simon43

I travel, I stay in hotels, no credit cards for yonks. Ever heard of cash? 🙂

Exactly! But it seems many people don't realise this...

In other words, do you have financial debts, such as credit card loans, bank loans, loan shark loans and so on? When I moved to Thailand about 22 years ago, I slowly 'lost' my UK credit cards for various reasons (long forgotten). This means that for the past 20 years, I have had to live using only my income, ie - living completely within my means. It would be near impossible to borrow from a Thai bank, and borrowing from a Thai loan shark would be a crazy move! I never borrow from friends, or have the need to do so. This inability to borrow money has been a very good thing. I have learnt to live within my means and not 'waste' money on unnecessary consumer items. I owe no money to anyone. Any ongoing financial liabilities can be terminated without a 'fine'. (My rent car has no contract - I can hand it back without financial penalty etc - My rented property can be handed back at 3 month's notice) How about you? Do you rely on credit to survive? Or do you use credit/loans in a sensible manner and pay them off on-time?

Some posters have a very skewed idea of what Pattaya offers. Yes, there is the bar scene of course. But the majority of Pattaya has none of that, and no doubt many people who live in Pattaya partake in none of that either. I have lived in Pattaya many times, typically 3-6 months at a time. Like other posters who replied, I too have never partaken in the bar or P4P scene. I like Pattaya for its boardwalk for exercise, large shopping malls, restaurants, largevariety of shops etc etc. The only reason why I have never settled in Pattaya is because long-term I prefer a rural location with a garden for my ham radio antennas 🙂

I've recently lived in both towns. Luang Prabang is still as beautiful as before, but the numbers of 'locust' tourists in increasing rapidly since the train line opened. Plus the burning season pollution gets worse every year (and that is what finally drove me to leave..). Vang Vieng might be OK for a short holiday, but as a long-term stay it is definitely not! Thinking of relocating from Luang Prabang, I stayed in VV for 2 weeks, riding around by motorbike to seek out houses to rent. The choice was abysmal - everything was targeted at short-stay tourists. Plus eateries were expensive and 'useful' shops (supermarkets etc) almost non-existant.

I never eat at any establishments that impose a service charge and don't clearly show any compulsory taxes/VAT. It is also totally up to me to tip or not, based on the service...

As an ex-space scientist and someone who teaches space science every single day to young students (in China, Russia etc), I explain that a valid answer to many questions about space is simply :"We don't yet know"! That's the honest truth, no point in trying to complicate and confuse your students with technical details far beyond their understanding.

Yes indeed! I must update my location. I left Laos because the burning season was doing my lungs in, wanted to return to Phangan, but it was a mess, stayed in Koh Lanta for a few weeks, but the call to prayer and ever presence of 'black crows' made it a depressing place. My ex's offered to look after me in Phuket, but I prefer to keep them at arm's length, or at least at 90 minutes drive away. The house I've rented in Khao Lak seems a fair enough place to stay - I need to stop moving about!!

Well, they have memorials in Ban Mam Khem and the navy boat memorial right in the middle of Khao Lak, so they are hardly 'hiding' this natural disaster. I think Thais prefer to look forward, not back. (As a tourist police volunteer years ago, I laid wreaths at that navy boat during the annual 26th December ceremony). I think many more than 2,000 died in Khao Lak ...

Not expensive for me. I live 'in the hills'. 9,000 baht/month for a brand new 'studio' house in a garden, with a mountain stream just metres from my door. As for the beaches, plenty of people swimming in safe areas. I don't recall hearing of drownings, (unlike Karon/Kata beach in Phuket).

I settled in Khao Lak, no Ruskies there!

I visited KP about 2 months ago, with a view to resettle there (I lived there about 2.5 years ago at Ban Chaloklam). Wow! How it has changed in that short time. Just 1 big building site, rent prices hugely increased, and what seems like half of the Russian population living there. I left in disgust...

A terrible loss for Thai aficionados of early heart attacks....

Who uses pagers? Thousands of doctors and nurses for a start....

Shoot a few of them and the others will soon start to behave properly...

I crashed mine into a cow.....

Don't forget that the 'unofficial' memorial spirit house placed on Nai Yang beach was removed by the airport authorities 😞

Seems to me that this forum is becoming a haven for conspiracy theorists. tin-hat loonies and those with various mental illnesses. Sad times....

The only thing that I see in this video is one smart lass who knows how to increase her YT page views/clicks by antagonising viewers who will respond/share her video. 20 or so years ago I did exactly the same thing with my 'Natachata' AI SMS sex chat program. By insulting users with sexual put-downs etc, they felt forced to respond, (and I therefore made more money). Her strategy seems to work...

Yes! Looking back on those times so many years ago, I realise that I was very lucky to experience such events which are ingrained in my subconscious. I must find time to visit Greece again ....

Memories are amazing. I have visited many countries and there are thousands of events in my life that I can hardly recall. But to this day I still remember the names of the Greek family where we lodged, the name of the restaurant owner, and I can even picture the stuffed tomatoes that he served, the dusty road in Kassiopi village, and I remember the few words of Greek that I learnt some 54 years ago 🙂

For me, the memory is of taking month-long holidays on the island of Corfu with my family, when I was about 11 years old. My father was a university professor, and so benefited from long summer holidays. Each July, we would pack our suitcases (my parents and 2 brothers), and travel by train from our home in Leicester to St Pancras station in north London. Then a taxi across the capital city to Victoria station ,where we could catch the 'boat train' to Dover. Across to Calais on the ferry and another train to Gare du Nord station in Paris. Then across Paris and we boarded the night train that ran all the way from Paris and down to Brindisi in southern Italy. We slept as the train traveled through south France and Switzerland, and then woke up in sunny Italy by the lakes. That whole next day was spent traveling down Italy, close to the coast, looking out of the window all the way at the sights. Finally in the late evening, we arrived in Brindisi and boarded the 'Apia' ship to cross the Adriatic to Corfu island, where we arrived the next morning. Then it was into a small boat to sail along the coast to the pretty village of Kassiopi, where we lodged with a local family. Every day, we would walk to the beach. My father would sit on the beach, marking his student exam papers and swigging Retsina! (I think everyone got a good pass mark because my father was definitely tipsy after marking 50 papers!). I would swim in the clear sea, marveling at the coral and brightly coloured fish. For a young boy with an interest in nature, the various centipedes and 'bugs' on the land fascinated me. Each evening, we would eat in a local taverna (there were very few if any other tourists). The taverna staff would play live Greek music and encourage us to join in with their traditional dances, just like Zorba the Greek! Those wonderful memories are ingrained in my memory, and for this reason I love the music of Mikis Theodorakis and similar music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYQGlBqIrQg&list=RD23VZDS36c7k&index=5 If there is one thing that I want to do before I die, it is to return to visit Greece and to smell the fragrance of the flowers and hear this beautiful music in situ. (In reality, it's probably a tourist ghetto strewn with trash!!). How about you?

Now I know where 'anus rings' come from....

A very minor point, but some posters seem to assume that he is a pedo. I may have missed this, but I can't see anywhere in the report that he committed his offences against kids, (and usually that is mentioned in pedo reports). He could have been raping 80 year old grannies in Australia,

I had: hot green tea home-made Kefir milk muesli watermelon