simon43

Ah, I had no choice. I got aspergillosis lung disease which was exacerbated in the UK climate. It improved dramatically in the Thai climate. So I placed my health over my job and left the UK. I worked for about 12 years building small hotels in sunny Phuket. Then I did a final career flip and taught science at schools mostly in Myanmar. I have taught science online for the past 4 years or so and am just 18 months away from my pension :) As for the satellite work, I still do this as my hobby as a radio amateur, building equipment to receive weather satellite images etc.

I studied for 7 years to be a space scientist (4 years technician courses, 2 years degree, 1 year master's degree). I had a very enjoyable career designing bits for satellites but unfortunately when I moved to Thailand in 2002 there were no jobs for rocket scientists (at least not foreign ones...)

I moved to live in Thailand from about 2002. I had a good teacher who helped me to learn to read and write and speak the language to a reasonable level. From 2002 up to about 2018 I was able to use my Thai language skills on a daily basis, typically 90% of my everyday conversation was using Thai. But I also spent time teaching in both Laos and Myanmar, so I started to learn to read/write/speak both Lao and Burmese languages. Nowadays I live in Laos and therefore apart from my online teaching using English, I only speak Lao each day (and some French to communicate with an old French guy in my village!). But I rarely use Thai language unless I'm speaking on the phone to my old wives in Thailand, and then the phrases I use are typically limited to "I have no money" or "you are still mad...". I plan to return to live in Myanmar in the next few years (I'm banned from entering the country by the military right now, but hopefully the junta will fall in the next few years). So I'm busy improving my Burmese language skills. But I don't want to forget my Thai language knowledge! I know that there are many online resources for learning Thai. But is there - for example - an online radio station or resource that provides the news in slow Thai (I know slow English news is provided by the Voice of America VOA for those learning English). What would be the best way to maintain my spoken/ reading/writing skills in Thai when I'm not living in Thailand? (Absolutely do NOT suggest marrying another Thai women again!). Thanks :)

Luang Prabang, north Laos (because the military chaps wouldn't let me back into Myanmar last year after a weekend trip to Bangkok!)

On one side are a family who raise chickens and ducks On t'other side is a family who raise chickens and ducks The chickens and ducks spend their leisure time in my garden in the middle! Happily, I have no problems with these birds - the roosters are an alarm clock for me. I'd rather have noisy birds than noisy neighbours :)

Crew? Are you sure? :)

Off-topic for this thread, but very briefly my annual 'retirement' visa costs about $700 USD, with no financial/savings requirements needed. I say 'retirement' visa because there is no such thing really, but the immigration department are happy to give me an annual business visa with 'no work allowed' stamped across it!

On the contrary, I realised many years ago that money does not buy happiness. I used to be a $ millionaire, but nowadays my total assets are probably less than 1 million baht. Has that made me want to top my self? Absolutely not!! I have more than enough money for my needs, including renting a big house and garden, paying for private medical insurance etc etc. I have zero debts and no liabilities. I live in a beautiful and cheap location (Luang Prabang) and have to pay no personal tax, no council tax etc etc. My daily spend on food, petrol etc is less than 500 baht. I have an enjoyable hobby (ham radio) and have a daily income from teaching science online (I have about 280 private 1-1 students across the world). My health is reasonably good and I kicked my 3 ex wives into touch yonks ago! Given all the above, who should top themselves? Me or you? :)

There are only 3 things that my neighbours and friends need to know: 1 - I have no money 2 - The matches are in the top drawer in the kitchen 3 - After using 2) to incinerate me, bin day is on Fridays :) Life is so much more simple when you have no money and no family who cares about you! :)

I would have told her to get out as soon as she said "You can't use that door".... (Having said that, I did make changes [about 20 years ago] to my first small hotel bathroom layout when my mad ex #2 told me that I couldn't have toilets facing north - nowadays I ... er ... poo,poo such talk!)

You do not need to return and live in the UK for a few months to 'restart' your UK state pension at the current rate. You can relocate to the Philippines for that time period because the Philippines is within the UK state pension agreement on not freezing pensions, (so just like EU countries). Move to the Philippines, open a bank account, rent an apartment with rental contract, inform the UK state pension overseas office that you now live in the Philippines, provide evidence of this (bank account, utility bill in your name etc), and your state pension should be restarted at the current amount. After that, move back to Thailand :)

[quote] The department elaborated that the system depends on data from several buoys in the Andaman Sea and other agencies, including the Royal Thai Navy’s Hydrographic Department. [/quote] Not very reassuring when the majority of those other buoys also seem to be 'off-air'...... And what is a 'positional issue'? That suggests that the buoy is no longer in the location where it should be (dragged anchor etc so that the acoustic transponder on the seabed can no longer communicate with the surface buoy.

I had one of those 'extensions' many years ago. It lasted 1 month each time and every time that I had to extend by a further month I had to pay a bribe of about 5,000 baht to the local police in order to get the paperwork to apply to Immigration for the extension. It was an expensive time - you do not want to go there...

I keep an eye/ear on the UK news so that I'm alerted if the British police have finally tracked me down :)

I'm beginning to think you are yet another of the forum shills designed to increase clicks and comments...

I just read the story in his post. IMHO, it is exactly that - a fictional story. So enjoy it as such.

I think if you have high blood pressure, then that could be an opt-out for almost any reason to deny an insurance claim. My claim for prostate cancer investigation was denied because I had failed to disclose my mildly-enlarged prostate BPH), even though an enlarged prostate doesn't cause prostate cancer. When I insured again with a different company, I disclosed absolutely every single medical incident/treatment etc from birth, including a bunion on my right foot and a small scar on my leg when a motorbike hit me when I was11 years old. The insurer probably laughed at my page-long list of minor ailments from 40 years ago, but as a result of disclosing all these things I'm fairly sure that no opt-out reason can be used to deny a future claim. They insured me for everything except my BPH. However, apart from BPH, I'm pretty healthy, no high BP, no high cholesterol, not a lard-bucket etc.

Generally I think Aseannow is not the 'right' forum for long stories like this split into episodes. I think you would get a more favourable response if you posted it on Stickman.

A new coat of paint and it will be as new....

Here in north Laos I have plenty of hens, chickens and ducks that wander around my garden day and night. They belong to my neighbours but can easily access my garden and it doesn't bother me - if you live in the countryside then you must expect animal noise. There are a few dogs here but I find Lao dogs to be very laid back and of the non-barking variety.

This is certainly my aim, and I've been perfecting this idea for many years :)

Your idea would go down like a lead balloon with the local authorities! Do they really want a foreigner to publicise how bad the air quality is?

What 'moron' posted a happy smilie on this post?

Here in Laos the locals decided that 'gly' and 'gly' were indeed too similar. They use 'gy' (far) and 'mor' (near). I speak/read/write Thai to a good level, and my Lao is fast catching up. One 'annoying' factor is that while many Lao words are the same as Thai, the tone is different! So 'song' (number 2) in Thai with a rising tone is 'song' in Lao with a high tone!

They probably squirted some veggie oil at him and rolled him down the road to the jail.....