simon43

Although I have ex-wives and offspring in Thailand, I would rather use my monthly income to benefit others (students in Myanmar), rather than a Thai bank. That's my own personal decision, and it's why I have just got my annual ER retirement visa in Siem Reap for $300, so that I can use Cambodia as a cheap base to travel to/from Myanmar, since I'm unable to reside in Thailand (visa costs) or in Myanmar (no visa if not employed). Should the financial poop hit the fan for me, as a last resort, I still have my pension income to return and live in the UK (as I recently did - that was a big shock!). For practical reasons, I'd much prefer to live in Thailand (if unable to live in Myanmar), but Thailand (quite rightly IMHO), doesn't want cheap charlie retirees like me :)

Hmm, doesn't seem to have stopped the Muslims coming to Pattaya and boozing and bonking.... At least it's not boys and goats now.....

Me? I think my last wife was around 2012, but after my 3rd divorce I decided not to waste any more time or money on a GF or wife :) Been financially much better off and stress-free since then!

:) - I have had a permanent job with the same online teaching company since 2018

Aren't you late to get to work today mopping floors at the hospital?

Lol, there's an unexpected silver lining! Today I received my annual, multi-entry retirement visa for Cambodia, with minimal admin paperwork needed. So with that sorted, I've now got my Cambodian 'base' sorted, and can arrange my trip to Myanmar, but avoiding the Water Festival (since air fares will rocket). I plan to stay in Mandalay on this first e-tourist visa trip, so I can visit the Girls' orphanage, a second orphanage and the Mandalay School for the Blind, plus drop into the school that is considering me as Principal (they must be mad!! lol). I hope to stay for about 3 weeks. I've set up a drop-off address in Bangkok for receipt of Lazada parcels/packages, since the cost anf postal delays to Siem Reap are huge. So I can order eg - flashcards from Lazada, and pick them up as I pass through Bangkok on my way to Myanmar.

I suspect that the guys may be into uphill gardening as well - so sloppy seconds isn't something to...er ... turn your nose up at!

26 sq m?! I thought the last thing you wanted to do was live in a 'shoebox'! I'm currently living in Siem Reap in a high-ceilinged 'condo' brick-built bungalow, 60 sq m and shaded by trees so air-con use is absolutely minimal, swimming pool 10 metres away of course. $100 USD rent/month.......no long-term rental commitment or deposit needed.

Oh dear! It looks like AirAsia has recently suspended flights between Bangkok (Don Muang) and Mandalay airport :( So now I'd have to fly on MAI (expensive) or Bangkok Airways (from Swampy and even more expensive). Drat!

Another update, and my situation changes regularly! I received a friendly email from Naypyitaw explaining that I will not be allowed to do my ham radio hobby until the state of emergency has ended, (which is unlikely to happen for some time). So no surprises there..... Because of this situation, and because I don't want to rent a lock-up unit in Bangkok for the next lifetime, I actually have donated my bulky radio transceiver to a young radio ham in the UK. I can still engage in my radio hobby, but only receiving signals, such as images from satellites. A welcome email from a school in Mandalay! They want me to be their school Principal :) I've managed schools previously in Laos and Yangon, and it can be a 'difficult' job. But they appreciate my educational charity work in Myanmar and maybe no-one else is 'stupid' enough to take the job!! In any case, if I work as principal, then my monthly income (pension+online teaching+principal salary) will typically be at least $5,500 USD, which would allow me to soon drop 800,000 THB into my Thai bank account for a future 'retirement' visa in Thailand. I have a Zoom interview later this week :)

I'm 99% sure that my situation won't benefit me, but I'll ask anyway :) I just realised that my monthly income (from online teaching and UK state pension) for the past 12 months has always been more than 65,000 THB, sometimes more than double that amount. But these incomes are paid into my Wise bank account, and not into a Thai bank account, (because I don't live in Thailand right now). I think that I would need to transfer it each month to my Bangkok Bank account for that income to qualify for the income method yes?

Although I could be accused of being 'triggered' by this thread, I'm only going to make 1 comment: Look how a simple 'slop' post has triggered so many forum members that the thread has reached 6 pages already.....

The only times that I have needed to give myself a few seconds to escape (from high power water guns during Sonkran), I have used the same tactic, and it would probably work with some drunken oaf as well.. As the person comes at you, look past/behind them and shout out (in Thai or appropriate language): Look out!! An elephant!!! This crazy exclamation has always resulted in the person turning around, allowing me time to make myself scarce..... :)

Yes I do :) And on my death bed I can look back at all the wonderful experiences and memories that I've had! Better than living in your mum's basement in Luton all your life...

