BritManToo

Plenty of homeless in Chiang Mai, every park and bench has someone sleeping rough. As for sex workers suffering from 'abuse or neglect', think it's more about suffering from laziness than anything else. Back to the OP, I found a really hot Thai women that plenty of Thai men wanted (but not for marriage). She used to gather a little group of followers wherever she went. That went on for 4-5 years, until she was no longer hot.

It's normally women looking at me and then approaching me for money ..... which leads to sex. I'm happy enough sitting on my bar stool, chatting with the other old fellas and drinking a beer (or five).

And me, I read 3-5 books a week, at home, so you won't see me doing it.

Don't know who pays, but a couple of months back I scored a 75" TCL TV, reduced with vouchers from over 24kbht to under 17kbht. If you're buying big you gotta wait for voucher day!

I thought that people respected me because I'm a dangerous and violent psychopath!

I like the size, the shape, and the price.

DTV/overseas tax/cannabis criminalisation/10,000bht free/60 day waiver on entry. The Thai government is great at announcing stuff it wants to do, but never gets around to doing it. It's pointless to worry about anything they say until after they do it. Best not to think/worry/speculate too much on their wish lists.

Ministry of foreign affairs keeps VISA money. Immigration keeps extension money. You have 2 different departments at war with each other, so all bets are equally valid.

Can't understand a guy that can't cook something for himself, bacon, eggs and fried bread takes about 10 minutes. Failing that ham and cheese toasties from 7-11.

Can't say it really bothers me, I don't tell them about my past, and I don't ask them about their past. You gotta move with the times, we aren't living in Victorian Britain!

I married a virgin in my home country. Would have been better off with a prostitute!

Unless you met your partner in high school, there's no way of knowing what her previous occupations were, or how many men she had. But the divorce rate is over 50% indicating to me most women don't make good life partners. At least you know a hooker isn't averse to sex! In comparison marrying that young educated Christian virgin from a good family may well be a taking bigger chance.

I'd base my part of the debate more around finances. I don't have enough money for a nice home in the UK.

Don't think I'd be happy trying to live on a pension in the UK either.

I'm happy most of the time since I've been living in SEA. Obviously it's not a 24/7 emotion, I was unhappy for 30 minutes yesterday after my rabbit bit me. I'm happy now browsing the forums, reading a book, lying on the sofa. Weather is perfect, waiting for a pal to call round and we'll go out on our scooters for coffee. Best not to plan all that much and just enjoy what you have around you.

The obvious answer is not to tell your bank you live overseas.

Plenty of other countries to choose from, why would I go back to the UK?

Black tea is fermented and effectively lasts forever if kept in the dark and sealed.

Well done Bob! What brand are you drinking? I'm always drinking Typhoo, black tea is the best IMHO.

It's an impossible dream for a retired foreign male I'm afraid. You need to be employed in Thailand for 5 years. Much easier if you were a foreign female, which only require them to be married to a local for 2 years.

I remember a period of time when all the trouble was from Australian hells angels. Every nationality gets their moment of infamy.

I thought it was a bit of light hearted fun. Mr. Big clearly wasn't trying to hurt the ladies, and they both had padded head protection while he had none. Most of the action seemed to be them bouncing off his rather large tummy.

A phone is a useful tool, my kid is in CEP (Chinese and English Project), and uses it to help him with Chinese/English/Thai translation.

If my sex drive had gone down sooner, it would have saved me a lot of money.

Happened in Chang Mai a while back ....... they knocked the hotel down in the end. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-14543759