Iris Klinge

Thailand forever

To be in the right place at the right time is an overwhelming experience.
 
When we came to this country for the first time in November 2013, we traveled from Bangkok 230 km to the South and landed in this city by the sea, where the King of Thailand has been living now for more than 40  years.
 
After we had settled down in our hotel, we started walking around in the neighborhood and came to a house for sale. Its owner stood in front of it just at that very moment – he did not live there anymore but was just about to take some of his personal stuff out. I talked to him and he showed us his house. I immediately fell in love with this property and declared that I wanted to buy it.  – But we did not have any money with us then.
 
The only thing we could do was to transfer 3000 Euro to him through our bank in Germany. He agreed and said, he would wait for us to send about three quarters of the needed amount later after our return to Germany.
 
This is what we did. The only proof we had was an email from our Thai owner that he had received our money. He was prepared to wait until we could come back again to this beautiful country.
 
Our plan was to fly back in January 2014, but family affairs kept us busy until end of May.
When we came back to our house here, everything was well and waiting for us to move in. Three days later, an English lawyer started to collect all the documents in order to make the transfer of the house in our name. Notaries do not exist in Thailand.
 
The first thing to learn is the Thai language, if you want to stay here forever. This very different language from all our European languages is tonal. That means, every vocal has five different tones and the same word has different meanings whether you pronounce it in middle, low, high, going up of down with your voice. All the vocals have a short and a long pronunciation. You say “e” like in pet, and “ee” like in pale and so on.
 
Life here is very easy-going and relaxed. You have to smile a lot. Even some of the vowels can only be pronounced correctly by smiling. Respect is very much practiced: you never go into a house or a shop with your shoes on. In front of every shop there are lots of shoes waiting for the customer to come out again.
 
The traffic is on the left hand side of the street and most of the time chaotic, but all the drivers take care of each other. There is no such thing as priority from left or right. You just wait and see what happens. The thousands of motor bikes are finding their way through the long queues of cars, whose drivers are considerate enough not to cause an accident.
 
Most “Westerners” don´t like to leave the country anymore, once they have lived here for a while. In order to get a long term visa, you need to prove that your income is about 2000 Euro per month or you can deposit an amount of about 20.000 Euro in a Thai bank in order to get a three months visa. Then you must ask for an extension every three months.

You can also apply for an educational visa, which means to go back to school and learn the Thai language. Then you only pay 1000 Euro and the school provides you with the necessary documents in order to stay one year. This procedure can be extended up to three years.
 
My decision to stay in Thailand forever is final. Even if I do not have any health insurance, I am willing to pay for any treatment which I might need in the future. There are three hospitals. in our city. The biggest and newest is called “Bangkok hospital”. It is a private enterprise and very exclusive. Mostly foreigners can afford it.  The second best is Sao Paulo Hospital, also private and a little less expensive. The third one is public and for everybody, very inexpensive and especially for the poor people.
 
With my new friends, the members of the local church, I went to visit some of the very desperate cases. We gave them food and spiritual help. One case was especially impressive: a man had been hit by a car. His bad brain injuries kept him awake all the time. He could not sleep anymore, suffering permanently.
 
One church member, a spiritual healer,  prayed with him while she put her hands over his head for about 10 minutes. A miracle happened: the patient fell to sleep. His daughter was so overhelmed that she cried all the time. She hugged every single member of the church and promised to come for service next Sunday.
 
But in general, life here is so healthy that most people live up to their eighties without any health problems. This is what I intend to do, too.

All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Iris Klinge.
Published on e-Stories.org on 25.06.2014.

 
 

Līautore

 

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