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"Good to go." - This Marine approves! Newly subscribed and making our move there soon. Thank you. 🫡🙏

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Great video! What is your size of your downsize house? It brings back memories of our downsize house on the mountain in Photos an upon Province.

we also looked gated community homes in Udon Thani, few potential problems: This video confirms my suspicions that foundations and posts of these homes are just too cheap and too thin, these homes will have significant wall cracks if not major wall cracks. These home are built cheaply with very nice finishes., and then you wonder why some Thais drive some very expensive cars such as Porsche Panameras a 250 thousand dollar car and here is your answer; cheaply built home sold for 200-500 thousand dollars; profit = 50% or more. Another danger that you buy into an all-thai HOA., most of Thais who buy such expensive houses borrow extensively from banks after selling a family farm for the down payment and when financial hardship comes along then you as a farang will be expected to cover for most of the costs of HOA maintenance and fees, you will not be told that it is expected of you but fees will be raised on you and they will prepare fraudulent receipts to show you that others pay the same higher amounts. OR better yet a special assessment to fix a sinking swimming pool, and again fraudulent receipts will be produced to show that others paid as well, and the proceeds from your special assessment will be used to help with mortgage for a cousin or a brother who lives in the same community where the HOA boss is ruling over you, and that HOA boss brother will be praised throughout the entire family for saving his brother or cousin from loosing their home for which 5 generational farm was sold for the down payment. And You as a farang certainly will not be on the board. Thailand is a beautiful country, really good schools, we moved here with our daughter, my cousin is moving here with his 3 kids. Build your own house or buy from another farang, avoid HOAs like fire.

Not sure about Thailand but in South Asia it's also disrespectful to give or receive something with your left hand. Which led me to wonder, when receiving the Wai from a child and you extend your palm, should it be your right hand or will either do? Secondly on the cutlery, that's also standard European etiquette. Angled apart if you're just resting the utensils for a moment, next to each other and placed at 5 o'clock to indicate you have finished. 7 o'clock will do but 5 is the norm. Also, and this again may be different in Thailand, the utensils are never stacked but placed beside each other.

thanks

Thank you!

That was sweet. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Hugh. You presented the information clearly with every stage of the build covered in simple but precise language. This is exactly what I hoped to find on TH-cam.

Fascistic guide I learned a lot thank you

Whereabouts Thailand are you living? Nice to see all the nature around you.

Paying the agent for not doing their job - shouldn't you have been notified by them of the rule change? 90 day reporting is now available online so there's another easy one to do yourself. The Immigration office has an appointment system in place that works perfectly so there's no long waits necessary. Takes me less than 20 minutes to process my annual extension and I save the +/-$200 agent fee.

Thanks for the video Hugh. I'm having my colonoscopy tomorrow and I'm just in the middle of my prep. Here's my tip for anyone doing this for the first time (this is my third). Take a big mouthful of the laxative, hold your nose and swallow (taste is hindered if you can't smell) and then immediately take a big mouthful of ice cold Sprite/lemonade. It's so much easier. I finished the laxative in just a few minutes. Then it's just the two litres of water to drink. 👍

Beautiful video I wish I saw before I took classes in Thai, I always felt robbed a little lol like that's just our word fucked up 555

How much work was the build of your sceptic field?

This was very interesting and informative. Nicely done too. Thanks

Thanks

The online teachers (YT) vary enormously, i have yet to find a YT teacher i can connect with, a Thai friend wouldn't teach me as she had no patience, yet she can speak 5 languages. Please leave any info in your description ie Books Authors etc. Thanks.

Can you be on an extended vacation and vote here?

I like to explain to Thais that it’s not natural for men to wave at people like that because only ladyboys wave like that where I come from every chance I get. lol

Thanks, Hugh! Really nice memory!

Great information, you mentioned to do a wai back to anyone who does a wai to you. As if it were a high 5 🖐🏻 What about if the person is female? Or what about if the person is in a service position, male or female and for example you’ve just bought some food items from their stall and they do a wai I ask this because one of my issues was that I was sometimes too polite and made it a little awkward because then the other person may of felt they had to be extra polite But I thought it’s better to be too polite than rude when learning the culture For example I was saying ครับ too much even with friends, and even in text message conversations 😅

Nice job, Hugh! What, by the way, is the 'yuppy 1516'.

