Looking for new home..

[RichT]

Hi all,
Been away for a while, but need to turn back to you guys for advice.


Looking for info or advice on liveaboard options in Thailand. Met a guy at Ventura Harbor yesterday who had just returned from Thailand. Although not a sailor, he said that living in Thailand was incredibly cheap, and that one could "live like a King" on 7/800 bucks a month. I asked him about the cost of keeping a sailboat there, but he didn't have any idea about that.

Do we have any members or contributors out there who can fill in the blanks? 1) is it really that inexpensive to live
2) what are conditions like? My perception is that it would be hot/humid most of the time, true or not?
3) what are costs/availability of slips and/or liveaboard options?
4) any restrictions on non citizens?
5) since I'm still battling cancer, what are the medical accomodations like? Decent doctors/facilities?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I will be able to retire in about 2 and 1/2 years on maybe 1600 a month. Would that be adequate to have a reasonable lifestyle in that area, from anyone who knows the real skinny?

Thanks guys, and gals, for your help.

RichT

[shadow]

Not sure if any of this will help but I will add what I can about Thailand.. My wife and I spent nearly a month there, in Bangkok and we found a brand new (still building the top floor) hotel/hostel for only $14 a day and we paid per week cash. Food was plentiful and cheap as HELL!! People were very nice and great!! Getting around was easy and also cheap and if you love to negotiate, like I do, then you can get stuff even cheaper!!

We then went down to Hua Hin (sp), it's several hours south of Bangkok on the beach. We stayed at a resort and didn't cost that much from what I remember. There were tons of boats anchored several Kilometers away, so I would assume that there are tons of sailors around living it nicely. They were older boats and most were not working fishing boats but obviously liveaboard boats.

We found this while walking and they were anchored off a nearby village which we inspected. Everything in that village was even cheaper then bangkok!! We were in heaven!! Found the village by accident and ate like kings for pennies!!

Hope that helps because I can't really help you with your other questions. As for conditions, well typical for any 2nd or possibly 3rd world conditions. That depends on where you are at. As for citizens, not sure but I do have a friend that has volunteered to teach and they are there for a year. Didn't seem like too much of a hassle. Temperature was hot, but I love it hot because I love being in the water, so it never bothered me that much.. It will be different for everyone..

Hope this helps.. Cheers

[cat man do]

Try Malaysia, and specificaly Langkawi which is about 70nm from the Thai Border.

The whole Island is Duty free. I did a bit of a budget here on expenses for living in Lankawi and Penang http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...&postcount=113

More info on facilities and area

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...&postcount=145

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...&postcount=147

Great spot, great people and Langkawi has none of the Hustle and Bustle of the mainland.

Dave

[Ex-Calif]

Good info so far. Lots of liveaboards in Langkawi and Phuket. The crowd seems to migrate. Weather is always hot and always humid. One or two "rainy" season per year but if you look at actual rainfalls per month it's not a huge difference. It's the tropics and it rains...

Langkawi is about 400 miles north of here and Phuket is 600 odd miles. Both are reasonable in terms of costs.

This last weekend we were over in Malaysia at a place called Sebana Cove. There was a gentleman in his 70s there who has lived aboard for years. His younger wife is currently battling cancer and he was very high on Sebana cove as a home base because it is a lot cheaper than Singapore and has immediate access to the doctors in Singapore that are treating his wife. He says she is getting world class care and I can personally attest that a huge majority of Asian expats would put Singapore at the top of there list in terms of health care and infrastructure in Asia.

Another plus with Malaysia is that they have a retirement visa scheme so that legitimate long term stays are quite possible.

You can google Sebana cove and get an idea of the facilities. There are many liveaboards there.

Oh - forgot to add there is a Canadian guy with a 30 foot boat that he sailed here. He is living on it at Sebana and has it advertised for sale - 30k or thereabouts if memory serves me.

Why wait 2 1/2 years - Go now!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by RichT

Hi all,
Been away for a while, but need to turn back to you guys for advice.

Looking for info or advice on liveaboard options in Thailand. Met a guy at Ventura Harbor yesterday who had just returned from Thailand. Although not a sailor, he said that living in Thailand was incredibly cheap, and that one could "live like a King" on 7/800 bucks a month. I asked him about the cost of keeping a sailboat there, but he didn't have any idea about that.

Do we have any members or contributors out there who can fill in the blanks?

1) is it really that inexpensive to live - It can be.

2) what are conditions like? My perception is that it would be hot/humid most of the time, true or not? - Sometimes Hot. Sometimes very hot - with or without rain.

3) what are costs/availability of slips and/or liveaboard options? - No idea!

