Luke's 4K post: How to GTFO! (And into Thailand)

[m0rtal]

Good post. I've been doing some research on Chiang Mai and thinking of checking it out next winter. Pretty set on this place as they have one of the best fruit markets in the world (Muang Mai) and I practically live off fruit right now.

You can get quite nice hotel rooms/apartments in Chiang Mai for under 200$/month.

It's hard to spend even 1k/month here. Great place to live and you don't need to speak Thai.

brb getting nice lunch for ~1$

What kind of place are you living in right now and how much are you paying? Are you anywhere near Muang Mai market?

I've got some more questions to whoever can answer.

The whole visa renewal thing...is it still just as easy? I was reading that they were starting to give some people a hard time with renewals when they just cross over and cross back. Speaking of which, do you have to stay in that country for any length of time or do you literally walk across the border and walk back? I don't want to be stolen by some jungle militia in Burma or Laos.

Have you ever had any close encounters with giant centipedes, venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions, deadly ants or any other creatures which we may not know exist until they rip a limb off in your own household?

Are mosquitoes and malaria really that big of an issue? How do you deal with this?

Is the tap water safe to drink?

What's a good place to look at apartment rentals one that doesn't try and cater to tourists with the most expensive ones? Thaiapartment seems to be broken. Also, do you generally need to sign a lease for any number of months or is it easy to find a place to stay for only 1-3 months to scope out the scene?

 

[Hale.Pane]

Is the tap water safe to drink?

DO.NOT.DRINK.TAP. unless you grew up there.

 

[Kiopa_Matt]

The whole visa renewal thing...is it still just as easy?

Seems to be a hit & miss (like everything in Thailand). Wouldn't recommend trying to stay indefinitely on tourist VISAs anymore through, because you're right, there's been reports of people getting red stamps in their passport, which means no more tourist VISAs for you! Get a proper 1 year instead. Easier, but still a pain.

Oh, and when hitting immigration, take the 5 minutes out of your day to dress and groom properly. It's disgraceful seeing a bunch of white trailer trash showing up at a government building, especially when they're a guest in a foreign country. Not implying you are, but you'll know what I mean when you begin frequenting immigration offices.

Speaking of which, do you have to stay in that country for any length of time or do you literally walk across the border and walk back?

Walk over, walk back. If you're applying for a new 1 year VISA though, then you have to stay for at least a couple days for processing.

I still have to research, but there's the chance of this -- ThailandElite.com. Basically, $50k buys you permanent residency. You get 5 year VISAs for life. Looks open & available, although not sure if it, and still have to research.

Have you ever had any close encounters with giant centipedes, venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions, deadly ants or any other creatures which we may not know exist until they rip a limb off in your own household?

Nah. Well, there's been several big fuckers show up in the house, but never actually caused any problems. You have to worry about things like maggots and rats though. Make sure your house is clean, separate your food garbage from regular garbage, make sure to take your food garbage out everyday, etc.

Are mosquitoes and malaria really that big of an issue? How do you deal with this?

Never heard about malaria, but dengue (sp) fever is big here, and people are nervous around mosquitoes because of it.

Is the tap water safe to drink?

Most people say no, but I drink it fairly often. It tastes awful, so probably not very good for you. And it tastes so bad, you're not going to want to drink it anyways, so no worries.

Be careful of market food too though. Meat sits in the sun all day, they reuse the cooking oil way more times than they should, cleaning a wok consists of scraping the shit out of it with a metal spatula to make sure you get iron in your diet, etc. It's fine, but not sure I'd recommend it for every meal.

What's a good place to look at apartment rentals one that doesn't try and cater to tourists with the most expensive ones?

Don't look online, as you'll pay 400% more than you need to. Meet some expats, ask around, grab a Thai friend and cruise the streets looking for small "for rent" signs on utility poles, etc. Most owners don't advertise their property rentals online yet, and those that do, jack up the prices.

For example, $160/month gets me a nice 2 storey, 4bdrm, 2 bath house. On the flip side, I know of people here spending $500/month on a small studio apartment. Don't worry about looking online. Word of mouth, or hit the streets.

 

[guerilla]

Great guide, applicable to more places than Thailand as it is loaded with best practices. I don't understand why people are going to Thailand though, you can live very cheaply in South America, and have a much more westernized cultural experience.

