If you're retired military, you can get a P.O. box at Jusmag, an american
military facility in Bangkok, get your mail U.S. post office all the way,
also, use the commisary at the embassy. There is a VFW post here in
Bangkok, also in Phnom Penh.

In Pattaya you can rent a 40 square meter apartment for between 9,000 and
12,000 baht a month,
about $200 and $275. You can also rent a two bedroom house for 9,000, or
three bedroom two story for 12,000. I would suggest an apartment, you can
only sit in one chair at a time. It's a little bit of an adjustment, I
moved to a 360 square foot apartment from a 3600 square foot house on 50
acres with a 15'x75' 45,000 gal pool behind it. I felt strange for awhile,
but adjusted.

If you don't hang out in bars, don't throw money at women, listen to their
lies, feel sorry for them, you can live, and well, for $1,000 a month. It
costs $150 to fly to Phnom Penh, then $15-$40 a day for hotel, $20 for
meals, $20+ for girls, $20 for taxi. Figure about $100 a day for a great
time. You don't want to live in Cambodia.

I would seriously suggest trying 3-6 months here first, before you make an
irrevocable move. Travelling here and living here are two very different
things. 3-6 months is enough time to come to hate the Thais, and wish you
were somewhere else. You have no idea how fucked up these people are, how
much they hate us, all the scams they pull to get your money, all the ways
they snub you to show you they're better than you.

I'm not disrespecting the fact that you're older than me, but at your age,
it's hard to make adjustments, it was hard for me, and it's stressful.
Motorists here do not respect pedestrians, sidewalks are blocked and
obstructed, people burn trash and brush, loud noise is a night time
constant just about everywhere. Complete strangers sneer at you and call
you farang (barbarian). These people are primitive, savage, greedy,
insolent and surly.

You might want to consider staying where you are and taking trips to Phnom
Penh. I think it's possibe to book a berth on a freighter, more expensive
but not as wearying as a plane flight, and ships always have great food,
check www.freighterworld.com. Get out of the house longer, enjoy the sea
air.

Believe me, the Thais are constantly trying to take advantage of every
foreigner, and will use force or intimidation against seniors. There are
girls that go around and knock on apartment doors, once you get on their
list. Convinient at times, but they will knock anytime they need money,
3pm or 3am. If you crack the door to see who is there, they will push in,
refuse to leave, raid your ice box, come in with their friends, sit around
and smoke amphetamines in your room, take advantage of you in every way.
They will pull tricks to get out of your sight, go through your stuff so
fast their hands blur, steal anything they find.

You don't want to put your money in a Thai bank

Medicare doesn't pay in foreign countries.

Life over here can be boring, after you get your fill of sex. You will be
giving up facilities and product availability that you take for granted.

In Thailand, always draw money from a person, not an atm. If there's a
problem they say they have to have 90 days to check things out, then
another 90 days, you never get your money back. Thais are corrupt, they
have no morals, no ethics.

If you're here, and need dollars for Phnom Penh, you can get them with your
passport and airplane ticket. $1's, $5's, $10's, and $20's are what you
want for Phnom Penh.

"By the way, is Koh Chang not as good as P.P.. it' would be a little closer,
and can you renew your visa in Koh..........?"

I haven't been there, but from what I read, it's downscale from Phnom Penh,
i'm not sure if you can fly, and the land trip is a drudgery. You can't
get a new visa there.

Don't hesitate to get in touch if there's anything you need. If you decide
to move here, on a trial, I hope, i'll help you find an apartment, and try
to tell you how to avoid being taken by the Thais, too much to write down.

Why I advise caution on moving to Thailand permanently, is, that it is
radically different living here, and a real adjustment. When I got here, I
met a german expat of some years, he asked me how long I would be staying,
i said '2 years at least', he said 'long enough to learn to hate it'.
Which actually took about 6 months. I would move somewhere else in a heart
beat, if I could find better conditions. There aren't many places, really,
and i've looked in the philippines and bali, they were both worse than
Thailand. Thailand has good weather, low cost of living and adequate
facilities, but the majority of the people are assholes, primitives two
steps out of the trees. They are stupid, loud and drunken. They are
totally inconsiderate of others, especially in regards to how they drive
vehicles and relate to pedestrians. They burn trash, litter, obstruct
pathways. They look at foreigners as money cows to be milked dry and
discarded. The whores are mechanical vampires. Lying and stealing are
cultural traditions, as natural as breathing. Encountering all this can be
a real cultural shock, and depressing if you've cut all your ties to your
former residence and are 'stuck' here.

