Another great thought provoking video. I totally agree with you on having a car , it gives you so many more options. I spent my first couple of years here in Samui and I held off on buying a car. I bought a second hand Ford Everest last year and it makes life so much easier. For me things like going to golf, shopping and visiting other parts of Thailand are now pretty simple. Outside Bangkok and central Pattaya traffic tends not to be so much of an issue and you do find yourself becoming accustomed to the Thai "style" of driving. Unlike you I do have a scooter as well which I find fun and useful for running around locally. I also found moving from a condo to a house gave me a better homely feeling. Obviously that's just a personal thing. I came to the same conclusion as you with respect to health insurance and self insure. I think anyone who lives in a country other than their own will end up going through a process of "trial and error" before settling on things that are right for them. 🤗
Good points I have done two out of those three things but don’t regret them because I didn’t have the same obstacles as you Firstly buying a pool villa as a rental worked out well as my Thai girlfriend was able to sort out all the bumps with the seller and getting in some tenants. It is a brand new villa 3 bed, 2 bath and about 1800 sqf rented at 60000 a month and cost just over 7m We bought a kitten from Threppasit 4 months ago. A Scottishfold male. He is healthy and we have had no issues whatsoever. He cost 6000 baht and the vet bills are cheap as you say. Also the fact that the girlfriend can get everything done without myself needing to get involved As for renting a place. We stay in a premium condo in Jomtien, a stone throw from everywhere we need to go. Everything gets delivered so we only use her car for going entertainment venues such as restaurants I did buy a modified Japanese performance car as a toy and that’s just parked up and gets dusted off when I feel like going to a car show All in all I can’t say I have made any horrendously bad decisions yet 🤷🏽♂️
@@RamzeTravels it definitely helps having a Thai partner and I definitely would not of done any of those things if she wasn’t around If one of your friends has a Thai partner, maybe they can help with the small issues you’ve had or failing that I’m sure my partner could help you out with little things in the future given that we live a pretty relaxed and chill lifestyle here and can spare some time
The toughest point for me is the driving and getting around. I'm retiring to Pattaya soon but I don't have experience riding a bike. Having stayed primarily in Central I don't want to. My head is on a swivel the whole time walking the street so I can only imagine the dread of actually being in traffic on a bike. Everybody says don't get a bike but then you're stuck taking the baht bus or rideshare with long waits and traffic.
I’m the opposite. I hate driving, no interest whatsoever in cars and certainly would never waste money on an expensive car here. What I do is I hire a full time driver who I pay a salary through our company every month. She takes me and my Thai spouse anywhere and everywhere we want whenever we want. She also doubles as a nanny for our daughter and is like family to us. Like you money is no issue for me as a lawyer who retired at 50 15 years ago. But we aren’t the norm here. I would say it’s not the best idea to show it off here as a foreigner for a whole bunch of reasons. Could actually be dangerous.
Cant say i done more than visit Thailand. I work as a teacher since 2008. Occasionally downtime between contracts, times of lockdown like covid, an an accident, recovery time needed. So i built a house with my viet wife. Married her as a best friend. But she had land, i had house. I got a permanent place if needed later and a care taker/friend/love. 65k to build 2023. But thats 2 to 3 years rent usa lol.
Beeing an adult i think it is interesting to se your videos. But as an adult we always arrange our life similar in a new country as in the old one. Would it be more fun to live like an average thai and do the real thing not some western life with thai touch? Not easy....ofc
Looks like you made a few mistakes but as you said nothing that you couldn't live with financially. So i guess really just a learning experience and not too painful a one 😁
Sharing from your experiences is great, as long as people can learn from them. Thanks for sharing them!
Thank you for your support. I want people to learn from my experinces.
Good info 👍🏾
"Trying to figure out which room we want to be in" made me laugh more than it should have
Quickly becoming my go to guy on expat life....he's earned it..
Thank you for your support. Life is good enjoy it.
