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Never Say No [Vol.17 No.10 Oct 2008]
The only way you can safely say 'No' in Thailand
is to say 'Yes'. But with a little practice you will
be able to always say 'Yes' and still evade doing
what you said you would do. You have probably...
Insurance in Thailand [Vol.17 No.9 Sep
2008]
I get a lot of questions about insurance in
Thailand. We typically think of life and health
and maybe auto insurance. But that's just
scratching the surface. There's property, house,
condo, accident,...
Too Busy to Keep working
[Vol.17 No.8 Aug 2008]
I come across lots
of articles written for those of us who are retired
or getting ready to retire. Most of them warn that
once we quit work we will have to find something to
do with the rest of our...
Uninvited Houseguest
[Vol.17 No.7 Jul 2008]
If you have gotten to the point
of setting up house here in Thailand then you have
probably already experienced some uninvited
houseguests. No, we are not talking about your
cousin Bubba dropping...
Enter With Caution
[Vol.17 No.6 Jun 2008]
I was at a gathering the other
day where a number of expat women were talking about
how their marriages had become stressed and then
disintegrated once they came to Thailand....
Tarzan English
[Vol.17 No.5 May 2008]
Something mysterious happens to
the English language of many farang when they
disembark their airplanes and step onto Thai soil.
Their grammar disappears. Articles like 'a'...
Live Under Your Means
[Vol.17 No.4 Apr 2008]
At the tender age of 55 I had a
good job in the computer industry; then my company
decided to outsource my job to India. And am I
happy they did.
Annual Checkup [Vol.17 No.3 Mar 2008]
My wife and I hadn’t done
anything together for a long time so I thought that
we could go out and do something as a couple for
once. Like a good wife, married to the same man for
a third of a century, she said “Let’s go and get our
annual physical checkup.”
Power Napping [Vol.17 No.2 Feb 2008]
Thailand, especially on a
stifling hot season afternoon, can be a rather
enervating place. There is a Thai word
'chee-wit-chee-wa' meaning animated and lively.
Well, a hot Thai...
Golf in Thailand [Vol.17 No.1 Jan 2008]
Golf is a good walk spoiled -
Mark Twain I would guess that any column on
retirement would eventually have something to say
about golf. I have played lots of sports and been
active all my...
It's a Dog's Life [Vol.16 No.12 Dec 2007]
I was just reading one of those
expat blogs and the topic of the day was how to
protect yourself from those barking, growling,
snapping 'soi dogs'. The advice given ranged from
carrying a big stick...
Unintended Consequences
[Vol.16 No.11 Nov 2007]
In the film Pay it Forward, the
plot of the story has the protagonist doing random
good deeds for someone with the only stipulation
that they do a random good deed for someone else,
thus paying the...
How Do You Spell That? [Vol.16 No.10 Oct 2007]
I am sorry to be the one to
tell you, but many of those Thai words and place
names you have read on maps and signs and guide
books, well, you're saying them wrong. But it's not
your fault. The spelling...
Visiting a Thai Temple
[Vol.16 No.9 Sep 2007]
There probably has never been a
foreign visitor to Thailand who hasn't visited a
temple. It's like visiting Italy and not going to a
cathedral. But for many sightseers the Thai temple,
or wat, is...
Relationships[Vol.16
No.8 Aug 2007]
Many people come to Thailand
hoping to form relationships and find a life
partner. There are ads in newspapers, magazines and
on the internet offering to help put prospective
partners together...
Can I Borrow a Word?
[Vol.16 No.7 Jul 2007]
Sometimes I just don't know the
Thai word for something. I had some car trouble the
other day when I left my headlights on while I went
to visit a friend. When I came back the battery was
dead and...
Who Pays the Bill [Vol.16 No.6 Jun 2007]
A Thai friend of mine came to
me with a problem a while ago. He had a farang house
guest and because of it he was going broke. He was
just on his way to the pawn shop to hock his new
cell phone...
What's in a Name?
[Vol.16 No.5 May 2007]
As a newcomer to living in
Thailand you will meet lots of people everyday. Of
all the people whom you meet I wonder how many of
their real names you will ever know. The other day I
got an interesting...
Building Your Dream House[Vol.16 No.4 Apr 2007]
In an earlier column I said
that for me I thought it best to rent a house or
condo. I still feel that way but very frequently I
encounter the Farang who must build his "dream
house". Too often this...
Internal Heat and a Broken Stomach[Vol.16 No.3
Mar 2007]
Buddhism teaches us that if we
are going to be born then we must also accept that
we will grow old, get sick and eventually die. If
you are retiring here...
Counting Your Blessings [Vol.16 No.2 Feb 2007]
Thailand uses the metric system
as does most of the logical world. But the Thais
have their own system of weights and measurements
that may confuse the newcomer. One example of a
Thai-specific unit...
Four Stages of Living in Thailand [Vol.16 No.1
Jan 2007]
What stage of living in
Thailand are you in? Jean Piaget, the Swiss
psychologist, told us that we all live through four
stages of development when we are growing up. We go
through infancy, pre-school,...
Staying Alive [Vol.15 No.12 Dec 2006]
I have found that staying young
has much more to do with your mind than with your
body. The body, as Buddhist philosophy, and the laws
of physics, tells us is impermanent, constantly
undergoing change,...
Meidcal Care
[Vol.15 No.11 Nov 2006]
One way you know that you’ve
left your youth behind and reached retirement age is
when every time you get up from a chair you make
strange grunting noises. And your thoughts more
often than you would like center on your health, or
lack of it.
Why Learn Thai? [Vol.15 No.10 Oct
2006]
There is an idiom that the
Thais use to describe how their culture is seen by
the outside world, 'Pak Chee Loy Naa', or literally,
'Corriander leaves floating on top'. The pretty
decorative green...
Driving in Thailand [Vol.15 No.9 Sep 2006]
Motorcycles to the left of me,
pickups to the right. Into the Valley of Death I
ride. That's how most foreigners feel when they
first experience Thailand traffic. At first glance
it would appear...
Getting Around
[Vol.15 No.8 Aug 2006]
The Walking Man is a 77 year
old German friend of mine who has lived in Thailand
for the past 15 years. Every morning he walks up to
10 kilometers, much less than he did when he was
younger. Then he sometimes…
Condo Hunting
[Vol.15 No.7 Jul 2006]
If you are looking for a place
to live in Thailand try this exercise. Open the
Bangkok paper to the real estate section. Take a
look at one of the large ads and see what condos
and...
Getting Access to Your Money [Vol.15 No.6 Jun
2006]
Once we retire overseas we
instantly enter the international banking scene.
Most retirees will have either a foreign source of
income, usually in the form of a government or
private retirement plan,...
Looking for a Place to
Live [Vol.15 No.5 May 2006]
When you have finally decided
to give retirement in Thailand a shot it is time to
leave those hotel rooms, guest houses, and friend's
floors behind and look for a more permanent
residence. You'll find...
Is Thailand right For You? [Vol.15 No.4 Apr
2006]
If you have determined that the
time is right to retire, your finances are in place
and you are considering Thailand, you need to answer
the question of whether Thailand is right for you.
Why not try...
Could That Place Be
Thailand? [Vol.15 No.3 Mar
2006]
There is a popular saying about
my hometown of New York City, "It's a great place to
visit but I wouldn't want to live there." With one
exception something similar could be said of
Thailand, "It's a...
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