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Everything posted by simon43
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^^^ Yes indeed! Right now there is fighting also south-west of Mandalay, as well as west, north and east. So the city is slowly being surrounded.. Because of this, I won't be returning to Mandalay for the moment. I will teaching KG and primary Homeroom at an international school in central Yangon, (the school is newly-opened as a branch of a very-respected school in Bangkok). So I'm just gathering up a few things to take back with me π
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Relating this story to Thailand, I watched an Al Jazeera report yesterday on YT from the refugee camps around Mae Sot. It seems that USAid was the majority donor to these camps, and now that the aid has been cut, the camps (which house thousands of refugees from Myanmar), only have rice for a few weeks. So things don't sound good for these refugees....
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Foreign Motorcyclist Killed in Early Morning Crash in Pattaya
simon43 replied to Georgealbert's topic in Pattaya News
I'm relieved that this moron did not kill or anyone else through his stupid actions. So sorry for the loss of the trees..... -
Is moving to Cambodia really the end of the line?
simon43 replied to Elvis Presley's topic in ASEAN NOW Community Pub
Bob's story is maybe just that - a fictional story. But a similar true event happened to me some years ago, (but the ending of my true story is different). I was living in Phuket, building small hotels (10 rooms) very close to the airport. These businesses did reasonably well, although the going-ons of my wife or ex-wife could make a dent in the smooth flow of the business, if you know what I mean. I had built 3 such small businesses over the years, and for my 4th little hotel I decided not to involve my Thai ex's, but to rent the land long-term (as a foreigner is allowed to do), and then build a small hotel/lodgings on the land. With the help of my Thai families I did just that, and Phuket Airport B & B was opened. It was usually fully booked every night, and I was relatively happy, albeit tired, because between looking after the business I had my volunteer work to do, acting as a Thai translator and volunteer Tourist police officer at the nearby airport. So I decided to employ a Thai manager to look after the hotel. I already had a Thai guy driving the hotel car and doing handyman work, so I promoted him to hotel manager. All went well at first, but then this guy got into drugs, boiling up kratom in the hotel kitchen. Don't tell me that kratom is harmless! This guy would chase hotel customers through the nearby rubber trees with a loaded gun! You can read the TripAdvisor reviews at the time π One day, after coming back from Macro, I got to my little hotel and found the entrance locked. I shouted out for the Thai manager and he came to the door, his gun stuck into his belt. He curtly explained that the hotel business was now his... Unable to persuade this guy to allow me to enter my own business, I called the local police. I won't name the region, but suffice to say, about 4 police officers from the local area quickly attended. After listening to my complaint and briefly speaking with the druggie, the police told me to vacate the business, because it was now owned by the druggie. Yes, you read that correctly! It turned out that the local police were the best customers of this kratom seller. In desperation, I called upon my senior Thai colleagues in the tourist police to assist. You know, when they needed my help to deal with previous difficult situations, such as mentally-ill tourists, I was always ready to help. But asking them to help me fell on deaf ears. So I went back to the house that I rented just down the road from my hotel and thought out my next move. My thinking was interrupted by panicked phone calls from both of my Thai ex-wives. Now these 2 women hated each other, and for them to both call me about the same matter meant that it was important! You remember that I worked for the tourist police? My work only involved foreign tourists, but having lived for years in north Phuket, I knew who were good Thais and who were bad. But the bad Thai guys were nothing to do with my police work of course. However, apparently the druggie manager at my hotel had contacted these bad Thai guys and told them that I had shopped everything that I knew about them to the main police in Phuket Town. One of my ex's had just been visited by 4 Thai men, all carrying guns and looking for me. My ex denied knowing where I was and so the 4 guys moved onto the next ex wife, who also denied knowing where I was (my druggie hotel manager didn't know the address of my rented house). So now there were 4 armed men looking for me, under the mistaken belief that I had shopped them to the police.... It was clear that my life (or at least kneecaps) were in danger. I arranged to meet one of my ex's who smuggled me into the Phuket Airport car park in the seat well of her car. I was able to catch a flight very rapidly to Bangkok and then onto Cambodia. Over the next few days, the men returned several times to ask my ex's where I was. As to my little hotel, since it was on rented land, and since it clearly was not safe for me to return, I simply stopped paying the land rent. The land rental contract expired and the kratom druggie was kicked off the land by the Thai owner. The hotel never reopened and is now a sorry, abandoned and dilapidated eyesore. I lost about $50,000 in that project, and it convinced me not to do any more business in Thailand. I returned (mostly) to live/teach in Laos and Myanmar. I do return to Thailand from time to time, but never to Phuket. As for the druggie manager, he is currently languishing in a Thai jail on drugs charges π Oh, no chance of me becoming a broken alcoholic, as Bob wrote in his story. Every 'bad' event in my life makes me mentally stronger. Anyway, alcohol makes me fat!! As for Cambodia, I found it an interesting and friendly place. I used to visit Phnom Penh quite a few times between teaching jobs. People were friendly, the kind of food that I eat (fresh food, salads, fruit etc) was cheap. Accommodation was cheap and clean. What's not to like? Consider this: If you think a place to be the end of the road and scraping the barrel, then that's because YOU are at the end of YOUR road and scraping YOUR barrel π- 125 replies
