What if ?

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:14 pm

Masnilla for me to my mates already gone and says its easier visas and cheaper

Post by **Vital Spark** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:16 pm

Vietnam.

VS

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:23 pm

Manilla Sarge!?!? Its like Bangkok with traffic. Theres some beautiful places over there but I couldn't live in Manila long time.
Is your friend married to a Filipina Sarge ? visas are a lot easier then.

VS,
Have you been to Vietnam much ? Is there coastal resorts that have enough infrastructure to make it comfortable. I'm talking about schools, hospital, basic shopping etc rather than malls, pizza huts and the like.

Cheers,

Post by **Vital Spark** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:35 pm

Super Joe wrote: Have you been to Vietnam much ? Is there coastal resorts that have enough infrastructure to make it comfortable. I'm talking about schools, hospital, basic shopping etc rather than malls, pizza huts and the like.

No I haven't, but Mr.VS has. We're not beach people and we don't have kids, as long as we could buy fresh veggies and the odd slab of meat we'd be OK. We'd obviously rather stay here, but if the whole thing goes 'pear-shaped' then I think we could live there. I don't think that it would be much different to where we're living now.

VS

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:23 am

Thanks, we keep saying we'll go for a trip over to Vietnam to have a look around but ofcourse never bother sorting it out, its easier and cheaper to holiday in Thailand.
Heard some good and bad reports.

SJ

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:28 am

Vietnam would be my choice, too. Been there seven times now and liked it every time.

Post by **Digger** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:06 am

[quote="Super Joe"]Manilla Sarge!?!? Its like Bangkok with traffic. Theres some beautiful places over there but I couldn't live in Manila long time.
Is your friend married to a Filipina Sarge ? visas are a lot easier then.

Super Joe,Manilla or Of course Manila.I loved Vietnam and have toured around many times, the coastal strip is great and also extremely long.It also gets cold in winter the further you go north.My favourite is Nha Trang where I did consider setting up a sailing biz,not sure about kids education ect,for that you need Vung Tau which is a hydrofile ride away from Ho chi Minh or to old stagers like me saigon.With the influx of oil supervisors there is sure to be some kind of international education at least till 11 or 12.Danang is disappointing and for all affectionados of old TV prog China Beach,this is where it was filmed.Hoi An is now very touristy and in ways probably in a similar situ as Ho Hin.
The vietnamese are a different breed of cat to the thais.They are openly more aggresive but inwardly more genuine.Hey after fighting the French and the yanks for 30 years they then saw off the chinese in 1976.The have balls in capitals.I openly admit to not being overkeen on the thais for all the reasons that most of you post at various times on this site including many mods,but I did like the viets,the ones to be wary of are the returned boat people who are back big time after 30 years in USA,they are exceedingly greedy and unpleasant but outwardly very friendly.Food is excelent but inflation high.

Post by **raphoedon** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:15 am

freezing cold and wet, lol

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:55 am

The Vietnamese boat people were Chinese who fled after the Chinese-Vietnamese war in the late -70´s. My major dislike in Vietnam as well as in Cambodia is the food, which is like Thai food minus the spices.

Post by **komfortablynumb** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:42 am

Home.
Wherever that is.

sargeant · Post by **sargeant** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:28 am

SJ he has moved to some wonderful (his words) place on the coast. No he isnt married but he got a lovely plastic card with his photo and a chip like a credit card in ONE 3 hour visit to the immigration. He said it was so easy and he shows it when he comes back from offshore and has no problems i think he said once a year no 90 days crap and its a year from when he arrives each time from what i can gather.
Bear in mind this is him telling me so i may not have it 100% correct.
I will stay here come hell or high water even if i have to stay at home in hiding

Ang on im doing that already

Post by **Zidane** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:48 am

Phillipines for me but not Manila.Live somewhere on the coast on the island of Cebu.
From July 2007 I believe the Phillipines authorities eased the restrictions on foreign visitors and it is now possible to stay for up to two years without leaving the country.Visit Immigration to keep on extending your visa.
Second choice would be Malaysia.Only problem its a muslim country but not a radical one.English wideley spoken and good infrastructure.Places like Kuala Lumpur,Langkawi,Penang,Cameron Highlands good places to stop.
Laos,Vietnam,Cambodia also worth considering.Only problem is there is no decent healthcare and as you get older you are more likely to get sick.

Zidane

Post by **Randy Cornhole** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:51 am

If you have enough money anywhere is nice...

Super Joe · Post by **Super Joe** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:04 am

Zidane wrote:From July 2007 I believe the Phillipines authorities eased the restrictions on foreign visitors and it is now possible to stay for up to two years without leaving the country.Visit Immigration to keep on extending your visa.

People are on tourist visas and extend them every 2 months (bit of a pain) for 2 years then do a visa run (80,000 Baht a year to run for family of four). Thing is you don't know how long that will last, ala Thailand tourist visa.
Phils has a good investment/retirement (35 years and up) long stay program, but it invloves a hefty investment to be tied up unless you're over 50 and have the pension requirements. You can work on their retirement visa

can't own land though

SJ

Post by **norm** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:31 pm

If things went pear shaped here I would give Panama a try (if it hasn't changed to much in the last couple of years).

The climate is much like LOS and spanish is much much easier to read and speak. No catastrophes like earthquakes or hurricanes. Like LOS an occasional tropical storm that dosen't amount to much.

You can own land there and become a permanent resident if you choose, even get a passport after a few years.

They do want you there and make it easy for you in most ways. Cost of living is a higher than LOS (depending a lot on lifestyle).

We compared Panama and Thailand before we ended up in LOS and I admit once in a while I wonder what it would be like there rather than here.

But find we have a very pleasant lifestyle here and don't anticipate changing unless things get reallllly bad.