Monday, November 15, 2010

PARADISE FOR A PITTANCE (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Some folks wonder how we can afford our World Travel Adventure now going on 2.5 years -- here's how: Rent for our fully Furnished Luxury Condo - $400/mo.; 4-5 course Dinner for 2 including 4 bottles Beer - $5; Motor Scooter Rental with insurance (for 3 mos.) - $3/day; 1 Hr Oil Massage whole body - $5; Men's Haircut incl. razor finish - $2. Any more questions?

Thailand also makes it very easy to obtain a Visa for long-term residence or retirement. If you are over 50, the only requirement for obtaining a 1-yr Retirement Visa renewable annually (for only approx. $67), is to deposit and keep US$30,000/person in a Thai Savings Account (or, have a verifiable Pension that pays the annual equiv.). And, for the time-being we have an even easier method of staying up to 4 mos. at no-cost: before coming we obtain a double-entry 60-day Tourist Visa from any Thai Embassy which has been promotionally free for the past 2 years (and, may remain so indefinately?). We only need to take a 4hr day-trip to the Laos Border, and stamp out, and stamp in again for free 60-day renewal (totalling 4mos.). For now, we find a 4-mo. stay between Nov. 1 - Feb. 28, to be the best time to visit weather-wise, because it gets very hot from March - June, and then its the Monsoon season until thru October. (Though we've heard it's actually not so bad during Monsoon -- raining heavily usually in the morning and early afternoon, and then clearing). So lots of westerners for obvious reasons do live here year-round.

The View from the Balcony of our rented Luxury Condo:

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