Simon1287

As someone who has, obviously been aware of the situation since the beginning, as we all are, but never looked at it very carefully it would be interesting to hear from the chaps that actually do know far more about what’s going on out there. My view (the view of someone who knows nothing more than what casual readings on the internet have shown him): Ukraine is never, ever and ever going to get the Russians out of what the Russians now consider to be theirs. I see that as a fact which obv Trump does too so whatever happens next has to have that fact taken into account. Anything that does not take that into account may as well not even start. Any other way of thinking is condemning untold more 1000’s upon 1000’s to misery and death for nothing more than the profits of the munitions and medical supplies manufacturers and the multi nationals just waiting in the wings for the huge contracts that will be available for the eventual rebuilding. If there is a way to end it now with any certainty so millions of people can get back to something less horrific then it has to be considered. Putin will never give up what he's taken so far. He would sooner die. To do so would be to admit defeat and that the whole god awful thing was a total waste of everything. He will simply continue fighting until all he has left to use are weapons that must never be used. The Ukrainians have been astounding in their bravery and tenacity but it’s everyone else that is paying to continue the war so everyone else has just as much right to decide what happens next as they do. Probably more so. As with everything else in life, you pay, you choose. No need to jump down my throat over this I am just saying what casual observations lead me to think and I am very curious see what people who have taken far more interest in this subject than I have say is the actual situation so I can be enlightened. I wait with true and genuine interest. Simon

Turn up at an airport and pay the fine you are deemed to have “surrendered yourself to the authorities” and as long as the overstay isn’t silly you pay the fine and away you go home. (I am not up to speed on the exact lengths of times that cause problems these days as I am not stupid enough to overstay) On the other hand, get checked by the authorities anywhere else in Thailand on overstay and you had better be prepared for a world of crap. I cringe when I see people advising people to “not worry about a few days overstay just pay at the airport”. The many farangs I have met over the years who have been whisked off to the IDC in Bangkok for quite minor overstays would most likely cringe too. One was on just 48 hours overstay when he was in an accident in Pattaya in a taxi and the police checked his passport. IDC was his next hotel. Simon

One day, many years ago when I had my then Thai wife with me on a visit back to the UK I was reversing my car out of somewhere with her in the passenger seat. “Can you watch your side and make sure I don’t hit anything” says I. Not a word in reply so I stopped. “Did you hear me?” Says I. “Yes, I hear you” says she so I carried on turning and reversing. BANG! “I thought you said you heard me!” says I. “I did” says she “but I not understand what you say”. The longer you are around them the more you realise they are not just a different coloured version of us their thought processes and views of the world are totally at odds to those of us westerners (and I mean absolutely no disrespect there whatever. Different does not mean any better or worse, just different, which is what makes them fun and interesting) Things stopped surprising me in Thailand 30 years ago. Simon

Yet, I think I may have read somewhere that UK pensioners living in Spain etc still get it, due to some Brexit clause or other?

Big time..

Just watched the video. Puts stuff in a different light doesn't it. You may as well punch a Thai as push them. The result will be much the same usually.

The 5 years ago was when that particular bouncer made that statement. It's always been like that and still is. The bouncers aren't in it just for the money. Last attack I saw was a few months ago. If anything, they are getting more frequent as the perpetrators know they can pretty much get away with it. Though, frankly, more than a small proportion of it is deserved.

Nothings changed. Bar owner by any chance?

Probably 5 years ago. I have witnessed (not only in Pattaya I am including Bangkok) around 7 or 8 pretty much unnecessary attacks by "bouncers" on farangs who's real "crime" was to be a bit drunk (not even behaving particularly badly) or had good reason to dispute a padded bar bill, to know perfectly well that great enjoyment was taken by the "bouncers". I have also witnessed a few attacks that have been thoroughly deserved and would have happily bought the bouncers a drink if they weren't so worked up I would have been flattened too. I have been around Pattaya (and Thailand generally) a lot since about 1994. Long before there were even bars in Soi 7 (a dark quiet soi it was to walk down then) The boy friend of my then girl friend had the very first bar in soi 7 I seem to remember (1995??) so witnessing that number of attacks is still really quite a small number over all those years. I stand by what I said though and if anyone who actually knows the situation there first hand says he disagrees then he is probably a bar owner in soi 6 or somewhere who employs thugs, sorry, bouncers.

Good point. Silly me :)

Remember that most bouncers in Pattaya, in the words of one I spoke to years ago, do that job as they “like to fighting with farang”. That has always been my opinion anyway after witnessing many such incidents over the years. Even the slightest negative contact with one (and his 4 friends that appear out of nowhere) can put more than a little dampener on an evening out. Keep smiling at all times and they will tolerate you. :)

I think it very likely indeed the police either own the bike rental shops a lot of the lads rent from or are getting a % from the bike rental shops for not closing them down for allowing them to be rented without licences, insurance etc etc.

