rickudon

Climate change is not going to make Homo Sapiens extinct. But the competition for living space (home, food, survivable temperatures) will become intense and many will not survive. Unfortunately by the time the human population has culled a large percentage of it's members, we will have pretty much driven many species to extinction, and live in a devastated dystopia. Last 6 months have all seen the monthly global temperature record broken, and this year is already at 1.46 degrees Centigrade of warming. That 1.5 C target will probably be hit next year assuming the El Nino continues. One factor which has only become more obvious in the last few years is the risk of forest fires - they are rising exponentially, outdoing our tiny efforts to plant more trees and raising CO2 levels even more. Also, no-one seems to talk about methane hydrate on the ocean floor any more - warming of the deep ocean, especially in polar regions could cause catastrophic methane releases. Meanwhile Oil and coal companies are using the Ukraine war as an excuse to produce more - greed greed greed. If you thought migration was an issue, we haven't seen anything yet - in 30 years time, whole countries will be on the march, mainly northwards. We can get another 10-20 years of affluence followed by utter chaos, or tighten our belts NOW.

Obviously a 'not my job'. But In Udon, unlike Pattaya, roads have improved drastically in the last 10 years, with a few exceptions. In our village alone there have been 5 stretches of road resurfaced in the last 4 months, lots of it with nice smooth tarmac. And they no longer need repairing 12 months later! The ring road is now close to western motorway standard.

I was invited to loy kratong by the manager of a fishing park during my second visit to Thailand. We are now married 13 years ......

I know Truebrit, he is not a troll. He lives west of Udon, some way off. His situation is indeed difficult. Only suggestion i can add is find another expat, who maybe has spare accommodation, he could rent/share, and possibly help him with mobility. Not sure what friends he has, at his age most he had have probably passed on.

Aseannow up and running again. Weather was nice at the weekend up till Tuesday, max was 30 Centigrade. Last 2 days back to normal, 31 plus. I notice the difference - under 30 can work for hours, above 30 more like one hour at the most. Not young enough! We cut the rice field (about one rai) 10 days ago - usual miserable results - 3 bags. Paid for the combine harvester, but not the ploughing. I keep telling the wife that rice in that field is a waste of time. Soil is poor. Not much grows around the field, and what does is only half the size. Even bananas and mangoes struggle. I want to turn it back into a pond - after initial digging cost maintenance is a lot lower, and will get some fish to eat, even if they are also only half the size. Wife has just planted roses and African marigold. I predict all dead in 3 months. We need proper soil analysis to identify the problems, rather than me speculating.

Not stage 3, but 40 years ago had haemorrhoid problem, sore, itchy and regular blood loss. I cured it by going on high fibre - mainly wholemeal bread. Took about 5 years. Have occasional relapses if i get constipated, maybe a couple of times a year, but clears up within a few days. I also avoid chilies. 98% of the time no issues at all.

My main interest in this is how are they going to assess the amount of money you bring in to Thailand. In my case, most of it never sees a Thai bank account.

I'm on marriage, 400,000 in the bank. Originally i did a 12 month multi-entry every year. but they went and changed the requirements for that and i no longer qualified (yes, my income was insufficient). Since coming to Thailand 13 years ago, the visa/extension rules have changed on average every 2 years. So do not get complacent - the changes may not affect you next time - but they might. I could probably now do the 65,000 baht a month for the retirement, but exchange rates falling would be a problem - also i usually spend a few months a year back in the UK, and i am not going to send 65,000 baht to Thailand when i am not there to use it! Renewing involves about 2 days of effort a year. I was only home visited the first year. Use an agent? Why? I have better uses for 15,000 baht. I can use my money in the bank for 9 months of the year. and i earn a lot more from my remaining investments in the UK than i would if i kept it in a Thai bank. Also have heard from a friend that they are cracking down on agent applications - he had to attend in person, they do not trust agents anymore after another round of fake applications. If you are financially solid, do retirement by all means - legally.

Nikhil Arora may be the MD of GODaddy India, a large web hosting company... But maybe just same name.

