simon43

I almost died in Chaloklam earlier this year - stung by a box jellyfish...

Whatever happened to their plan yonks ago to turn Phuket into an IT hub to rival Singapore? (Rhetorical question...)

Well I certainly wish the UK police/border force would do the same with all the illegal immigrants and so-called asylum seekers. (Whoops - off topic!)

You have not commented on the usual requirement for a credit check, plus the high cost of energy bills, council tax etc. Well done if those are not hurdles for you. For me, it makes zero economic sense to return to the UK when my cost of living is so much cheaper in south-east Asia.

I went back and looked again at the 31 properties currently listed for rent in Blackpool at under 600 pounds per month. Many of these listings were for a room in a shared house, (which IMHO is not really suitable for long-term living). But indeed there are some single-occupancy flats in Blackpool (a cheap area to live in compared to other UK regions because it is .. er ... a dump!). But if I were returning to live in the UK permanently (after 20+ years in south-east Asia), I would then have the hurdle of zero credit history (I checked during my recent visit and my details exist on Experian etc). Most landlords won't rent to those with zero credit history. But if I got over that hurdle, then high rents do not really paint the whole picture. Add in council tax (or whatever it's called nowadays), high electricity and heating bills (especially during the winter), high food costs, high transport costs... I could go on and on! I realise that this thread is not about comparing UK living costs with Thailand/south-east Asia. But as a soon-to-be pensioner, you can maybe understand why I had no choice but to reject returning/living in the UK - the overall living costs in ALL regions of the country would make for a miserable retirement ????

This fireworks warehouse was of course located in a remote area, far away from houses, so as to minimise the risk of injury should an accident happen? Er... no... obviously not!

Not me - I would give them a good slap!! Theft should be punished by caning in public.

When I went on a Raja ferry early this year from Donsak to Phangan the ferry caught fire in the engine room! It sailed around for an hour before it finally docked back in Donsak and everyone was evacuated. (I posted a photo at the time on one of the forums, loads of smoke).

You have democracy?!! Please don't make me split my sides with laughter. IMHO almost all politicians in all political parties in all countries are corrupt and self-serving. In many 'so-called democracies, the corruption and fraud is well-hidden but it's there. At least countries like Thailand, Cambodia etc don't try to hide their corruption ????

In February I had to return to the UK after 20 years living in south-east Asia for medical investigations of possible prostate cancer (happily no cancer was found). But during my 3-month stay in the UK I seriously considered if I should remain in the UK permanently, based on my age, health, future outlook etc etc. I spent some time looking at rightmove.co.uk and their huge database of rental properties in the UK. (Buying a property was a non-starter at my age of 63 years). I had no restrictions on geographical location and I concluded that while it was possible to rent properties starting at say 600 pounds/month, the location or state of those properties, or the amenities on offer were so undesirable (eg remote rural property and no public transport, inner city studio the size of a cat box etc), that I decided that were the choice to stay in the UK or to top myself, then the latter was the preferred option! I returned back to south-east Asia and have now happily 'soft-retired' in Laos, where my meagre UK pension due in about 2 years from now will go far and enable me to live a modest but entirely adequate lifestyle ????

Why? What is wrong with confused emoticons?

Wise pays 4% interest - it's clearly displayed on their home page.

What TV channel is Piers Morgan on? Or are those commenting on him living in the UK? (I can't watch BBC, Sky etc online because the VPNs are all blocked by those channels).

P*ssing in the wind! You have more chance if you lobbied the Thai government to implement a reciprocal agreement with the UK, as did The Philippines.

My ex #3 owns a small 'airport' hotel since about 2012. She is forbidden by the airport authorities to collect hotel guests from the airport in her private car because it is not a registered taxi. She can drop off guests at the airport but is fined (regularly) when she tries to meet her prebooked guests.

Do fat old and ugly Western males make any money on that website? (Asking for a friend...)

Guy on the left is having trouble keeping a straight face ????

So let me understand this correctly. You have leased a property and paid 2 deposits (why are they unlawful if that's what the landlord required?). Now you have broken your lease (does your rental contract allow you to break the lease without financial penalty?). Now you want to also break the furniture? Am I correct in my understanding?

Still in the same place as before - it hasn't moved.....

Moved from Pattaya to Yangon Moved from Yangon to Samui Moved from Samui to Phangan Moved from Phangan to Blackpool Moved from Blackpool to Luang Prabang Moved from .....

When I was a teacher in Naypyitaw I used to travel regularly to Shan State. Now I can read/write/speak Thai language pretty well (I studied for an MA at Chula etc). I heard that Shan language was similar to Thai and so I was keen to converse with Shan people. Well, I can say that apart from numbers, I could not understand a single word of Shan! My Shan friends couldn't understand a single word of Thai....

No wives, just exes. Ex #2 was working as Dek Serve in Morning Night Bar in Nana. Now (AFAIK), she is unemployed and living in Patong. Ex #3 was working for a Japanese hard disk manufacturer in Wang Noi. Now she runs her small hotel in Phuket (since about 2012). Ex #4 (wait! - that hasn't happened yet....)

Thanks for all the good advice here. I'm going to partition my drive and install Linux Mint, and see how the laptop performs. As mentioned, it's an old laptop running bloated Windows 10, so no surprises that the CPU is under heavy load. @MrJ2U, this is my second/back-up laptop. My main laptop is a Ryzen i7 which runs fast and fine ????

Good idea! @NextG - you're wasting your time posting if you're directing your comments at me - you're on ignore for your attitude, go troll somewhere else, I'm getting useful advice from these other posters ????

I use Facebook for some technical and travel groups. I care not one jot about wokeness, trends or upsetting snowflakes due to my straight-talking. If they burst into tears or cancel me when I speak the truth then that's their problem and certainly not mine. I do follow current affair/news websites if only for a bellyful of laughs at how fcuked up the politicians in ALL countries are. A bunch of corrupt, self-serving, virtual-signalling idiots the lot of them. I'm very happy with my own, stress-free life, doing hobbies that I enjoy and meeting good friends. I can't change the world and I'm not going to waste my time trying!