“This is hilarious!” I said, my voice straining to overcome the background noise.
We were sitting with a drink, people-watching, during peak hour on Bangla road walking street in Phuket (later experiences would reveal this ‘peak hour’ seems to go for multiple hours) 😂
It was hot, noisy, and busy, but also highly entertaining, novel, and cheerful.
For the first time in over a decade, I was overseas, in a country I’d never visited before… in an environment that’s hard to even describe. Laid back chaos?
As many of you will know, we went to Thailand for two weeks in December. One week in Phuket, one in Bangkok.
This article is a combination of our holiday experience and observations, along with thoughts on whether Thailand would make a good place to retire – with comments from readers who’ve done just that!
We started the trip in Phuket and stayed in a quiet section of Patong, a short walk from the main strip.
Of course, we started off by heading out for some tasty local food and drinks.
At night time, things liven up a bit in this area of Phuket (well, a lot actually!). It looks a little something like this (apologies for the image quality):
This particular street is an amusing mix of bars, food stalls and restaurants, weed shops, currency exchanges, and people selling all sorts of random stuff.
The next couple of days were spent exploring some of the quieter beaches. We also fell in love with the fresh fruit and juices (probably the best I’ve ever had).
My favourite beach spot was down the end of Kamala beach – very quiet and cove-like, with gentle waves, beautiful foresty backdrop, and very few people (second pic).
Next up, we visited Phuket Town, which has beautiful Spanish-style old buildings and lots of little boutique stores and eateries.
It was a bit more upmarket, with hipster vibes. It was incredibly hot that day, so we stopped at Campus coffee roasters for an iced coffee (very good!).
During our walks, I enjoyed spotting the differences in how people do things there. Like bamboo scaffold, and huge bundles of electricity wires. And how you have to quickly cross the road at any possible gap between cars otherwise you simply won’t cross.
Coming back to Australia and seeing people wait obediently at traffic lights for a green walking signal when there are absolutely no cars in sight is quite the contrast.
One morning, from our hotel window, I watched one guy working on the power lines, wandering along a single wooden plank in his thongs about 10 metres off the ground. Imagine what WorkSafe would say 😂
Imagine changing a wire 😁
Overall, we spent the week doing various combinations of wandering around different places, doing a bit of shopping at markets (they also have cool shopping centres here), checking out beaches, eating local food and hanging out at the bars for our evening entertainment and people-watching.
Our second week was in the big smoke of Bangkok – we actually stayed in Chinatown which ended up being a little too close to the city.
It was similar to Phuket in some ways, but also different in others.
Being an animal-person, one of my favourite things was actually visiting Lumpini Park – a large open park area with multiple lakes – which is home to a seemingly decent population of these incredible water monitor lizards.
We even stumbled on these two eating a big fish from the lake!
There’s even turtles there too! Saw about half a dozen or so. Found this one gazing up at the skyscraper pondering the world…
We also went to a ‘no touch’ elephant sanctuary, and prepared lunch for some of the elephants 🙂
But Bangkok is a big CITY, so what city stuff did we do?
A surprising amount of shopping actually. I’m not much of a shopper, but I do appreciate nice shopping centres (especially on a hot day). And the shopping centres in Bangkok really do put ours to shame.
The newest shopping centres in Perth are boring atrocities in comparison to places like Icon Siam – I don’t know how else to explain it. The thoughtful design, incredibly beautiful interior, and the level of detail they go to to make it an inviting place to hang out is next level. I mean, the place has an indoor floating market, gardens, and a colourful roof-to-floor waterfall 😂
But one of the unique draws of Bangkok is its Buddhist Temples, which are truly a sight to behold. These places were understandably very popular – which did detract from the experience – but awe-inspiring nonetheless.
Photos never do these things justice, but here’s a couple of shots anyway:
By the way, I know 2025 is going to be fucking spectacular, because we made a contribution at the temple. It said, “Donation Good Luck. Health Strong. Rich Like Money.”
Sold! 😁
Our hotel also had much better views than we thought. One night we were lucky enough to see fireworks.