Did you just say you are 78 years old? Probably the youngest looking 78 year old I’ve ever seen. Congratulations Fantastic content also 👍🏻

Excellent video. Much appreciated. Thank you. 🙏🏻

That was great. Thanks for sharing. (I'm not even going to mention the misspelled word. I'll show compassion to the world.)

😎❤

Amazing content, keep it up!

Dude, I love your videos, but you gotta tighten up your writing. You don't get to Step One until 2.5 minutes into this. That's far too much introduction for a seven-minute video.

The Thais liking comfort food is resulting in more over weight Thais.

Your video was rich in good anecdotal advice about time of day, staying hydrated, cooling before attempting sleep..., but the issues are indeed serious. Some of your advice is wrong during conditions of high heat and humidity. (e.g. cold liquid confuses our internal thermostats, Cool is refreshing without making your body think it need not sweat.) I had posted this link to the CNN article, noting: CNN posts this: "While some people are more vulnerable to heat than others, including the very old and young, no one is immune - not even the world’s top athletes. Many are expressing anxiety as temperatures are forecast to soar past 95 degrees this week in Paris, as the Olympic Games get underway." After reporting how heat affects our skin, heart and brain: "Heatstroke happens when your body can’t use its usual tricks to cool down, like sweating and increasing blood flow to your skin, leading to a catastrophic rise in core temperature. Once your internal body temperature starts to climb above 104 Fahrenheit, which can happen within 10 to 20 minutes of exposure, “you’re moving toward death, and it can creep up on you very, very quickly,” said Bailey. " Near the bottom of the article is an animation as to what places will become uninhabitable without AC (unavailable to many, so expect mass migration too) "Heat already kills an estimated 489,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, but the real toll could be higher because heat-related deaths are so hard to track." • edition.cnn.com/2024/07/29/climate/heat-survivability-health-death-intl/index.html Back to what concerned me about cold drinks during high heat. The world is changing, getting seasonally hotter and power grids are going to be stressed more, fail more often. In such future events, opening the fridge to extract a cold drink would not be your best strategy. It certainly is not the optimal way to avoid heatstroke when temperatures are 44ºC (111ºF) The reason is that evaporation (primarily sweating) sucks away far more (5.4 times as much) heat energy than warming cold water in your body, so you need to keep the sweat process functioning, not turn it off by cold water in the stomach. Remember that people die from diseases when their fever gets too high. The same 40ºC (104ºF) that kills from disease is the same internal limit that kills by heat stroke. A damp towel over the head or around the back of the neck is what people need to do if their surroundings are too hot for too long. With such, a fan or a breeze helps greatly. Adding water externally to your T-shirt reduces the stress of sweating - conserving electrolytes. The advice varies by the severity of the heat and humidity. But, even a healthy young athletic person will still die if their body can't shed its metabolic heat and their core temperature gets to a killer fever level.

Turn the air on if you are hot. Isn't it obvious.

I wear long sleeves and long pants to avoid sunburn plus a hat. More clothes may be hotter but it's better than sun burn or sun stroke. The Thailand golf caddies are covered head to toe. They don't want to turn dark even though they tan well. As a fair skin foreigner the sun is my enemy. The Asian respect for the sun was obvious my first trip to Thailand over 30 years ago when most locals on the street used umbrellas to protect them from the sun. Umbrellas in Thailand are just as popular without rain. I use a big golf umbrella in Thailand on sunny days when I'm out doors.