I lived not far from there for many years and regularly walked through that area day and night. Was, by far, the most likely part of Pattaya to get knocked down by a motor cycle at night (Soi Bhoakow totally pales in comparison) Many times a middle eastern lad has crashed his bike very near me. One barely missed me while crashing into a row of refuse bins one night. A lot of them I am sure have never ridden a motor cycle before getting to Pattaya. As to why the police do not clear them out, they could, in 5 minutes, by stopping Thai's renting the motor cycles to them or locking a few of the offenders up as an example. As any local knows though, why would they. They are a "cash cow". 10,000's (100,000's?) Baht are paid out everyday in "fines". A lucrative business. Some of the offenders are children of high ranking people in the middle east also, in Pattaya to "sow their wild oats" so that plays a part too. Only time anything looks like happening (and doesn’t) is when the headlines become a bit too big.

Never once been asked to show my passport in that way in decades of being in Thailand, except on busses and I think and once on a train down near Sungai Kolok. The most recent being on a bus mid last year when entering Phuket at 6 am or so. (After about 600 or 700 flights in my lifetime I fly only when necessary now as I am bored sick of planes and all the faff that goes with them these days) A large mean looking policeman went almost silently through the bus checking all ID's. I remember thinking as he checked my passport what a total nightmare awaited anyone on that bus that did not have the correct visa. Even a day overstay can begin the nightmare in such circumstances I believe. The return leg, being Phuket to Pattaya, via bus change at Morchit at 5 am was about 15 hours but I still like travelling, other than planes, even at my age. Only other times I can remember (though as I did spend many years just travelling around 72 or the 77 provinces I daresay it was more) have been up in Chiang Rai a couple of times on busses. The police officer questioned the lady I was with each time about what the farang was doing there as he checked the passport. The time at Sungai Kolok was probably over 15 years ago and the passport may even have been checked twice I can't quite remember. I fell into a deep sleep at Hat Yai and woke up in my seat sometime after to see two soldiers beside me and 3 opposite, all holding M-16’s (some with grenade launchers underneath) and another 25 of their colleagues in the carriage with us. It did seem a bit surreal for a few seconds after waking I must say as the carriage was quite quiet when I went to sleep. They all got off at Sungai Kolok for a while and went back on the same train.

Yes, short term visits i.e 90 days are no problem at quite reasonable costs but even so the price you mentioned seems very reasonable indeed at age 77. Is this a company you have been with for many years? Would you let us know who it is? I was on an annual policy with a UK company that allowed me to stay in Thailand the full year and could renew while in Thailand but that had to end at age 66 and the final years cost was still only about £500 for £5 or £10 million GBP in medical cover, repatriation etc. Less than £10 a week. It's when you get over that 90 days that the costs start getting silly for people almost 70 and when you do actually get to about 70 the 90 days is about all you are likely to get I think at the lower costs. I haven't really taken the trouble to look into it all carefully so there are almost certainly better options than I have found so far but, like yourself, I am now going to split my time between UK and Thailand so 90 days is fine for me, knowing I can go back to UK or back to Thailand any morning I wake up and decide to go.

Easy to get annual emergency cover for that kind of money if you are say, a UK citizen, have a UK address, are registered with a UK doctor and are mid 60's or under. The problem comes when you get to about 66 or so. Then they don't want to know you on long term stays at anything like that low price. As a guess, if anyone really had to self insure, I would throw the figure of 4 or 5 million Baht in the ring as the minimum that should get you out of 99% of problems. I have personally known farangs over the years who have spent over 5 million Baht on one hospital stay, rare though that is.. Long term in ICU / intensive care after stroke or road accident etc etc. Then they may have the problem of needing an air ambulance home. Mega money. (Would be interested to hear what Sheryl has to say on that) I would never go to Thailand without some kind of insurance anyway. Many companies will give lower prices the higher the excess you will pay. Health insurance concerns are one of the reasons I am now, after a very long time in Thailand, splitting my time between there and UK. I could self insure at the sum I mentioned easily enough but much as I love Thailand it's just not as much as I used to, what with all the air pollution and changes there over the years, and certainly not 4 million Bahts worth. Going for 3 months at a time still only costs me something like £300 in travel insurance for millions of GBP of medical cover. For some strange reason, after more than 30 years of hating going back to the UK and gagging to get back to Thailand anytime I had to, it just doesn't seem so bad anymore. A shadow of it's former self though it is it will take care of me if I fall down now I am getting older rather than telling me to drop dead unless I can pay enough, as in Thailand. Yes, the weather can leave a lot to be desired but compared to the deadly air pollution in Thailand these days it's actually preferable a lot of the time. Not that cold weather worries me when I make sure the UK house is at least 25 degrees day and night anyway.

Yep. The "online" bit was just pure clickbait. 1000's of foreigners are working online in Thailand so pretty much all of them seeing that headline will panic and wonder if a crackdown is coming, then click to see they just wasted a click.

