simon43

I'm in the unusual position of having to return to the UK after about 21 years of living in south-east Asia. During those 21 years I only made 2 trips to the UK for funerals, staying for just a few days. I have now been living in the UK since early February and it certainly has been a shock to me ???? Here are just a few things that I have found different between the UK and Thailand, and not one of them in the UK is a positive: - The cost of basic food is very high. 1.50 quid for a cup of tea in a cafe, 3.50 quid for a roll of sellotape, high prices for most foods. When I go shopping in the supermarket I am that guy looking at the red label 'reduced' items! - The cost of accommodation is very high. I refuse to pay 500 quid a month for a room in a shared house. - Rates, electricity bills, water bills... crazy prices - Homeless people everywhere, mostly seem either mentally ill or on drugs - Huge numbers of people using motability scooters. Some no doubt are very elderly, but the rest are either obese or lazy. - Freezing cold weather! - Large numbers of immigrants who do not appear to be educated professionals, and I doubt whether they are all genuine refugees either. In short, what an expensive dump!!

Thanks for your comments. I should emphasise that none of the documents that I produce are in the slightest anti-junta or pro-democracy. They are 'standard' education documents. But the junta doesn't currently like teachers or anyone who tries to do the job that the teachers who fled into the jungle used to do! Now the military already have me on their 'databases' because of my frequent visits to their offices in Naypyitaw since 2012 concerning my Burmese ham radio licence (as someone living in Myanmar, they allowed me to operate my radio transmitter, the first permission allowed since 1962! So there is some level of trust in me by them). They also quizzed me in a face-to-face meeting about my satellite knowledge (I used to be a space/satellite engineer), and invited me to help them to design a satellite for them, which I politely declined ???? Using tails on a spare laptop booted with a Puppy Linux USB is one solution. TBH, if the military want to make problems for me, they don't need any evidence to do so! (Similar to the police raids on my house when I lived in Laos a few years ago - if they want to make problems, then they can just do so...).

My own personal 'niggle' are schools who insist that you have QTS/teaching licence from your home country. I work as a Science/ESL teacher, but I studied electronics/satellite engineering in the UK, all the way from HNC to HND to Bachelor degree to Master degree. I never intended to be a teacher in south-east Asia. When I eventually started down that route I went and self-funded CPD courses in pedagogy, SEN, phonics etc etc. I was offered a place on the Nottingham online PGCE course, but since I was self-funding it wasn't realistic to accept the offer. Even if I had completed a PGCE I would then need to remain in the UK and teaching at a school in order to satisfy the QTS requirements. Therefore, I generally teach in Myanmar, where some schools do not require QTS. But I have been turned down by a few schools who insist that I have QTS! What is better? A teacher with QTS and no teaching experience in south-east Asia? Or a teacher with BSc (1st class), MSc, hands-on technician level experience and 19 years of in-class teaching experience in south-east Asia? Crazy.....

If you look anything like your avatar then I'm not surprised! Think how the girls feel when I open my door!!

I read that the bungee company offered to refund his ticket.... He was later hospitalised in Hong Kong after swallowing some of the dirty lake water, the bill came to a few thousand dollars to clean him out and luckily his travel insurance paid that bill.

Solar panels efficient at energy conversion?! I think not! (This is a technicalengineering comment and nothing to do with how 'clean' they are etc).

LoL. I won't even take it with me since I'll be summarily kicked out of the country if it's discovered! And I have a job to do in Myanmar, so prefer not to get kicked out ????

I recall about 20 years ago a Thai guy pulling a gun on me as he was trying to cross from the left to the outside lane to do a u-turn (I was in the middle lane). Being stoically British, I just assumed that it was normal Thai driver behaviour....

Slightly off-topic, but I wear this shirt in support of Myanmar (that's me in the photo after a sex-change and hair transplant...) I've not been accosted by any Burmese junta generals on holiday in Thailand, but I'm not planning to wear this shirt when I'm back in Myanmar!

^^^ That's a good suggestion. I can run Truecrypt on my secret files USB and remove the USB when there is a knock at the door. Truescrypt can run with 2 passwords, so entering 1 password will display innocent data and password 2 will access the secret files.

Because the internet connectivity is very unreliable in Myanmar - it is often disconnected by the military.