Then we went to check out the Mahanakhon Tower. We did the Skywalk thing there on the 78th floor – where you’re on a bottomless glass panel, staring straight down to the ground.
I actually found the experience pretty underwhelming, and much preferred the view looking out instead. Why look down at the ground below when you can see the entirety of Bangkok in every single direction? A novelty I guess, but it didn’t do anything for me.
On one of our final evenings, I booked a sunset dinner cruise which took us down the river and past all the main sights of the city.
The cruise itself was nice, and the buffet was good, but they literally blasted music the whole time at near-nightclub level volume. Or maybe most people loved it and I’m just getting old? 🙃
And of course, there was a whole lot of this… (it was so good I was having 2 serves each night).
We actually went to the same place probably about 5 times, it was that good. This was in Chinatown and the food markets are insanely busy at night (but again, laid back chaos).
We also went to the nightlife areas of Bangkok for a few drinks/cocktails, which was similar to Phuket except a little more spread out. And no, we didn’t go to any of the famous ‘shows’.
And before you ask, yes, we had several servings of the infamous Mango Sticky Rice! Another dish I liked was black rice with taro ice cream + coconut milk. Not a common one, but I found that even tastier.
As you might be able to tell, I really enjoyed it. Far more than expected.
It could be because we hadn’t been overseas in so long that there was more of a novelty effect, or because Thailand is actually pretty awesome. Likely both.
Bangkok: Lots of variation in activities and things to check out. But ultimately, it was too busy for my liking (no surprise). The traffic became frustrating and sometimes we actually stopped our Grab ride (like Uber) and walked the rest of the way since it was faster! This was also due to our poor location choice though, so I reckon if we stayed further out, this wouldn’t have been as noticeable.
Phuket: More laid back, though still hectic in parts. The people seemed warmer and more helpful than in Bangkok (though they were still nice). That’s no surprise I guess, since big cities aren’t known for their friendliness. Phuket is also a huge place and we didn’t get the chance to travel as far as we would’ve liked.
Overall, we enjoyed both places and would happily return to each, but Phuket was probably more our style. The air also seemed cleaner due to less traffic and being near the coast.
We did a ton of walking (20k steps/day), but I’m not sure it was enough to make up for all the eating and drinking that occurred (a bit too much on my end!).
In fact, without a good routine and productive things to do, I reckon it would only take me about 2 years to look like a fat old retiree with a big belly bulging out of a Singha singlet. Addictively tasty food, cheap beer, and endless entertainment is a recipe for disaster 😅
Jokes aside, my finance-oriented brain couldn’t help but notice how little things were costing. I’m talking $4 dinners, $3 beers, and having washing done and beautifully folded for $2.50!
Which had me thinking of the arbitrage opportunity at play.
Personally, I’ve never thought of retiring or spending extended periods overseas simply because of my previous commitment as a doggy-dad.
It’s only when I started looking at places to travel more recently, that the numbers started slapping me in the face.
Then the YouTube algorithm picked this up and started showing me people who’d actually moved to Thailand and other low cost countries.
“Wait… I can stay in a nice hotel in Thailand for less per week than rent in Australia?”
And that’s an actual hotel – longer term rentals are far cheaper. When I got there, the on-the-ground experience was confirming what I’d seen.
So you can live in a beautiful beachy place with everything you need, go out for a delicious and healthy meals that cost less than $5, with generally much better levels of customer service? Damn.
In many ways, it literally feels like a financial glitch. You simply switch locations and all of a sudden you have the choice of either getting a lot more for the same money, or getting the same thing for a lot less.
“Hmm, I might have to explore this arbitrage opportunity further.”
I do have some thoughts on it already, so I’ll probably write an article on the topic this year. But I’m sure many of you are far more well-read on the topic than me.
For those not familiar, this strategy – Geo FIRE, essentially – is basically taking your western investment income and using it to live off in a lower cost of living country. You’re engaging in geographical arbitrage for the purpose of FIRE – hence the name.
This allows you to potentially retire much sooner, on a smaller amount. Now, there’s a ton of things to get into and it certainly isn’t for everyone. But it’s definitely worth considering for some people.
