simon43

I used to do Ranong visa runs many times. I took the public bus or drove up to the Ranong pier. Paid $10 for entry into Kawtaung, stamped out by the IO, walk down to the smaller boats and pay 100 baht each way, arrive in Kawtaung, walk 200 metres to the IO office, get stamped in and out, walk back to small boat, over the river mouth to Ranong, stamp in, go home.... A short video I took on the boat crossing to Kawtaung: Kawthaung - Crossing the Kyan river.mp4

Wow - some real nutjob comments in this thread!

The comments in this thread reassures me that I made the right decision a long time ago to stay well away from people from the USA... 🙂

Good idea! (I did...)

To be honest (for the sake of the USA), the best thing that could happen is for Biden to fall down the steps (as he often does), and break his neck.... Harsh but true.

The UK has too many people already and adding all these immigrants isn't going to help. There is a simple solution which will save a fortune in the long run. That is, courage the local population (ie people who in the main were born and raised in the UK), to bu-gger off to warmer climes.... Give sweeteners, such as paying their airfares, visa fees to live in other countries. Simple init?

You need some other animal to attract the flies, as opposed to your body. I keep a large water buffalo in my condo and it works very well to keep the flies off me 🙂

That's an expensive rental rate. I typically pay 2,000 baht per month!

I use Speedify VPN so that I can combine my internet connections while I use Zoom to teach online. You allocate priorities to each internet connection and Speedy then uses that internet connection, unless your meeting requires more bandwidth, in which case it adds on your second/third/fourth internet connection to achieve the required bandwidth. Additionally, if your primary internet connection drops out even for a fraction of a second, Speedify switches over to your secondary internet connection so you don't have a 'drop-out' in the lesson (well, I think some of my students are drop-outs lol!). I use USB tethering from my laptop to a 5G SIM (True) in 1 mobile phone and similar to a 4G SIM (AIS) in another phone. Then I use the laptop wi-fi to connect tothe hotel wi-fi and a wi-fi dongle to connect to a 4G DTAC SIM in a pocket wi-fi unit. For my students in China, making a Speedify connection to their node in Singapore works the best. It might seem 'overkill', but it's necessary if you want to ensure a reliable Zoom class. I don't need the extra bandwidth function, but automatic switchover during drop-outs is most definitely required. (Often the internet drop-out is somewhere down the line between Thailand and China, but using different internet providers helps to provide an alternative route). From the Speedify stats I could probably get away with combining just 2 internet connections...

To be correct, it wasn't hiding inside the ATM of course - it was hiding in the ATM booth 🙂

Everyone is responsible for their own decisions. If you choose to take illicit drugs, then the only person to blame for your ill health or death by overdose is yourself. As said in that video, if you want to avoid Fentanyl, then avoid taking all illicit drugs. It's not rocket science...

Off-topic, but actually I never verbally talk with other hams because I find them too boring!! I use a digital system a bit like text messaging to contact and exchange small talk, but most of my enjoyment of the hobby is the technical challenge of designing/building antennas to achieve the contact. It's a weird hobby...

But I can afford them 🙂 . I have never worn a watch nor bling in my life! My ham radio gear costs about $3,000 USD, so it's not that I can't afford things. Sure, I don't have the money for the high life, but I simply have zero interest in these things. Also, you don't need to be wealthy to indulge in philanthropy. I'm not rich but I buy science school books (in English and Burmese) for young students in Burma at $1 a pop for a 500-page text book that helps the students to understand their science syllabus. $100 goes a long way to help others 🙂

I am not a Buddhist, but I have few worldly goods because I don't need them. I have 1 pair of shoes. I have 2 pairs of jeans. I have a jacket. I don't have a watch, nor rings nor necklaces. I don't have a TV. I have 1 hat 🙂 Yes, I have my mobile phones and computer for entertainment and teaching. I have my amateur radio rig and antennas for my hobby. But 'flash' clothes, car, jewelry, bling? Nope, not interested and don't need it 🙂

18 months ago I went back to the UK, registered for a GP within 1 day, saw the GP in person 2 days later, referred to hospital immediately. Hint - to see a GP, it helps to get out of bed early, be first on the telephone for an appointment etc. I had no problem...

