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 |  This is my blog & my hope, writing daily will help me see my progress and log supporters. |
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| I just ordered room service so I will keep this short. Tomorrow I sign a six-month lease on a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Hua Hin. It's situated in a quiet area not too far from the night markets. There's 24/7 security, a pool, a gym and a covered, lock-up garage. https://lazudi.com/th-en/prachuap-khiri-khan/property/riviera-pearl-luxury-house... Hua Hin has a much lower cost of living than places like Phuket and Koh Samui. It's only a two two-hour drive to Bangkok and is quite central within the country, which makes travel options both north and south much easier. They were originally asking B34000 per month for a twelve-month lease. The place has remained empty for the last six weeks, so they dropped the price to B30000 per month for a twelve-month lease. I offered B25000 for six months...they came back at B28000 for twelve months and we settled for B2800 for a six-month lease, which I will sign tomorrow. I will then book my flight to Bangkok, leaving Thursday morning to collect my new bike and ride to Hua Hin, hopefully, arriving late afternoon. My luggage will need to be couriered directly from Patong to Hua Hin. I still need to apply for health insurance. I'm not sure how much the premium will be, but I do know it won't be cheap. When it comes to health insurance (as with most things in life), you get what you pay for, and considering I'll be riding a motorbike regularly, this is one area of my monthly budget I will not be skimping out on. One of the most difficult issues I am dealing with is banking. I have a debit card with my Australian bank, and a Visa Mastercard (Cash Passport) that I transfer Australian dollars that it converts to Thai Baht for use at ATMs. The cost of using an ATM here is ridiculous. I thought Australia was bad (where using a private or another bank's ATM costs around AU$2.00), here, it's around B200 to B300 (around AU$8 to $10). The go is to withdraw large amounts less often. Calling my Australian bank's customer service number and being placed on hold for thirty minutes (with no call back option), after two attempts and still not being answered...at a cost of around AU$20 a time, is not making me a happy customer. Eventually, I will withdraw most of the money from my Australian account and put it into my new Thai bank account for easy transfers and walk-in withdrawals. I knew there would be challenges. I know I will overcome them one way or another. In a way, it's all a learning process, and I am a fast learner when I put my mind to something (excluding addiction, although I feel very comfortable with my progress since I left Australia). All in all...I'm happy with the transition so far. |
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