I'm not in the UK! I put up with 7 weeks of expensive rental costs, expensive council rates, expensive utility bills and expensive food and drink..... I had no subsidised rent because I still have an online income. Free NHS of course, but I didn't need to use that. I used my free bus pass once..... But there was also the reverse-culture shock, after 23 years living in south-east Asia. The UK has changed hugely in that time, most TV programmes seemed to favour minorities (gays, blacks and Muslims), rather than the majority UK population. It wasn't correct and I got the impression that the indigenous population was effectively being 'controlled' and misled. I returned to south-east Asia. Realistic rental fees (10% of what I paid in the UK), realistic monthly expenses, the kind of environment that I was used to and understood. My foot isn't hurting now - the open sandals have helped a lot :)

Because I'm not teaching in-class anymore, I can wear the splint for many hours, and it is slowly straightening the big toe (will take many months). Of course, the bunion is unaffected by this treatment, but that bunion never gets bigger and never hurts, and now wearing open sandals means that I can also get out and about and keep the big toe from pushing on my second toe, (which has stopped hurting since I took to wearing the sandals or no shoes at all).

I got used to no air-con (and no fan) when living in Yangon and my apartment building had no generator for the daily electricity outages. I'm in Siem Reap right now - don't use a fan and occasionally switch on the air-con for 29 C, but it's still too cold for me :)

RFID chips have been in use for decades to reduce shop-lifting of valuable (and now not so valuable) products. But of course, more recently it's used on bank card etc to authorise payments by simply placing the card close to the payment machine which 'activates' the passive RFID chip in the card by emitting low-power RF energy I have not experienced this previously until I stayed in the UK recently, and found most shops offered this quick payment system. But could a thief use a higher power activation unit to fool your bank card into generating the authorisation signal? Yes! Either higher power (= longer range), or lower power with a high gain antenna - the result would be the same. (This is how car thiefs break into cars that use RFID chips on the keyring) - they wave a high gain antenna outside the door of your home at night whilst you're sleeping with the car key next to you - there are ring cam videos on YT of this taking place. Therefore, the idea of using an RFID-proof wallet for your bank cards, (or simply wrapping your wallet in tin foil), is a reasonable option to minimise any smart thiefs waving RFID activation devices near you.

Tommy is a top bloke! Kudos to the US State Department for making him welcome.

They could adopt the methods used in Singapore - vertical farms. Plus kick out all the millions of immigrants to reduce the population to a more sustainable level A 'plague'of anthrax or similar would also help to reduce the population.......

OK, I've found a service (mythaiaddress.com) that can accept and hold my parcels :)

I already asked. They do not accept receipt of parcels and there is nothing in departures that can accept parcels (they could be drugs!!). I'll try to contact Mailboxes Etc company that I used many years ago :) Thanks!

I don't think that's allowed!

I'm not staying in a hotel! I would arrive on the morning flight from Siem Reap and leave for Mandalay on an afternoon flight. Update: It was Mailboxes etc company that I've used before and they have a few offices in BKK, although not near the airport. I'll see if I can open a mailbox account 'online' so that I can start to use it :)

Right now (latest move lol), I'm based in Siem Reap (Cambodia). Unless I can secure a business visa to stay in Myanmar, I can base myself in this cheap (cheap rent, food, visa etc) location and travel to Myanmar on 28-day tourist visas to do my educational charity work. One item that I want to donate to schools/orphanages are sets of English vocabulary flash cards. I've used these before and they are popular, since the words also link to my mobile app. In Cambodia, I can only buy them on AliExpress for about 45 baht, with a 60 day delivery... But in Thailand I can (and have) bought them at 22 baht/pack, delivered to a Thai address in a few days. So what I want to do on my next trip to Mandalay is to fly into Don Mueng, pick up my pre-ordered/pre-paid Lazada parcel from a specified, secure collection point, and then continue my journey to Mandalay. Although I'd envisage entering Thailand at Don Mueng perhaps 6 times each year, I've never had any problems with the immigration officers, since they can see that I have an outbound flight the next day. Can anyone suggest a secure collection point? Yonks ago I had a PO Box at a shop in Saladaeng Central Shopping. Is there anywhere close to Don Mueng that can offer a similar service?