>The Thai Baht is right around 35 to the dollar at the moment. You can long term lease here but typically you can not buy land in Thailand unless you are in some business the Thai's list as preferred investment. The laws will soon change I think to allow full ownership of property. Now you have to form a limited partnership and put the deed in a company name. Lots of foriegners do it this way. Hope you like hot!!! food. :)

Thanks for the info.

I have a good friend who is from Laos. We met in 1980 just months after he arrived in Canada. My family sponsored some of his relatives. Laotian food is quite similar to Thai food. I was introduced to Laotian food in the early 80's and I love it! Even when it brings tears to my eyes :~)

I remember when my mother asked my friend (before he spoke English very well) why sticky rice is so popular in Laos. Sticky rice is a special variety of rice that is quite sticky; we eat it with our hands, molding it into a small ball and using it to pick-up other food for that mouthful. I don't even know the proper name for sticky rice. Anyways, he explained that if he went to a store to buy rice with "so much" money, he could buy one bag of long grain rice, or three bags of sticky rice. He was telling us that sticky rice was about 1/3 the cost of long grain rice. It was funny. You had to be there I guess. The thing is, we were expecting a story about their culture and how it differs from other cultures in SE Asia, and the long, involved reason why they ate sticky rice more than long grain rice. We didn't expect "Because it's cheaper."

Anyways, I want to go live in Thailand or Laos for at least a few months sometime. I am interested in the culture and I think a week-long visit won't give me the perspective that I would like.

Take care,

Joe