Another great thought provoking video. I totally agree with you on having a car , it gives you so many more options. I spent my first couple of years here in Samui and I held off on buying a car. I bought a second hand Ford Everest last year and it makes life so much easier. For me things like going to golf, shopping and visiting other parts of Thailand are now pretty simple. Outside Bangkok and central Pattaya traffic tends not to be so much of an issue and you do find yourself becoming accustomed to the Thai "style" of driving. Unlike you I do have a scooter as well which I find fun and useful for running around locally.
I also found moving from a condo to a house gave me a better homely feeling. Obviously that's just a personal thing.
I came to the same conclusion as you with respect to health insurance and self insure.
I think anyone who lives in a country other than their own will end up going through a process of "trial and error" before settling on things that are right for them. 🤗
Great video
Good points
I have done two out of those three things but don’t regret them because I didn’t have the same obstacles as you
Firstly buying a pool villa as a rental worked out well as my Thai girlfriend was able to sort out all the bumps with the seller and getting in some tenants. It is a brand new villa 3 bed, 2 bath and about 1800 sqf rented at 60000 a month and cost just over 7m
We bought a kitten from Threppasit 4 months ago. A Scottishfold male. He is healthy and we have had no issues whatsoever. He cost 6000 baht and the vet bills are cheap as you say. Also the fact that the girlfriend can get everything done without myself needing to get involved
As for renting a place. We stay in a premium condo in Jomtien, a stone throw from everywhere we need to go. Everything gets delivered so we only use her car for going entertainment venues such as restaurants
I did buy a modified Japanese performance car as a toy and that’s just parked up and gets dusted off when I feel like going to a car show
All in all I can’t say I have made any horrendously bad decisions yet 🤷🏽♂️
That’s great to hear! A Thai partner makes a lot of difference.
@@RamzeTravels it definitely helps having a Thai partner and I definitely would not of done any of those things if she wasn’t around
If one of your friends has a Thai partner, maybe they can help with the small issues you’ve had or failing that I’m sure my partner could help you out with little things in the future given that we live a pretty relaxed and chill lifestyle here and can spare some time
The toughest point for me is the driving and getting around. I'm retiring to Pattaya soon but I don't have experience riding a bike. Having stayed primarily in Central I don't want to. My head is on a swivel the whole time walking the street so I can only imagine the dread of actually being in traffic on a bike. Everybody says don't get a bike but then you're stuck taking the baht bus or rideshare with long waits and traffic.
I’m the opposite. I hate driving, no interest whatsoever in cars and certainly would never waste money on an expensive car here. What I do is I hire a full time driver who I pay a salary through our company every month. She takes me and my Thai spouse anywhere and everywhere we want whenever we want. She also doubles as a nanny for our daughter and is like family to us. Like you money is no issue for me as a lawyer who retired at 50 15 years ago. But we aren’t the norm here. I would say it’s not the best idea to show it off here as a foreigner for a whole bunch of reasons. Could actually be dangerous.
Do you live in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket?
Would mind saying ballbark what you pay for a FT personal driver?
Thanks
Cant say i done more than visit Thailand. I work as a teacher since 2008. Occasionally downtime between contracts, times of lockdown like covid, an an accident, recovery time needed.
So i built a house with my viet wife. Married her as a best friend. But she had land, i had house. I got a permanent place if needed later and a care taker/friend/love. 65k to build 2023. But thats 2 to 3 years rent usa lol.
Will be in Phuket tomorrow 😀
I’m sure this information is helpful for lots of people 😊! Don’t open a company 😅! Good luck
Smart tip
The word after tertiary you were looking for is quaternary. Now you know!
Thank you!
Beeing an adult i think it is interesting to se your videos. But as an adult we always arrange our life similar in a new country as in the old one. Would it be more fun to live like an average thai and do the real thing not some western life with thai touch? Not easy....ofc
Looks like you made a few mistakes but as you said nothing that you couldn't live with financially.
So i guess really just a learning experience and not too painful a one 😁
It’s part of the fun and makes for great stories to tell at the pub 🤣