On Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:28:54 +0000, Larry wrote:

Bruce In Bangkok wrote in
:

Girls.....Girls.....My wife doesn't allow me to talk with strange
women so I can't comment on today's costs but memories from years ago
indicate that they can be a fairly expensive addition to one's life
style.
Cheers,



Thanks for the information. Girls in the USA are also high-dollar, high
maintenance items.....like owning an Italian 250' motor yacht and
running the engines a lot.....

In short, I could live quite well on 32K baht/month. My retirement goes
straight to my bank account, which is available anywhere. The more life
costs, here, the more I think it would be better to live elsewhere. I
suppose there's also some socialized medicine available if they found me
unconcious, about the only way to get me into a doctor's office. I am
the child of medical establishment hypocondriacs. Both my parents lived
for their next doctor visit. It's all they talked about since they were
45.

Well, there are some thistles in paradise.

No socialized medicine for foreigners. Thais have the 30 baht medical
scheme (30 baht per visit to the doctor for all medical service and
medicine) and free medical care after 65.

They don't want any lay-abouts so in order to get a resident permit
you need to lodge 800,000 baht in a Thai bank.

No credit from Thai sources. To get a Thai credit card you need to
post a security bond of several times the monthly maximum for the
card.

Language. The vast majority of Thais do not speak a foreign language.
I have a mate in a public hospital about 200 Km. away that is calling
me to come and help him.. Nobody in the hospital speaks English and as
he was injured in a highway crash (broken ribs and bleeding into the
thoracic cavity) he is worried and no one can tell him what his
condition is...He want ms to come over and translate what the doctor
is telling him.

But the girls are nice; or were when I was younger...

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)