4) any restrictions on non citizens? - broadly depends on your age (s) and how much money you are bringing - your budget is "Not much" (no offence!) - Thailand is presently going through one of it's periodic nationalistic phases, not exactly "death to all foreigners" but they do have a healthly fear / distrust of foreigners (at the moment I beleive more aimed at mainland Chinese - but also they do not want "rich" westerners colonising the country) which basically means that they do not hand out citizenship like we in the west do - you are restricted to visas of varying lengths and requirements, broadly depending on age and nationality and money.......until last year folk used to be able to exist on Tourist Visas ad-infinitum (with Visa runs every 90 days to the nearest border and back again), but now this is restricted to (I believe) 6 months in every year - however you can qualify for longer visas if married to a Thai (but this is NOT as cheap as it may at first appear!) or from taking an Educational course at an approved school (like learning the lingo) for a year at a time or from a "retirement visa" which is presently for those over 50.........however they have over the last year tightened up on these to the extent that you now have to prove an annual income (I think of B40k a month / have cash on deposit of B800k / USD25k) - recently (I think the day before yesterday!) they have introduced new hurdles for Western couples who retire in Thailand where both have to meet the income requirements - not just hubby).........working requires a seperate permit (and is also not easy / straightforward - but doable).........so what I am trying to say is think very carefully before making a 1 way trip, further changes / restrictions are possible if not likely.

5) since I'm still battling cancer, what are the medical accomodations like? Decent doctors/facilities? - In Bangkok they have international hospitals reputably comparable to those in the west covering most if not all things, wildly expensive by local standards - but cheap by private USA / UK standards! - Thinking about it a bit more I beleive that folk can get Health Tourism Visas (if you know what I mean). Certainly folk do get treated on BUPA / health insurance - not sure though if this includes those who elect to be treated in Thailand?


Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I will be able to retire in about 2 and 1/2 years on maybe 1600 a month. Would that be adequate to have a reasonable lifestyle in that area, from anyone who knows the real skinny?

That is about 50,000 Thai Baht a month - more than enough to have a comfortable life ashore . No Penthouse apartment or 24/7 partying - just living "normally" and with western style comforts will probably set you back around B30k a month, Bangkok prices - anything over that is well into discretionary spending territory - of course some western folk can and do live on less - and the more "local" you can live and eat the cheaper things will be - many local will get by on less than B5k a month (some far less - but that is usually because they are dirt poor and live in squalor ). I suspect that Boat wise you talking around Phuket way on western seaboad / Indian Ocean side - not been for a long time, but I would figure cost wise not that great a difference from BKK - things only really start getting radically cheaper when you hit the boonies

One more thing to remember is that the exchange rate historically used to be around 25B to the USD for a long long time, but spent a lot of the recent years around the 40B level and is now around the 30B mark - a difference between 40k a month and 65k a month - so apart from inflation you do need to bear in mind that currency movements can make a dent in your plans.......personally I would say that the figures you are talking about are the minimum I would feel comfortable on long term (maybe 30/40 years?) with no further earning years ahead - but if these figures are index linked I would be quite comfortable.

I have not investigated boat living in Thailand (too busy doing all those things you read in the News of the World (The National Enquirer?) with folk my mother warned me about )......but I get the impression that Malaysia (which I have only briefly visited a couple of times) is a far nicer place to live in long term (the Language / use of English probably helps!) and more freindly when it comes to long term Visas - maybe 6 months in each?

This is the place for Thai Visa questions (all of the info you need is in there - otherwise just lie and say you have done a search )

Thailand Forum


If you want to find out about "all those things you read about in the News of the World (The National Enquirer?) with folk your mother warned you about" - this is the place to be, and they also know lots of useful "boring" stuff........(Mods feel free to pull this link if you think it is not appropriate!).

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Thanks guys, and gals, for your help.

RichT

"Caveat Emptor" - Latin for "Welcome to Thailand"

I am not sure if you are married or single, but be forewarned if the latter - Thailand is a place that can chew grown men up and leave them broken.......and worse - penniless .......but that is a whole other thread - and website

[RichT]

Thanks guys, Great information, I'll do some googling and research now that I have an idea where to start. Would love to take off now, but I need to get a little bit farther along with the cancer treatments here. Once that is done, they say it will be at least 10 years hopefully before I should need treatments again, if then. Also, if I left now, I would be taking everything from savings. In 2 years 5 months, I'll be eligible for social security which, coupled with savings, should allow me to get by fairly nicely. I don't mind heat too much, lived in Arizona for a long time, the humidity doesn't bother me if I'm on the water, think Caribbean. Sounds like it has a lot of potential. Fellow at the harbor yesterday told me he spent a month at Phuket, and his hotel was 15 bucks a night, but a week after he left, rates went down by half because it was out of season. If I could find a place to keep a boat for under 400 a month, I figure I'ld be able to get by pretty well. So, any more ideas/advice are still helpful, and thanks for all so far..

RichT..

[Weyalan]

I am not particularly experienced or well informed, although I have visited Thailand on a few occasions. It has been my experience that Thaailand varies from reasonably cheap in the tourist areas such as Koh samui to ridiculously cheap in out of the way places.

If you want to be around other "western" people and would like your waiters and shopkeepers to speak at least broken English, then you will need to stick to some of the more touristy venues: Aside from Samui, Phuket being the most obvious, but also Koh Phangyang, Koh Tao, Koh Pipi, etc. but you will pay more in those areas. Not to say it isn't cheap anyway, and even in those places, there will be a range of levles of accommodation, with commensurate prices.

I really don't know anything about Marinas in Thailand - I have seen some nice loking ones, but haven't actually done any sailing there, so have no idea of the facilities / prices.

Bear in mind that the weather can get pretty cylonic at certain times of the year and that they do have a monsoon.

[Boracay]

From what I can work out the main problem with living in Thailand is the danger of jasmine fever.

Much valuable information can be found in the Stickman Chronicles.