Brits Retiring to Pattaya Video

[python 27]

Hi,

I found this on Thai Visa I thought it was worth a look:

www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/693735-some-interesting-statistics-about-brits-retiring-to-los/?utm_source=newsletter-20140103-0831&utm_medium=email&utm_

 

Sorry I can not seem to get the link facility to work for me, but have a look and I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

British press as usual has little positive to say. All the hard luck stories, sad as they are, I would bet there are far more that made the move and never looked back!

 

Regards,

 

 

[MeGoDanceNow 4,281]

Yeah, I had trouble posting YouTube videos here too. Just open the original YouTube page, click "share," then copy the URL that appears (it will have "youtu.be" in it) and paste it in your post.

 

 

Good video! Of course it's the Beeb, so there's lots of holier-than-thou nonsense about terrible sexpats and their sleazy lives (the presenter will probably knock off after the show and go bang his mistress). But they make some interesting points.

 

With the increase in retirees, you can expect hospitals to become even more hard-nosed about people who turn up without insurance. I've seen a few homeless white men on my current visit -- something you almost never used to see. That's going to become a problem. Maybe we Western retirees need to start some sort of a fund to ship people home when they can't afford to live in Thailand anymore.

Edited January 3, 2014 by LadyDrinkKing

[MeGoDanceNow 4,281]

Bump! Here's the original topic.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

 

Good video! Of course it's the Beeb, so there's lots of holier-than-thou nonsense about terrible sexpats and their sleazy lives

 

What are you blabbing about? The Beeb?

 

There seemed to be a few enjoying their "time" through an alcoholic haze. If the vid convinces one retiree to get insurance he would have otherwise avoided, then it'll have been worth it.

[ronrat 59]

Maybe western countries should realise than single retired men, many former Service or merchant marines, don't have the means to retire at home. They have pensions etc but many don't have a home in their home countries and family system has broken down. Let them spend their retirements where it is warmer, rent is way cheaper and so is food and beer. It would be far cheaper to allow them to migrate to SE Asia and subsidise the local government to medically look after them (within reason), And allow superannuation and pension funds to pay into foreign banks. Malaysia has opened its doors to retirees , Indonesia (well in Bali anyway) is strating and of course we can get retiree visas here. Those western countries should be thanking them for taking pressure off services back home.

 

Travel insurance is different. Plenty of young dickheads do and go and take drugs, ride motorbikes and jetskis, get blind drunk and get into fights. When it goes tits up and they have no insurance Mum is on the tv saying "The Government will do nothing for my son, we will have to take a loan, its a disgrace.". What should happen is a Government spokesperson should reply with " The Government has decided that since your son went on holiday with no insurance, but had plenty to spend on drugs, booze, girls, motorbikes (he has never ridden), and jetskis he has made his own bed. He then goes out and drugged and pissed up, gets into a fight with another lout and gets belted up well fuck him. He made his choices, we made ours".

[flighty 31]

Remind me never to take this clown of a journalist John Sparks seriously again - Channel 4's Asia correspondent's skewed tabloid ramble is packed with generalisations and distorted adjectives - so over 65's are elderly / sunset years / senior citizens...something 'often' happens, 'many' people get into trouble...no figures..,No mention of the top golf courses, excellent dental, physio etc therapists, restaurants, although the programme starts off talking stats about British retirees the 18,000 visiting Banglamung hospital is not broken down by nationality. What cooked up, vague, crass, inaccurate garbage.

Edited January 3, 2014 by flighty

[Fatboyfat 361]

I have just watched that vid and fail to see why anyone, no matter what your own views are, would whinge about it. If that is not what you see in Pattaya, then I must assume the alcholic fuzz has taken over. There was no "sensationalism" depicted there.

[MeGoDanceNow 4,281]

I wouldn't call it sensationalist, I would just say that they're trying to imply that us sex tourists are doing something wrong. Check out the way the presenter glares at the old drunk when he admits he likes sex. He probably likes food too but that doesn't seem to attract the same opprobrium.

[graymatter 153]

No doubt that this video is the truth but its not the whole truth.

 

Retiring in Thailand is an idea that many men get. Obviously some are doing it and have settled down with a TGF and lead a perfectly happy life. The report seems to have missed that and instead found cases of different aspects. The pure sex tourist is in Thailand but it is not as common as they make out. Most of the mongers I have met are here for a lifestyle and sex and booze is only part of the mix.

