Andrew65

Fun fact: Gaddafi's death came after he declared that he was no longer trying to acquire nuclear weapons.

...many of my British compatriots would also be grounded!☺️

Very true, it happens quite often on flights to The Med. (Almost always booze-related).

Nah, I reckon he had been out on the p-ss for several hours before boarding the flight.

Are you nowadays wandering the streets with a can of Erdinger instead...😁!?

People in the UK are outraged that local people don't want to do this kind of work. So much so, that last year a BBC journalist investigated. He visited a fruit farm that was quite close to where he lived. The farmer told him that a condition of the job was that he must live on-site, and money would be deducted for rent, probably to live in a shack or tent (even though he lived close by). When he questioned this he was told that he was "not suitable" for the job. An old friend's Thai family had a pineapple farm in the north of Thailand, their labour was pretty much all imported from Laos.

A possible solution: Use the debit/credit cards from your overseas accounts to pay living expenses? Don't transfer funds into a Thai account from overseas?

Many working class Thais don't earn enough to be paying income tax. An old expat retiree friend lives in lower Sukhumvit (an expensive area). He pays around 400k Baht per year in rent, so 800k is a reasonable amount to expect him to have. If you live up in the boonies I expect you could get-by on half that.

Used to be North Korea doing that.

"No s--t Sherlock!"😁

Did Thai facilitate onward travel to Melbourne?

Yes, I am managing ok on about 1500 a month, but I'm having to live in a shared place to achieve that, managing to save some money. As I mentioned the main thing was that I had a good sum of money behind me when I returned. I could buy decent cars for cash etc. Pay thousands in rent/deposits. I still have zero debt, and plenty of savings.

And there arises the grand old question, is it better to get divorced and end up living in a sh*tty place and struggling for money, and pretty much never seeing your kids?! What awaits after getting a 'clean-break' from your unhappy/dysfuntional marriage could be even worse? Another thing, and something I've read about in agony-aunt kind of things, is that once someone becomes single/divorces, all of their social circle and friends disappear, their 'support-network'.

Finding another bird might take a very long time (unlike in Thailand)!😁

In 2018 I was 53, living in Thailand, and unable to find a job in Thailand. So, with 14 years left until (state pension) retirement age, I thought I best (still reluctantly) return. I had previously worked in the oil industry, but hadn't worked for 3 years, although I still had around £50k in savings. Things I didn't know about returning after so long away: Car insurance cost about double because I had been out of the UK for 5+ years. BMW320i cost £1500 to insure. Because I hadn't maintained a bank account in the UK, I had no credit-rating. On 2 occasions I had to pay 7 months rent going-in (the thick end of 4 grand). I had no referee in the UK. Finding a place to live can be a bit like finding a job!😫 I got a new dentist at the first attempt, easy. I had moved to a place that wasn't my home town, so I just sigend up to a surgery in my new town (Worcester), no questions asked. I did actually get Bumrungrad to send some medical records over. All-up, it's been ok, Also managed to give up smoking 3 years ago, after 44 years a smoker. The biggest motivation? Not wanting to spend £400 a month on fags! Also cut down on drinking by quite a lot.🙂 (If I'm ever lucky enough to win the lottery I would of course return to live in Thailand, I'll always love the place, so many great memories).

No fraught, unhappy relationships. No chance of having to pay for offspring that you didn't really want in the first place. I was pretty much celibate in the last 5 years of my 20 years in Thailand. Maybe to do with my sex drive gradually diminishing? When I regretfully left Thailand in 2018 I still had a fair amount of money with which to start my new life in the UK. If in those later years I had been screwing-around, I wouldn't have had most of that cash.

I often wondered if places like Pattaya, Patong (that kind of 'scene') etc actually attract more of those kinds of people. Many years ago an Aussie friend commented about how many s---heads there seems to be in Pattaya.

Just when I don't think that things can get any better/worse, my compatriots 'up-their-game'!😊

In Thailand table salt tends to have iodine added to it I have noticed that some savoury things taste sweet in Thailand. As far as 'spicy' food goes, I find that if it's very spicy any flavour that the food has is overwhelmed by hotness.

It proves that some people are so desperate to stay in Thailand that they will do absolutely anything to achieve it.

From experience, if you wear sandals or flip-flops and do a lot of walking in Bangkok, you end up with black feet.

I gave up smoking cigarettes 3 years ago (smoked for 44 years), after returning to the UK in 2018 from 20 years living in Thailand. What was my biggest motivation to give up? The cost. I can't afford £400 a month for cigarettes, plain & simple.

I've tried it in the past and quite liked it. However, as you say, it's not a nce smell, very 'sour' and 'pungent'.

Iran's similar to Saudi Arabia? The big deal is that Iran is calling for the destruction of Israel, but Saudi isn't. Saddam was an arch-enemy of Israel, so he had to go.

And then you're left with a power-vacuum. Look at Iraq after Saddam was deposed, or Libya after Gadaffi?