 

[lose lose win]

Based on previous threads: I'd like to go to Cabo or Florianopolis. For some reason, thailand doesn't appeal to me, well, until I saw the school girl pics above.

 

[dmnEPC]

Great guide, applicable to more places than Thailand as it is loaded with best practices. I don't understand why people are going to Thailand though, you can live very cheaply in South America, and have a much more westernized cultural experience.

Any suggestions on countries? Brazil is the one at top of the list. but I'm sure there's some other countries that would probably beat it out for living there. Maybe a nice ranch in Colombia?

 

[handrewrites]

Any suggestions on countries? Brazil is the one at top of the list. but I'm sure there's some other countries that would probably beat it out for living there. Maybe a nice ranch in Colombia?

Argentina:

- Recognised "middle power"
- "Very high" human development index
- Relatively high GDP
- You can get a citizenship in 2 years
- After that you can get a Spanish citizenship in 2 years (normally you need 10 years residence in Spain to get a citizenship there, but for citizens of former colonies this goes down to 2 years). Bang - EU passport.
- Very westernized - more European than Latin-American
- For Dresden: most "white" ethnic profile of all South American countries (wikipedia lists as 61% white and 1% black).

Another similar (but smaller) alternative is Uruguay
- Similar to the above, but citizenship takes 3 years in addition to investing a large sum of money
- For Dresden: 88% white, 4% black

 

[rusvik]

Great guide, applicable to more places than Thailand as it is loaded with best practices. I don't understand why people are going to Thailand though, you can live very cheaply in South America, and have a much more westernized cultural experience.

Maybe because crime and violence is a serious concern in South America, where as it is almost non-existant (the violent crime) in all of Asia.

 

[dmnEPC]

Argentina:

- Recognised "middle power"
- "Very high" human development index
- Relatively high GDP
- You can get a citizenship in 2 years
- After that you can get a Spanish citizenship in 2 years (normally you need 10 years residence in Spain to get a citizenship there, but for citizens of former colonies this goes down to 2 years). Bang - EU passport.
- Very westernized - more European than Latin-American
- For Dresden: most "white" ethnic profile of all South American countries (wikipedia lists as 61% white and 1% black).

Another similar (but smaller) alternative is Uruguay
- Similar to the above, but citizenship takes 3 years in addition to investing a large sum of money
- For Dresden: 88% white, 4% black

How's the gov? And on a scale f 1 to 10 how are the biatches? No ladyboy problems?

 

[guerilla]

Any suggestions on countries? Brazil is the one at top of the list. but I'm sure there's some other countries that would probably beat it out for living there. Maybe a nice ranch in Colombia?

Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile...

Maybe because crime and violence is a serious concern in South America, where as it is almost non-existant (the violent crime) in all of Asia.

LOL.

Thailand riots: Latest travel advice for tourists in Bangkok | Mail Online

BBC News - Malaysian churches fire-bombed as 'Allah' row escalates

Don't even get me started on how the Philippines are the kidnapping capital of the world.

I'm not trying to do a whats what, but don't tell me violence is almost non-existent in asia. That's a fucking joke.

 

[handrewrites]

Maybe because crime and violence is a serious concern in South America, where as it is almost non-existant (the violent crime) in all of Asia.

I fucking lol'd.

How's the gov? And on a scale f 1 to 10 how are the biatches? No ladyboy problems?

Argentina seems to have a few problems with gov, whereas "Uruguay is also noted for its low levels of corruption" (Wikipedia). Note that Uruguay is a smaller country though (3.3 mil people).

As for the chicas, pretty much every Latin-American country gets a 10 from me. No ladyboy problems I'm aware of - Thailand's problem is that ladyboys became socially acceptable to great degree. Ruins the country for straight males (but makes it a paradise for WF'ers).

For anyone wondering why Argentina and Uruguay are my top choices, it's the combination of them being relatively developed countries (infrastructure, economy, human development index) with the ease of which you can get a citizenship (2-3 years).

Chile for example has similarly high levels of development, but citizenship takes 5 years (with high residence requirements). Paraguay offers citizenship after just 3 years but is a less developed country overall. Argentina and Uruguay combine the best of everything.

 

[bluechinagroup]

Unlike Thailand, Hong Kong has true freedom. No internet censorship, 0% income taxes on non HK income, freedom of speech and the right to protest is guaranteed in the HK constitution.

HK has the rule of law unlike Thailand and one of the cleanest governments in Asia.

