simon43

No I am not tax-resident in the UK. As Google explains: As a British citizen who is not tax-resident in the UK, you generally do not have to pay UK tax on income earned outside the UK. You are only liable for UK tax on your income or gains arising from within the UK, such as rental income from a UK property.

I just used the word 'legal' and it is legal if you obey the tax rules in the countries where you stay. Typically, you are not considered tax-resident if you stay in a country less than 180 days (of course the rules vary and change, but I have always been careful not to break them). I used to live in the Principality of Andorra where there are zero personal taxes. I have bank accounts in countries not of my nationality and live in different countries not of my nationality etc. This idea that you can't afford death and taxes is wrong, but sadly I'm not an immortal jellyfish - so I accept death at some stage, but not taxes!

I was stung by a box jellyfish a couple of years ago on Koh Phangan, and lay on the floor of a beach-bar with the knowledge that the previous 2 persons stung on the island by box jellyfish had both succumbed in 10 minutes... The bar owner was pouring vinegar over me as fast as she could from several bottles, (since vinegar is meant to be a basic medicine for countering the jellyfish toxin). I remember looking up at her - she had a big knife between her teeth and was using it to literally slice open the bottles as fast as she could. My private medical insurance had been cancelled just a few days previously (French company, story posted previously). So they called the government hospital ambulance, not expecting me to be alive for much longer. I understand Thai and all the locals gathered around my quivering body as one announced "look at the farang - he will be dead in a few minutes". The ambulance arrived with a pretty female nurse and the campest ladyboy nurse you can imagine. As we travelled to the hospital, my breathing was getting difficult and I begged for some oxygen. The nurses rummaged in the ambulance and found the oxygen bottle and mask, but then said in Thai "Oh, it's empty...". I got to the local government hospital where there were only nurses, no doctor on duty. They called up the doctor who said "We have no medicine to give you. Lie on the bed. If you live, then you live, if you die, then you die..." The police came, trying to find out where I was staying. My passport was in the bag in my car that I parked before my swim. I remembered that I had a photo of my passport on my phone. With help from the nurses, I got my phone out and then was presented with more than 100 photos that I had previously taken. I was unable to control my fingers to swipe, so the nurses started swiping from photo #1!! "That's me on the beach, that's a temple in Laos, that's a cute cat, that's my motorbike, that's me in my gimp suit" and so on. Finally they found my passport details and the local police were able to locate where I was staying. After the length of time to scroll through all the photos, I started to recover, and within another hour I felt well enough to leave the hospital. My Thai landlord came to collect me. That was the only time that I have used an ambulance in Thailand!

You might have realised by now that because I am not 'tied down' by wife or employment, I am able to go where I want and when I want :) If I find a location not to my liking, then I move on. This is one reason why in the past 20 years I have legally not had pay 1 single penny in tax to any government (Google 5-flags theory). While I will use Bangkok Airport as a transit hub, I am unlikely to settle in Thailand - the visa rules are too onerous for me.

I'm in the UK now, and my 6 weeks experience of the UK has persuaded me to return back to south-east Asia! Yes, I have a $400k medical insurance policy for south-east Asia.

Some posters may know that I recently returned to live in the UK, partly because I had hit my UK state pension age, and partly because I had recently been deported from Laos! (for enjoying my 100% legal ham radio hobby, but that's another story..) Anyway, I considered all the factors that the OP mentioned, and made a judgement call that in my old age I would be better off in the UK - so I jumped on a plane and headed back to the west country (Somerset). After 23 years living in south-east Asia, of course I experienced reverse-culture shock, but I rapidly regreted my decision to return back to the UK. Although I have sufficient funds to live OK (I have my state pension and I still teach science online), I realised that the the UK had 'moved on' in those 23 years and left me 'behind', because I had spent many of those years teaching in rather remote regions of Burma and Laos, where diversity and political correctness were foreign words :) I'm happy to welcome contributing foreigners to the UK (just as I am a foreigner in Laos etc), but when one looks at the stats and social welfare costs, it all looks a bit mad. I'm able to afford healthy food from the supermarkets etc, but (presumably because of the high business rates), eating out or enjoying a few beers with friends in a pub will rapidly reduce my monthly income. I won't talk about my house rent, other to say that it is a 100% financial rip-off! I cam back to the UK because of concerns of my health, but now that I'm back I feel like I'm just waiting to die, in that at 66 years old I could be 'waiting to die' for another 30 years!! Thinking about this, I would rather continue my educational charity efforts in lower-cost south-east Asia, and face illness or accident if/when it raises its head. Cancer/long-term illnesses would allow one to return permanently to the UK for NHS (or BUPA) care - my UK BUPA monthly fee is reasonably low. Sudden illness (heart attack/stroke) is covered by my expat insurance policy that also has emergency evacuation etc). If such an event occured in Myanmar, it's probably time to meet my maker, since hospitals are few and far between. Accidents (motorbike) - the risk of these can be minimsed by not riding a motorbike, or riding only during the day, slowly and with a good crash helmet. So... the bottom line that I'm suggesting is 'Put some money away for that final trip back to your home country - but don't put your life on hold as you age. Stay fit and healthly and enjoy your life, because regardless of which country you're living in, tomorrow that #28 bus might come along and squash you!'

