Retiring in SE Asia: The Smartest Move I Made After 50
All right, guys. So, in today’s video, I’m going to take you on a walk through Lumpini Park and just talk about some of the benefits of retiring out here in Southeast Asia. And uh by the way, this is uh the entrance into Lumpini Park. And this is Central Mall also behind me. And I’m going to flip the camera around in a while here. But this uh park is actually known for the big monitor lizards that are just running all over. So hopefully we get lucky, we’ll see some. Stick around for today’s video. [Music] Don’tate just jump right into it. And uh again, you’ll see the park as we walk. And if I see lizards and stuff, I’m going to turn the camera around for you guys. But uh I mean one of right away one of the biggest benefits and this is from my personal experience whether it be Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, wherever you decide uh is just the stress level. Um my stress level has gone way down. Now I wouldn’t consider myself fully retired, but I would consider myself semi retired. But uh the fact that I don’t have to I don’t need to wake up at any certain time. I don’t need to go to bed at any certain time and the days of the week just kind of blend together. Uh are some of the benefits. So uh we’re going to see if we can uh find some some lizards here. Anyway, that’s probably the the biggest thing for me is I just every day kind of runs into the next day and I really sometimes I don’t even know what day it is. I got to actually check my phone and be like, is it a Sunday today? God, this is this is one of the things I like here um in Bangkok is I really enjoy the parks. A lot of nice parks here. It’s about 2:00 in the afternoon right now and it’s been uh raining a lot lately. So, this park seems to be pretty good size. I think uh Beniti Park is bigger, I believe. And I believe at some point the Beniti and the Lumpini parks uh you can actually cross over from one to the other. So, but Southeast Asia, it’s been uh it’s been an enjoyable experience everywhere from the Philippines to Thailand to Vietnam to uh spending a lot of time in Malaysia as well. That’s that was also very nice. Of course, the cost of living is uh been huge. Uh here’s interesting. Here’s a uh a gym over here. It’s the gym facing out to Lumini Park. It’s only like 400 B a month. This gym is only 400 bot per month. If it’s the one I’m taking, huh? Yeah. Super cheap. Wow. So, I’m going to try my hardest to spot a a monitor lizard. Yeah, when I decided on retiring out to Southeast Asia, I actually uh thought a lot about countries that were nearby to the US like Colombia, Panama, even Mexico at some point because it would have been so much easier just to fly back home and visit and be in similar time zones. They got tennis they’re playing in the background here. But I ultimately ended up taking a trip out to the Philippines in 2015 and then one to Thailand in 2016 and ended up uh deciding on Southeast Asia. Definitely no regrets. How beautiful this park is. Really nice. Where are you lizards? Definitely a slower pace of life out here in Southeast Asia, too, except for Bangkok. Bangkok is not it’s still pretty fast-paced. I wouldn’t say it’s on par with like New York or anything like that, but it uh it is faster paced. But out here, at least in the park, it almost feels like you’re not in Bangkok anymore. It feels like you’re in some small city. So, after this, I’ll uh we’ll take a quick peek at Central World, too. So, you know, honestly, my budget for retirement from the Philippines to Thailand really going even from a small city in the Philippines to Bangkok uh ultimately really hasn’t changed. uh a little bit lower on certain items here in Thailand and a few items that were a little bit lower in the Philippines, but I’ll do a full monthly uh budget breakdown. In fact, that’ll be my very next video after this will be my full monthly budget or what my expenses are and I’ll compare that with what my last month was in the Philippines as well. Interesting. Is this a like a homemade gym? Yeah, this is like a an outdoor gym. Look at this. Interesting. Two tires. [Applause] Now, I’m not sure how much those two tires weigh, but look at some of these weights. That’s interesting. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone uh actually bench uh two tires before, but I’m I’m sure whatever works, right? Really trying to see one of these monitor lizards. I know they got to be around here someplace near the water’s edge or something. Yeah, I think people will be pretty uh pretty interested in seeing exactly how much my budget uh really overall hasn’t changed much from uh the bus hustle and bustle sprawling skyscraper uh laden city of Bangkok versus uh like the small place of uh you know Balid that I was living. Come on, monitor lizards. Where are you? