Andrew65

I had 2 old friends who were millionaires, one worth tens of millions, one of them drove a beat-up old Honda, and the other a VW Golf, they weren't "car men". If it weren't a necessity they probably wouldn't have owned a car at all.

It's my theory that uniforms and the position of authority/power that comes with them can enable and exacerbate the behaviour of certain kinds of people. The police and the military being prime examples. (Mostly good people though, a small minority that are bad in this way).

What I was getting at is that as falang we can't claim welfare benefits etc in Thailand. Around 3 years ago I got chatting to one of your compatriots who had renounced his US citizenship and was actually a Cambodian citizen (showed me his Cambodian passport). That's a VERY big step to take.

I didn't realise that there were any "free rides" available in Thailand for Johnny-Falang!?????

Also no monetary (400k/800k) requirement, just the agent's "fee"????

The last time I was in Patts (3 or 4 years ago) you could get a large Leo for 60 Baht!☺️

Britain's economy has been sinking since the 1970's.

What's so special about London? It's only about 13% of the UK population.

Immigration was said to be the single issue vis-a-vis Brexit. Scotland and Ulster voted against Brexit, according to the BBC 95% of immigration into the UK has been into England. That would be 9.5 million of the 10 million foreign-born people living in the UK.

If someone arrives illegally, having thrown away their passport, how can we know who they really are, or where they come from, or whether or not they have a criminal record where they come from?

Isn't it the thing that it's not people entering Schengen or the UK that's the problem, it's that the ECHR makes it incredibly hard to deport them once they do. The soveriegnty of our country was signed away when we were signed up to it. Decisions on who gets to stay in the UK are ultimately taken by mainly foreign judges in France. Also, most or all of the illegals entering Britain wouldn't even be given a tourist visa using the legal method.

It's a really good point that Brexit and COVID19 happened in the UK at almost exactly the same time.

Many years ago I was on the banks of the Mekong River near Nong Khai. There seemed to be small boats crossing the river from Laos with no apparent checks at all. I would think there must be staggering amounts of 'contraband' coming into Thailand every year in such places.

Anything negative in the UK gets blamed on Brexit by <deleted>, even when there can be no possible link to it, and that includes the economic effects of COVID.

And all the developed nations are now suffering from a cost of living crisis. Germany has inflation at 10%, is this to do with Brexit, or more to do with the war in Ukraine?

Brexit and COVID19 happened at almost exactly the same time. COVID19 meant that 30 million people were effectively put on the dole for a year or more, total cost of lockdown/furlough was £400 billion, but this all gets blamed on Brexit.

Does anyone know where he lived in Bangkok? I first became aware of Sobrajh and his crimes after reading a Time Magazine (I think) article about him in Bangkok on my first visit there in 1985.

Up until around 2006 there was still 24 hour opening in Thailand (as there still is in Cambodia). I've never really been a late drinker anyway. Although quite recently Queen's Park Plaza, Sukh Soi 22 BKK was knocked down, some of those places were open all night. Years ago, I occasionally I would wake up around 1am and go down there to get redrunk.????

Cameroon was colonially part French and part British, I worked there for a while (It's sandwiched between ex French & British colonies, a bit like Thailand!????).

The life-span of a shale well is much shorter than for a conventional gas well?

In my 20-odd years in Thailand I went on a motorbike taxi a grand total of 2 times, too dangerous.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in the UK if you have a full car licence you're licenced to ride motorcycles up to 125cc.

As has been mentioned on here before, I don't think travel insurance covers us for medical bills incurred from motorcycle accidents, even if we do have a licence. Would probably be the same for things like water-skiing or diving etc, unless specified on the policy.

I know exactly what you're saying, but I've had many years to ponder what I'm saying. I don't "sit in my room complaining" I'm not really a complainer. I did used to go out for a walk every day, that's an hour or 2 (out of 16). Cookery courses, I don't like cooking, much Day trip tp Bangkok? When I lived there for about 20 years?!???? (Sighseeing? Already seen enough temples to last 5 lifetimes????). Girl watching? Been doing that in Thailand since 1985????? Martial arts when suffering from quite severe arthritis (since I was a kid). Volunteer at an orphanage, and have people putting it around that you're a pedophile????Although I have thought about doing volutary work generally,. I now live and work back in the UK.

16 hours of every day 24/7/365 is a helluva lot of time to find 'things to do'. Things worth watching on the TV are very hard to come by. It's very easy for a few drinks a few days a week to turn into going down the bar every day and getting sloshed, it can be like a 'slippery-slope'. That was my experience in Thailand. I now live and work back in the UK. I wasn't old enough or had enough money/pension to remain in Thailand indefinitely when I was 53 y o. That was just my experience of it.