LOS alternative

[soleddy]

Thailand was great in the 80s and even 90s. Now it is very expensive--because my GBP has reduced so much+the 220b atm fee. In parallel, my teacher's salary is exactly what it was in 2004.

The Thais are enigmatic. Some are very nice people, especially away from BKK, but there is always a hidden undercurrent. We are often resented (a fluent friend is a mole in the staff room) and sometimes ripped off. We are always considered as mobile ATMs, but this is part-cultural (an older man always pays dinner and eventually pays for mother's new kitchen)--I hate it but it is expected. Thais pay dowries and pay for mother's bunions. The kids are the worst to teach, of all the countries I know. Lazy and rude.

 

Nobody has mentioned Malaysia very much in this set of posts. I love Malaysia but there seems to be no halfway-house for visas. MM2H means you have to pay shedloads of cash, or if you hold a UK Passport you can return every 90 days for years (a friend of mine did this for ten yrs). I didn't believe the 90 day thing at first, but three people incl Malays have told me that you can hop in and out for years if you are UK white (but all Indians seem to get stopped). Although wine and beer costs more when I go to KL, a 5-star hotel seems cheaper, and computer stuff is certainly cheaper. Rents in central KL are very high, and even studios can cost over 30,000b/month. However, the the latest round of 800,000 rubbish, I am getting sorely tempted.

 

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

But, if staying longer in a place with a kitchen, you can find all the ingredients for good food (including Thai style) in the open-air markets.

Slightly off topic,

Always surprised at the number of foreigners who can't cook and price food from restaurants and fast food outlets.

[Cryingdick]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Slightly off topic,

Always surprised at the number of foreigners who can't cook and price food from restaurants and fast food outlets.

Often times they also lack the facilities to cook. One room studios with a single burner hot plate and a fridge just big enough to fit a case of Chang with no room to spare.

[Old Croc]

A good mate of mine from Australia is currently on a visit to Viet.

Some insights from his emails:

 

"Vung Tau (Vt)

Full of Aussies and the odd pommy and an old Texan I had a yack with after dinner the other night. Not too many young foreigners here - grey heads everywhere. Although the huge majority are Viets. If I go strolling away from the cafe/bar type area u see no foreigners at all. 

I met this little piece of fluff, in a coffee shop on Wednesday  (snip)

Don't fall out of yr chair - she's 27!

(snip)

I said to her Honey I'm sixty bloody 5 going on 66 - im no good for you, she just says I think you good man! I'm embarrassed walking down the street with her ????. She doesn't care, hanging onto my arm etc, kissing me now and again. Looks wise she is seriously up there. Of course the sob stories have come out - mum is sick, I need a motorbike. I have given her a couple of hundred, I don't mind helping her out a bit really. 

Apart from her - this joint is full of gorgeous little shielas. 

It's very laid back - not congested at all. the taxi drivers do about 40kph and so do 90% of the motorbikes. Right on the ocean. Very pleasant weather, cool breeze every day. 

Quite a few old farts I've spoken to are ex Thailand/Cambodia - they all reckon it's great here in Vt."

…….……………………………………….

 

I asked a few basic questions about expat living:

 

"Yes Vt is good. Very pleasant weather this time of year. You can get a 1 year work visa without much drama apparently - apart from that its short term stays, but I think there is a 3 month vv available. Some dispute on the motorbike Lic issue but a pommy fella told me if u have that class of Lic back home they will just give you a local Lic. My buddy has his teeth done here, and gets eye injections here for macular 

Apparently you can get reasonable digs here from under $250pm with electric on top."

[Mac98]

Nobody ever mentions Taiwan. Why?

[rumak]

paraguay,uraguay,istanbul,india,afghanistan ?........good morning vietnam, cambodia, brazil,mexico, costa rica,

pretty rita, slovakia, head spinning, so much whinging....

GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ACROSS THE BORDER.......  let me know when you get there, the cost of a lawn mower

[Boon Mee]

15 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

Uruguay. Seriously. Check it out.

Extremely expensive. 

Southern Brazil a better alternative. 

[GalaxyMan]

Before you consider Malaysia, you better find out what it's like to live in a Muslim country. It's certainly not for everyone.