As a country, Thailand has long been a popular choice for traditional retirees.
And it makes sense. Older people famously flock to warm climates, and the laid-back attitude and lower living costs add to the appeal.
Of course, there are drawbacks just as with any country. The streets aren’t as clean as Australia, and the environment simply isn’t as pristine as ours.
The language barrier can make it hard to properly connect with people, and distance from family and friends would quickly rule it out for many.
But rather than me hypothesising, I spoke with a couple of readers who’ve actually retired there and asked their thoughts on it (this was on Facebook, unfortunately I wasn’t able to meet them in real life).
Our first retiree:
“Thailand offers a low cost of living, great weather year-round, gorgeous surroundings, and a laid-back lifestyle. There are festivals all year – both Thai culture and international ones like Christmas. There’s much to see and do and I’ve found it a happy place to live.
It has downsides though. Navigating visas can be tricky, and the language barrier can make daily tasks harder unless you have a Thai-speaking partner to help. Healthcare is good in major cities but limited in rural areas, and official admin tasks can be slow and frustrating.
Imported (Western) food costs more—30-50% higher than in Australia—but everything else is much cheaper. For me, the pros far outweigh the cons.”
Our second retiree:
“Retirement in Thailand is what I worked for the last 30 years – it’s a dream destination. For me, I fell in love with the place back in the 80s. The sense of freedom this place gave me back then was enormous,
It’s not as cheap as it was, but it still works if you know what makes you happy. People like to stereotype the expats here in Asia – the girls with older blokes – especially by people who’ve never been here. But there’s much more to this place than that.
I appreciate waking up here every morning and thankful I live here, in a more happy, stress free environment. The weather. Seeing Thais happy while having little, working hard to sell whatever they have, always smiling everyday.
So many food options with cafes, restaurants, and entertainment with good standards. Traveling around Asia is easy if you need a break, only 1- 3 hours away depending on where you go.
They have 1st class sauna and spas here, including cold-plunge pools with restaurants where you can stay all day – great for meeting other Thais and expats that are well travelled.
Shopping malls are an awesome standard here too. Not to mention, fruit stands on every corner with coconuts (I have 1- 2 every day). It’s the place where the shops come to you.”
The holiday was fantastic, and I’d definitely visit Thailand again since there are so many other nice places we didn’t get to see.
Warm weather, friendly people, beautiful places, amazing food, and lots to do at little cost. I think the 16 day trip only cost us around $5k all up, and that’s with endless eating out, a surprising amount of shopping, and far too many beers.
There’s so many other spots (and islands) in Thailand that one visit only scratches the surface. But our next trips will most likely be a couple of Aussie locations (maybe Tassie and Cairns), and then somewhere else overseas (not sure where yet).
Funnily enough, my mind still thinks: “Why not do the cheaper places first?” 😂 So I’m leaning towards other parts of south-east Asia, since they’re also close, which helps a lot.
As for moving overseas and having more of a nomad setup, there are no plans for that. I think you need to stay in a place much longer than just a week or two to get a proper idea of living there.
There are clear pros and cons to every country and lifestyle. A couple of people have reached out and shared that they spend some of the year in one country, and some in another, which is a pretty interesting approach.
All these things are fascinating options to think about, whether we take them up or not. And ultimately, the greatest part of financial independence is the ability to design your life – whether that’s living overseas, traveling more, or simply having the freedom to explore new options.
If you enjoyed this post, let me know – maybe I’ll review more of the places I visit over the coming years and turn those trips into tax-deductible adventures 😉
Have you been to Thailand? If so, how was your experience? Would you ever consider living overseas? Why/why not? Let me know in the comments.
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An impressive interview with a young lady who is making amazing progress towards her goals.
This post is about our holiday in Thailand – what we did, how much it cost, and my thoughts on the lifestyle, sights and culture. I also discuss Thailand as a retirement destination.
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Love the article!
Geo FIRE is something very appealing for me. I’m at the beginning of my journey but have clear vision on where I want to be at the end 🙂 and that’s in SE Asia ))
Hey Sergii – that’s fantastic! A clear vision is something many (maybe most) people never manage to cultivate – very powerful.