Surely this drug discovery must have been due to a tip off? How on Earth would one suspect ice is hidden inside a capacitor?? Perhaps a sniffer dog detected it?

Well, not right now!!

Although the Thai government can't control what happens over the borders in Myanmar and Laos - and can't control the wind...

AirAsia from BKK to Siem Reap - cheap flight!

Yes, but that's because the ship is about to sink... :)

You don't have to be banned to change user name.... were you banned? :)

I've only had 1 user name on this forum since January 2003. No reason to change it. But it seems that other posters are not using their original name. (Some posters claim to be forum members for decades, but their user number tells a different story...) How many user names have you had? And why did you change user names?

Yep! That used to happen at the Issan DawaDaeng (spelling?) in Bangkok. I think the toilet attendant was looking for a money tip from me to stop! :) When I used to visit upcountry perhaps 20 years ago and sat drinking with the local village guys, for some reason they seemed to enjoy rubbing my thighs!! I don't think they were gay - probably some ancient Issan fertility custom!!

I've an idea to do when you arrive in LP. Find the biggest piece of dog poop that you can find, drop down to the main police station, ask to see the boss and then throw it in his face and say "That's a late New Year's present from Simon" lol

Don't forget the rocket scientists! (like myself). I joined in early 2003 because I had just moved to Thailand - needed some visa info etc. I have never been 'reincarnated' - no reason to be, (unlike some others who were banned and returned under different monikers). Some seem to change their user name very week!

As mentioned a year or so back on AN, I bought one of those to use as a vacuum bell jar (to demonstrate that sound energy can't travel through a vacuum). I hasten to add that this wasn't used in a public demonstration to my students - the shape of the 'bell jar' might have raised some eyebrows! It was a lot cheaper than buying a science lab bell jar and external motor pump, and anyway, I can't imagine putting a full-size bell jar over my todger.... (this is maybe why it's called a bell-end!)

My English teacher Mr Ratcliffe used to threaten us with a flick knife that he carried. (Now how would that go down nowadays?). One day he sat on his chair and there was sticky bubble gum on the seat, which of course stuck to his trousers. As a class, we were all just about to make a dash for the door before he killed us all! But luckily he saw the funny side and only killed 3 pupils (that last bit was a joke but the rest was real). As for Geography, I teach iGCSE Geography 'online' to a group of Russian students whose families fled the war and settled in warmer climes in Alicante (Spain). (No, I have zero qualifications in Geography, but I've got a big globe...)

When I was a kid in the UK, I used to go badger-watching with a school friend. There was a very old sett a few miles from my home. We would stand quietly in the field that overlooked the sett and wait. Our presence was masked by a herd of cows who would wander over and lick our hair and faces!! Then the badgers would come out and play. It's a great memory from my childhood. I also saw some otters in a river in the west country many years ago - they are pretty rare now I think.

Why on Earth would tensions cause them to close the golf course to foreigners? Cambodians spies going to dig holes on the greens or something?

Well, Covid-19 was a 'good attempt' by China to reduce the world's population. Anyone for Covid-27?

Heaven's sake man! They are used to wipe your bum after taking a dump, espeically if (heaven forbid), there is no bum gun.

Every country records history in a manner that the country wishes others to view it. so it's very difficult to find 'honest' history. Every country propagates bias history..... At a school in Myanmar, I was asked to teach Burmese 19th and 20th century history. As a 'Brit' (with Britain's colonial past in Burma), that was a challenge to provide an unbias and honest viewpoint of British involement in Burma - but I think I did a good job :)

But maybe not for good :)

I did that because of the lengthy delays in getting a new passport (from Laos). I flew to the UK, took the train up to the Peterborough passport office, got my new passport without any problems, train back to London and back on the plane to Bangkok and then Luang Prabang.