An Update: 5+ years in Thailand.

[tamdrin12]

Hello!

It's been several years since I posted here. I lost interest in this forum, as I have been too busy living my life! I've been here in Northern Thailand for over five years now! WOW, time flies. A lot has changed, but honestly I still love Thailand and consider the place to be my new home. I've picked up quite a bit of Thai and am enjoying learning the language. I think if you can speak Thai you will be a happier person, it seriously does something to the subtle energies of the body.. I think because it's like Sanskrit.

I don't have all the usual negative stereotypes about Thailand or Thai people like so many negative nancys who post on the internet. And that is after 5 years! I seriously think Thai people are pretty great. I live in Chiang Mai and people are notoriously nicer up north as it is less commercial and less sex touristy. The only problem with my Thai learning, is my fiancé is Chinese, not Thai, so I have to learn that language too.

We met here in Chiang Mai, She holds a regular job at a shipping company up here. Actually, speaking of money, it's me whose broke now. I've been out of work for several months. Part of it is laziness, part due to being sick of teaching English online. Thanks to Ladislav (partly) I started teaching English online some years ago and I have managed to make a semblance of a living at it. I also do minimal private lessons when the opportunity arises. I've been surviving on like $500 a month for a while now. I would like to make more money soon. Message me if you have any ideas.

We are renting a 2 bedroom house outside Chiang Mai for $3500 baht a month. That is $109 for a house! Insanely cheap. We have a little yard and a cat.

Where is Winston these days? A few years back we were talking about Buddhism and whatnot. I e-mailed him but got no response.

I hope you are all well!

[Shemp]

Maybe make money selling wife-hunting tours for $5000 to fools from the USA? Seriously, everyone jumps on Mark Davis (see the Dream Connections thread) but why not imitate instead of hating? I think that where that Stryker guy is ultimately heading. I'm thinking of getting my escort girl in Ukraine into that business at some point. Maybe put me there in a YouTube video shooting off my mouth about how I found a pretty Ukrainian girlfriend 30 years younger, so can anyone from the USA. You could do the same thing in Thailand. And I'm only half-joking...

[Winston]

Hi Tamdrin,
I was just in Thailand a few months ago. Too bad we didnt meet but i wasnt anywhere near Chiang Mai. Maybe next time we will go there. Whats the appeal of Chiang Mai?

I dont get all my emails since theres too much spam in my Yahoo account. But you can PM me here in the forum. Its more reliable to reach me.

How do you get a visa to stay there long term btw?

[Winston]

Tamdrin,
I guess this new thread is a continuation of your earlier thread about your Thailand updates here right?

viewtopic.php?style=21&f=5&t=27940

[tamdrin12]

Hi Tamdrin,
I was just in Thailand a few months ago. Too bad we didnt meet but i wasnt anywhere near Chiang Mai. Maybe next time we will go there. Whats the appeal of Chiang Mai?

I dont get all my emails since theres too much spam in my Yahoo account. But you can PM me here in the forum. Its more reliable to reach me.

How do you get a visa to stay there long term btw?

Hey Winston!

Good to hear from you. Chiang Mai suits me. I think the people are a bit friendlier up north. Everything is cheaper. The weather is significantly cooler. I like the mountains, although I also like the ocean. It's a big enough city, but not too big. I think we have like 5 major shopping malls, tons of little markets, massages, etc.

I have had every visa known to man. Tourist, business, student, and multiple entry tourist. Right now I am on a multiple entry tourist visa which, when you work it right gives you 9 months in the country. I usually return back to America for 3 months each year so this works out. You can only get a multiple entry back at an embassy in America, so no border bounce to Laos or Cambodia.

However, I just returned from Laos from a border bounce because you have to leave every 60 days on this METV and then you can come into the country. I was questioned a lot by the border officer... about what I was doing in Thailand and that it didn't seem like I was a tourist. It's all over the internet that they are cracking down on expats living in Thailand on tourist visas and this seems to be the case.

[xiongmao]

I got interviewed for a CM job last year but the salary was so poor I didn't take it any further.

Now I'm working in China on a pretty poor salary but at least I get a free apartment.

Currently I'm looking into testing the market for eBooks (Kindle publishing). I'm awash with ideas and just have to test the waters. Well I'll report back when I have some data.

Thailand are making it much harder for foreigners to just live there. I'm a couple of years from being able to get a retirement visa so at least I'll have that option. Long gone are the days when you could enrol in a crappy language school and get an ED visa like I did a few years back.

In the summer the queues at BKK immigration were endless and they were really grilling any farangs of a certain age who weren't well dressed and who didn't put the name of a hotel down in their immigration cards. Anyone who has previously stayed long time also seems to get a bit more attention, like I did the year before last.

[Yohan]

Thailand are making it much harder for foreigners to just live there. I'm a couple of years from being able to get a retirement visa so at least I'll have that option.
-----
In the summer the queues at BKK immigration were endless and they were really grilling any farangs of a certain age who weren't well dressed and who didn't put the name of a hotel down in their immigration cards.

It is true that Thailand is getting harder for foreigners especially in case they are interested in long stay.

Retirement visa are also not so easy to get anymore, quite a lot of conditions you have to meet. Since two years I am holding a multiple entry retirement visa BTW. Quite a lot of formalities at the Thai Embassy in Japan and not so cheap, but no questions of any kind at immigration in Bangkok Airport...

On the other side it is true that there are a lot of useless foreigners around in Thailand - plenty of illegals, Westerners as well as Asians from nearby countries.

[CannedHam]

Thailand are making it much harder for foreigners to just live there. I'm a couple of years from being able to get a retirement visa so at least I'll have that option.
-----
In the summer the queues at BKK immigration were endless and they were really grilling any farangs of a certain age who weren't well dressed and who didn't put the name of a hotel down in their immigration cards.

It is true that Thailand is getting harder for foreigners especially in case they are interested in long stay.

Retirement visa are also not so easy to get anymore, quite a lot of conditions you have to meet. Since two years I am holding a multiple entry retirement visa BTW. Quite a lot of formalities at the Thai Embassy in Japan and not so cheap, but no questions of any kind at immigration in Bangkok Airport...

On the other side it is true that there are a lot of useless foreigners around in Thailand - plenty of illegals, Westerners as well as Asians from nearby countries.

Don't forget the begpackers:

[flowerthief00]

In Chiang Mai you have to get out of the old city or all you will ever see is foreigners. Maybe for some types that's an appeal, but I prefer to be mingling with locals. How else will you learn the local language and culture which you should be learning wherever you are.