simon43

I must be turning into GG (the moaning one, not the long-winded one). I'm a very patient and amicable person. But one thing - in modern parlance - triggers me. That is moaning women! This is not a dig at moaning Thai women, I'm having a dig at ALL women who moan without reason. I guess the same would apply to moaning men, but I generally haven't encountered the male of the species doing this. (Or maybe I'm moaning right now!) I took my clothes to the laundry. There was an empty washer and no-one else there. So I started loading up the machine with my clothes. 1 minute later the owner of the shop appears and starts moaning at me for stealing her washer, which she was just about to use. Huh? Why wasn't she by the machine then, instead of disappearing off? If she needed to go somewhere, (to get change etc), why didn't she at least place her clothes in the washer? No reasonable reply, just more verbal moaning. So rather then shove her head at full speed into a hot tumble dryer, (which she deserved), I politely collected my clothes and placed them in another washer. By now, the woman had disappeared again. I inserted a 100-baht note for 10 baht coins and it dispensed precisely 80 baht! Keep calm Simon, I told myself. I started the washer and wandered around for 30 minutes during the washing cycle. Finally, all was finished. I collected my clothes to hang them out to dry on my sunny balcony. As I walked off home, I glanced at the original washing machine that the woman had moaned at me about. It was still empty!!, and no sign of that moaning woman! I now understand why I was the partner in my 3 marriages who instigated divorce proceedings.....

Yonks ago I got into a legal problem with another foreigner, which meant that I was not allowed to leave Thailand until the matter was resolved. (I was on the blacklist for leaving the country). I was on a visa-exempt entry - 30 days. Every 30 days I had to obtain a letter of authorisation from a certain police station, and take this to the immigration office in Pattaya, so that they would extend my stay in Thailand, (otherwise I'd be on overstay). The police officer charged me 5,000 baht on each occasion for that letter...... Another occasion, in a different part of Thailand, I had a major issue with a druggie who invaded my little bed and breakfast business, and claimed it was now his business. I called the local cops who sided with the druggie because he was their drug supplier.... I'm sure there are many honest policemen and women, but I prefer to keep all of them at arm's length.

Did you ask the price for the journey before you got on the bike? No? You're still wet behind the ears... 🙂

Small update: I'm flying back to Myanmar next week I think. Due to the worsening electricity situation (it's always been bad, but now it's terrible), I've been packing my solar charger unit, 2 12v DC/220v AC inverters, solar/hand-cranked torch, rechargable LED lamps etc. I'll buy a car battery and solar panel when I get to Yangon. My updated app is in review with Google Playstore, so hopefully that will be up and available very soon 🙂 My new salaried job might involve teaching 4-year olds! (This is because no-one else apart from young pretty females) want to do that. I'll also teach other older grades. I've taught this 4-year old age group before, so it's not a problem, in fact that young age is a good age to get the phonics correct. However, I'm no 'babysitter', and if any of them wets themselves (as they occasionally do), then I will happily delegate the cleaning up to my pretty local teaching assistant in the class lol!

Same for me in Myanmar. Sadly, their interest in learning English is so that they can get out of 'dodge' asap!!

[quote] ... From what I've read Thai are very bad at speaking and reading /writing Thai! ... [/quote] True that. I often have to correct my ex-wife's written Thai. As for Thai and Lao being mutually understandable, it's not. I speak/read both languages. While they are in the same language family, most Lao people can understand Thai because they often watch Thai TV (because Lao TV is simply terrible!). But many Thai people cannot understand if a Lao person speaks with them in Lao. My Issan ex-wife speaks Thai and her family language of Issan. But the latter is not a written language. Issan people will resort to writing Issan words using Thai characters. So I have the crazy situation that I can read Lao, but my Issan ex cannot!

It's just you

Well in that case, drive him around Thailand for 12 hours, bring him back to his house and tell him that there's a heat wave in Brighton.....