[soleddy]

Mac has a good point. Taiwan is on my list. The people seem nice (and not uncouth like some of the mainland Chinese). I met a guy who is doing his MBA here in BKK: he was kind and pleasant. I'm not sure about all the other bits I need to know, like is it expensive? Are they pushy? etc

[soleddy]

Malaysia is very secular, nothing like being in Saudi. It has to be because it is only 75% Moslem, with Chinese malays 20% and Indians the other 5% (very rough figures). I'm going for Xmas, my 15th holiday there, so I do know a fair bit. I can drink as much as I want to...but there is a separate part in the supermarket for Ham and Pork Pies.

[Russell17au]

Australia has a website for retirees and it is called YourLifesChoice and this morning I received my subscription copy and 1 of the articles is

The 8 Best Countries To Move To For Retirement:

1: Costa Rica

2: Mexico

3: Panama

4: Ecuador

5: Malaysia

6: Colombia

7: Portugal

8: Nicaragua

 

That is the list of the 8 countries and there is only 1 Asian country listed.

 

[Cryingdick]

4 minutes ago, soleddy said:

Mac has a good point. Taiwan is on my list. The people seem nice (and not uncouth like some of the mainland Chinese). I met a guy who is doing his MBA here in BKK: he was kind and pleasant. I'm not sure about all the other bits I need to know, like is it expensive? Are they pushy? etc

From what I know it isn't expensive. I visited before and found it reasonable. Not sure they hand out easy visas. English levels not too great. Heard they speak Japanese but that was just a few older people here and there so couldn't use that either.

 

I enjoyed my visit but wouldn't consider living there. The weather can also be quite dreary. Not sure if you can easily find an 18 year old willing to marry an old dude. Don't remember the beer so it must not have been too good.

[Cryingdick]

11 minutes ago, soleddy said:

Mac has a good point. Taiwan is on my list. The people seem nice (and not uncouth like some of the mainland Chinese). I met a guy who is doing his MBA here in BKK: he was kind and pleasant. I'm not sure about all the other bits I need to know, like is it expensive? Are they pushy? etc

No Taiwanese people are nothing like mainlanders. 

[JackThompson]

On Malaysia:

 

37 minutes ago, soleddy said:

or if you hold a UK Passport you can return every 90 days for years (a friend of mine did this for ten yrs). I didn't believe the 90 day thing at first, but three people incl Malays have told me that you can hop in and out for years if you are UK white (but all Indians seem to get stopped).

A couple years ago, it was 7-days out before return and "no problem."  Some say that isn't enough, any more - but more recent first-hand reports would be good to have. 

 

7 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

Before you consider Malaysia, you better find out what it's like to live in a Muslim country. It's certainly not for everyone.

... and, yes, there is that.  At least Penang has a large Buddhist contingent - but the friction is ever-present, and could always boil-over.  My goal is to avoid "multi-cultural" nations, which are inherently unstable - with policies driven by ethnic-bloc tensions - each vying for power-over the other(s).  The best locations are where there is a solid majority who doesn't feel threatened.

[KittenKong]

Many comments in this topic about 90 days here and 6 months there, and back-to-back ins and outs, but as a retiree I would really only be interested in moving somewhere that offers a minimum of 12 months continuous stay, easily extendable, which Thailand does for a very small cost (1900B/year).

 

I am not going to buy and furnish another condo, and move my stuff to it, unless I know that I can live in it for at least 10 years.

 

So for me places like Vietnam, attractive as they are, are limited to short-term holiday destinations when I want to get away from Songkran for example. If I could easily drive there in my own car from Thailand, without insane border paperwork and fees, then I would probably go to these places much more often.

[Dazinoz]

A website www.numbeo.com can be helpful sometimes in comparing cities in which to live.

 

[mokwit]

18 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Many comments in this topic about 90 days here and 6 months there, and back-to-back ins and outs, but as a retiree I would really only be interested in moving somewhere that offers a minimum of 12 months continuous stay, easily extendable, which Thailand does for a very small cost (1900B/year).

 

I am not going to buy and furnish another condo, and move my stuff to it, unless I know that I can live in it for at least 10 years.

 

So for me places like Vietnam, attractive as they are, are limited to short-term holiday destinations when I want to get away from Songkran for example. If I could easily drive there in my own car from Thailand, without insane border paperwork and fees, then I would probably go to these places much more often.