 

I was a bit concerned about the guy who broke down on camera. Will we read about him falling off a balcony or hanging from a door knob in the near future. If anyone knows him perhaps he need a friend to talk to?

[jacko 8,766]

Yes I saw this from a link on Thai Visa......

 

Rather a poor presentation when the sample includes someone drunk in a bar, a person with a mental illness, and a sad case in hospital.

The guy in the hospital should make a few people consider insurance, if not moderation!!!

 

Plenty of retired Expats (from UK, Oz and many countries), living in the Pattaya area, who are far happier in the warmth and sunshine than watching TV in the UK with the current weather threatening to break the panes.

[python 27]

Deleted by me.

Edited January 4, 2014 by python

[MM 6,562]

Post wasn't removed. It was merely locked.

[MeGoDanceNow 4,281]

Remind me never to take this clown of a journalist John Sparks seriously again - Channel 4's Asia correspondent's skewed tabloid ramble is packed with generalisations and distorted adjectives - so over 65's are elderly / sunset years / senior citizens...something 'often' happens, 'many' people get into trouble...no figures..,No mention of the top golf courses, excellent dental, physio etc therapists, restaurants, although the programme starts off talking stats about British retirees the 18,000 visiting Banglamung hospital is not broken down by nationality. What cooked up, vague, crass, inaccurate garbage.

 

Yes, the point of the exercise was to paint all British expats who move to Thailand as losers, perhaps implying a lack of patriotism. Interview a few sad old alcoholics, ignore the bigger picture and we're off to the races. A hatchet job.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

 

Yes, the point of the exercise was to paint all British expats who move to Thailand as losers ...

 

I thought it was pretty clear that (in the video) they were specifically referring to pensioners retiring to Pattaya. They also provided some balance by including the part about the Scandanavian folks. Maybe I'll watch it again later - just to see the Rab C character.

 

This is the actual write-up from the Ch 4 blog ...

 

"As cities go, it’s about as trashy-looking as it gets. In fact, it’s probably the seediest place that you have never heard of.

Pattaya is a seaside community on Thailand’s eastern shore – an urban extravert that works hard to impress.

Blazing neon signs offer cheap booze and oil massage and “rooms-by-the-hour”. Down below, bar-girls and parlour workers make their road-side pitch to thousands of prospective customers.

It is a raucous, unapologetic sort of place and not surprisingly, there are many people who try hard to avoid it.

At the country’s tourism ministry, bureaucrats see it as something of an embarrassment and there are plenty of Thais – and foreigner visitors – who give it a wide-berth.

It simply does not measure up to the palm-fringed ideal that many associate with this southeast Asian nation.

However, that does not mean we should look the other way because something really important is happening there. When you take a look at all those “prospective customers” plying the streets of neon, you soon realise that the majority of them are retired.

Over the last two years there has been a huge increase in the numbers of elderly European men turning up in Pattaya – and they are not passing through – they have come here to live.

According to the Thai authorities, people from the UK make up by far the largest group of over 65′s in the city and their number has increased by a massive 43 per cent during that period.

In terms of total numbers, there are 7,000 Britons in the city on retirement visas but they are joined by tens of thousands of other UK seniors who come on regular tourist visas and renew them periodically (the British Embassy estimates 870,000 people from the UK came to Thailand last year on tourist visas).

All this may seem rather contradictory – Pattaya in all its neon-lit glory and the presence of tens of thousands of elderly men from Europe. Some will surely ask whether this is a decent and appropriate way for older gentlemen to enjoy their retirement. But the reasons they come here are varied and complex.

When I asked older Britons why they had chosen Pattaya, many said that they simply wanted to enjoy themselves. “I’m not sitting indoors with my slippers on – no way – this is my time,” said Lester Goodland from London.

Would they consider returning to the UK at some point, I asked?

Jimmy Turner, from Glasgow, provided this earthy response: “No, dear hell. You have to be f****** joking. How can you miss a country that charges you treble the price for everything?”

On the topic of sex, most men we met had Thai “girlfriends” – but these were longer-term, paid-for relationships that did not seem to qualify as prostitution – at least in the conventional sense. The women perform a variety of roles – as carers, and companions and sexual partners.

