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5 Awesome Countries To Retire In Asia

Asian countries are one of the most culturally diverse and beautiful places in the world. The region has many wonderful locations for people to retire, each place offering unique benefits for expats wanting to live somewhere exotic. Here you can learn about why the following five Asian countries made it on the list as the top places to consider when moving overseas.

 



Malaysia

Malaysia is located in the South Pacific, adjacent to Thailand. Malaysia is well known for its beautiful tropical beaches, rainforests and lively city life. The country participates in a dual-language system consisting of English and Malay. It can be difficult to learn, but it’s important to know both as Malay is the country’s official language.

Malaysia should also be a top priority for retirees. It’s relatively large in size, with every type of terrain and adventure you can imagine. If you want to head out, Asia will at your fingertips. Travelling between countries is extremely easy, making exploring the full potential of Asia a breeze

Thailand

A close follow-up to Malaysia was Thailand. As Malaysia’s northern neighbor, there is no surprise that Thailand has landed in second as a desirable location for expatriates to retire    . Many studies have shown that expats are attracted to aforementioned Southeast Asian country due to its warm weather and tropical surroundings, white sand beaches, excellent golf courses and affordable prices.

Thailand is known as “The Land of Smiles”. Boasting low cost living, warm-water coastlines and tropical climates, the country certainly has a lot to offer those searching for the ultimate long-term retiree destination. The lovely tropical climate coupled with a tax-free system for income coming abroad for expats, a rich and untouched culture and relatively standardized hospital care make it an ideal place to enjoy; should you choose to retire in Thailand.



Cambodia

Of all the countries in Asia, Cambodia has long been on its way to becoming a major player for retirees. As more and more foreigners come to discover this country’s rich culture and unique history, many are seeking out retirement homes along the breathtaking coastline and in the tropical jungles. One reason why most people choose to retire in Cambodia is due to its warm climate (which comes hand-in-hand with natural beauty) and the ease of obtaining long term visas. In many other Asian countries, long-term visas may only be issued with a certain income or work status attached – not so in Cambodia! This allows retirees to relax further knowing they aren’t tied down by any restrictive visa requirements.

Vietnam

While on the hunt for new experiences, a change in scenery while staying within your retiree budget, Vietnam should be well at the top of your list. Similar to its neighboring cities and countries, Vietnam is known for its exquisite scenery and warm climate, but also offers a variety of healthy and delicious foods.

However, it’s challenging to get long term visas  or retirement visas.



Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has good weather year round. It is a good choice for people who are seeking tropical countries with warm temperatures or who might have to be relocated due to work. Sri Lanka also offers several popular cultural attractions, including beaches and plantations, which means that expats can get a variety of different experiences in one location when exploring their surroundings.

Sri Lanka is the perfect place to settle down in if you want to start a new life. Sri Lanka offers what they call the “Dream Home Visa Programme” which allows retirees over the age of 55 who meet the countries financial minimum for expats, a 2-year visa with the potential to renew.

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How to choose the best location for retirement

 

Retirement is an amazing time in everyone’s life, but you’ll want to be careful about how much it changes who you are. You’ll want to make sure that certain aspects of your personality are retained, such as the fact that you are always going to enjoy spending time with loved ones and making new friends. Seniors may even yearn for a sense of adventure that was old and worn out by the hardships of life.

It’s not always easy deciding where in the world you want to retire in. You have a lot to consider, but most of all you need to make sure that wherever it is you spend your retirement, it will be accommodating and safe for your needs.

Some important factors to consider while choosing a better location for retirement.




Home environment

One of the most important things you live with is your home, which is a major factor in determining your overall well-being. Similarly, living in a safe and comfortable environment will also play an important role in maintaining your physical and mental health as you grow older. Unfortunately, most people do not pay enough attention to their home’s environment until it’s too late. Also unfortunately, risk of falling around the home is the leading cause of disability for seniors right now. This is why we believe that providing better lighting, an open floor plan, accessible bathroom access as well as single-story living to seniors can all add up to improve their lifestyles!

Weather

Everyone wants to live in a pleasant climate; a place where the weather is always forgiving. But remember, moving to a certain location strictly for better weather isn’t always the most practical reason for making such an extreme move. As you grow older, your lifestyle may change and it could be beneficial if you’re living close-by to your loved ones for more reasons than one – whether it’s to offer support during difficult life moments or simply just wanting to build stronger family relationships. So think carefully about the city/town you choose, as while it sounds great to live somewhere with great weather, what other hobbies do you have that will benefit from also choosing somewhere which has a productive career position waiting around every corner?