Incredible Video Hugh !! John K sent this video to us and I really enjoyed your explanation of it all. I had a colonoscopy at 60 and now, at almost 72, I am due for another but keep putting it off. The procedure is nothing but the prep, as you mentioned, is a real bother but hey, it is definitely worth doing it ! Thanks for a super job ! P.S. Where you live looks wonderful. Would love to visit you someday. Chris P -- BOARDSII team member

Great information. Your homeland always remains as such no matter where you live

"My Thai Colonoscopy." Now THERE'S a video destined to go viral! The world has been waiting for this. Next up: "Foot Fungus in Cambodia: An Update."

had my colonoscopy checked and cataract removable earlier this year. glad you are ok, god bless you and auntie

I ve had two done one in the USA and another one here in Thailand . Here I used the government hospital two weeks wait one night stay in private room , Hang Dong Hospital total cost was 5000 baht ...

Had mine done just recently. When I went in to get the test results he asked me if I wanted the good news or the bad news. I nervously replied, the good news. He said the good news is there is no bad news. A doctor with a sense of humor. 😆 lol 2 polyps, 2mm size was all he found. Removed them and pathology showed them as benign.

What is the name of the hospital.

My Thai wife garden only grows edible plants and trees.

Wow. You must be a DR follower.😆 Well done!

Good budgeting no matter what people are aiming for

At the end, I appreciate you mentioning the quality work of immigration office there today. I imagine as an expat, you've got to be very familiar and friendly with immigration office staff.

New subscriber! I'm not yet ready to retire, but your checklist here about retirement is very helpful. 50 years in Thailand --- that's amazing! I'll definitely be watching your other videos. I'll be visiting CM next week. Would you be open to meeting up for lunch to chat with a CM newbiei (Note: not some weirdo, just a Californian looking for future options.) Thanks for considering it, Hugh. 🙏🏾

cool i stayed with a u.k friend 2 weeks living in the village just outside si thep national park 5 years ago..looks the same in the park its very well maintained and beautiful..walked there many times and driven scooter around there

If I may, you don't need the photos of De Niro or Niven or the mean streets. You don't need to mention Scorsese. That stuff doesn't add anything and distracts the audience from the story you're trying to tell. Ditto text lines like "Taiwan." It makes no difference to your story whether the guy went on to China or Taiwan. You're telling a story about explosive diarrhea in a stranger's bathroom. The awkwardness. The shame. The stench. Where the guy's next job was has nothing to do with that. And so what if somebody Googles the guy and says in the comment section, "Hey! You got it wrong!" That guy is going to be your most loyal viewer because he got to call you out and you thanked him for his comment. The text just pulls the viewer out of your story. What makes your presentation unique (at least in this genre) is that you tell the stories in one take. That's awesome. You'd be hard pressed to find anybody else doing that in Thailand. So don't cut away to photos of movie stars. Just tell your story into the camera and focus on narrative technique. For instance, pick a cause for the diarrhea: was it the chilies or was it food poisoning? Pick one. Doesn't matter which one you pick, both work for the story. But saying it was both makes the listener pause and say, "Huh?" Then use the reception line to build tension. "I shook hands with the head of my section and the pressure was building. I said "Hello" to the guy from the State Department and he gave me an odd look because he heard the noises coming from my belly. There was a Buddha shrine on the wall over the head of the cultural attaché and I said a silent prayer asking for strength. By the time I got to the ambassador's wife the pain and pressure were making my eyes water. She said "Welcome to Thailand" and in desperation I blurted out..." That's the good part of the story. Take your audience there as quickly as you can, but while you're on the way describe the room. Fancy? You bet. Big? Not big enough for the size of the crowd, everybody was in suits and the farang were all sweating like pigs. There was a floor fan by the kitchen door that did nothing to relieve the heat. It was my third day in country; I'd never experienced heat like this. The Thais had been practicing the appropriate smile for this occasion since childhood; they were having a great time. They love a chance to show off their official smiles." Take us to that room and stay in that room, in that moment, and leave the descriptions of the mean streets of Manhattan to those guys telling stories about New York. Just my two cents. The bottom line is keep doing what you're doing. Your future biographers, who will watch this video twenty times a hundred years from now, will thank you.

The US Embassy in Thailand should be more helpful to US citizens living in Thailand. Our US Embassies around the world caters to to US businesses who wishes to due business in foreign countries.

Your stories never disappoint. Thanks for sharing.

I am now a subscriber.