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We all have different experiences. Sheryl knows my history: Mild BPH with elevated but steady PSA (6) for many years. PSA then rose to 14 and an MRI at Bumrungrad indicated 2 'lumps' that the doctor considered highly likely to be PC. I returned to the UK for a biopsy and the skilled prostate doctor looked at the MRI scans from Bunrungrad and said that he wasn't so sure that it was PC. Had a 24-needle biopsy under local anaesthetic, including targeted at the lumps and no PC found - they were benign calcium stones, and my high PSA was exacerbated by UTI/prostatitis etc. The doctor did tell me that most of the prostate biopsies that he performs find no cancer, which is good news for those worried by an elevated PSA. I'm not a doctor (well, I do practice surgery on my sex doll..), but an elevated but steady PSA could be caused by UTIs, calcium stones in your prostate etc, whereas a slowly rising PSA that keeps going up is worthy of urgent investigation. Whatever, but with a raised PSA, I certainly can't see any reason for not having a biopsy (after MRI investigation), UTI checks etc, unless you are at an advanced age where the chances of PC killing you is less than you dying of old age... than
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Trumpβs mad, mad, mad, mad worldβnow with extra madness
simon43 replied to webfact's topic in World News
IMHO, Trump is doing a great job at sorting out some of the USA's and the world's problems. He is getting things done because he doesn't give a rat's arse about upsetting others. Good for him! As for his Gaza proposals, it's either a great idea or he is mad. If the latter, then I hope it scares the relevant countries and governments to actually do something to solve the region's problems, rather than just shooting each other.... Hopefully, Trump will soon turn his attention to the UK and threaten to annex the Chagos Islands and to make the UK into a new US state, because God knows that we need help from someone to remove the lying buffoon (that could mean Starmer or King Charles or both - you decide...) -
Trumpβs mad, mad, mad, mad worldβnow with extra madness
simon43 replied to webfact's topic in World News
Absolutely top bloke!!- 203 replies
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Thailand cuts power to Myanmar border areas to tackle call centre scam
simon43 replied to webfact's topic in Thailand News
I predict an exponential rise in the illegal use of Starlink internet ... -
3 foreigners caught in Phuket for illegal motorcycle modifications
simon43 replied to snoop1130's topic in Phuket News
Their country, they make the rules and they break the rules. As a foreigner, don't break the law - don't have a problem... -
The best decision that I ever made was to stop all relationships (girlfriend, marriage) after my third divorce. Although my 1st amicable divorce (UK wife) was due to differences of opinion etc, my divorces from my 2 Thai wives were instigated by me after it became clear that they were simply a drain on my relatively small income, ie - I gave, they took and I got nothing in return! Since my last divorce some 10 years ago, my life in south-east Asia has been much happier and more financially stable. I realised that being a tight-fisted, selfish bastard was just great!! I decide what I want to do in my life and where to to etc, without having the need to consider a partner's wishes. I spend a lot of time (and money) on helping young students in Myanmar, because IMHO - they appreciate my efforts and help far more than any wife ever did, and my financial investment in school books etc etc will result in a far better return than what I ever got from my greedy wives lol!
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Clearly he has no hap.... It can't be good if you have no hap. How he came to lose or mislay his hap is not told in this news story. I understand that he was also legless, although harmless and now --- penniless π
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British manβs Thailand trip goes from heaven to prison hell (video)
simon43 replied to webfact's topic in Thailand News
Choose the best fit explanation for the initial accident: - Meth-head - drunk out of his mind - trying to run away from the ladyboy who had just er... shafted him (for money I mean) - trying to find a ladyboy to shaft - mentally mad as a box of chocolates - fatter than a fat elephant and smashing everything in his path - wholly innocent of any of the above and was on his way to the local temple- 150 replies
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Some british <deleted> wanted to fight me earlyish this morning
simon43 replied to madone's topic in ASEAN NOW Community Pub
Completely off-topic, but what phrase are you asking ChatGPT to elicit the information about Gottfrid? Every time that I ask ChatGPT about forum member 'simon43', it refuses to tell me anything about myself π -
Lol, that map is out of date! Attacks have occurred 13 km from the city and it's predicted that the pdf will attempt to cut the airport road and the Pwin Oo Lwin road. Situations can change fast...
