaper here in the PI. About everything else is about the same. And as pretty much everyone knows already, an overnight barfine in the PI is cheaper than in LOS .... although that has nothing to do with the figures I was posting above. I really thought rent would be cheaper in LOS than in the PI .... but I guess I was wrong.

I have Blue Cross / Blue Shield paid by the government through the retirement plan. When I am 60, I will have the standard military retirement health insurance since I also retired from the US military reserves.

I am 58 years old, single and retired from the US Federal Civil Service. While living here in the PI, I always seem to be thinking about moving from the Philippines to Thailand. I guess I would deposit the required money and stay on a Retirement Visa .... A few of the living expense figures below are kinda old, so things may have changed. Could you look at these figures and tell me if they look about right for living in the Pattaya or Jomien area. Maybe it would be better to rent a house vs a condo ... not really sure about that. I did not include transportation costs here since I plan

I used to be registered in the Members Only forum as Blackhawk_Driver Since I moved and changed my e-mail address / internet provider, this board will no longer accept my old password. I e-mailed "PattayaPete" about this, and never got a response. Well, I just re-registered with this "Turbota" username so I could access this site. How could I get a new password so I can log on with my old "Blackhawk_Driver" username ... Nothing has worked Thanks, Ron