Women are black holes, they suck up all your time, money, energy. They're
always looking for someone to carry their load, someone to fix all the
problems they cause themselves. Their only coin of exchange is pussy, and
they're masters at inferring, but with-holding, their participation in sex.
Everyone chooses their own path, everyone must deal with the consequences
of their actions.

"Being responsible for someone else's happiness is one of the seven sure
paths to misery".

You can't help your co worker, you can't fix her problems, you can only
waste your own time and energy, maybe get involved in what she's created,
or with an angry husband who see's you as interferring. You stand close to
her, you feel her warmth, you feel sympathetic, you're being drawn into her
morass. And you're not even getting to fuck her for your efforts.

Women are masters at guilt trips, drawing you in and then saying 'well, if
you don't want to help me'. Fuck them. Disengage from this woman, be
polite, don't waste time being her therapist, listening to long recitals of
her woes. It won't profit you at all, ever.

Yesterday, I had a tech come out to see about replacing the freezer
door, which I had ripped off, and while he was looking at the
refrigerator, he pushed the 'auto defrost' button, without any
thought of what this was going to do to the 3 kilos of frozen
blueberries I had in the freezer. I get up this morning, there's
blue water all over the floor and inside of the refrigerator.

It's like Thais are incapable of multi-task processing. They only see
the immediate concept, don't look beyond. They see a parking space,
head for it, are unable to deal with a pedestrian being between them
and the space. Once they think 'I go there', slowing down or
stopping are not options.

They see money 'just sitting there',
scotty beams it to their pocket. 16 billion baht in
developement funds missing from alphatec? "I don't know, it must
be an accounting mistake". It never occurs to them someone might
miss the money. "Never mind, foreign investor send more".

Sometimes I get so frustrated dealing with the effects of their
stupidity, I could just scream. What the fuck am I doing in this
country?

I cant quite believe any place is as bad as you described though im sure theres truth in all youve said. Since youre so miserable have you decided to leave for sure? Perhaps you should try Latin America? There will always be the hustlers, bad drivers, and noise or whatever but Ive met tons of ex-pats living in Costa Rica and they all seem to be quite happy. Ive only spent a total of about a month there but ive dealt with bankers, doctors, store owners etc, etc and to be honest ive found them to be more pleasant than their counterparts here in the states.

As far as price goes CR seems to be right on par with Thailand perhaps just a tad more expensive. But as far as conveniences go I cant really think of much difference between there and the states if youre not too picky. Ive spent time at a couple expat homes (albeit in somewhat more upscale areas by CR standards) and found them to be right on par with US standards. Hell, there are nice quiet country like places in the mountains only about 25 minutes from downtown.

Not sure its an answer but any change sounds like it would be an improvement for you.

Hombre,

I understand what you're saying and it is sad but true for most Thais living in big cities.

There is another segment of the population that are quite upper crust. Check out the Foreign Corrrespondants club or the local Rotary clubs.

There are some people with class who are quite wealthy if you can get into the circles.

I was fortunate to marry a woman who was a sales
executive with Mercedes Benz of Bangkok. We plan to retire someday in Hua Hin. Beleive me the rich thais are a different animal all together.

I saw the side you speak of but later got to see the other side. Numerous embassy parties and luxory penthouses and yatchs.

I actually prefer the in your face, raw style that exists in much of Asia as long as you can insulate yourself from it at will.

I think So. Cal. sucks except for the weather and geography. The people are basically phonies and bullshit and are as selfish as any urban Thai but the packaging is nicer.

It really is all about getting connected.

Check out this German guy, I forget his name, I think it's Dietrich,but he runs a book store for collectable and rare books in the Bangna area called White Lotus and I beleive he's got a web site as well.

He knows everyone (and is a real monger) and will be happy to show you the other side.

I posted this for Km11fan as noted in the title of this thread.

? :-)

"It's like Thais are incapable of multi-task processing."

Haha. I'm not sure of that. There have been some major police crackdowns in my area on fraud where the names of the crooks are all Thai. Maybe what you are seeing are just the poorly educated people. Hanging around rednecks in this country would probably be just as frustrating.