Couldn't agree more - also when we had the hot season that continued into the rainy season I looked (via internet) at other countries and came to the conclusion that Thailand on balance offers the best trade offs. I mean 1 yr visa actual processing took me 20 minutes last time - contrast that with other countries - read about Colombia sending you back to home country to get some further things done by Colombian embassy there. For now Thailand but I don't want to be in the situation some are on here being maybe in their eighties with house sold back home and can't now meet requirements. I don't believe it will be possible to live in LOS 30 yrs from now unless you meet new extremely stringent requirements, so LT I am looking at somehwere which amongst other things offers easy citizenship.

 

Going from memory:

 

Indonesia - retirement deal is insane they specify size of rental. number of staff you must employ etc.

 

Vietnam - if you have to check with an agent for 'current visa situation' that surely tells you about  the long term situation, Cambodia like wise has been tightening up.

 

Colombia/Costa Rica - on eof the two ONLY accepts govt pension 3x local minimum wage so only for max US SS recipients (CR I think). Other (Colombia I think) will accept private pension also if from e.g. IBM GE type company (yeah, for now). Digging deeper on web boards found talk of anything not bolted down and many tghings that were get stolen etc

 

Brazil will accept e.g. bond coupons blue chip dividend (for now) of value something like 26k PA - Albeit years ago but even e.g. Fortaleza - good night time beach scene but don't risk walking to and from it. Big cities worse - got followed by two guys one of them huge in Manaus - convinced them there were easier pickings - they were waiting for me to leave a lit Plaza.

 

Portugal - once you are pretty much settled tax kicks ion - it is tax free only at first.

 

Others similar

 

Advice base on 20 + years of watching things get tighter for us* : Don't burn your bridges, don't assume Thailand will do the 'right' thing for expats (but in fairness they have e.g grandfathered in those whose retirement requirement was eg 200k).

*albeit by enforcing regulations to the letter and simply stopping abuses like pooled funds for 800k or turning 1 yr NON O/B inside out for 12 month stay/12x1 month border hops.

 

 

[Jingthing]

Australia has a website for retirees and it is called YourLifesChoice and this morning I received my subscription copy and 1 of the articles is

The 8 Best Countries To Move To For Retirement:

1: Costa Rica
2: Mexico
3: Panama
4: Ecuador
5: Malaysia
6: Colombia
7: Portugal
8: Nicaragua
 
That is the list of the 8 countries and there is only 1 Asian country listed.
 

Nicaragua is out for several years from now. Political violence. Expats have fled.

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[Guderian]

1 hour ago, Mac98 said:

Nobody ever mentions Taiwan. Why?

I met a British guy on an EVA flight to London a while back who was married to a Taiwanese lady and living in Taipei. He wasn't exactly full of enthusiasm, said it was alright living there but he seemed more interested in finding out about Walking Street in Pattaya than extolling the virtues of life in Taiwan. He said that the locals were OK but it was often clear that they didn't really want a foreigner living among them. I got a pretty clear impression that if he hadn't been married to a Chinese he'd have been on a plane to elsewhere PDQ.

[melvinmelvin]

How is Ecuador re crime these days?

 

[cleverman]

2 hours ago, soleddy said:

Thailand was great in the 80s and even 90s. Now it is very expensive--because my GBP has reduced so much+the 220b atm fee. In parallel, my teacher's salary is exactly what it was in 2004.

The Thais are enigmatic. Some are very nice people, especially away from BKK, but there is always a hidden undercurrent. We are often resented (a fluent friend is a mole in the staff room) and sometimes ripped off. We are always considered as mobile ATMs, but this is part-cultural (an older man always pays dinner and eventually pays for mother's new kitchen)--I hate it but it is expected. Thais pay dowries and pay for mother's bunions. The kids are the worst to teach, of all the countries I know. Lazy and rude.

 

Nobody has mentioned Malaysia very much in this set of posts. I love Malaysia but there seems to be no halfway-house for visas. MM2H means you have to pay shedloads of cash, or if you hold a UK Passport you can return every 90 days for years (a friend of mine did this for ten yrs). I didn't believe the 90 day thing at first, but three people incl Malays have told me that you can hop in and out for years if you are UK white (but all Indians seem to get stopped). Although wine and beer costs more when I go to KL, a 5-star hotel seems cheaper, and computer stuff is certainly cheaper. Rents in central KL are very high, and even studios can cost over 30,000b/month. However, the the latest round of 800,000 rubbish, I am getting sorely tempted.

