shadowofacloud

Hi, It most likely is the SWIFT fee charged by a correspondent bank. I am regularly transferring funds from EU to LA and the correspondent bank costs for amounts around 10k USD are somewhere between 10-15 USD. You may try asking the party sending the funds to change the SWIFT instruction (e.g. to OUR instead of SHA/BEN) and see if this will help - most likeky won't make any difference, the amount will still be deducted at some point of the process. Another option would be to receive the funds into your US account and then use a money transfer service such as Wise for the transfer to Laos - it _might_ be more cost effective.

The land crossing in Nong Khai is planned to reopen on 24.XII on the Thai side. However, so far there was no indication from the Laotian side that this will be reciprocated. There are plans to reopen some parts of the country for vaccinated tourists in 2022, but it looks that initially these will be schemes similar to the Phuket Sandbox. So I wouldn't could on doing visa runs to Laos anytime soon.

Ah, clear skies finally. ????

400 USD paid twice a year for the 10y bond.

The coffee-shop nomad stereotype may be slowly becoming a bit tired. You will of course have the usual group doing gig jobs, living on shoestring, backpacking and working from cafes as they don't really have anywhere else to go, but most will work from co-working spaces etc. And some co-working spaces can be quite plush - check out The Great Room for example: https://thegreatroom.co/coworking-spaces-bangkok/gaysorn-tower/ Personally, I don't like spending too much time around larger groups of people, so I rarely work from cafes. I tend to rent a tad bigger houses/apartments and convert one room into a study. This way I have a clearly defined, separate space used for work, which is quite important for mental well-being.

That's exactly what I am doing. I own a small, but very centrally located apartment in one of the European capitals and renting it out covers a major chunk of the rent I am paying here. Plus the apartment's value appreciates like crazy, so even letting it sit there empty makes sense from an investment perspective. At this stage I definitely prefer to rent in SE Asia. I haven't yet decided if I am going spend the rest of my life here (most likely not) and I like to change houses every year or so.

As someone, who has been working remotely from Thailand since 2016 until end of 2019, when I got a bit tired of the whole visa mess and moved to a neighboring country, I would really need just one thing: a long-term, multi-entry visa that allows you to work remotely from the Kingdom. The 10y visa proposed a few months back would be just fine, provided it's finally implemented. I don't mind the requirements, most people in my line of work (sr sw engineers), won't have any problems meeting them. It's really simple - just implement the visa, publicize it a little bit, and people will start flowing in. Not sure if I would come back for good, but would get the visa just in case.

Here is one! More of digital expat, but the underlying concept is the same.

Get whatever jab you can get ASAP if you are not vaccinated yet. Get any booster you can get ASAP if you are fully vaccinated. Sitting out there unprotected, waiting for the "good" vaccine to arrive, while the virus mutates freely, is an imbecilic strategy.

*paid semi-annually, obviously, sorry.

Blurring out the personal details and the bar code might be a good idea.

I suggest asking on the Expat Laos FB group.

Interest calculated (and paid) per annum, not capitalized. You can also find USD term deposits that will pay around 7,5% pa for a 5y tenor. Much easier to liquidate. Check, for instance, what Indochina Bank has to offer.

I've ordered one of the mid-range Irontecs - should get it within the next few days. Will share initial impressions and some more long-term reviews.

Thank you very much! Exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. I've got a belt for HR, so no worries here.