Andrew65

Some years ago I bought a coffee table from an old Indian lady in a shop in lower Sukhumvit BKK. She said that her father had arrived in Thailand from India 106 years previously.

Surely you're not implying that they could just be 'fronts' for other nefarious 'business activities'?!🙂

When I worked in Saudi one of my Indian colleagues said that it's well known in India that many members of India's criminal underworld live in Thailand.

Especially in areas where there are literally more bars than customers. I wonder if the changing demographic of tourists has an effect also. Where most tourists used to be Western/farang, more of them are now Chinese/Russian/Indian. Less likely to frequent go-go bars, and if they do, not dropping as much cash in them.

I was living in a (5 storey bldg) condo in Soi Rungland in Pattaya many years ago. The Aussie guy running the place said "There's nothing wrong with the lift, but never use it if you don't have your mobile on you (whilst also giving you his number)".🙂 My first thought's were "There's obviously something wrong with the lift then!"😕 Fast forward a few months and I was on the way up to floor 5 when the lift stopped, and the light inside went out, this was due to a power cut, but apparently there was some other technical problem that would also strand the lift, usually between floors. (I was stuck there for 15-20 mins). When I got stuck the guy came and 'released' me after I phoned him. He has a tool that fits into a 'T' shaped ring on the outside door, which isolates the lift, and enables the doors to be pulled open. The lift was between floors 3 and 4, and I had to step up about 3 feet to climb out.

Superstition of course dictates that the floor numbers, 32 and 15 should be 'auspiciously' included in the lottery ticket number!😁

Britain has a £2.7 TRILLION national debt (annual interest on that is around £80 billion). Money that we've spent that we don't have. How is importing more poor people going to help that situation?

Just yesterday 800+ arrived.

We have a housing-crisis, the NHS is in crisis, surely adding 10+ million people to the population hasn't helped matters?

Pure speculation: She had a farang boyfriend, but unbeknown to him, she also had a Thai bf or husband, who showed up in a jealous rage... RIP

The thing to remember is that the violent protestors are a tiny part of the British population. Also that their were just as many "Refugees welcome" protestors. On the question of immigration, and as you say, we will always need some, but we currently have 10.3 million foreign-born people in a country of 68 million, which I think is way too many. I too was a migrant, and worked for 3 years in Australia on a temporary residency visa. When applying for the visa the company that I was going to work for had to show that they had private medical insurance for me. What happens in the UK is that we have many millions entering the country who have the same rights to use the NHS as any Brit does. There are currently 7+ million on NHS waiting lists, and I reckon part of this is due to them having 10+ million more 'customers' than they would've had without mass-immigration. If legal migrants in the UK were told that they had to get health insurance in order to get a work visa for themselves and their families they might decide to look for work somewhere else instead.

Only a month or so in and I suspect that this could be a one-term Labour gvt. I don't vote btw on the basis that as a single person with no kids, none of the parties will do anything tangible for me, I just pay taxes. One of the first things that Labour have done is take pensioners heating allowance off them, and that's something that one would expect the Tories ("The Nasty Party") to do, and certainly not the Labour Party. I think it's a long time since Labour have been the party of the white working classes, for whom they were founded.

According to an old Brit friend who used to hang out in Thailand, and who now lives in Goa, the Israelis pretty much have the illicit drugs trade sewn-up in Goa. It's a place where many young Israelis go after finishing national service.

Buffalo hab hema loid!😀

I first visited Thailand in 1985, I had booked a package deal through Kuoni, 1 week in Bangkok (Manhattan Hotel), followed by 1 week in Pattaya (Nipa Lodge Hotel). Flew on a QANTAS 747-100, Manchester - Athens - Bangkok (That variant of the 747 didn't have the range to do UK - BKK in one go). Kuoni stated in their brochure that they didn't consider Pattaya to be a resort that was suitable for a family holiday

Russians and Ukrainians. 😁

Being one of my compatriots, he might have been pished at the time!😁 Hope he's ok though.

...about the same as the UK then.😉

Drugs, morobike accidents, drowning etc. Holidaymakers.

Many years ago someone from the Australian foreign service stated that more Aussies lose their lives in Thailand than in any other foreign country.

Many years ago an official from the Nigerian Embassy stated that there were around 1,000 Nigerians in prison in Thailand, mostly on drugs charges.

I've never felt the need to carry a knife in England. Maybe it's more to do with the kind of places where one hangs, and the kinds of people one hangs with? Being around drugs & gangs in London probably increases one's chances of being stabbed exponentially, but I've never felt that danger in rural Worcestershire or Herefordshire.

2 days...same same!😊

That's very true. I lived there for 20 years, and the last 3 years I was not working. I started to get very bored and would be out drinking most days, partly because I had nothing else to do. Since leaving Thailand I've stopped smoking after 44 years (too expensive in the UK), and cut down on drinking, 60 in January.

I used to get a 24 can case of Beer Chang from Villa Market a few days before. And as someone said, surely one day of not going out isn't that big a deal!