 

There isn't the bar scene like LOS.there are cheaper places in KL to live. I think your wrong about having to leave every 90 days. Gunna check it out after Xmas trip back to Oz. 

[cleverman]

49 minutes ago, mokwit said:

Couldn't agree more - also when we had the hot season that continued into the rainy season I looked (via internet) at other countries and came to the conclusion that Thailand on balance offers the best trade offs. I mean 1 yr visa actual processing took me 20 minutes last time - contrast that with other countries - read about Colombia sending you back to home country to get some further things done by Colombian embassy there. For now Thailand but I don't want to be in the situation some are on here being maybe in their eighties with house sold back home and can't now meet requirements. I don't believe it will be possible to live in LOS 30 yrs from now unless you meet new extremely stringent requirements, so LT I am looking at somehwere which amongst other things offers easy citizenship.

 

Going from memory:

 

Indonesia - retirement deal is insane they specify size of rental. number of staff you must employ etc.

 

Vietnam - if you have to check with an agent for 'current visa situation' that surely tells you about  the long term situation, Cambodia like wise has been tightening up.

 

Colombia/Costa Rica - on eof the two ONLY accepts govt pension 3x local minimum wage so only for max US SS recipients (CR I think). Other (Colombia I think) will accept private pension also if from e.g. IBM GE type company (yeah, for now). Digging deeper on web boards found talk of anything not bolted down and many tghings that were get stolen etc

 

Brazil will accept e.g. bond coupons blue chip dividend (for now) of value something like 26k PA - Albeit years ago but even e.g. Fortaleza - good night time beach scene but don't risk walking to and from it. Big cities worse - got followed by two guys one of them huge in Manaus - convinced them there were easier pickings - they were waiting for me to leave a lit Plaza.

 

Portugal - once you are pretty much settled tax kicks ion - it is tax free only at first.

The indo probs. you mentioned are easy got around with an agent, like one years rent, medical ins etc. 

Others similar

 

Advice base on 20 + years of watching things get tighter for us* : Don't burn your bridges, don't assume Thailand will do the 'right' thing for expats (but in fairness they have e.g grandfathered in those whose retirement requirement was eg 200k).

*albeit by enforcing regulations to the letter and simply stopping abuses like pooled funds for 800k or turning 1 yr NON O/B inside out for 12 month stay/12x1 month border hops.

 

 

 

[cleverman]

1 hour ago, GalaxyMan said:

Before you consider Malaysia, you better find out what it's like to live in a Muslim country. It's certainly not for everyone.

Not a problem, I've spent a year in Yogyakata,only one person wasn't very nice towards infidels.

[Jingthing]

How is Ecuador re crime these days?
 

Well I read the Cuenca expat media and crime isn't a big subject.

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[BritManToo]

17 minutes ago, cleverman said:

There isn't the bar scene like LOS

You're wrong, they just call them, gyms, sports bars and nightclubs attached to hotels.

Jakarta is full of them.

[melvinmelvin]

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Well I read the Cuenca expat media and crime isn't a big subject.

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must have improved a lot over the past 10-15 years then, good

 

[cleverman]

9 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You're wrong, they just call them, gyms, sports bars and nightclubs attached to hotels.

Jakarta is full of them.

No I'm not. I said like LOS. I've been there many times. 

[mokwit]

Presumably Bloc M or whatever it was called got closed? There was also Tanamorn or whatever it was called (apparently).

[Jingthing]

16 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

must have improved a lot over the past 10-15 years then, good

 

It depends on the location. Quito and Guayaquil are still considered higher risk.

[merlen10002]

The Malasian MM2H is just a tad more expensive than Thailand, must have 78,701.95 Bath (10,000 MYR)income per month and put in 2,753,486.57 Bath (350,000 MYR) , Malaysian ladies are very different to Thai ladies very different mind set, Alcohol is frowned on it is a Muslim country.  and Malaysia have four classes of people, Malay 1, Chinese's 2 , Indian 3 and last of all old Farang unless you are a rich Farang, then why would you be in Thailand or Malaysia ???? Anyone that had a problem with getting Embassy letter for income would not have the money to live in Malaysia.