The worst electrical shocks that I've had were not in Thailand - they were in the days of valve radio transmitters that I used to build - some of these large glass valves (beautiful when lit), have got a couple of thousand volts DC on the metal top cap. I got a shock of 1,600 volts from a transmitter that I was testing - literally flew across the room! Here in Thailand, if I have to touch anything made of metal - lamp-posts, railings etc, I always tap it quickly with my finger before making a firmer grip....

My son is 18 years old and was born in Phuket. At the time of his birth, I was legally married to his Thai mother and I am named as his father on the Thai birth certificate and Phuket Hospital birth certificate. I never applied for a UK passport after his birth, because we divorced a year or two later and I had/have no plans to return back to the UK, either alone or with my ex or son. However, as I'm getting older, I thought it would be prudent to obtain a UK passport for my son, in case he wants to travel/work in the UK after my demise. (He currently attends college in Bangkok). A visa agent told me that it's very difficult to obtain a UK passport for a luk kreung if they are older than 12 years. I don't buy this. According to the UK government visa/passport website, my son is automatically entitled to a UK passport because of the time period when he was born, and because I am named as father on his Thai birth certificate. Can someone with more knowledge of this topic please advise me? Thanks! Oh - if his mother's signature is required for the application, then this is no problem. But I assume that since he is 18 years old, he needs to apply himself and won't need the permission of either parent.

I forgot about this incident 🙂 I was living in a rented house in Phuket with a water tank atop a metal tower, about 5 metres in height and located next to the house. Great I thought. Just the place to attach my radio antenna! So I climbed up the tower and stood next to the plastic water tank while I adjusted my metal antenna rods. Unfortunately, the end of one of the rods came into contact with the 220 volts on an open water level switch and got stuck there! I dropped the antenna after the first electric shock, but then it was in contact with the metal tower and the whole structure became live at 220 volts with me on the top of the water tower jumping up and down like a live prawn in a hot frying pan! I was about to throw myself off the tower and onto (through!) the concrete roof of my house, when luckily my foot kicked the antenna and it came away from the water switch... I think my hair was standing on end for the rest of the week!!

I'm retired. I wear a lightweight cotton safari jacket, white short-sleeved shirt and usually sport a narrow blue tie. Shorts are only for the beach of course, so black chinos for me. Honestly, I think some of you retired are absolute slobs, perhaps American 🙂

As I get older, I have to check that I have put on my trousers before I go out to 7/11. I have this nightmare of wandering out half-asleep stark naked....

Sounds great fun, but do you dare sleep at night? When I stayed at a hotel in Burma, there was an enormous Tookay lizard behind the wardrobe in my room. When I went to bed and turned out the light, after 5 minutes if I turned the light on again, there was the Tookay, staring at me with it's bulging eyes!! I almost went and slept in the hotel garden 🙂

Lol, I was thinking in real-time about how to write Blackpool in Thai 🙂 I don't actually have need to write much in Thai nowadays. I stayed in Laos recently for a couple of years and so had some lessons to bring me up to speed on reading, writing and speaking Lao language. Right now, I am brushing up on my Burmese language because I hope to return to Burma in a year or so after I retire to do some more volunteer teaching 🙂 (So I welcome chat in Lao or Burmese, but we need to make a new sub-forum for that!). Come to think of this, the forum is 'Asean...', so perhaps we need an Asian language forum other than just Thai language.

I also took private lessons in Thai and studied for an MA at Chulalongkorn University... 🙂

Perhaps a better option is a Thai chat forum, used almost exclusively by Thais. I can't remember the name of the forum, but maybe 15-20 years ago I used such a chat forum to improve my written/reading Thai. Or go onto Thai Friendly and say that you come from Wales and can only speak/write in Welsh or Thai.....

No risk of electrocution, but an interesting event nevertheless. Ex #3 was building a small hotel resort, and had a temporary electricity supply installed by the local PEA, with a breaker switch housed in a white plastic box and mounted on a wooden pole next to the building site. Dopey brother-in-law decided to connect his arc welder to that supply, not a good idea since the welder needed a high current which the temporary supply couldn't handle.... They phoned me in the middle of the night with shouts of 'fire!'. (They used to work at night because it was cooler). I wondered how they could set fire to buildings that were made of concrete! I hurried to the building site and indeed there was a fire. The breaker switch, plastic box and wooden pole were all in flames. All that was left after the fire subsided were the charred PEA wires 🙂