Monday, March 30, 2009

MONEY FOR THE BIG MOVE TO THAILAND 2004

CIEJAY WITH APPLES, PLUMS AND PEACHES
AND THE ALL TIME BEST SELLER TOMATOES

EVERYONE LOVES STRAWBERRIES TO EAT AND MAKE JAM


MY FRIEND MIKE BRINGS THE PRODUCE FROM HIS FARM



CIEJAY SELLING AND EATING HER FAVORITE




CORN,POTATOES,ONIONS, TOMATOES,SQUASH,BEANS AND ALL KIND OF SEASONAL BERRIES AND FRUIT.




CIEJAY AND THE STRAWBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES






WE HAD THE SWEETEST CORN IN TOWN







Most post from Thailand bloogers are about their life upon arriving and about daily living and,traveling in the LOS, but not to many on what causes us Expats to decide,plan, save and finally,make the move to Thailand.So ,I thought I would give it a go. A friend introduced me to Ciejay ,we dated for three months and then we married ,on the fourth of July 2002. A year later Ciejay's father in Thailand passed away and we made plans with her sisters and their husbands who also lived in America to come to Thailand for the 100 day celebration of her fathers life , a tradition in Thai culture.We all flew together and rented a van to take us to their home place , and where the 100 day celebration would be held .We had talked it over and also planned to spend a week ,after all the visiting and family affairs were over, traveling around and seeing the sights .It was my first trip to Thailand and I fell head over heels in love with the country and the people.I ask Ciejay if she would move back to Thailand if we could find a piece of land to build us a house on? ,would she move back to Thailand and we would retire here ?. Being the sweet person that she is,said"YES "which was a total suprise to me because she had just the month before got her green card that enabled her to stay in American ,and being married to me was renewable every ten years with no problem.No every three months visit to immigrations or anything and she could work pay social security and taxes and retire at 62 just like anyone else in America ,a dream of a lot of Thai people.What a surprise answer. Well we spent the week traveling a lot, and visiting relatives and really looking for land and a house that we liked and the place where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives . Well, we could not decide where or what , but on the last evening of our trip before flying out the next day, we decided to visit her brother in a little village called Wang Pho in the providence of Kanchanaburi,right on the famous River Kwai.As we turned off the highway 321 and started driving down the 5 kl. and I do mean down the mountain, into the little village , my heart soared within me and I said to Ciejay "if the village is pretty and we like it , and can find a little piece of land , this is the place ". Well we visited her brother and a neighbor had a small piece of land out of town , with no road to get to it , or water and power was not close at all ,we said thank you ,but no thanks. It was getting dark when we got back to her brothers and we said "well we will have to plan another trip sometime when we had time to look around for land" . We both agreeded that this was the place , I loved the small village and it just had the right feel to both of us.Disappointed that we could not find something we liked, as it was getting late, and we had a three hour drive to Bangkok and were flying out at 6:30 the next morning, I told Ciejay to ask her brother a simple question , if he knew of any land with a empty house on it , and to our suprise he pointed 100 yards up the road and said "yes my friend and his wife divorced 8 years ago and the house is not quite finished inside and the bathroom roof has fell in , but it was for sell ", but because of bad Karma and Thai's belief in ghost and bad spirits no one would buy it, Me and Ciejay being Christians Karma and ghost ,didn't scare us at all. The house was all locked up and all the windows had security bars and screens and they were all tinted to keep out the hot sun, so as dark as it was outside and inside we could not even see inside thru the windows. we looked at each other and said lets do it . We ask her brother if he had the friends phone number, and after a while he found it ,and called . He ask if it was still for sell and how much and the friend said 400,000 baht , my brother -in -law said to him this my sister give her a discount , the friend said ok ,300,000 baht , we said we'll take it.We didn't have any extra money on us and it was night time and we ask if we could send money when we got back to the USA. He said "mai pen rai " I give you 6 months to pay me all at one time,no want payments . We said ok and told Ciejays brother to look after it for us and we would send him money every month for 6 months to pay it off and for him to keep the money ,till we had sent it all, and then pay his friend , He said ok "I keep in bank for you" ,all was settled, we now had a piece of land and a house in Thailand . Located within 1/2 mile of the town square , the high school , the hospital , the city hall, and the local police station, at the foot of the mountain and I mean right at the foot and 1/2 mile from the River Kwai, What a dream come true. We could not believe it .Our other American, brother -in-laws and their wives thought we were crazy , and maybe we were crazy , but we had a dream . We went back home , I had one more year before I could retire (62) with 75% my social security , 100% if I worked till 70. but I was ready to retire, and we had a house in Thailand .Remember I am just a worker bee in America not CEO or owner of a bussiness , no,401 K plan and no monthly retirement pension coming from years of service with one company. Just my monthly S.S.check . So I worked one more year and in 6 months we had sent money to pay the house off and we planned to move over in March of 2004, but we knew that we needed money to remodel the Thailand house and buy furniture and everything else we would need to make the house a home . We sold our cars , everything we had acumalated since we were married 3 years ago , I personally had nothing as I lost it all in a couple bad relationships before Ciejay,if you know what I mean. So when a friend suggested that we sell produce with and for him and we would split it all 50/50, we said ok and changed our plans to leave on Oct the 6th for our house in Thailand , hopefully with enough money,to do what we needed to do ,to make the house a liveable home .We sold produce from June the 1st, till Oct the 1st ,7days a week rain or shine and on the 6th of Oct. 2004 we arrived in Thailand with 11 suitcases of cloths and pictures and important papers , and our dream.