I met a chirpy 86-year-old Yorkshireman called Stan in a roadside bar one afternoon. As he finished up his beer, I asked him about women and he said he was not really interested in sex anymore. Nonetheless, “a beautiful Burmese girl” comes to his flat for one month every year to provide him with “some company”.

Similar stories emanated from a busy hairdressers off the Buakhao Road. Thai women told us that older men were often incapable of fully intimate relationships. Instead, the women “do a little kissing” and “try to look after them”.

There are those who come here because they feel that they nowhere else to go. When I asked a seventy-something called Les what his family made of him being here, he said, “pass.” Taking a step back he continued, “basically they don’t give a monkey’s (about me). Nobody wants to know me, that why I am here.” He added, “more people care about me here than back in (the) UK.”

While everyone has their own reasons to be in Thailand, what seems certain is that more people will come as the population in the UK rapidly ages (experts predict a 50 per cent increase in the number of over 65s by 2030). It is against this inescapable backdrop that Pattaya becomes an important incubator of new and challenging ideas.

I offer up two as a starting point:

1. That retired people are increasingly unwilling to live their lives in a way that their children and the professional class (doctors, social workers, bureaucrats) consider to be proper and respectable.
2. That European governments, including the UK, should consider exporting retired people to places like Pattaya and thus enable them to live happier, more enjoyable lives (and save taxpayers’ money too).

If the second point sounds far-fetched to you, a number of European MP’s and statutory insurers have already suggested it – and a group of Scandinavian retirees are trying to put the idea into practice.

They have bought themselves a retirement complex on the outskirts of Pattaya and together, they provide themselves with a range of services at a price that would be impossible in their home countries (you can see more of “Scandinavian Village” – including their gruelling gym workouts – in our special report on Channel 4 News).

The vast majority of foreign retirees are on their own however, and when cash-strapped seniors get sick, they run the risk of a quick and uncomfortable end. Britons who run out of money at Pattaya’s slick-looking private hospitals are quickly deposited at the city’s single, over-crowded public institution. The doctors there told us they struggle to provide adequate care.

There is no shortage of over 65s prepared to gamble with their health, and that fact tells us something important about how retirees – and retirement is changing.

There was a time when life over 65 was synonymous with illness and senility – but these days, senior citizens are more inclined to get busy living – even if some people do not happen to approve of the way they do it."

Edited January 4, 2014 by CheshireTom

[MM 6,562]

The Ch 4 blog and the actual movie seems fair and balanced.

 

After all, they are talking about people here that are living primarily on their UK retirement pensions. It's survivable here if you don't get sick...and cheaper.

 

if someone comes here with a monthly stipend and not a lot of savings, they are likely to live in modest rental housing where transportation costs are minimal...Drinking frequently becomes a way to wile away the days and nights and socialize with what friends they have made, simply because they have little else to occupy their time.

 

The report did encounter a large number of these types, mainly because they were accessible and in public locations like the beach and bars. It's the impression I get when I am travelling around town.

 

Are there OAPs that are living a healthy full life on a pittance from the government? There might be, but they aren't ones most encounter. I see old guys riding bicycles around town, staying healthy. Some probably walk for exercise and don't drink.

 

I am sure the examples of clean retirement living are out there somewhere, but where are they? Who are they?

 

Do any of you fit this category?

[yogi100 1,925]

Nearly every one of my chums most of whom are over 50 and are long termers, expats and regular holiday makers in Pattaya live a sensible and well balanced life both in Pattaya and back in their native countries. Most are single by choice but there are several that are in relationships. One or two are teetotal and the rest drink in moderation or to be sociable just as they would in falangland.

 

That video concentrated on fellows with a weakness for strong drink and we all know that they don't last the course in Pattaya. Most if not all 50 odd and 60 odd year olds I've known to expire in Pattaya have been alcoholics. Just like the alkies I've known who have died prematurely back in London where I'm from. Only a fool would attempt to live on a UK state pension in Pattaya and expect to bar hop for any length of time, it's just not possible for anyone in command of his senses, it's just about possible if you don't drink!

