PeterRS

How very lucky you are that your previous employer provides healthcare for life. Fabulous benefit. With all respect and fully accepting that you have done way more personal research on The Philippines than I, I can only think of one time in that country where the political situation has been anything like stable! I visited a lot during the Marcos years when he was a Donald Trump-like figure but also happily killed opponents. Things improved slightly under his successor, Benigno Aquino's widow, and a new Constitution was finally adopted. This has a provision to end the power of the small group of elite families who had all but run the country – and continue to do so. But Congress has never passed that part of the Constitution and so massive power remains in the hands of a few unelected famiiies. To be fair, things improved under Aquino's successor Fidel Ramos who had at one time been Marcos' Vice-Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces before switching sides. With all political parties being basically weak, there was no clear-cut candidate to choose after Ramos. So his Vice President, the popular former actor Joseph Estrada stood and won. Estrada seems to have been an out-and-out crook and was both impeached and jailed. His successor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may have been the longest serving President since Marcos but she too fell foul of the law and was twice arrested. Her successor Aquino's son Benigno was then appointed President. Although not charged with any crimes, his popularity waned significantly for various events that took place during his Presidency, leaving the office when Rodrigo Duterte took over. As we know, Duterte is now at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on a multitude of charges including mass extra-judicial killings and other human rights abuses. And now the thug Marcos' son Bong Bong is President. He was discovered to have undisclosed ill-gotten wealth when a student. After the family was exiled to Hawaii, he tried to withdraw US$200 million from a secret Swiss account. His famly allegedly had between US$2 billion and $10 billion in undisclosed assets when Bong Bong tried to keep a quarter of that in a deal with the government, a deal struck down by the Supreme Court. As a senator he was involved in various financial scandals Under his Presidency 63% of Filipinos consider themselves poor, the most since 2003. Having promised to respect human rights, little has changed during his term. Drug war murders and disappearances have continued at a rate that has been compared to the level under Duterte. Journalists continue to be killed and harrassed. His Vice President, the daughter of previous president Duterte, has completely split from him. Of the Marcos/Duterte feud, The Diplomat wrote this on 18 May – Accusations of drug use, not one but two impeachment trials, a high-profile arrest at an airport, and even threats to hire a hitman to assassinate the current president – welcome to the grudge match that’s reshaping Philippine politics, and with it, potentially the entire South China Sea. In early May, the Philippine House of Representatives voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for the second time in as many years. Duterte has been accused of skimming millions of dollars in government funds during her time as secretary of education and then trying to cover it up. She is also being charged with “betrayal of public trust” in connection with a supposed plot to kill her former ally, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. https://thediplomat.com/2026/05/duterte-vs-marcos-the-political-feud-tearing-apart-the-philippines/ Welcome to Philippines politics!

@jimmie50 you are such a fantastic poster I amost hate to be one to suggest that this is an area where you really have to put your foot down - although how you do it, I really do not know. Cam's present medical issue may indeed just be air conditioning. On the other hand, you have to remember his profession and the number of guys he will have been with. Any number of niggling health problems could have been transferred to him, as well as some more major ones. Before you contemplate a life together with him, surely some form of medical check up is essential? Maybe if you told him you would both do the medical check ups at the same time on the same day, that might help? I have a western friend who years ago had a much younger Thai bf. He had a small problem with a tooth. My friend took him to a dentist and it was discovered that he needed a considerable range of dental procedures.

