$600 a Month Boutique Hotel Right On The Mae Ping River

2 bedroom Boutique Hotel Room – Resort Chiang Mai. Have a little extra cash and want a river view from your room? Here is a Boutique Hotel that has the feel of a resort. As you lounge by the Mae Ping River or swim in the pool you feel peaceful in this setting. This is 10 minutes from the city of Chiang Mai and has a fitness room and public kitchen area that overlooks the Mae Ping River. The hotel has a boat that takes the guests down the river at night to the famous Night Bazaar area. All for $600 a month.  Is this in your retirement budget?

Bangkok Chiang Mai Trip for $20

Bangkok  Chiang Mai trip. Who wants to stay inside like a hermit? No matter what kind of person you are or what kind of retirement budget you are on, you will want to get out and travel around now and then. Thailand has a lot of great things and places to see. So how can you get around long distances safely and economically? Well here is a comfortable 400 mile trip I took for twenty dollars. Recline back in the air conditioning and enjoy the scenery! Whether going from Bangkok to Chiang Mai or Chiang Mai to Bangkok you can't beat it!

Let's go see a $2.00 movie!

There is nothing quite like sitting in a movie theater with a big box of popcorn and listening to the BIG sound of the movie soundtrack. We are and have been enamored with the movies since childhood. But now the average non-matinee movie in the US costs $10.00. Yikes!!! I guess that is why the DVD video rental business is so big. But here that isn’t the case. Even category 1 Rippers can see a movie. Especially on Wednesdays. And we have 3D and Dolby Digital theaters. Come check it out….. 

Large Fresh Salad and Delicious Dressings $1.30

Large Scrumptious Salad with Fantastic Dressings $1.30 Anybody who has lived in Thailand for a while will tell you that ordinary Thai people don’t eat much, if any, fresh vegetables. So salads are hard to find. And when you do find one, you have a choice of one dressing, the traditional Thai sweet Salad Cream. This is mayonnaise based and very sweet. So when I find a great salad restaurant with really tasty dressings AND it is cheap, I want to tell everybody…. So here goes.

For more detailed information about this business including maps and photos and more, go to http://mapsnmore.com 

Bangkok Airport Express Train

Whether you are in a hurry, or trying to travel on a budget, you just can’t beat the Bangkok Airport Train for speed, convenience and cost. When I was headed out of Thailand recently I wanted to go from Bangkok’s Hualamphong Train station to Suvarnabhumi Airport using the Bangkok Airport Train. So I went online for information and to plan the route and connections but the information wasn’t to clear about the connections. So here you are. Let’s take the journey together. Click Here to watch the video.

Eat Cheap and Good Food at Suvarnabhumi Airport

With the weird flight schedule of arriving and departing flights at Suvarnabhumi Airport you end up having to hang out for quite a while sometimes. I used to scout around to find something to take the hunger edge off but just could not stomach the high prices and felt like I do in all airports, that they gouge you on prices. They know they have a captive audience. So I want to turn you on to a place to eat good Thai food at Thai prices inside the airport. It is a food court called Magic Food Point. They have most Thai dishes that you would be familiar with but they are priced for the airport employees. So if you are retired or traveling on a budget, this is the place to fill up. To check it out, CLICK HERE

My 136 mile per gallon Thai transportation

I had a cardiac arrest last time I was back in the US and put fuel in a vehicle I borrowed to get around and saw what it cost. I used more fuel in an hour than I do all week over here in Thailand. I don't even think about the cost when cruising around all day in Thailand. I wanted the people that are thinking about retiring in Thailand or anywhere in Southeast Asia to see what they can expect. You can buy small 100cc and 120cc motorcycles and the mileage these things get is incredible. And they run forever with minimum maintenance.

Monk living in a cave

While hiking around in the mountains in northern Thailand I came across this monk living in a cave and stopped to talk with him. I was a great and uplifting experience. I realized that really what we need to be happy is all in ourselves. Something to keep in mind as we weather these turbulent times. If you want to see the video click here.

Can you afford to drink bottled water while living in Thailand?

We all know that when traveling abroad we shouldn't drink the tap water. But how expensive is bottled or filtered water in Thailand. Well, if you are on a tight budget or living off a retirement check over here you can drink as much as you want. You will be amazed at how cheap bottled or filtered water can be. Especially compared to what be pay in the States for bottled drinking water. Yikes!! They wanted $5 at the airport for a small bottle of drinking water when I got off the plane last time in LA. Let's see what the cost is here in Thailand.

No Security in Social Security

Hey. Ever wonder how secure your life will be when you are living off of Social Security? I feel secure when I have certainty that I will be able to do and have the basic necessities of life; food, shelter and security. If my check doesn't afford me these in a comfortable environment then I will suffer emotional pain. Who wants to stress out at retirement age? It should be a time of relaxing and enjoying our mature years of life. After all, now we know what we wished we knew when we were young! Well, I want to put the security back in Social Security. What I found out was that there is no resource of up to date costs so that people could compare the lifestyle of an expat from one place to another.... that's how this site got started. I want to feel like I am helping the large population entering into retirement age. Some of us aging baby boomers circumvented giving the percentage of our income to Social Security and as you've heard before.... "Pay me now or pay me later!". Yikes! I wasn't even sure I would reach retirement age and I am still not!

My Skin Cancer Scare....

Sometimes I can't help but think about aging. Hairs growing in the wrong places and none in others! Spots and sags where there never was any. But when strange things start growing and growing fast I don't hesitate to get them checked out by a doctor. I was really surprised after the exam at the results and cost...... You can see the rest of the story by clicking here.

First Post on New Site

This is my first real post on the new site so here goes!! I am excited to get this new website started and give everybody a better taste of what they can expect if they decide to make a retirement lifestyle change and move to Southeast Asia. I was so freaked out when I was back home and saw the worry and despair my friends and others were feeling just anticipating what their futures would be like. And they aren't even there yet! As a human being I cannot stand around and watch this without working to help people out of this pain. I personally know what they can expect if they step out of that pain which they feel now and be open to a new experience rich with the excitement of new adventures but still having the comforts and security that they need to have in their lives.

New Website Look

Well, I have to apologize for being slow on making more videos for the past week or so. I wasn't happy with the look of the website. I wanted the videos to pop up to a larger size.... yikes! Was this a challenge. I am not that good at the back end stuff of website design so it was a steep learning curve to say the least. I hope you like the new look. I still am adding pages and videos so be patient please. Also I will put the old blog postings back up here as well.