 

You'll never see the BBC nor Channel 4 show native born British working class men in a favourable light let alone those who choose to live in places like Pattaya. Just like our politicians the posh middle class toffs who are raking it in at the BBC regard the WWC as just so much shit on the bottom of their shoe. Heaven forbid that a British working man should desert dictatorial Britain and choose to go and live in a tropical paradise like Pattaya.

 

In truth we walk, socialise, swim, play golf if we can afford it, have an occasional trip, go shopping, read, watch TV, do puzzles, cook, go on the internet, download films etc, eat out and visit bars in the evening and sometimes do a bit of entertaining if and when the fancy takes us. The big worry is health. Few have insurance as it is too expensive and has exclusions and some keep a fund for such an eventuality to either pay for it in Pattaya or if you are able to get on a flight home. Sometimes you have to take a chance in life for the sake of your own happiness however brief that happiness may turn out to be.

Edited January 4, 2014 by yogi100

[CheshireTom 1,377]

The Ch 4 blog and the actual movie seems fair and balanced.

 

After all, they are talking about people here that are living primarily on their UK retirement pensions. It's survivable here if you don't get sick...and cheaper.

 

if someone comes here with a monthly stipend and not a lot of savings, they are likely to live in modest rental housing where transportation costs are minimal...Drinking frequently becomes a way to wile away the days and nights and socialize with what friends they have made, simply because they have little else to occupy their time.

 

The report did encounter a large number of these types, mainly because they were accessible and in public locations like the beach and bars. It's the impression I get when I am travelling around town.

 

Are there OAPs that are living a healthy full life on a pittance from the government? There might be, but they aren't ones most encounter. I see old guys riding bicycles around town, staying healthy. Some probably walk for exercise and don't drink.

 

I am sure the examples of clean retirement living are out there somewhere, but where are they? Who are they?

 

Do any of you fit this category?

 

I think that there are probably more than a few who were caught out by the depreciation of the western currencies against the Baht between 2007 and the earlier part of 2013. I'm fairly sure that many would have budgeted at around 65-70 Baht/GBP and felt a huge impact when it dropped below 60, then 50, then 45. Anyone know what the UK pension is nowadays? I know they're talking about 140 quid (or thereabouts) a week in the future ... not exactly a fortune, even in Pattaya.

[CheshireTom 1,377]

Heaven forbid that a British working man should desert dictatorial Britain and choose to go and live in a tropical paradise like Pattaya.

 

And many of those that do would probably cite as one of their primary reasons for doing so as being the number of immigrants setting up home in their local areas back in the UK.

Edited January 4, 2014 by CheshireTom

[MeGoDanceNow 4,281]

 

And many of those that do would probably cite as one of their primary reasons for doing so as being the number of immigrants setting up home in their local areas back in the UK.

 

 

The story does look rather different when I see it in print. Thanks CT.

[jacko 8,766]

I am sure the examples of clean retirement living are out there somewhere, but where are they? Who are they?

 

 

A few of my neighbours would fit into that grouping I think.

 

And their circles of friends.

 

But they don't spend much time in the cheap beer bars, sitting on Beach Rd nor in government hospital.

Edited January 4, 2014 by jacko

[Bushcraft 2,570]

My UK state pension pension has just kicked in, and it's 536 pounds per month (frozen) transferred directly to my bank in Thailand. Could live or rather exist on that here if I absolutely had to, but in the UK? No chance without other sources of income.

[bigmick 840]

My UK state pension pension has just kicked in, and it's 536 pounds per month (frozen) transferred directly to my bank in Thailand. Could live or rather exist on that here if I absolutely had to, but in the UK? No chance without other sources of income.

 

That's a scary number Ron, my parents have a similar pension from the UK government and they struggle hard at times. Just don't seem right after they both worked and "paid in" all of their working lives.

[papillon 695]

Vote UKIP

[spgfcs 57]

I just hope it doesn't get ruined for those of us still 15-25 years away from retirement. Not sure I'd want to stay 365 days a year but could definitely see spending the winter months down there.

[BigDUSA 71]

I just hope it doesn't get ruined for those of us still 15-25 years away from retirement. Not sure I'd want to stay 365 days a year but could definitely see spending the winter months down there.

Biggest problem I see for Americans. Health insurance for when you get older. Medicare doesn't cover you in foreign countries.