Great article, I have a relative who retired to the Philippines got a brand new house in a gated community for $65k all the mod cons . But after a couple of years I think the high humidity and mid 30c heat every day is taking the shine out of it . That aside very liveable on the Aussie pension.
Interesting Peter – yeah the Philippines is another spot that seems very common for westerners to retire. And similar to Thailand in many ways. There really is quite an opportunity for those more adventurous or who can work online, but for multiple reasons it won’t suit a large % of people.
Hi Dave if beach, tropical climate and low cost, good food but a lot quieter is what you’re looking for why not try East Malaysia?
There’s no language barriers in Malaysia so that’s a bonus and the seafood is fantastic!
Funnily enough, we’ve just booked a trip to Malaysia 🙂 Not East though, maybe next time (KL, Penang, Langkawi is the plan).
As an animal lover the original suggestion is a good one. Kota Kinibalu is a nice place and launching pad for orang-utans and a lot more.
I read mixed things about it, where it’s more smallish sanctuaries where the animals have a less than ideal life. So I wasn’t convinced I’d enjoy it.
Just wondering what the tat on your arm says . Words of Wisdom ?
Haha, secret.
Thanks for the great read Dave.
Ive done a but if travel in Asia and thailand over the years as holidays and would definitely consider spending months of the year as a Geo FIRE strategy!
As far as Locations are concerned in my option you started with the worst of thailand, so it can only get better, Head up North to Chiang Mai for the best cultural ”City” experience and for beaches the western islands of Kho Samui/ Ko Pha Ngan / Koh Tao i felt to be a much more authentic and relaxed vibe im sure you will to.
I look forward to seeing where you go next. Bali is also an interest for me i love talking to Aussies that do months over there and quizzing them on tricks and tips for living and online casual/contract work they use to substitute there costs and also keep them connected to others in the working world.
I agree, Thailand has some awesome locations, think you will be blown away when you visit some of those mentioned above.
Thanks Kelly. Yeah I wanted to see the most common places first then venture out from there next time. Otherwise I won’t really have a proper comparison point and would always wonder.
The islands look amazing, and I would like to see Chiang Mai too if it’s the right time of year. I’ve been to Bali a couple of times when I was much younger, but didn’t care for it that much. Went to the main areas so a venture further afield would likely work better there also.
A great read thanks. I’ve travelled alot during my 75y on earth. Aus is best but Thailand especially the people is up there. Different, Chang Mai and areas out of main cities ☆☆☆☆☆. Love every place. $3 beers? You must drink in upmarket bars😄 better fresh food than aus (because all our best is exported!) Influx of other less respectful tourists changed ta few things
Will definitely visit the less populated areas on the next visit. I’m guessing beer and food gets cheaper the further out you go? That might not be a good thing lol.
Yeah I’d heard about more tourists from other countries changing things a bit. From what I saw they tended to stick to their own groups, so hopefully it doesn’t affect the locals too much.
What makes Aus the best really? I understand the appeal of Australia to make your money. Once you have money and are retired like Dave and can easily afford to live in a place like Thailand and have everything you need including proper health care, what truly makes Australia better? My wife and I are full time DINKS and to travel around my home country (Australia), we’re expected to camp it due to the extreme cost and nobody bats an eyelid at that. Curious what makes you affirm that Australia truly is the greatest?
Hello,
I moved to Thailand 2 years ago from Canada. I chose Chiang Mai to start. I began by teaching.
I retired from teaching when the new DTV Visa was launched in July. I’ve used the time since to travel to Krabi, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Hua Hin, Laos and Vietnam.
My all in costs per month is $1900cdn. Half of which is rent as I have a very nice condo that stares at the mountains.
I honestly cannot find any drawbacks. The language barrier definitely isn’t a barrier. I’ve become a mime.
If there is something to don’t know, there are hundreds of ways to find the answer. The Thai people are very accommodating and willing to help.