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Here’s a Here’s a little guy swimming out here. Oh, there’s two of them. There we go. Oh, yeah. So, there was two. We got lucky. We got two of them. Not real big ones, but uh still pretty cool to see. This thing is just loaded with fish, too. I saw some movement over here. Oh, that’s a fish, right? Pretty cool. I mean, this city really has it all. I mean, you can be like in this mega mall or you can be in this rooftop bar and then all of a sudden you’re in this like uh little little park with monitor lizards all over the place. So, it’s pretty amazing. Life is pretty complete since I’ve seen two of them. But, let’s see. We’ll just take a quick walk around here and then I’m going to show you the uh park or the uh central world. How are you? I won’t get too close, but uh he was looking at me. It’s nice to be uh having retirement in a a completely different world. You know, you wake up and you hear different language, you get different food. It’s different culture. It’s it’s interesting. It makes life interesting. It uh definitely keeps it uh not from being dull and boring. You know, a lot of guys come out here and they like a second second chance at life. A lot of guys, they get to an age, you know, they the kids have moved off, start their own families, and they just forget about them and uh that happens with a lot. And so they get out here and they it’s just like this whole new uh life for them, which is pretty cool actually. Okay, we got more on the other side here that I got to go. Oh yeah, this guy’s pretty big, too. So, let’s flip the camera around. That’s a good size monitor lizard right there. Yeah. Yeah. He’s smaller, though. But he’s he’s good size, too. Now, there’s even more down there. Travis, give me your finger. [Music] Yeah. Well, there we go, guys. We wanted some monitor lizards. We got some. So, um I’ll end this video by showing you the uh Central Park. All right, guys. So, this is how I’m going to end the video. This is the new Central Park Mall with one of the largest green spaces I think in Bangkok in in an actual building. But uh look at this view behind me. This is Lumpini Park right down below that we were just at floating mindset [Music] blind. [Music] So, you can see everybody’s out here just kind of chilling and taking photos. Got the skyline is amazing with that uh park in the background. Just amazing. Amazing. Amazing. [Music] Yeah. Yeah. Uh okay. That’s where Beniti Park is. Yeah. Again, look at this. Look at that. Down on the fifth floor. Look at down there. [Music] Temples hold our secrets. Market streets where you would run. In my dreams I still reach it. All the things we left unlosing. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Up or down? Up or down? Follow the trail. Well, there’s one that goes down. Yeah. Go up. Yeah. Packing in my bags tonight. No looking back again. Got your photo in my wallet and a ticket in my hand. Remember when we talked about the places we would see? Now I’m making all those visions into my reality. Every street and bank I’m calling every mountain in Nepal got me thinking about the stories that we’re never going to tell. Time is moving like a river and it’s flowing way too fast. Got to catch you at the [Music] same wall. Got these stuck in my head. East Asia instead of dreaming something. Let’s go before it’s too late. Time keeps away from us. Keep living [Music] away from us. Let’s go to the places we both know. Oh. Oh. Sun and beneath our feet make this life feel so complete. [Music] Vietnams that we’ll never tell. Floating market spicy food. Ditch this ordinary mood. Time keeps away from us. Keep living [Music] away from us. Away from us. Let’s go to the places we both [Music] make this life so complete [Music] go [Music] do satanic [Music] I can’t stand another day watching just fade away. [Applause] [Music] [Music] That view, man. [Music] This is where I will end the video, guys. But just amazing views here. It’s amazing views. See you in the next video. Ciao. [Music]
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32 Comments
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π Dating
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Christian Filipina β https://bit.ly/RecommendedDatingSite
π Travel & Health Insurance
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π https://ektatraveling.tp.st/fO4cVbN1
Michael Onstad (Expat Insurance / LOC Consultants) β Custom expat coverage.
