simon43

Oh dear, so I wonder what they were doing when they gave me a bladder/kidney urine infection test last year.....

I always use Lifecare Labs for blood and urine tests (infections, PSA etc)

For heaven's sake, what is up with this forum?!! It seems populated with trolls who post inane questions, over and over again. It completely detracts from the forum offering and reduces it to the level of kid's tik-tok postings. Any decent forum would have banned these posters.

Always clean-shaven. For me, a beard is a sign of a lack of self-confidence, trying to hide behind the hair. Makes me think of history teachers...

No mention of a crash helmet, no mention if she had a motorbike licence (ie experienced rider), medical insurance expired etc etc. I wish her well, but yet again (sigh), we have a situation which probably didn't need to happen...

[quote] ... but I will not deal with more bureaucracy and zero rights. ... [/quote] Zero rights only seems to be a problem when you're trying to do something wrong.... If we are having a p*ssing competition as to who hasn't paid tax for the longest time, I might win since I have legally avoided paying any income/personal tax for more than 20 years (5 flags strategy!). I keep 100% of what I earn ????

I have to disagree with Google's opinion of Vang Vieng. I stayed for a week about 2 months ago because I was considering relocating from Luang Prabang to live in VV. While the view of the limestone karsks is great, IMHO that's about it! The small town is bisected by the remains of the Air America runway, now full of muddy potholes, unlit and the hunting ground for packs of dogs (I know 'cos I had to cross the runway at night to get back to my hotel!). Despite searching up and down many roads for several days by motorbike, I was unable to locate a single semi-decent house to rent long-term. There were 'hovels' and there were short-term expensive tourist accommodations, but lacking facilities for long-term stayers. No decent supermarket, just one rather small supermarket stocking tourist supplies. So... I gave up relocating to VV for these various reasons. Nice view, shame about the rest!

I live in Luang Prabang, have done so for the last 5 years, with the occasional teaching stint in Myanmar. Although tourism is down, local industry seems to be doing fine - it's always busy in my part of town and the fresh markets are very busy. No power cuts, fast internet for my online teaching, cheap annual visa etc. Certainly the inflation rate is high, but that doesn't affect me since I'm paid in USD. Most citizens in this region are (like most of Laos) working the land which at least means that they can put food on the table. I'm not sure about tourist prices. I eat every day at a small restaurant near the Mekong - 25,000 kip (45 baht) for a freshly-made Luang Prabang salad. At the weekend I'll go and eat at one of the swanky restaurants on the main street, 150 baht for eggs, sausages, salad, toast, orange juice, cappucino and fresh fruit salad - hardly going to break the bank ????

Do you also tell people in wheelchairs that they will never be able to enjoy walking and running? Do you tell impoverished people that they will probably always be hungry and poor and never able to enjoy those things that most people take for granted? Do you tell cancer victims that they will probably be dead by this time next year? You sound like a useless piece of ****, exactly the type of person I'm happy to avoid.

No, I have private Lao language lessons every weekday morning, (because I live in north Laos). After that I go and teach English to a class of students at the local school.

Since divorcing my 3rd wife (for spending my hard-earned $ on a nice car for herself, rather than building material for our small hotel project that she had previously agreed), I have lived alone and could never contemplate shacking up with anyone in the future. No woman would willingly shack up with an old guy unless she was after something and I doubt that it's love. But living alone doesn't make you lonely. I tend to agree that living alone and without any social interaction, one could become somewhat eccentric. Luckily for me, my parents were both eccentrics and I had good schooling in doing crazy things from my mad Thai ex-wife No. 2... Social interaction is healthy and I obtain mine (currently) by attending Lao language lessons every weekday morning, then over to a local school to help the students practice/learn English. My online teaching after lunch and in the evening is not 'in-person' interaction, but still counts for social interaction. Finally, I obtain stressful interaction every evening by doing my shortwave ham radio hobby, where the ability to communicate with like-minded people across the globe in a relaxed manner is hampered by the inability of my DIY radio antennas to launch my puny radio signal into the ether! This hobby often frustrates me ????