Healthcare Facilities

Another important factor to consider for you and your family is the availability of healthcare providers in the area. If something should happen to you, it can be easier and quicker to get to a nearby hospital or physician. Healthcare facilities can also offer long-term care options where they provide transportation if needed.

Pollution

The health of the people who spend a majority of their days within its walls or surrounding grounds is very much dependent on the quality of air circulation and overall atmosphere one breathes inside. This includes noise, dust, allergens, pollution and industrial contaminants. The cleaner the air you breathe and the more peaceful your space is, contributes to your physical and mental well-being.

Crime rate

Cities that are safe during the day and at night are ideal for seniors who might need features like security gates to help them with emergency escapes.

Connectivity

It’s very important to be close to your loved ones and that you work in a city where you feel like you can reach everything including your family or friends. Cities that are easily accessible, via air, road and rail transport options is what contributes to making people happy in their decisions of working from home.



Local facilities

We all want to live comfortably during our retirement years, and a comfortable home is the first step to that. There are several things that can help us achieve this. Good lighting in our house as well as availability of public transport, good road conditions, safe walking areas and places to shop makes life so much more comfortable.

Traffic

Living in places that don’t have as much traffic congestion as the big cities is a great idea for seniors for a variety of reasons. An easy commute not only saves you time, but also makes stress unnecessary and helps you live longer!

Social Interaction Friendly

According to research, senior citizens who face loneliness and have a lack of social interaction are at higher risk for a variety of health conditions. Due to this fact, it’s important that you look at how easy it will be for you to make friends and maintain a social network before choosing where and how you will spend your retirement years.



Living With Purpose

If you’re thinking about retiring to a town with almost perfect living conditions, then you may want to consider moving to someplace where there is easy access to enriching programs and civic participation activities in order to ensure that you have a purpose similar to those who are still actively employed in the workforce.

 

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8 Of The Biggest Retirement Challenges

Being unprepared is not a good thing, leaving you to react as they pop up and essentially go with no plan at all.

Retirement can be a defining moment in your lifetime. Whether you want to deal with it or not, the problems are inescapable and the only way to change this is by planning ahead.



Some retirement challenges are

Rising Inflation

Inflation is robbing your money. As prices of goods and services rise, your purchasing power decreases little by little every year. One example of this is a loaf of bread that cost only $1 last year may cost $2 today, which requires twice as much money to be allocated for the purchase.

Drop In Income

An income gap forms when your income sources don’t fully meet your basic requirements. This can happen during the transition from working at a company to receiving a pension. For example. It is critical to have other types of reliable income sources to fill this gap and build confidence in the future.

Risk Of Volatile Market

When the market takes a dive and your business is affected, you might lose some of your biggest clients. It is a dangerous gamble to risk too much on uncertain outcomes when the possibility exists that one may lose everything.



Interest Rate Issues

When interest rates are low, the amount of money you need to fill income gaps increases because you are receiving less income from your money. Therefore, it is important to manage your money well and make smart investments that can generate returns later on.

Rising Healthcare Costs

Health care costs are constantly on the rise, and everyone is feeling the pinch. Although, insurance can cover a lot of your health care cost but it will not cover everything. Depending on the level of care the cost of treatment increases significantly.

Friends , Family, And Well Wishers

Suppose you have good number of friends, family, and well wishers. You wish good for them and want  to do good for them. Off course you can lend them some money you are comfortable with.

But if they have some major problem or if they need some bigger amount will you be comfortable lending them as retiree ?. Therefore, its nice to keep a special fund for friends, family, and well wishers too so that you feel good by helping them.




Long Term Care

This type of care is required when you are unable to care for yourself any longer. This may be a caregiver at your home, continuous care in a nursing home or some place in-between like a convalescent care facility for example.

Medical Advancement 

Medical Advancement  has increased our lifespan. For example average longevity of an Indian few years back was around 50 years but today is around 70 years. In the future longevity is expected to be even higher. This means you will need a longer plan if you want to add few more years to your life.

Being complacent with your retirement plan can leave you exposed to potential problems which could arise if you don’t have a proactive plan already in place. Defaulting to a reactive approach instead, means not having any sort of plan at all and this will leave you unable to save for the future.

 

 

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7 Benefits Of Beach Therapy For Wellness

The sea and the beach have fascinated man for millennia, especially when he first found that he was unable to go any further, than the shallow waters.

