simon43

So? The OP didn't ask your opinion about religion - your post adds zero to this thread. I am not the slightest bit religious, but I don't condemn others who are religious or have differing views from me. OP, I do not have any facts to answer your question, since my knowledge of these churches is very small.

Since (AFAIK), the use of Starlink is not authorised in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos (ie - no ground station connection into the telecoms system), I don't see how this could work. Starlink has to up/downlink the data to a ground station within the footprint of its signal, and since it's in a LEO (low-earth-orbit), about 400km above the Earth, that means a ground station in either Laos, Thailand or Myanmar. But what do I know? 🙂

Wow! This topic has demonstrated to me just how many forum members are one short of a pot noodle! 🙂 Nice day here in north Laos, far, far away from all the Western 'nutters' 🙂

Let's wait for further details before we make assumptions. Witnesses should be able to say whether he was shouting 'Allah' etc.

I just checked the hard cash in my pocket. About 2 million in new bank notes 🙂 Oh wait a moment! I'm in Laos and that's Lao kip, so about 50 quid..... 🙂

[quote] ... they seem to be watching us like hawks at the moment, looking for any excuse to catch us out.. ... [/quote] Nope - they are watching YOU. Every other Westerner is getting on with their life and don't seem to have the bizarre problems that you raise in your many posts 🙂

IMHO, the OP has a death wish......

Do you live in Burma? 🙂

I'm very happy living in north Laos. But there are 2 important issues: - I have 'weak lungs' and the annual burning season here is not enjoyable - I'm coughing up litres of sticky phlegm and my nose runs like a very leaky tap! Face-masks help, as do some medications, but my health outcome in the long-term is probably not rosy if I continue to live with such polluted air. - Next year my UK pension will start, but since I live in Laos, this will be frozen, and this could become a financial issue for me in later years. This is why I am considering making a permanent move to somewhere in The Philippines before my UK pension starts. This would avoid administration issues with the UK pensions office, should I move from Laos to The Philippines after my pension starts. (Of course, PI does not freeze UK pensions). Really, it's my own health issues that concern me, and the AQI numbers for PI seem to be way lower than Laos or north Thailand. (South Thailand has cleaner air, but I do not have 800,000 baht for a retirement visa and I do not trust to 'fiddle' this visa by using an agent). Would PI be a sensible option? Here are my requirements: - low risk of major earthquakes (my knowledge of tectonic plates suggests that the west side of PI is not prone to major earthquakes, since the plate boundaries are on the east side). - low risk of major typhoons (again, my knowledge of cyclones suggests that the west side has calmer weather) I would want to live in a safe rural/semi-rural location, renting a house and garden (not a condo), perhaps near a beach. I do not need the company of other Westerners, nor nightlife, nor the fair sex, (meaning I don't want to live in the equivalent of Pattaya). I'm good at learning languages, so an English-speaking environment is not required. Can someone with knowledge of The Philippines suggest some small towns to visit? I need to get my skates on if I want to move before June 25 (my retirement date). Thanks!

Yonks ago I did actually study for an MA in Thai at Chulalongkorn University. I sat the course but never took the final exams, because a large 'exam fee' was required and I was only learning for fun. But my knowledge of Thai enabled me to interact with the local Thais in where I lived, with useful phrases such as: - Conversing with my mad #2: "You are completely mad, please do not throw another plate" - Conversing with the local police guy: "I agree with you. She is totally mad - please arrest her next time" - With the local pharmacy: "Do you have any stronger medication? The previous medicine did not affect her" and finally with the local travel agent: "Get me the next flight to Burma, but tell her that I have moved to Cambodia if she asks" My use of Burmese and Lao is generally much more mundane phrases!

Lol, my parents took me out of the government primary school in the early 1960s and put me in a private prep school after we started having morning assembly in (probably) Hindi - the Urdu-speakers arrived a few years later...

Educate yourself! The report was not from the Jewish Chronicle but from the Henry Jackson Society. The Wiki link is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Jackson_Society and that society has absolutely nothing to do with Jews or the Jewish Chronicle.......