As CharlieH said, this guy joined in 2021. If he claims to be a TV member for the past 10 years, I have to ask what made him FLIP into a nutter in 2021, because his current posting style bears no resemblance to any member prior to 2021, even those members who were already mentally-damaged.

The Golden Man of Pattaya...

Absolutely. I don't give a flying fack what people think or say about me. That's their problem. I just get on and enjoy my life ????

Perhaps the 20-year Elite visa is not the best option...

Seems to be that you earn tokens, not $$ cash...

This one I believe in: "The world owes you nothing"

Her speech did not go far enough IMHO. Time to start a new population of illegals on the island of St. Kilda....

Her speech did not go far enough IMHO. Time to start a new population of illegals on the island of St. Kilda....

[quote] ... I didn't get their first communication because the local postman was burning the mail instead of delivering it... [/quote] Don't you just hate it when they do that? ????

About 8 years ago I had to fly back to the UK for my mum's funeral. Since I didn't know on exactly what date I would return to Thailand (1 day, 2 days, 3 days later etc), I bought a single ticket from BKK to Heathrow and took along cash to buy the return ticket. After the funeral and all matters were sorted, I returned to the Heathrow area to buy a ticket back to Thailand. Unfortunately, the price of all tickets were far higher on the London-BKK leg than the other way! I didn't have enough money to buy the ticket. But one agent found me a ticket flying via Cairo that I could afford, except the flight left Heathrow 4 days later! I had no choice, being eternally skint. So I 'bedded' down at Terminal 3 (I seem to recall), and spent 3 days walking around the terminals all day. In the evening the police came to visit me and allowed me to sleep in the terminal because I had a ticket and it was freezing cold in winter outside. When I finally checked in and tried to board my flight, the ground staff at first refused to let me board because I had no return ticket back to London and my long-stay visa was for Myanmar (where I was working). It took a lot of effort and showing documents for my Thai son etc to persuade the staff to let me board. After that incident, I vowed never to be left short of cash in the future. (Unfortunately, I've broken these vows on many occasions!!).

Er yes. I was using the internet in the 90's (I ran an internet company).

When I started to regularly visit Thailand around 2002 I arranged a date with a Thai lady who was on a dating website. She knew that I lived in England but I asked her to meet me at Don Muang Airport on a certain date/time. She thought that I was joking and was very surprised when I actually met her at the airport. Her figure was somewhat 'plumper' than her online photo... Anyway, we travelled around Thailand for a few days and I rapidly realised that she had an affliction known as 'barking mad'! (I was to learn that this affliction seems to affect many Thai women). My partner spent a lot of her time talking to herself. I decided that I would gently end the relationship and told her so while in my apartment in Saladaeng. Big mistake! She went totally nuts, screaming and pleading with me to stay with her (I doubt it was love of my body/personality, rather love of my wallet). In desperation to get her out of the apartment, I walked out of the building, with her running after me, screaming all the time. I hailed a taxi and jumped in. 'Bai nai' said the driver in a slow voice. 'Bai anywhere' I shouted, as the mad woman tried to open the taxi door. I took refuge in the Dusit Thani hotel, just around the corner. But then I remembered that I had left my wallet hidden in the microwave oven in my apartment, and this mad woman still had a key! What if she found my wallet? What if she chucked a reheat meal in the microwave without looking first? I carefully made my way back to my apartment and luckily the woman had disappeared. Just in case, I rented a different apartment in Saladaeng. I noted a few weeks later a new profile on the dating website with her photo and claiming to be some sort of medical consultant. Hmmm. Her broken heart didn't last very long ???? I

@Andrew Dwyer, yes I also found pictures of these contraptions. The intention is not to reduce the bunion (which as Sheryl rightly says), would need surgery. Rather, I hope this kind of device would slowly move my big toe away from pressing on my second toe. I usually live in Laos (where Lazada does not deliver), but Aliexpress has similar devices on their website.

I absolutely do not have flat feet! As for a Morton's toe, it only looks like that because my big toe is bent!! @Connda, I do not have gout (my uric acid level tested just 2 days ago is normal). And finally @Mark Nothing, I have zero intention to either pray to your god or pee all over my foot....... Jeez......