Man did not know what lay beyond the edge of the beach in the vast body of water that lay in front of him sometimes calm, whilst at other times lashing in all its fury.
It took man a very long time to realize the joys of the sea though the beach would have been a place they would have had fun and frolicked.

We know now what lies beyond the seven seas, but the beach continues to fascinate us, just like it did, our prehistoric ancestors many millennia ago.

There is something about the beach that draws many towards it when they seek some relaxation from the rigors of modern living especially in built up urban cities.

The beach wherever it may be and its pristine environs dictate a sense of calmness, solitude and offer’s a healthy option to rejuvenate before you would go back to the grind.

They should be feeling good if not they would not come time and again to go through the same routine accompanied by their family and friends.

Let us see what the beach and sea has to offer in the form of natural therapy that could bring back some lost vigor and rejuvenate us. Here are the  7 benefits of beach therapy for our wellness.

Boosts Vitamin D

The soft warmth of the morning rising Sun would provide us the much needed vitamin D, which most of us living in suburban areas are rarely subjected to.

The rising Sun would also gently warm up our bodies which is similar to being in a Spa but this is a natural therapy with the other benefits that the environment has to offer.

If you are staying longer it would be imperative that you wear a protective sunscreen because there is a distinct difference between the early rising Sun, and the mid day harsh one.

This is the reason why Vitamin D is called the “sunshine vitamin”.  Vitamin D is important for fighting infections and is a key ingredient for the healthy functioning of our immune system. ( Benefits Of Vitamin D )

Fresh salty air

Breathing in long drawn fresh salty air is good for our lungs and the total well-being of our body which would help expand the lungs to optimum.

Deep continuous slow breathing would help our respiratory system and the circulation of this air through our body.

Our lungs are generally accustomed to polluted urban air but long deep air mixed with a tinge of salt would surely be a good breathing therapy.

Exercising

Unlike running on a hard surface the soft beach sand would dig our feet a few inches into the sand this would put additional effort for us to remove it and place the next step.

This takes a fraction of effort but it has a positive effect on the lower legs and muscles of the feet and it is necessary that you run bare feet to derive the full benefit.

The exercising would bring heavy breathing which would add to the additional expansion of the lungs which would need to be exaggerated to ensure optimum benefits.

Jogging on the soft beach sand is very much healthier than running on hard tracks or asphalt which could even damage muscles and sinews but not on the beach.

Warm beach sand

Lying down buried in the soft salty sand of the beach is a very popular therapy many practice because this provides evenly spread warmth in salty sand.

This is also comparable to a spa therapy and would allow the body to receive evenly spread warmth which would be quite rejuvenating.

Select an area where the beach sand is wet and cover the body with it as this is better than dried sand further away from the waters.

Let the wet salty sand dry up on the body which would provide a very soothing effect which would provide the right warmth the body would love.


Warm salty waters

Keeping yourself dipped in salt water especially when the Sun is up and water closer to the beach is warm is something we may not have anywhere else other than whilst in the sea.

The salt water therapy is a good stimulant to the body and when it is warm it would rejuvenate blood circulation to optimum levels.

Salt water is accepted as a good body therapy and the Sun warming up the water would add to the comfort which would be incomparable to none.

It is medically advised that immersing oneself in salt water has a good effect on our bodies and doing this regularly would keep you healthy. This is also known as thalassotherapy. Sea water is rich in mineral and is an excellent source for treatment of skin sores, bug bites and cuts. Trace elements of magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium and iodide found in sea water are absorbed through the skin which helps in the treatment process.

Look miles into the horizon

Looking into the horizon is a very good exercise for the muscles in the eye and this is especially good for children who are daily with their computers or within four walled classrooms.

The muscles in their eye have less exercise as they tend to focus less on objects far away this is the reason children at a very young age wear spectacles.

Looking into the horizon and looking at objects closer would exercise and provide ample exercise for the muscles in the eye.

Children living in apartments are very vulnerable to the problem of not having sufficient exercises to their muscles in the eye, which has become a very grave issue indeed.

The sudden long and short focusing of the eye muscles would hold them in good stead as it would ensure that they refrain from wearing spectacles till old age.

Relaxation

Relaxation on the beach especially in the early morning and evenings would give you total relaxation which is good for those stressing out at work and unable to spend some time on their health.

The sea breeze would do you a world of good, it would be better than any other “fresh air”, which you would breathe anywhere else.

