The Retire in Thailand Handbook 2023…The Next Six Years: The Retirees Travel Guide Series

By Gerald Hogg

The Retire in Thailand Handbook 2023…The Next Six Years, is a follow-up to the original book I wrote and published in 2018 on living or retiring in Thailand, The Retire in Thailand Handbook...The First Six Months. The book is an updated version because so much has changed since covid arrived in 2020 and devastated the country's economy and tourism industry. This book covers the six years that I have lived here and guides the reader through the procedures and protocols of establishing oneself in a new country. The book is crammed full of advice on all aspects of relocating to a new country, including... What to bring, and what not to bring to Thailand with you. * How to apply for a Retirement Visa from your own country. * How to apply for a Retirement Visa from within Thailand. * How to open a Thai bank account * Transferring your pension to your new Thailand bank to avoid bank fees. * How to buy a vehicle. * How to apply for a Thai driving license.  * How to rent a condo or a house. * How to buy a property in Thailand. * How to obtain suitable medical insurance coverage. * Healthcare and dental costs * Best retirement locations within Thailand * Advice for single retirees. The book is also filled with cost comparison charts, helpful tips on living here and the best areas to live or retire in Thailand as an ex-pat.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald Hogg
• Release date: Mar 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215789070

Gerald Hogg

Originally from the UK, Gerald migrated to Australia in 1974. Since then he has travelled the world working in hotels and restaurants, gold mines, cruise ships, Antarctic supply ships, custom patrol vessels, rig tenders, and oil tankers. In the capacity of his work as a chef, he has also lived in Jamaica, Bermuda, Singapore, the Falkland Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the USA. He has now retired to Thailand where he lives on the island of Koh Samui and travels extensively throughout South-East Asia. To keep active and to pursue his love of travel Gerald has also written five travel books in his Retirees Travel Guide Series. Gerald has also written a novel The Deptford Mask Murders and his first book in the Thai Died series of books, Murder in Paradise.

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This book is dedicated to the many Farang I interviewed in 2017 while writing my first book The Retire in Thailand Handbook...The First Six Months who made me feel welcome and helped me settle into my new country. Also to the many people, both Thai and Farang who I now call friends after living for nearly six years in this wonderful country.

Khob khun khrup pen xyang mak, chan dai riian ruu laai yang jaak khun

Copyright

The Retire in Thailand Handbook 2023 (The Next Six Years)

1st edition 2023

Published independently by Gerald Hogg

Text & cover page Copyright© Gerald Hogg

No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, stored or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the publisher

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The information provided within this book is for general informational purposes only. While we try to keep the information up-to-date and correct, there are no representations or warranties, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this book for any purpose. Any use of this information is at your own risk so do your own research.

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INTRODUCTION

It’s been nearly six years since I retired to live in Thailand and wrote my first book on retiring here The Retire in Thailand Handbook (The First Six Months) and it’s been quite a journey with many ups and downs, but as Billy Bragg sang on his version of Walk Away Renee You have to learn to take the crunchy with the smooth I suppose ...so on the crunchy side of those six years.

I have been in two relationships that ended in tears and I am now trying again with a third relationship (fingers crossed it will work out this time).

I have been involved in two serious motorbike accidents but lived to tell the tale.

I had problems with my Australian pension where the Australian government reduced it by a third for over six months and I had to live on an even tighter budget while I solved the problem. Not an easy task to do from 7,500 kilometres away. It’s great how governments can take your money in taxes for 50 years then try to keep it to pay it to someone who doesn’t want to work dole money or give it to a woman with four children to four different fathers so she can spend it on cigarettes and alcohol or worse...go figure.

And then there were the three years of covid when I watched as my share portfolio dropped by 50% when covid and then later recession hit the world and life in Thailand as we knew it changed for the foreseeable future. So, it’s been quite a journey and even with those problems it’s still been a fantastic journey because on the smooth side.

I have successfully renewed my Thai O-A Retirement Visa five times and filed sixteen 90-day reports (never an easy task in Thailand)

The two relationships that ended badly taught me a lot about where I was going wrong when it came to Thai relationships, as they are not the same as western relationships as many farangs can attest to.

I have established myself within the country and I feel confident that I made the right choice to retire here.

I have written ten books; this will be book number eleven.

I wrote a monthly column for The Phuket News.

I started a YouTube channel two years ago to help people who are thinking of moving or retiring here.

I have travelled the length and breadth of this wonderful country and made many friends both Thai and Farang.

I wrote my first book to help people who intended to live here avoid the costly mistakes that I made when I first arrived here to retire in 2017. This book covers the ups and downs of the following six years of living here and answers the question should you consider Thailand as a retirement destination in 2023? Because many things have changed in the land of smiles since I first arrived here looking for a new start in life.

As I said it’s been quite a journey and my journey continues.