You can't open doors once the plane is pressurised 🙂 Also, no airline would accept a dementia/alzheimer elderly person to travel alone. Anyway, yonks ago I met a Thai lady who was employed by the British embassy to escort elderly Brits back on planes to the UK. She would get a few days of holiday in the UK each time. So... even though the embassy has a very bad reputation for looking after their citizens, they may still have this arrangement for dementia Brits etc. No harm in asking them

Sorry mate - that was my mistake. I was trying to send it to the Pattaya charity for fallen women. If you just send it back to my bank account thanks 🙂

I have had minor essential tremors in my hands for yonks, and I recall that my mother also had them for as long as I can remember. They don't seem to have got worst fpr me over the years, so I just ignore them, (except when I'm carrying a hot drink lol!)

[quote] ... I don want to have a rectal biopsy because of the risk of infections, pain and so on.... ... [/quote] My biopsy was between the scrotum and anus (perineum?), with an ultrasound wand stuck up my bum... 24 samples and the whole experience was relatively painless (slight prick from the local anesthetic needle, then no pain when the samples were taken). I understand that perineum biopsies carry a lower risk of infection. (In fact, my doctor waited 2 weeks to try to clear up my long-term UTI with antibiotics without success, so finally decided -with my agreement - to go ahead with the biopsy, and there were no post-biopsy infections. I mean I still had my UTIs, but nothing extra as a result of the 24 needles stuck into my prostate...)

Yes, I ended up ordering 3 printed shirts from T-Shirt Express. I chose the size (L), paid my money and he then went and printed 3 shirts on size M!! Oops.... He did reprint them again at his own expense and I paid him 50% of the original price for his effort and apologies

Can I interest you in my new e-book entitled "How to use punctuation effectively"? 🙂

No, there would be no impediment. But all the MiFi units that I've tried in Tukcom did not support USB tethering 🙂 So my mind would be reassured if I just buy a cheap Android phone that I can see (from its menu) does support USB tethering. One comment about the mobile networks in Myanmar. I've stated that Thailand and Myanmar use the same system - GSM, UMTS, LTE. But that doesn't mean that those systems are available nationwide in Myanmar. 5G is only available at certain locations in Yangon and Mandalay. No problem for me - 4G is enough for video connections 🙂 I don't want to order online - I leave for Yangon in a day or two from now

Ah yes of course. I do check the supported frequency bands before I buy a unit 🙂

Because connection speed over wi-fi is slower than via a USB cable tether. Also, if I use 2 pocket wi-fis, then I have to use a 'dongle' to provide second channel wi-fi capability on my laptop. When I have done this previously, Speedify seems to get confused over the 2 connections! So I prefer to use only 1 wi-fi connection (maybe from my hotel), and then USB and ethernet cabled connections. I previously used hotel wi-fi connections in Mandalay, but I'll be renting a condo in Yangon this time, so probably there won't be a nearby hotel wi-fi connection, so I'll use my pocket wi-fi with one of the mobile networks.

Thanks. Because my Redmi works ok via ethernet tethering, I now don't need my pocket wi-fi to support USB tethering. I'll use it in wi-fi mode 🙂

Let's express it another way. Mobile phones that are designed for use on mobile networks in Thailand will operate in Myanmar because Myanmar also uses GSM, UMTS, LTE. Modern mobile phones support the various different operating bands used by the mobile networks.

In fact, (see my other post), I will use my pocket wi-fi unit via wi-fi. Now I just need to buy 1 additional phone :

Thanks! I was just stating a fact about that phone. I see them in Tukcom but they don't have internet capability (unfortunately). I found out that one of my existing phones (a Redmi 5G) supports tethering for internet via its ethernet port. So I bought a suitable interface cable and indeed - it works great. So that that means that I only need to buy 1 additional phone (I can use my Redmi via the ethernet port, my oppo via USB tether, my pocket wi-fi via ..er ... wi-fi! and I need 1 more phone to USB tether 🙂

Any phone that is usable in Thailand is also usable in Myanmar - they use the same frequency bands. All the mobile devices that I use in Myanmar were bought in Thailand.

That is a 'pocket wifi' unit (which I already have). I need a phone that supports USB tethering, which pocket wifi units don't (I know - I've tried!)

That phone has no internet capability 🙂

^^^ Thanks, but I'm very unlikely to find an iPhone for 1,000 baht! Myanmar mobile networks are identical to Thailand - I've used several of my phones in Myanmar a few weeks ago - I just need to buy a couple of extra phones at a cheap price. My local pawn shop had phones but the owners hadn't yet defaulted on their pawnshop payments, so they were not available for sale yet 🙂