Chongalulu

More of a "Destruction derby" banger race !

An irrelevant personality from an irrelevant country in foreign affairs simply parroting the position he’s been told to adopt by his real masters.

He was actually younger than me (so mid 60s) and otherwise well . Diagnosed with autoimmune disease- I believe a common effect of Covid - and I presume the current omicron variant given just under 2 Months ago . I’d had 2 Pfizer and due a booster (6 months) which I’ve now had . Him none

That’s what a friend of mine’s attitude here was. Within about 2 months of each other we both got Covid. I had the inconvenience of a mild cold for about a week. He went into hospital on the Monday and while I’m around to tell you about my experience ,by the Friday he could not…. ???? ????

Other destinations (without Pass nonsense) are available..

Those two qualities aren’t mutually exclusive…. He’s a classic example of both Hanlon’s razor and the Dunning Kruger effect.

If you cannot see the connection between income,tax and the financial requirements to live here then your literacy is clearly "different" .. or otherwise known as "lacking",confirmed by a suggestion to have less income as a tax mitigation ????. Perhaps I got to earning sufficient to pay higher rate tax in retirement by my economic literacy being (thankfully) "different " to yours !

No you couldn’t,because if your earnings didn’t exceed the tax allowance you’d not meet the income requirements (65k baht per month) to qualify for a retirement visa ! Your last comment suggests a degree of economic illiteracy beyond comprehension. Should I tell my occupational pension providers to keep the money they owe me ? How exactly does that work? ????

Not semantics. ALL income is subject to tax -fact. Additionally,how many could fund a retirement here (or really anywhere abroad) on a state pension of under £10k which is little more than HALF of the 65k baht per income requirement for a retirement visa ?? Id be quite happy to forego my personal allowance- because that would have to be commensurate with having to pay no tax at all in the UK ! The two are intertwined by definition.

The ignorance in that comment is truly breathtaking! ????

The facial injuries strongly suggest no helmet,which would invalidate any travel insurance anyway. Having a licence in the uk might have covered him if he had but as pointed out the maximum (with an extension) I was able to get (Nationwide) was 6 months. I wear my Arai full face helmet and gloves for 1 kilometer to the shop !

Incorrect. ALL income including State pension is subject to tax. You have only your personal allowance to set against that. In fact my state pension is what tips me into higher rate tax. I can see this in front of my eyes as I fill in my tax return. Why do you think they ask you to declare it if not taxable?

While you are essentially not wrong most people will have other occupational or private pensions and perhaps income from investments (house rent etc) which will push you over the limit,so yes you will pay tax on state pension. In my case such that I’m paying higher rate tax (40%) on it !

Worse is the arbitrary inconsistency. So you’d lose increases if you retired to Thailand,Australia,NZ,but not if to Philippines! Canada and USA are treated differently too. The official reason is because of ‘reciprocal agreements' …except there is no tangible reciprocity. Philippines doesn’t provide anything different to aforementioned. Your pension is simply paid by UK government.

A legal challenge was brought some considerable time ago which was lost by pensioners . Judgement effectively said ,yes it makes no sense and is unfair but HMG was nevertheless legally entitled to set those rules . Some things in life are unfair to which you can only react to by "cheating " ,so have a registered address (if you can) back in UK. Further restrictions mean you cannot for example get tax relief on further contributions to a private pension nor add to an ISA investment. Don’t get mad,get even ! ????

And if only she’d read the small print " excludes dangerous activities,including but not limited to riding motorcycles "… ????

Second that and would add Koh Lanta to those alternatives. I’m a keen snorkeler and swimmer. Samui is dreadful in that respect. Recently returned from 12 days in Phuket (Karon) taking advantage of the reduced numbers there nowadays. My previous go to was Ko Lanta but reckoned it would be rather too quiet just now. Several years ago returned to samui to visit a friend but won’t ever again for the reasons you outlined.

This insurer is part of Tif group and has had some publicized opprobrium for very bad handling of claims. A couple of years ago I encountered a very obstructive process from a claim I made on a skiiing holiday when resorts in France were suddenly shut down. It was only my dogged persistence that eventually caused them to finally pay up. Avoid !

Very recently a UK guy on drugs who killed 2 kids by running into their car on the hard shoulder of the motorway received 9.5 years.. and that was after the 30% ‘discount' applied for early guilty plea.

Just when you thought the bar couldn’t go any lower…. ????

You could look up Hanlon’s Razor and the Dunning Kruger effect which largely sums up your assessment. ????

You don’t really need to be specifically trained when on a vulnerable vehicle to pay heed to your surroundings,it should be instinctive . As others pointed, out the basic failure to even look (as evidenced in this picture) can really only be explained by a fundamental lack of intelligence. That it’s so commonplace (along with other stupidity)leads to the conclusion that Thais really aren’t that bright .

Whereas you cannot construct any cogent argument… ????

Funnily enough that was exactly the position of a friend of mine here . A few weeks ago I learned he became unwell with classic associated symptoms and was taken into hospital. It quickly became apparent he was in a very bad way and a few days later it was 'all over ' for him. He’s not here to put the other side of the story… which I’m now doing… Think again,my friend.