When I first moved here I kept my condo and possessions back in Canada as a safety net. I committed to a year in Thailand. After 6 months I sold my car and purged most of my belongings back home.
I am definitely healthier (down 25lbs) and happier. And warmer.
Wow, awesome. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts Tim – sounds like it’s worked out fantastically well for you!
I retired south of Pattaya. Purchased a house there as my beautiful wife is Thai. House only cost 300k aud. It’s a mansion compared with Aussie homes.
My advice is simple, if you can move here, do so.
It’s cheap as sticks, and the locals are wonderful.
I was gonna say $300k?! Must be a lavish compound 😁
Thanks for sharing Jontus!
Hi mate – if you liked Thailand, get your ass over to Vietnam! We were there in October and were blown away but what a bargain it was and how great the people were. So much to do. We’re heading back again soon. I’ve been to Thailand several times over the years and really like it, but Vietnam steals the show in my opinion. Cheers
Interesting, I’ll put it on the list 🙂
Me and my husband have always had Thailand as a place to retire too. We have been there over 15 times and taken our kids at least 7 times and they are only 7 and 9. The people are amazing the food is delicious but ultimately we want to FIRE in Australia and have that as an option to go too. Mullaloo Beach WA is just way better than any beach we have found in Thailand. Although Sairee Beach Koh Tao comes a close second.
Lived this article and really need to make a Perth meet up.
Absolutely love your content and love that you now have a poddy.
Keep up the wicked content Dave.
Wow 15 times! Do you have any favourite spots over there?
Maybe you could split your time in retirement, between your Aussie home + Thailand?
And thanks for the kind words!
Thailand in a word. Awesome.!!! Been twice. Can’t wait to return. Looking at retirement in this amazing country. Great food, nice people,interesting scenery, good culture, much more to mention . Just visit this country and soak up the atmosphere.
From my limited experience, I can only agree 100% 🙂
BTW, Thailand golf courses, many are next level. Been there golfing etc 16 of the last 20years. Going again in 5 days! My (adult) kids are terrified I will move there, I’m 75 and single 🤣🤣.
We are here for a good time, not a long time. It is what it is and that’s that it is! Enjoy it
Interesting, I hadn’t heard about their golf courses. Will have to tell my golfing mate.
Haha, they might be worried you’ll fall in love and they might lose their inheritance 😅
we love our visits to Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket and Chang Mai – the long-neck tribe up in the hills was an interesting visit) – been 7 times. We’ve done all the adventure things – tubing down the river, ziplining, 30km bike ride, dolphin show, ice skating, island hopping and the list goes on. We especially love the people (happy and calm) and their culture therefore are considering retirement there. Haven’t been to Bali but never been interested to do so. Penang/KL was good but I liked Thailand better. Vietnam is on the bucket list next for possible retirement options. Really enjoyed the read and piccies Dave.
Thanks T. The people really do make you feel welcome, there’s just a warmness and friendliness about them. Even when you see them interacting with each other, always smiling and seemingly having fun.
Spent two weeks in Thailand last year for the first time, done a lot of travel but not to south east Asia. I was only in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.. did some mountain biking outside Chiang Mai which was a lot of fun (and somewhat dangerous going down a mountain lol)
I can see why people choose to retire there although personally I think the humidity would wear me down over time but I loved the people and the food.
Cheers Scott! Yeah the heat could get tiring after a while. The southern parts and islands are supposed to be a little cooler, but still that humidity would kick in certain times of year. Could be paired with a different country I guess to diversify the weather 🙂
Great article!! We are currently traveling Thailand. Today we are on a bus and Ferry heading to Koh Phangan from Krabi.
We’ve recently FIRE’d at 46 & 48, and with kids (17 & 18 yrs) willing and able to look after themselves and our puppies at home around their work and social commitments, we took the opportunity to visit.
When we arrived 2 weeks ago, we had literally only booked a one way ticket and the first 3 nights in Bangkok….I come from an administrative and management background, so I don’t know why I thought not booking more ahead of time was a good idea 😂 Day 2 arrived after a lot of anxiety from me so we arranged, with a local tourist information agent, our itinerary, accom and travel. Crisis averted and I could breathe again!
