I carried a hammer under my car seat back in the UK, no I never had to use it, but I always felt safe. There were always reports of people in cars regularly being attacked.
I also kept a pick shaft handle beside my front door, again never had to use it, but again it made me feel safe.
"Overstay is a serious problem in any country." Even in the UK?? Jump on a dinghy, arrive in the UK, get a hotel room, pocket money, and 3 meals a day, all at the taxpayers expense. People in most cases, do not need to worry about overstaying.
Yes it may be easy money for the bar girls, but when you see the state of a lot of the old and even the not so old guys, very overweight etc, the money is not really that easy for them, is it?
I am the only white guy in my surrounding area, when I first came here 15 years ago there were loads of them, some have left the country, the rest have died, I cannot remember the last time any new farangs came into my area.
If I was starting off in retirement now I would spend a few months in Thailand and a few months in Cambodia before I decided.
The only really good thing about Thailand now is the safety of being able to walk the streets after dark, but again I do not drink or frequent bars.
The good also still outweighs the bad compared to the UK.
Thanks a lot. That was very helpful, but it means now I could run into problems if I was out on one of my road trips and needed a tyre I could hit problems.
How do other people on a bigger bike cope with this on road trips? I have had this bike for 7 years now, 46000Ks and this is the first time I have needed a new tyre because of some sort of damage.
With Honda agents, are some of their mechanics only qualified to work on bikes up to about 150cc or what?
The back tyre on my Forza has a slow puncture, but it seems it needs a new tyre. I live in a small town with only a Honda and Yamaha agent.
The agent sent me to a local motorbike company, they just waved their hands at me saying "no no".
I had to take my bike to another Honda agent in the next town 15Ks away to get it attended to. They have ordered me a new tyre.
Why did my local agent not order the tyre? I can only think that they are not qualified to work on bigger bikes.