β michael.onstad@loc-consultants.com
π https://www.facebook.com/monstad1
πΈ Money & Essentials
Wise β Low-fee transfers.
π https://wise.com/invite/dic/giovannis229
π³ Traveling in Southeast Asia?
Pay like a local in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Mongoliaβall with zero fees and 1% cashback.
π Sign up with Moreta Pay now: https://app.moretapay.com/invite/giovanni407104
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π Essential Travel Gear (My personal picks)
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I took my kids to Thailand in 2017. Lumpini park with the lizards was one of their highlights LOL. Love your videos, compared Philippines, there is so much more to do in Thailand, everything works so much better, and everything is cleaner!!!
Retirement here is definitely cool. Lumphini Park is great, it is easily accessed by both BTS and MRT lines. I have spotted a few really big monitors there.
β¦and youβre not getting your SS yet so daily living will be even better π€·ββοΈπππ
Amazing beautiful view Bangkok skylines and nice giant park , i think this palce in night so very beautiful light skylines ,too. π€ππππππΉππ΄πππ
I retired early at the age of 53 to Southeast Asia. Since then I've lived in most of the countries in the area. I don't regret it for a second. π
Hey Gio, Please expand your thought where you first considered Colombia and Panama ,but ultimately decided SΓ Asia was a better fit for you. What were the tipping points for you? Thanks.
I donβt think I should retire, I need to work
Never ever in the Philippines π
Noise, expensive, stupidity, infrastructure, medical, food, internet, everywhere security with guns, Muslim thread in the south, extrem corrupt politicians, tension China/US, β¦ ππ
A beautiful, well-kept, clean, air-conditioned gym for 400 Baht a month? That's really something. Edit: Oh boy. A new song. It's another good one for sure! 11:41 Starts here.
Says a lot about relative costs of Bangkok is the same as Bacolod. Look forward to see your analysis
Bangkok is a diverse city. Normally I hate big cities, but I love Bangkok because of it's diversity. Coz you can have a hectic life if you want to, or a slow life if that suits you better. And you can combine both pace of life if you want to. The choice is yours. Those home made "gym equipment" have been in the Lumpini Park for ages.
I like your opening song π.
They use the weights all the time. Fantastic park. Thailand rules versus ph.
We have the monitor lizard our balut lol.
No Stress Try Driving Around Angeles (No Road Rules) If There Is No One Follows
Hi Gio
When I was last there I found a raised walkway that linked the two parks from memory. Will be there in a few weeks, hope to catch you
Regards
Wayne
Do you have any suggestions on who can help with all the ins and outs paperwork wise for moving to Thailand? And places to live, etc… seriously thinking about it
have you seen the huge earthquake in Cebu Philippines ? … God gave you a way out to Thailand …brother …
π I speed a few cute girls in the crowd.
Thailand seems a lot cleaner and nicer than the phillipines
100% Living the dream. Big Like!
Nice park. I am glad you are enjoying Thailand.
Good video Gio – honestly, for me which ever SE Asian country you choose to live in, comes down people, food and the culture. Friendliest seems to be the key.
Have you been to Green Lung?
My husband and I rode bikes there. Incredible place.
It looks cleaner than Cebu, I see more trash cans in your videos,
Like your videos. That music nonstop is really bad, couldnβt watch anymore.
What made you decide on SEA over Latin America?
Very nice and entertaining video. A very beautiful park and concrete look-out area over the park. Very enjoyable, it seems, to roam around every now and then. Bring your date one day.
Give it timeπ
Thanks for the video and sharing, If I am going to retire in Thailand in my early 50s now. Bangkok is way too expensive nowadays and I would prefer Pattaya or Jomtien. At least $3K a month is more doable whether you are retired, digital nomad, vlogger and remote work to live in Thailand PLUS you need at least $100K for emergency because unexpected things could happen anytime. Some expats say at least $4K a month or even $5K a month.
Big difference from the Philippines!