So far we have also visited to Kanchanaburi, Hua Hin, Phuket, Phi Phi Island and Krabi. We still have Koh Phangan, Koh Samui & Koh Tao islands and Chiang Mai to go. A total of 5 1/2 weeks. With all the travel, and hiring scooters (we did this in Phuket and Krabi, and found it awesome) as well as the standard accom, food and basic entertainment, we estimate that we will be in for more than $10k, but less than $15k.
I thought it might be a destination I would consider moving to, so our money went further, but at this point, the messiness and smelliness of the streets has really put me off. I am a little over eating Thai food too 😂 I do love sitting on the back of a scooter though while my husband drives out of the towns to see the interesting water holes, mountains and beaches… So we are doing more of that!
2 things I would recommend for your next trip: hire a scooter. If you don’t already have your motorbike licence, get it as well as an international drivers licence in the week before you leave (as they are only valid for 12 months at a cost of $51 – NRMA issue these, or RACQ for us in QLD), just for peace of mind as the police do target tourists.
And 2, playing cards…. Gambling is illegal here, so we cannot find playing cards to buy anywhere and it’s illegal to have more than 120 cards or something like that…. My husband and I like to play cards from time to time (with the kids too, but they aren’t here!) and it gets us off our phones, but we haven’t been able to find any yet!
Hope you have a great time traveling to other destinations in Australia and abroad, I look forward to reading about your adventures 🙂
Ooohh they look like lovely places – I bet you’ll enjoying the islands (definitely have to see some of them next time). And huge congrats on your freedom!!
The street cleanliness was something that bothered me too, it’s just nowhere near what we’re used to unfortunately. Thanks for the tips 🙂
Sorry for such a long comment…. I’m on the bus and bored and the words just flowed 😜
Hey Dave and fellow commenters,
Retiring overseas is an interesting prospect. I stumbled across another article at Millennial Revolution about the same topic the other day (https://www.millennial-revolution.com/freedom/youre-more-fi-than-you-think/). It contained a link to this helpful website that lets you calculate the living costs of the many destinations (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/).
My partner and I are also on the FIRE journey and one of our main joys in life is exploring other countries and their cultures. Once we reach FIRE, we toy with the idea to spend longer spells overseas for slow travel.
For FIRE, our target is $2M in AUD – we don’t own property and pay rent which is easily our biggest cost. This works out to be $40Ks per head as living cost pa. using the 4% rule. If we owned property that yearly budget would probably come down to $30Ks per head requiring a $1.5M portfolio.
Living costs overseas: Turns out that Osaka, Istanbul, Valencia, Porto, Athens pretty much have similar living costs when you check the calculator ($3500 per month for the two of us which works out to be $42Ks per year which means a required portfolio of a bit more than $1M).
I don’t expect to fully move overseas for the following reasons:
1. tax residency. If you become tax resident of another country, you could not use/offset the franking credits against your taxable income.
2. A withholding tax applies to your dividends (depends on taxation agreements between the countries).
3. The tax laws of your new host country would apply – they might tax wealth differently. Income tax may be higher. CGT exemption might not apply.
4. Once you reach preservation age, your super might become become taxable overseas.
5. Visas…!
With a big enough portfolio, this might not matter as much as overseas living costs are lower than in Australia and a portion of it can be paid in taxes. But I am yet to find someone who can work out how much annual income from a 1M portfolio with dividend income of 4% is left after taxes if you lived in any Spain, Japan, Portugal et al for a full year – let alone destinations popular among Australians such as Thailand, Philippines or Bali.
With this in mind, we are thinking of spending up to 3 months overseas (apparently the tax residence status changes after 183 days=6 months) immersing us in the culture and learn the language. I also think having a home base in Australia with your friends and a social network makes for a life well lived. The Bluezone documentary on Netflix shows how import it is to have a social network in your life.
Take care, stay compassionate
chuchu
Hey chuchu, thanks for your thoughts and research.
As you point out there are multiple things to consider if planning to move overseas permanently that definitely require thoughtful planning. Cheers!
