piston broke

Who could forget Vizz's "Johnny Fartpants"..... oh, Sorry, you meant Trup the American bloke ....

What are you learned people's opinions of the pros and cons of each region ? To start the ball rolling: Jomtien has a great paved sea front walkway - Wongamat just has the beach .. Jomtien has no gas stations - Wongamat/Naklua has 2 ....

cheaper to shave, surely ?

was at the new place earlier - i was expecting it to have a coffee shop and loads more stuff than the old place..... well no coffee shop - its bigger than the old place with a high ceiling - but everything same old same old ....

When i first arived in Thailand the neck end of 20 years ago, the late great Bob the Pig told me two things: 1) You'll be amazed how many milionaires you'll bump into that live above shops and 2) This place attracts the "are souls" of society and the worrying thing is that these "are souls" don't think they're "are souls" ......

Bloke down our ways got a large chopper - He'e always got it out ....

i'll second that - Those in the know go to Asia City Motors ....

And they laughed when i moved to Wongamat .....

Decent accesory shop on corner of South Pattaya Road and Soi Kopai .....

i'd bet that the vast majority ain't got work permits .....

they should take a walk down the six, that's were they should be clamping down ...

would just about cover me rent .....

some days i sits and thinks - some days, i just sits .....

Grail still works for Asia City, but she's not involved in selling - The new contact that speaks English is a lady called "Warn" .....

Agreed ...i bought a scooter from there 10 days ago (at the proper honda list price, 1,900b registration and no charge for "red plate") - got the phone call today that the book and white plate had arrived ... never again will i buy in pattaya ....

you don't need to change to a non O .... i had a job with a Non B visa and work permit .... When i left the job, immigration did a retirement extension to the Non B visa - And i've extended it each year, for the last 8 years .....

OP - The day i arrived in Thailand 18 years ago - my buddy, who got here 7 years before me and had a few businesses running, said: "Never forget this place attracts the har souls of society and the worrying thing is that these har souls don't know they're har souls..." ...

some very valid points there ! what are your thoughts on the "boat people" keep rocking up ??

Talking of total farses - i took the oppertuity of ringing the "international pension centre" help line .... auto answered by a computer .... giving you 4 options (you know the dope "press 1 for..." etc ..... mine was option 4 - just after i pressed, was disconnected ! so rang back - pressed 1 - disconnected so rang back - pressed 2 - disconnected.... And you guessed it - rand back - pressed 3 - disconnected ...... The UK is a total mess ..... The irony is that if arrived in a rubber dingy, a free lawyer would advise me free of charge how to get the application through..... i could scream ....

Fer hooks sake - If you read the thread, i said i made a typo - 66 is my retirement age - and if you see Bob - can you tell him ...

my pal did at the class 2 rate and subsequently advised 2 of his friends, who also did the same ..... i'm hoping to be next !

it was my pal who told me .... like me has lived in Thailand for 15 years and not worked ... he said it was tricky as they wanted him to pay class 1 - but he argued the point and they buckled in the end - he has helped pals in similar situation and they all have paid class2 rather than class 1 - quite a considerable saving ..... So i'm on the class 2 route .....

typo ...i meant 66 ! sorry ...

Thank you so much, your "credit" method worked - i'm now registered ! The next problem is that they are asking for 9 years contributions for class 1 N.I. @ 824 GBP p.a - whereas i qualify for Class 2 contrib which is 160 gbp p.a... (as i left the uk over 15 years and have not worked) .... Just got to find a way of getting them to agree this and to ament my records ...... All before 31 july 2023 .....

sorry - i meant 66 ! was so wound up after the farce on the phone to the Pension hotline ...