For me, it's a matter of being polite and showing effort to learn the local language. When I'm in Thailand, I speak/read/write Thai... When I'm in Myanmar (Burma), I speak/read/write Burmese... When I'm in Laos, I speak/read/write Lao... I'm far from fluent in these languages, but I make an effort and it's very much appreciated by the locals 🙂

Wear bathroom slippers AND hold onto firm surfaces AND don't enter the bathroom when p*ssed out of your mind....

I remember many years ago when I built a small hotel in Phuket - I installed sliding smoked glass doors in the showers and assumed that the glass was safety glass (forgive me - I was a newbie in Thailand). Some time later a young boy staying with his parents ran straight through the glass door! Shards of glass everywhere, but amazingly the boy only had a few small cuts. It could have been so much worse. In another incident (this time in Vietnam), a stone on the road flew up and hit the windscreen of our tour car that I was sitting in as a passenger. The windscreen shattered into shards - it was standard glass, not safety glass.... Over the years there have been more than a few fatalities where foreigners have slipped in their bathroom and died, typically after hitting their head on something sharp. Some of these deaths were where the person was elderly and unsteady on their feet. Others were younger but drunk. Many bathrooms in Thailand do not have non-slip floor tiles, some are like an ice-rink when wet. It is always advisable to move slowly and hold onto firm surfaces when taking a shower.

Nowhere in the article does it mention that 'she' is a ladyboy or man who is pre-op or post op. The military draft (as the article says), is for men. Therefore, without further information, I must assume that 'she' is actually a man, (because if she were female, then she wouldn't have to attend the military draft).

I know you don't probably don't want to consider this, but the Labour Department will regard what you're doing as work (regardless of whether you make any money out of it). Your project is (I assume) intended to earn you money, so for that you'll need a work permit (which you won't get without employing Thai staff etc etc, so a non-starter). It wouldn't be bad if you could fly under the radar, but you started this thread and detailed your plans, your PEA guy knows what you're doing and (thanks to the Thai grapevine), that old Thai lady living 500km away from you in a small village also knows exactly what you're doing. It only takes one disgruntled neighbour and your Mining project will be .. er .. toast.

You may be right - I have no way to tell because I haven't visited Thailand for a couple of years. I guess I need to wait until the rainy season and then see what % wear masks, and ditto here in northern Laos where the burning season is upon us. For me, wearing a simple mask definitely helps my health by filtering out the smoke particles in the air. (If I were trying to avoid virus infections then I would purchase a mask designed for that purpose).

I won't quote your long post, but thanks for introducing some scientific FACTS into this thread, but sadly which will go right over the heads of many posters 🙂

Lol, many people in Laos wear masks, especially right now since it's the burning season. As I mentioned in my post, I have a chronic lung illness and wearing a face mask has absolutely nothing to do with virtue-signalling. But perhaps you don't understand that some people wear masks because the masks do what they are designed to do....

Santisuk, I have exactly the same long-term illness as you, and I appreciate the benefits of wearing a mask. I live in Laos and people can make their own decision as to wear or not wear a mask. I always wear a mask when entering shops or close to others and my health benefits from it. I visited Bangkok last week for a few days and I see perhaps more than 50% of Thais wearing a face mask. I say 'Good on them' for considering the health of others and minimising the risk of spreading bacteria etc). As for the 'I hate face-nappy' brigade, I don't want to waste a moment in my life listening to the rubbish spouted by them..........

I just started reading page 1 of this (currently) 10-page thread, and realised after a couple of posts that this was an April Fool's Day joke. Honestly, I need to block almost every poster in the next 10 pages because (apart from a few), you all fell for this joke - time to count your brain cells! 🙂

Clearly, your moral compass is different from mine .....

So you would lie to the insurance company?

[quote] ... So then, you can teach, these days, with just a stick, and some sand? ... [/quote] Yes!! I have taught for many years in poverty-stricken Myanmar, and even the international schools were woefully lacking in facilities. Usually all I had to teach Science were a blackboard and chalk, no textbooks, no Science lab, no overhead projector, no electricity in the classroom, no internet. As a Scientist and teacher, I used my own knowledge of all the science topics required by the curriculum to teach these topics in a manner that engaged my students and brought the subject 'to life'. I also teach computer software - PHP, Scratch, Python, Javascript, C+, Arduino, STEM topics etc, so I'm no Luddite. But if I'm not teaching computing topics, then I definitely don't need a computer! Anyway, off-topic....