Most younger people see little chance of achieving the things their parents did. I bought my first house at the age of 23, and paid off the mortgage 5 years later. Next house cost 4 times as much, so a mortgage again, but had the deposit from the sale of the first house. Also finished university with no debt in those days. My daughter in UK was able to buy a one bedroom apartment 10 years ago due to a well paid bank job, but it had plastic cladding like Grenfell tower (massive fire with many deaths) and now she cannot sell it. She is married now with 2 kids and a husband who still works in banking (very well paid) but they STILL cannot afford a house, they have to live in her M-in-L house along with brother of her husband. That is todays reality in the South-east of the UK. You either need rich parents, inheritance or a 50,000 GBP plus income to get on the housing ladder. Son also sees little prospect of ever owning a house until his mum dies. Also, for current genZ, university comes with a 50,000 GBP debt tag. Pay that off, buy a house, start a family, when? Renting also eats half your net income even for a single room in London. Easy to see why most see no future. The demographic implications are also massive, birth rates are plummeting.

At 600 baht a month, Old people are hardly a drain on government finances.

Hi Owl, glad to see you sorted out the Pickup Problem. could do with the AA here! Got my passport back today, total time was about 3 weeks. Dry season definitely here, all the yellow flower bushes have bloomed in the last week. My vegetable garden has dried out, time to start digging.

Israel has rejected all peace deals which meant returning land to the Palestinians (except for Gaza, which is more of a prison, hard to get out). And Jewish settlers are slowly ethnically cleansing the West bank of Palestinians. For 50 or 70 years, many Palestinians have been refugees - they want their land back. Peace comes at a price. Netanyahu has offered Nothing.

Hamas are not stupid - would you go out to fight Jets, Tanks and artillery with just an AK47 and home made rockets? They would get slaughtered. It is called Asymmetric warfare - you use what you have in whatever way is effective, e.g. guerrilla warfare. When you are fighting a guerilla war, hard to keep to the Geneva convention. Think of the French resistance - they didn't fight pitched battles with the Germans, but relied on bombs and ambushes - and i doubt they took prisoners. And, they hid in the French population, who often suffered from German reprisals.

Sheryl, the Government Pension in the UK is called the State Pension, Everyone (well most) automatically get about 11% deducted from their Pay, called National Insurance. It is used to fund the State Pension and the NHS (although it doesn't fully cover the cost). You have to have 35 years of contributions to get the maximum - it doesn't depend on how much you paid, but how long. It is about 160 GBP a week (or was a year or 2 ago) if you have the 35 years ... BUT it is reduced if you have another pension (Company, Private or 'Government') which are all dependent on how much you contribute. The 'Government' Pension is a pension paid to retired Government employees. And under Thailand's double taxation agreement, that pension is not liable to Thai income tax. All other pensions, including State, could be taxed in Thailand. Hope that helps!

You have to have a minimum of 10 years to get anything. Look to see if you can back pay NI contributions for 4-5 years, to get to the minimum. First get a pension forecast from the government website. Need 35 years to get maximum.

Yes, i got some free days at a hotel in Bangkok, but i was told it had expired, so returned to Udon. Did get a couple of days there as well later on.

Hmm, maybe i could sue them for my unrecoverable losses i suffered after being stuck at the airport and then in Thailand for an extra 10 days due to this protest. Of course, i would be long dead before they paid up!

Yes, spend a little more. What he doesn't say is what arrangements he has made so his wife can access the money after he dies. Probate can take 3 months or more, He needs to have a will, and ideally his wife should have her own account with about 3 months expenses in it in case of difficulty in accessing the money. The OP may have already done this, but if not, start thinking about that now.

Just informed yesterday by VFS that new passport is back in Thailand. 18 days after application.

Budgeted for the next 7 years, until state pension kicked in. Now just about break even, still have half a million savings in Baht left.

Depends on what Israel's real aims are. Genocide, Ethnic cleansing? Always achievable.

So much disinformation and hatred on this thread. Yes, the Hamas massacre is absolutely shocking and yes, It would be best if Hamas was totally destroyed. But you have to ask yourself, what are the underlying causes of this act? Israel has been very good in the past as promoting itself as the good guy. The real truths seldom make it to the everyday media. People shouldn't just post their gut feelings WITHOUT researching the background and causes of the conflict. The west was quick to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and highlight all the human rights abuses, or complain about ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabak. israeli human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing have been going on for years, just done at a low tempo so it doesn't get much publicity. When you keep pushing, eventually you push back, even though you know you cannot win. The alternative is just give up and die. Some prefer to die fighting. Find out what has been happening for the last 120 years (or even start 2,000 years ago), and then post.

Looks like a bumper crop of rice here around Udon Thani. Just a speculator who wants to push up prices.

I have lived in Udon Thani for 13 years, and it has everything i need. Airport on the edge of town, lots of flights, railway station, a couple of bus stations and quite a few hospitals. I find the Udon General acceptable if a bit lacking in english signage. Not many people seem to upsticks and leave.