It's also ranked the freest economy in the world by the libertarian think tank Heritage Foundation.

Index of Economic: Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity

Thailand isn't even in the top ten.

 

[adionline]

Those wondering about mosquitos, yes you will be fucking eaten alive in some areas. I stayed right at the beach for a few weeks and despite spraying myself I had about 10 bites a night and had to often wake up to respray myself. Very uncomfortable. If the place you're going to be staying has mosquitoes then get a mosquito net for when you sleep. In the bangkok area this wasn't as big of a problem though... just near the beaches.

 

[dmnEPC]

I fucking lol'd.


Argentina seems to have a few problems with gov, whereas "Uruguay is also noted for its low levels of corruption" (Wikipedia). Note that Uruguay is a smaller country though (3.3 mil people).

As for the chicas, pretty much every Latin-American country gets a 10 from me. No ladyboy problems I'm aware of - Thailand's problem is that ladyboys became socially acceptable to great degree. Ruins the country for straight males (but makes it a paradise for WF'ers).

For anyone wondering why Argentina and Uruguay are my top choices, it's the combination of them being relatively developed countries (infrastructure, economy, human development index) with the ease of which you can get a citizenship (2-3 years).

Chile for example has similarly high levels of development, but citizenship takes 5 years (with high residence requirements). Paraguay offers citizenship after just 3 years but is a less developed country overall. Argentina and Uruguay combine the best of everything.

Nice write up def will look into these. I'm assuming cost of living is cheap. Do you have any idea on how much servants cost there?

 

[rusvik]

I'm not trying to do a whats what, but don't tell me violence is almost non-existent in asia. That's a fucking joke.

Have you ever fucking been to Asia? People sleep at the street after a night out in Tokyo, I did so myself. It's as safe as safe gets. Probably the safest city in the world.

Thailand is remarkably safe to a degree where full on prostitution can take place out in the open without any of the other dangers associated with it. I have never once felt threathened walking down some dark alley in Thailand, not once felt that I risked getting jumped or beaten senseless for no reason.

The only people who get in trouble in Thailand are morons or criminals. It is remarkably free of random acts of violence and theft.

 

[guerilla]

People sleep at the street after a night out in Tokyo, I did so myself.

Tokyo is not Thailand.

As to the rest of your post, your anecdotal experience != fact.

 

[handrewrites]

Nice write up def will look into these. I'm assuming cost of living is cheap. Do you have any idea on how much servants cost there?

Cost of living for peasants is probably cheap. Costs will probably increase exponentially as you increase the standard of living linearly.

Don't know anything about servants - wouldn't you rather have maids?

Have you ever fucking been to Asia? People sleep at the street after a night out in Tokyo, I did so myself. It's as safe as safe gets. Probably the safest city in the world.

Tokyo =/= Bangkok

Thailand is remarkably safe to a degree where full on prostitution can take place out in the open without any of the other dangers associated with it. I have never once felt threathened walking down some dark alley in Thailand, not once felt that I risked getting jumped or beaten senseless for no reason.

"Feeling safe" and actually being safe are two entirely different things.

The only people who get in trouble in Thailand are morons or criminals. It is remarkably free of random acts of violence and theft.

You're right that morons and criminals are more likely to get into trouble. You're also right about the incidence of random acts of violence and outright theft/burglary being lower.

You must be one naive fuck though to not see that this is because those "acts of violence" and "theft and burglary" are more carefully planned and covert - hidden from plain sight, but ultimately more effective and more profitable.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8154497.stm - if this is what it's like at Thailand's newest and largest international airport, imagine the sort of shit that goes on in seedier areas (which most people - including you - never even hear about).

 

[nickCR]

Nice post Luke! +Rep

 

[Moxie]

24/7 subject to marxist, feminist pc bullshit

Most people on the planet wish the biggest type of problems they had were worrying about how someone was going to greet them on Christmas.

Who's picture are they holding up? That would be the current Prime Minister of Thailand. Here's some more pics of her :

immigrations and spending on bottom feeders.

THE BURNING PROBLEM OF IMMIGRANTS IN THAILAND

Mafia network of Thai and Malay target illegal workers

Maybe because crime and violence is a serious concern in South America, where as it is almost non-existant (the violent crime) in all of Asia.

Homicides > Gun Violence statistics - countries compared - NationMaster

Thailand: Crime

 

[dmnEPC]

+1 for another Luke enlightened thread