If you liked reading this post (short story) and a little about our lives ,as well as our retirement , please let me know with a comment ,I've got a couple more stories that, I think you might enjoy too , let me know what you think. Malcolm

10 comments:

Newt said...

This is a great story, Malcolm, and we're looking forward to more of the same. Been following your blog for a few months now, and enjoyed your posts on renovating the house, as well as your adventures while getting settled. You also take some good pictures. Keep on blogging! Regards from Ken C., San Diego, CA

Martyn said...

I have just completed 23 twelve hour shifts this month so I know what you mean about working your butt off, it's just that you decided to get fruity doing it. A couple of days off now, lovely.

Brilliant story and one with a lovely ending. Ciejay looks a million dollars in the photos and at the current pound/dollar exchange rate that's real good looking.

The land plot and location at Wang Pho sounds as if it's sat on a dessert bowl of fruit salad with the village placed lovingly on top.I will get around to visiting Wang Pho one day and hopefully we can share a beer, the way you describe Wang Pho and the surrounding area sounds beauty itself that's only beaten by the charm of the local residents.

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess said...

Newt, thanks for the read all the way from San Diego , hope you come back again, by the way my great -grandfathers name was Newt

Martyn also so good to hear from you, and glad for your days off ,then we get a new and fresh story that you have been storing away in that cleaver mind of yours ,just waiting to erupt onto the screen of our computors , just like Mt. Redoubt in Alaska just did to my friends in Kenai ,Alaska. and yes we will for sure get together somewhere when you come for your next visit to the LOS, and maybe a glass of Red Wine (mangosteene) Ciejay and me are the dealers for Kanchanaburi, and a dinner get together somewhere , maybe in Prachuap where Mike lives . We'll furnish the wine for such a meeting of great minds and our better halves. Malcolm

Unknown said...

Fascinating stories and photos. How about an article on how easy/hard Ciejay found it to adapt to life in the West?

Keep on blogging and have a long and happy retirement.

Anonymous said...

Always good to read a bit of the back ground. Mine is totally different as I am only 32 years old but I guess I should tell it some day!

Jade said...

Great blog Malcolm.

I will definitely come back here after our visit/vacation in our farm in the Philippines.

I must say I am a bit jealous because you are already living the life we want. When I come back I will share some stories about our farm too;)

Martin in Bulgaria said...

Hi Malcolm you updates aren't working on my bl;ogroll so I wasn't awarefo this post until Martyn (HooDon) gave a review. Better late than never.

I had no idea what a sage you went through to get you dream life in Thailand. SO, so glad you had the resolve to carry it through and CieJay is a Godsend to you for her support and acring. How touching that you can look back as say that youhave worked hard to get where you are right now. That makes it even more special than some who have things handed to them on a plate.

Having a history of bad relationships with partners seems to bwe a common element with many, losing all you have worked for in settlements. Starting from scratch again is difficukt especially when you were so near to retiring as well.

You have my greatest respect for how you got where you are, many others would have given up long ago.

Long may you and CieYay enjoy the time you have together in Thailand right now - NOW is how we should all live.

God Bless
Martin and Galia

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess said...

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR KIND COMMENTS ,YES IT WAS WORK AND DETERMANATION, ON BOTH OUR PARTS , I REALLY COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITH OUT CIEJAY'S SUPPORT AND A LOVE FOR THE LOS Malcolm

Anonymous said...

Hi Dad,
You sure are alot skinnier in this picture. What happened.

Tipper said...

I LOVED it Malcolm-I've often wondered about the details of your move-now I know!