Nov. 8, 2009
Ganeshpuri, India
PLUS: What's So Special About This Beach?...
AND: Making Friends In Your New Home Overseas...
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Enough From Me Already!
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But don't take my word for it. Come on down to this beautiful, safe, sunny, and welcoming country and see for yourself.
With everything going on in the world right now, it's understandable if your thoughts are turning to things like safe haven and escape. For many, Panama is the answer.
Meet us in the Hub of the Americas Feb. 25-27, 2010, for our Live & Invest in Panama Conference, and we'll show you why.
Details here.
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"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."
-- Mark Twain
Dear
Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
"Over the years," writes Intrepid Correspondent Paul Terhorst in his new "
Around Asia" report, released this week, "I've heard from tourist friends who came to see the Taj Mahal...Varanasi... this and that temple...the Indian highlights. Whether they love it or hate it, I hear the same report:
India is crowded, dirty, noisy. They fight traffic, rickety buses, delays, and detours. They get ripped off by vendors, innkeepers, and travel agents. They almost always get sick, frustrated, and irritable on the trip--again, whether they like India or not.
"But Vicki and I came straight to sleepy Ganeshpuri with a different agenda. Vicki plans to spend a month at a Ganeshpuri ashram. After I drop her off, I'm off to run around India with my friend Jose--not as a tourist, but to check India out as a place to live.
"We'll go beyond tourist India, beyond the music, movies, temples, religion, ceremonies, palaces, gods, statues, festivals, and shrines. Instead, we'll take a look at expat, residential India. Temples and religions will take a back seat.
"With living in mind, we'll head straight to Kerala on India's southwest coast. From Kerala we'll work our way up to the beaches at Goa. Kerala and Goa offer better food--seafood instead of beans, coconut milk instead of palm oil--than the rest of India. These places also offer some of the world's most beautiful beaches and, in Kerala, charming backwaters.
"We'll check out cities, including capital Trivandrum and the port of Kochi (Fort Cochin). We'll see Indian and what's left of Portuguese culture in Goa, from when the Portuguese ran that part of India. We'll consider what retired life would look like and who we'd play with.
"Before coming to India, Vicki and I walked over to the Indian consulate near where we live now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and picked up our single-entry visas, good for six months. I asked what other visas were available and was told that, if I apply in my home country (the United States), I can get a 10-year, multiple-entry visa for about US$150. Each entry is good for six months, and there's no maximum on how long I can stay in a given year.
"So, for example, I could go to India for six months, pop over to Oman, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, the UAE, wherever, for a short break, and return for another six months. Sounds almost too good to be true, but I got it from the Indian consul himself.
"I have an American friend who visits India often, and he confirms that he has a 10-year visa. This same American friend tells me that, although Indian law provides for foreign ownership of real property, in practice, it's not possible. People have tried it, and, in most cases, have never gotten clean title. Forget it, is his advice. Even if it were possible, which it probably isn't, the time and hassle in what might be the world's most tedious bureaucracy would punish.
"As an alternative, I'm told, foreigners can incorporate in India and buy property in the corporate name. Again, figure on delays, lawyers, costs, paperwork, and brain-dead bureaucrats.
"For now, I'm a renter. I'll check out apartments, guesthouses, and other living alternatives.
The attached picture shows a For Rent sign ("house to let") on a new building. Presumably, the goats are extra."
Kathleen Peddicord
P.S. From India to China, from Laos to Vietnam, and from Thailand to Malaysia, this part of the world serves up the best living on a budget available anywhere on this planet. In their just-released "
Around Asia--On The Trail Of A New Life And A Grand Adventure With Two The World's Most Intrepid Wanderers," Correspondents Paul and Vicki Terhorst introduce you to this exotic land of emperors and adventurers as no one else can. For the past year-and-a-half, they've been traveling around Asia, not as tourists, but as would-be foreign residents.
All along the way, they've considered this question, "Could we live here?"
The verdict? Absolutely...well and cheap.
"
See Asia now," Paul advises.
More here.
P.S. What else this week?
PLUS: Three years ago, when we set eyes on Los Islotes, on the west coast of Panama's
Azuero Peninsula, Lief and I knew we'd found the beach that called our names, the beach that we wanted to include as part of our long-term "retirement" plans.
I could wax poetic about the way the surf crashes at the rocky shore and the far-reaching views of the Pacific Ocean from nearly any point on the property. I could tell you about the swimming cove, the undulating hillsides, and the glorious sunsets (this is the only coast in all Panama where you can watch the sun set over the ocean). I could introduce you to the howler monkeys and the pelicans, the three little islands offshore (from which the property takes its name), and the fishing (said to be some of the best in the world). These are persuasive reasons to choose one beach over another. But, the truth is, I realize, Los Islotes doesn't hold the monopoly on any of these things. Other beaches other places in the world also boast frothy Pacific surf, dramatic cliffs and peaceful coves, abundant wildlife, great fishing, and jaw-dropping views.
Lief and I have bought beachfront property in nine countries and counting. These are all places where we've enjoyed spending time and, at the same time, where we've seen a reasonable or better return on investment. Los Islotes is different. We're not getting in and getting out, and we're not simply holding on for capital appreciation either. At Los Islotes, we're committing more personally and very long term.
What's the difference? 