Well, we are all adults anyway :)

O yes. You will find many farangs checking an ID card only to find the girl was just 17 despite claiming to be 18, and the girl being utterly astounded that the farang is too stupid to realise that the birth year counts as year one, so obviously she is 18 as she says and not 17 :) Obviously, any girl who does realise how it works just borrows a friends ID card anyway. Totally everyday practice among certain types and I doubt even the girls own mother would recognise her from a lot of the ID card photos I have ever seen let alone get rumbled by a overly horny farang full of beer.

That one always seemed a bit iffy to me especially when, say, the girl came from Buriram, was working in a shop in Bangkok, the farang banged her in Bangkok and yet the police still used that method to get money from, sorry, to bring the farang to justice. It is one of the most common ways a farang gets caught and into big problems in this situation though and can be expensive what with donations to the family, and to the police for their trouble (or no one in uniform would have bothered looking for him in the first place)

The problem with your posts is that they all totally ignore the OP's point in asking in the first place. He wanted to know if 18 is ok. It's a real world question asking what would happen in the real world. You then go on to advise him that 15 is ok as that is Thai law. Yes, I was well aware of the law you are going on about more than 30 years ago when I first came to Thailand and in those days you could get away with it but my point is, and in actually trying to help the OP get his answer, is that 18 and you are 99.9999% safe, anything under and it’s big problem time if anyone in authority decides it is no matter what Liverpool Lou says. By following the “Thai law” you keep quoting all you are doing is giving some people the impression that banging a 15 year old in Thailand will be perfectly fine and no legal problems will come their way because of it. Presumably you would admit that judges in Thai courts have a rather better understanding of Thai law than you or me. Are you then saying saying that a farang caught in the act of banging a 15 year old would not only face no legal consequences for his actions but if for some weird reason he did end up before a Thai judge in a court of law the judge would merely say something like “No case to answer. 15 is the age of consent.” Is that what you are saying? Please, don’t bang on again about “That is what the law says”. Any of us with legal experience are more than aware that things are never as obvious as they seem with very old laws as modern ones have come along, despite the old ones maybe still being in place, which pretty much make the old ones irrelevant, especially in a place like Thailand.

Despite what anyone might decide is or isn't the legal age for sex the plain fact is that having sex with an under 18 year old in modern day Thailand, paid or unpaid, opens you up to the possibility of huge expense, imprisonment or both. If the girl happened to be the daughter of a Thai with “standing” and money who did not approve it might even be sensible to shy away if she was 19, though 18 is fine 99.999% of the time. (Of course, I am only referring to possible “legal” repercussions). It's a fact. Bear it in mind.

The Brit got scammed, overreacted, much to the joy of the driver who will now, along with the people who arrested him have a nice payday. Are you really that naïve about what goes on in Phuket??

So let’s think through what happened here. Presumably, the Brit offered either a 100 or 1000 Baht note through the window to the driver. (Did he have something to take from the boot (trunk)? I always pay while still sitting in the taxi if no luggage to take out first) I notice the video does not show the part where the money changed hands, deliberately I am assuming as if the note was 100 Baht the driver would not have touched it or just possibly taken it and IMMEDIATELY pointed out that it was 100 Baht and kept it in plain sight. What he would not have done, with 100% certainty, was to accept the 100 Baht and put it away somewhere so the Brit could not only not see it any longer but refused to show it to him again. That would only have happened if it was a 1000 Baht note. The Brit was drunk one assumes which would have made the driver more inclined to scam anyway and like a lot of us the Brit is probably not the greatest fan of the Phuket taxi mafia and blew a fuse when scammed. I have jumped in here without reading many comments so may be off track but can anyone seriously imagine the driver would have taken the “100 Baht” and tucked it away rather than immediately challenging the underpayment with the note in plain sight? If the part of the conveniently edited video comes to light at the moment of money handover the truth will become obvious but I have a feeling that part has been locked away never to be seen again as it does not suit anyone involved other than the drunken Brit. Certainly not the driver or police. On very rare occasions over the years I have accidentally offered a much lower note to someone that was required and without exception it was not even touched, let alone taken and hidden away so I could not see it. Just another Phuket taxi scam played on a drunk guy probably sick and tired of being scammed. Silly to react the way he did (though something many people scammed by the Phuket taxi mafia probably enjoyed seeing) but fuses can blow after too many scams have happened to people, especially when drunk. I have to say, as someone pointed out earlier, the face of the driver when it was over was not one of a person badly wronged and really had the look of "600 Baht is just the start Farang now police make you pay more to me and them!"

Pretty much always, if I am running and see any kind of dog I just stop running and walk until I am well past it. Saves the situation getting worrying most of the time and, certainly, carrying an umbrella (great for sunshade too) or a stick have kept all aggressive soi dogs I have ever met (1000's) at bay. Never ever had one even as much as make contact with the umbrella I was holding between me and him. Not that most soi dogs cause serious damage but it's all those trips to the hospital for rabies jabs that is the real annoyance. Always good to carry a few dog biscuits but not too many. I have had a few too many in my pockets on a couple of occasions and a most likely really hungry dog has actually smelt them and quickly become over curious. Keep them well wrapped maybe in a plastic bag if it's easy and fast to open.