Gerald Hogg

Hua Hin

Thailand

March 2023

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CHAPTER 1. THE FIRST SIX MONTHS

In my original book The Retire in Thailand The First Six Months, I wrote, In today’s world there are many countries opening their doors to allow retirees into their countries. Some of the more popular countries are Belize, Panama and Mexico in Central America and Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and the emerging Vietnam in South East Asia. So out of all the countries vying for your pension dollar, why choose Thailand? Being on a pension, the main criterion when looking to retire overseas for many retirees, is the low cost of living. Thailand is not as cheap to live in as it used to be, but compared with Australia, the UK, the USA and most western countries, you can live a good lifestyle in a great climate for a fraction of what it will cost you to live in your own country. Depending on your retirement income you can live a life of complete luxury or a more modest way of life but still have a great lifestyle, in a tropical climate whatever your income. Eating out is very affordable, and phone calls are extremely cheap and free if you use Viber, Line or Skype. The Internet in Thailand is also very good and cheap. It is usually free in most hotels, restaurants, coffee shops and bars. The Internet is also usually included in your rent if renting a condo

So much has changed since I wrote those words in 2017 not just here in Thailand but the whole world due to the covid pandemic that plagued the world for three years and ruined the economy and tourism industry of the majority of countries in the world including Thailand’s. With Thailand relying heavily on tourism revenue that pays the wages of so many of their citizens the country has suffered badly with many hotels, restaurants and tourist-related businesses closing their doors over the past three years. Because of the lack of funds to maintain the businesses, some of those businesses will never re-open as they have fallen into disrepair and it will be cheaper to knock the premises down and rebuild than it would be to repair many of them. Many hotels and businesses around the country that relied heavily on tourism have closed or have been abandoned and left derelict.

Unlike the two main countries that I lived in for much of my life, England and Australia, Thailand does not have a social security system where they pay their citizens money when times are tough so for most people here if you don’t work or have land to grow crops then you don’t eat...so the past three years have been hard days indeed for many Thais and I was thankful that I grew up and worked in countries that helps me through tough times, even though I do have to fight them sometimes to get what is rightfully mine.

But in July of 2017 when I first came to retire here the Thai economy and tourism were booming with 35 million foreign tourists entering the country that year. Because of that, my first six months here were exciting and rewarding, though on the crunchy side, it was hard work having to establish myself here and to get my retirement visa sorted out, find a place to call home, get my Thai driving license, purchase a vehicle, open Thai bank accounts, make friends, all of the things that you need to do when transplanting yourself in another country.

I also wrote in 2017 about why you should consider Thailand as a retirement destination and some of those reasons were...

THE CLIMATE.

Well, that hasn’t changed in the past five and a half years. Thailand’s weather is still just as wonderful as it was when I came to the country for the first time in 1983, despite what Greta Thunberg and other climate change activists have to say about climate change. Yes, Thailand has a few months of monsoon-type rain every year but that has been going on since time immemorial with sometimes flooding and other times hardly any rain at all. But most of the time its hot and sunny.

THE THAI PEOPLE

Unfortunately, I have found that the majority of Thai people have changed since I wrote my first book on retiring here in 2017. In the past seventy-five years, there have been ten military coups in Thailand, the last one being in 2014, three years before I retired here and the same prime minister who led the coup then is still in power today. Add to that the covid pandemic that arrived here in January 2020 with many Thais losing relatives and loved ones due to the spread and many people also losing their jobs, businesses and livelihoods, Thailand is not so much The Land of Smiles as it once was, but more the land of frowns. When I first came here, I was greeted wherever I went with a Wai, a smile and a Sawasdee Krap (Hello in Thai) but unfortunately those days seem to have gone and the happy smiling faces are not as noticeable anymore. There still there but you have to look harder to find them.

AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE

Once again this has changed since 2017 though it’s still more affordable than in many western countries. A few months after I arrived here in 2017, I had a motorbike accident and I was in the hospital for four days. When I was discharged there was no charge unfortunately for expats that is not the same today. Since covid arrived government hospitals now charge though nowhere near as much as private hospitals.

THE THAI LIFESTYLE

I have found in the last few years that the Thai lifestyle has changed considerably in one respect. Prior to covid, the majority of Thai citizens had relinquished their popular tourist beaches and tropical islands to the millions of foreign tourists that arrived in their country every year. Lately, on my travels around the country, I have noticed that they have taken advantage of the lack of tourism and they have reclaimed their beaches and islands. When I go to the beach now, I see many Thais enjoying the Thai lifestyle that they had previously abandoned to the tourists. Whether that will continue if Thailand gets back on track with the predicted forty million tourists in the future only time will tell.

LOW CRIME

Due to its Buddhist teachings most Thais are wanting to enter their next life as a better or richer person than they were in this life so Thailand is still a relatively low crime country as most people don’t want to get on the wrong side of Buddha and risk coming back as animal whereas many of the pitiful soi dogs are hoping to come back as a human. So compared to most western countries and some of Thailand’s South East