I assume you have taken account of the cost of the retirement visa - 65,000 Bt. per month regularly deposited into your account or 800,000 placed in a bank account untouchable virtually until you die or depart the country by some other means. I realise the latter reduces to 400,000 for part of the year but essentially you need to have 800,000 Bt. untouched as long as you remain in Thailand. One baht less and your visa could vanish! Alternatively if you plan to stay for years you could become a big spender and go for a Thai Privilege Visa (used to be named Thai Elite). That used to be 1 million Bt. cash down (and forever lost) for 20 years. But you are too late as the Privilege business has changed. 20 year visas are by invitation only so you're stuck with a maximum of 15 years for 2.5 million Bt. If you plan to live longer than that, you start again at the beginning! And that is the big unknown! The 800,000/400,000 Bt. untouchable was introduced around 2019. Beforehand you needed 800.000 in your account only for a couple of months prior to annual renewal. Thereafter you could spend that money paying for all your champagne, caviar and boys during the year. Then it suddenly changed at virtually a moment's notice. Thailand Elite became Thailand Privilege about a couple of years ago and existing members were given 3-8 weeks notice. Neither had any backdating. The big problem in my view is that the Thai Immigration Department has a very quixotic and changeable view about policy and it has sometimes depended in the past not on actual government policy but individual Directors of Immigration. My worry now is the 65,000 bt. figure. That was introduced soon after the 1997 Asian Economic crisis at a time when the country was desperate for any cash. AFIK it has never changed. Given the government's frequently stated desire for wealthier tourists and wealthier retirees, how long will it be before that amount is jacked up? If it is jacked up, a lot of existing retirees will surely pack up and leave. Now taxation has been ntroduced for some wealthier retirees. And once the tax and visa issues are solved, what about the ever-increasing cost of healthcare? Like it or not, premiums go up quite substantially once you are over 60 or 65.

I honestly cannot see there is any brand name value in 'Circus'. Even today I have friends (admittedly older ones) who refer to that bar as Telephone. Given the major covid fall off in customers, there must be massive numbers who attended the original Telephone Bar and therefore fondly remember it but for whom 'Circus' fails to register much. I always found it a strange name to choose for that location - but that is no doubt just me. There was a very clear and specific reason at the outset for choosing 'Telephone' as the bar's original name. I wonder what value if any 'circus' brought to the location.

Not nearly as much as you with your silly childish posts in French.

The doubt about the Soi's future is well over a year old. Perhaps it could be a result of the major successful redevelopment on the other side of Silom on the corner with Soi Convent leading the owners to realise Soi 4 now has significant unrealised profit potential. Merely a sad guess!

You seem to speak many languages. Which one is this? More childish stupidity!

I just read that long post which I think @zombie will have picked up from Sawtdee.com. I was also concerned about some of the financial issues raised in @macaroni21's post above. I believe Circus took over 5 years ago. For the purchase price of premises to drop from Bt. 14 million to Bt. 4 million in 5 years surely tells potential customers a lot of what they ought to know. Mind you, to be fair the Circus years coincided with covid and so understandably there will have been a major drop in customers during that time. Competition in the soi has also increased, but when Telephone was sold there were almost as many bars and other venues in the soi. However, a drop of Bt. 10 million in the purchase price surely indicates there is more to these figures that needs to be investigated.

What a shame! I met several lovely guys using those phones, even though I sometimes had a concern that after they saw me they'd just put the phone down. 🤪

The Jomtien Parade sounds more like the massive Pride Parade held annually in Taipei at the end of October each year. That was started many years ago and continues to be run by a grass roots organisation of individuals rather than commercial concerns.

I can recall when Circus in its original guise as Telephone Bar opened. It was a fabulous bar with great staff and a great gimmick - the phones. Many customers used those phones to try and make introductions to guys they might otherwise have been too timid to approach. I met one of the barmen in London after he had moved to work in a Thai restaurant there a few years after opening and then in another Bangkok restaurant when he returned home. Each time he not only remembered me, he remembered my name. I got the impression the bar began to go downhill after its early decades.

The original offer only mentions "lease position". Almost certainly the only people who know what is happening re leases in that soi is the family at the end that owns it.

Dead? Perhaps you forgot that you awoke it! And I am nobody's fool. Happiness does not align with death, often gruesome, ghastly deaths.

Chocolate makers? Lots of countries make wonderful chocolate, most recently to my knowledge Oman. Belgium is a beautiful country, but you are indeed immature if you think writing on an English chat site in French is anything but totally childish and ridiculous.

You might take your own suggestion seriously and be a happier person!