Fresh air mixed with salt water is good for your health and with such a vast area it is very unlikely to have any pollutants.

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5 best islands around Phuket

Phi Phi islands are usually referring to a group of islands that belong to the territory of Thailand. The most famous Phi Phi island is in fact named Phi Phi Don island. The total group of these islands counts up to 6 islands. Phi Phi don island is the only one that is populated. The reason this island stands out is the food shops, bars, and few clubs to take care of their visitor’s hospitality.

The other five of the Phi Phi islands are as well exceptional in their own way; limestone rock formations, fissile corrals and other landscapes that create a tourist attraction point.

Koh Phi Phi don island is the most attractive for the usual that; and tourists. It has so much to offer with soft and warm beaches, pool parties and night gathering and much more. Here is the list of 5 other islands of the Phi Phi island family;




  1. Bamboo island

This island is only five kilometers away from Koh Phi Phi Don island. It is pointed towards the northeast of this famous touristic point. While the Koh Phi Phi Don is all about the parties and drinking, you may want to change your mood after a few days of leisure on this island. This is where bamboo island comes to play.  The name bamboo has been taken from the many bamboo vegetation, which is literally translated from the Thai language Koh Mai Phai. Since the bamboo plants are not a big fan of saltwater like the palm family, it has resided in the center of the island. This island is small and circular. Many people hire a ride there to get their perfect photos in the world nature of this island. There are no structures on this island except a ranger camp that can offer you food and drink. A bamboo island is also a famous place for water sport activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving. The reason is that the lack of presence of human beings, as well as noise pollution of the bars and restaurants, makes perfect habitable reefs and marine life surrounding the bamboo island. If you are a fan of camping, you can tent out overnight in this place.

 

  1. Koh Khai Nok

Coming back to Koh Phi Phi Don, another island is located at a distance of 25 kilometers to the northwest. Most of the people visit this island on the way back to where they started from; Phuket. The reason is a nearby direction as well as being closer to Phuket that the Koh Phi Phi Don. It would only take about 15 minutes to reach the town afterward. The most particular aspect of this island is the shape-changing feature. It changes due to the very essence of its formation. This island is mostly formed from sand and some rock.

 

You can find many facilities on this specific island including bars, water sports, shops, and restaurants. Anything that you require in such a place can be offered to you. This place is most reputed for its snorkeling and beautiful marine life on the surrounding.



  1. Koh Bida Nok and Nai

These are in fact two islands that are considered as one. They are cliff formations of limestone rocks. They are located to the southern part of Koh Phi Phi Don, but not only; they are also the most southern island of all the Phi Phi island family.

These twin islets offer one of the most beautiful scuba diving spots in the world; they have the most amazing underwater scenery in Thailand. If you are willing to go for such a challenging diving experience, you can expect to see some sharks, colorful species of tropical fishes, along with some other interesting marine life like coral and underwater and escape.

 

These two islets are also one of the high diving peaks of the world; there is a 35-meter drop down to the sea. If you are a diver who likes the channeling, or if you are an individual who wants to tick off a big one from the bucket list, you can go for this free fall diving.



  1. Koh Yao Yai

This island literally translates to English as on a long island. The name has been driven from the natural form of this island. It is located between Phuket and Koh Phi Phi Don and it is difficult to miss. This island is considerably large compare with another member of the Phi Phi island family.

If you like to imagine how it was life on these islands before being swamped by the tourist and enhance by tourism culture, this island can provide you with gateway back in time. The only population on this island are few fishermen as well as resorts that are extremely simple, but hearty. There is no me, modern structures built on the island. This virgin beauty offers a deeper cultural understanding of the true Thai population that has been living in southern Thailand.

 

  1. Mosquito island ( Koh Yung in Thai )

This funny-sounding island is located close to the bamboo island. As the chain of the north to the south family of Phi Phi islands are in question, this island holds the place as the most northern island. This island is not so popular due to the infestation of mosquitoes, around this place offers the most beautiful coral reefs of all the Phi Phi islands. Although many prefer to jump off the boat and then get back on the boat and leave. Mosquitoes do not let anyone feel welcomed there.

 

Conclusion

Phi Phi islands are a group of islands that are often mistaken for Koh Phi Phi Don island; which is a part of the 6 members of these island groups? You could visit some or all of these islands to avoid missing out on a more natural side of Phuket when visiting Koh Phi Phi Don island.