Thanks chuchu! This is also what I wanted to ask / consider.
I think many GeoFIRE people plan their life jumping from one country to another every 5-6 months to avoid some of those tax implications.
In any case, Dave, I think this is the crucial point of GeoFIRE and it is another great inspiration for a series of articles or… maybe… another book? Why not!
Seems like my paragraphs did not carry through….sorry about that
Glad you enjoyed your trip to Thailand Dave!
I would’ve loved to see the elephants as that would be really cool. I’m considering going to Thailand on the future but for me FIRE first so maybe in like 5-10 years time.
Whilst I think it’s a good retirement destination, I appreciate the simplicity of WA as too much good foods and drinks will lead to gaining too much weight.
I think for me as well, I probably wouldn’t move to Thailand but would consider staying for like 6 months once I reach FIRE
Thanks mate – sounds like a plan!
Haha absolutely true, I definitely gained weight there in just a short space of time. Moving countries is a huge decision, but a few months here and there is much more feasible.
My partner and I recently did a two week trip to Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. We’re not interested in moving, but I would love to keep going back to SEA. We’ll be able to have an enriching experience which is totally different to home without making too much of a dent in our savings (excluding Singapore which is very expensive!) One of the highlights was a couples massage in Indonesia, one hour for two people- $24!!!!
That’s quite a bit of ground to cover in 2 weeks! Sounds like a good plan 🙂
Singapore still has some cheap local food areas I believe (in the more suburban areas), but the accommodation and other stuff really adds up.
1. property ownership restrictions in Thailand. I’d much rather own my house with a big block of land and my own swimming pool, than a mere Condominium with no land ownership.
2. humid weather all year round……yuck ! OK for a holiday.
3. people gloating about how much cheaper these countries are than Australia should ask themselves why that it is……
4. as we age we are likely to get health problems that are very expensive to treat if not covered by Medicare. Need Heart bypass surgery, major Cancer treatment or 3 times a week Haemodialysis for kidney failure ? …. good luck without Medicare
Well, sounds like you’d be miserable there, so best stay in Oz!
Hi Dave,
At 63, I’m a little late to the FI scene but I have certainly adopted many of the tools to expedite and finance my retirement and build my wealth. Currently reading your book Strong Money, very informative. Book number 23 that I have read in the past 6 months on financial management.
Anyway, on to the above story. Glad you enjoyed your Thai adventure. I have a Thai partner, met on line September 2023 and have been over there to see her five times last year. Owns her own apartment and her own hair salon. We have travelled to the mountains, Rayong, Pattaya, Phuket (never again), and Chiang Mai. She will be visiting here April.
Retirement in Thailand, absolutely. We’ll be living about 3.5 hours north of Bangkok. Yes its hot, but so is Darwin, in fact Darwin is worse due to humidity. Thais happy as pigs in shit, so welcoming, funny as. Lifestyle – well when I get there every single worry, stress and anxiety I have just disappears into thin air.
Yes you get those that are negative about Thailand, their people and the health system, but those people are never happy no matter what. Its about planning, knowing what the costs will be, and most importantly, staying healthy as we age.
I love posting images of the produce and beer we buy, converting it to $AU and rubbing it in the noses of Aussies who seem to accept being ripped off by their fellow Australians and the price gouging of our businesses here. Try that in Thailand, you’ll disappear never to be seen again.
Anyway, I could ramble on for hours. Mate, you’ve had a taste, I think you’ll be back.
Cheers Trace
Thanks for sharing Trace, that’s great to hear!
You say Thais are funny as – one thing I notice was how much they joke and laugh with each other even while working in a shop or at a bar etc. It’s very refreshing and there’s just seems to be a fun-loving spirit among the people there. Other countries may be like this too, I’m not sure?
I think the main difference in prices here is simply our high wages, since there is a big labour component in a lot of the things we buy. So those two things go together, and the ‘breakeven’ price is a lot higher here.
Haha, I think you’re right, there was just so much we didn’t get to see! I didn’t realise just how big it is and how many ‘recommended’ areas there are to visit.