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I'm returning to Myanmar later this month π Bearing in mind the worsening situation as regards electricity, I have also bought a few things from Lazada to augment my existing 'off-grid' go-bag. So far I have (in no particular order): - 12 volt solar charger for car battery - in case there is no 220 volts to charge my car battery during the day (I buy the car battery locally - too heavy/not allowed on the plane, also buy the 100 watt solar panel locally) - 60A solar charge controller, used between the solar panel and car battery. Right now in Myanmar, the price of solar equipment is very high and in short supply. I might not be able to buy the charge controller easily. - solar/handcrank torch (for those dark streets when I walk to the local restaurant) - collapsible metal walking stick. I use this in case of angry dogs (but which I have never had to use 'cos all the Burmese dogs are friendly or shy, but not dangerous!). Really, this stick is for protection from muggers, since unfortunately (and not surprisingly), petty crime and street robberies have increased). - 140 LED light for teaching (my previous lamp was 220 volts, but this 140 LED light has built-in batteries and a USB power port. It's not as bright as the old lamp, but it's much less bulky) - microphone+loudspeaker for in-class lessons (when I trying to teach English to 50 noisy young kids in the orphanages, a little extra boost to my voice is good to have) - compact headphones and boom mike (my old set works fine but is rather bulky) - small 12/220v inverter and larger 1000w 12/220v inverter. These are for use with the car battery to change the 12 volts DC up to 220 volts AC. The smaller unit is just a back-up if the bigger one dies. - compact 220v power cable extension - Last time when going through Myanmar customs, they tried to confiscate my 220 volt power extension cable on the grounds that I might use it to strangle the pilot on the plane.... - phone stand and clamp - This is a compact selfie stand, in case I have to use Zoom from my mobile phone for lessons (that would be a last resort). - laptop spare battery - power bank - USB foldable bluetooth keyboard - to use with Zoom from a mobile phone - 4 mobile phones (one for each mobile network, since the junta switches the mobile networks off/on like crazy!) Hmm, what else would I need to ensure reliable internet connections? The fixed line internet is generally OK, it's the mobile networks that people use to communicate with each other, so that's what the military target. Oh yes, got VPNs installed on my laptop and mobile devices, and my own 'secret' VPN server installed on my web-server.
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My polyglot father resorted to using Latin on a train in Romania yonks ago when he and a Romanian professor could find no common language. They chatted fine in Latin. I started learning Latin at 5 years old at my grammar school, and hated it. Nowadays, I use that language knowledge every single day! I teach science and my knowledge of Latin helps me to understand the meaning and origin of many technical and scientific words. As to impressing bar-girls, I do that with my Thai fluency, and when they switch to speaking Issan/Lao (so that I don't understand them), I impress them again by speaking Lao to them π I then get them completely 'orgasmic' by speaking Burmese to them... I don't chat up Khmer bar-girls......
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Britain hasn't agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius - some 'morons' in the government, bereft of an iota of intelligence or knowledge of history have decided to 'return' the islands to Mauritius, even though Mauritius has never actually owned them. Let's hope Trump can suitably embarrass (nay threaten!) the UK and that idiot Lammy to cancel the deal. Mauritius should play no part in any deal - it's nothing to do with them. The only people who have reason to feel wronged are the Chagosians, which the UK treated very badly when Diego Garcia was established as a military base. We should retain ownership of the islands, and create a more secure and long-term lease for the military base, (ie get the yanks to pay a decent amount for leasing the base). We should then use that money (and additional) to allow the Chagosians to return and live on the other islands in the archipeligo, and we (UK and USA) should fund the building of decent hospitals, schools and supporting infrastructure.
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Thai airline flight makes emergency landing in Phuket
simon43 replied to snoop1130's topic in Phuket News
Of course! But to save wear and tear, they only use 1 engine at a time... π -
Phuket Considered for New Cryptocurrency Hub to Boost Tourism
simon43 replied to webfact's topic in Thailand News
Russian mafia..... -
You wanna live in a city and have no lights at night? Come and live in Myanmar! I just returned a few weeks ago from a Christmas trip to the town of Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake). They have only 3 hours of electricity per day. Mandalay (where I was teaching) has about 4 hours a day. Don't assume that there's a generator! When I exercised outside my Mandalay hotel at 6am (just before sunrise), the sky was absolutely clear and planets and stars easily visible.
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Whilst waiting for my updated app to be completed. (It is actually available for download and testing - comments appreciated!) from my website by scanning this QR code), I decided on a novel idea for spreading the word about this useful app. I got a local print shop to print my 'owl' logo and URL on the left breast of the white t-shirt, and the download QR code on the back. There's no identifying text on the back, and for a good reason. I hope that as I walk around the streets/shops in Myanmar, curious locals will scan this code to see what it's all about. Since the code is on the back of the shirt, they don't have to approach or speak with me. When the code is scanned, it jumps to an explanatory page on my website, and then the person can choose to click or not click on the 'download' button.
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Patron saint of Scottish students?? π
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Trump Orders Migrant Detentions at Guantanamo, Sparking Cuban Backlash
simon43 replied to Social Media's topic in World News
For the UK, there is always St. Kilda island, but I doubt that the climate is similar to that of Cuba....