I'm fairly IT-literate and I'm looking for a piece of software to do the following: I am running Windows 10 on my laptop, with all the standard apps. In a few months from now I will return to live and teach in Myanmar. Last time that I worked there, it was no issue to have any kind of app or content on my laptop. This time, with the military junta in charge, it is a different ball game! I'm not talking about porn content. I'm thinking about content that might be construed as opposed to the junta. This could be something as simple as the educational English language posters that I design on my laptop (the junta doesn't like journalists, doctors and teachers.... er ... and most other civilians as well!). Because of my educational charity work, I am in regular communication with the Ministry of Education of the government in exile, which has been specified as a terrorist organisation by the military junta! I publish nothing in direct opposition to the junta, but they seem rather touchy about most things. Now for sure I can use software to hide/unhide specific folders. But since I use a multitude of folders every day, it will be rather tiresome to have to unlock all the folders each day. I wonder if there is an app which will only display specified folders according to what the user log-in details are, or even according to what password is used on a screen-saver. Eg - Screensaver password 1 unlocks all folders on the computer. Screensaver password 2 only displays some specified, innocent folders/apps Or perhaps run puppy linux on a dedicated laptop (I have 2 laptops), from an encrypted USB stick and store all risky files on that USB stick - pull out the stick if there is a knock on the door... I appreciate suggestions.

Why don't you open it to find out?

Well, I put your exact question to Chat GPT and this is what it replied (which seems like a good and informative answer): As an AI language model, I can tell you that there are a few reasons why people might ask questions on this forum and expect correct answers: Trust in the community: People may ask questions on this forum because they trust the community to provide accurate and helpful answers. While there is no guarantee that every answer will be correct, many people find that the collective knowledge and experience of the community can be valuable in finding solutions to their problems. Limited knowledge or resources: Some people may not have access to the information they need or may not know how to find it. In these cases, asking a question on a forum like this can be a way to get help from others who have more knowledge or experience. Confirmation bias: People may ask questions on this forum with a preconceived notion of what the answer should be. When they receive an answer that supports their preconceptions, they may be more likely to accept it as correct, even if it is not. It's important to remember that not all answers on this forum will be correct, and it's always a good idea to do your own research and verify information before relying on it. While Google can be a helpful resource, it's not always the most reliable source of information, and sometimes it can be difficult to find the information you need without some guidance or assistance from others.

Ah, but when were you last asked to "please hold the line?"

PSA increases if your prostate is enlarged. But it will also increase if you have early-stage prostate cancer. Did your doctor suggest a prostate MRI scan to rule out tumour growths inside your prostate?

So about as much radioactive material as is found inside a smoke alarm... ????

I notice Starbucks don't sell Civet Poop coffee, even though their other coffees taste like sh*t....... When I lived in Laos, many places around Luang Prabang sold this coffee. For some reason, drinking coffee made from coffee cherry stones that have been pooped out by a civet cat never really appealed to me! ????

Not the same as bipolar...

It's not just Thailand that has had problems with radioactive substances. There is the fascinating story of the US boy scout who tried to build a breeder reactor in his garden shed, using radioactive material sourced from hundreds of old smoke alarms. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0QMeTjcJDA&t=1s

I resent that remark, comrade!

[quote] ... I do wonder how they manage to make a profit, but i suppose they must, seems a strange business model. [/quote] Their business model seems to be to charge a fortune for something that really doesn't resemble coffee at all... Give me a Lao coffee from the Bolaven Plateau any day ????

I'm fortunate in that my body size is not 'big' - I weigh 65Kg. So jogging 5km every day is no problem ????

Even if you come down with prostate cancer, usually your life can continue as normal for many years. Many older men die with prostate cancer, but not FROM prostate cancer.

I'm back in the UK with suspected prostate cancer, had an MRI in Bangkok in December, insurance company refused to pay out, so back to the UK for NHS final diagnosis and treatment/surgery. Luckily, the cancer is still within my prostate, so a 'cure' should be possible. However, we all have an "end-by" date. Even if the cancer returns in later years, the medical stats suggest that I should have perhaps another 20 years which is fine for me. But this serious illness has made me reconsider my plans for after surgery/treatment. I could sit on a beach somewhere and relax. That's not for me! I prefer to use my time, whether it be 5 years or 20 years to help others, particularly as regards education in developing countries. And if my time is near, then I have no plans to suffer. It will be party time with a bottle of helium gas!!