HauptmannUK

Sad to hear of an elderly gentleman facing such problems. I've read about usufructs over the years but to me they seem almost worthless. Would you really want to hang around in the wife's village when probably over half the residents are related to her in some way. Would you feel happy and safe? My advice would be to get the hell away and deal with the situation remotely. Gather all important possessions and documents together and make a run for it when she's out. Head to Pattaya. Keep your location a secret. Decent rooms with A/C can be had for ฿4500/month (I know this for sure because my wife recently let out a couple of rooms at this price). BE CAREFUL though. Don't eat anything prepared by your wife. Wild yam ('gloy') is popular in Isaan but unless carefully prepared it contains cyanide and has been used to poison people. Several years ago an acquaintance of mine had a bust-up with his young wife of three years. He'd done the whole 'house, farm, pick-up truck' thing with her. He fled to Pattaya and stayed in a hotel. She followed him to Pattaya - ostensibly to work on a reconciliation. After not answering his phone for a couple of days he was found by friends. He was in his locked hotel room. Lying peacefully in his bed, quite dead. No sign of a struggle, no meds in the room.. He was a very fit 50-something fitness freak..... Never saw his case reported anywhere and never heard any post mortem results...

Try to make a weekly/monthly deal with a taxi/Bolt/Grab driver. I'm assuming you're starting a job in Huay Yai. You'll maybe find a co-worker who drives to/past Jomtien and will give you a ride in exchange for a contribution to fuel. Good idea to not get a motorbike. There may be some worse places in the world than Pattaya to learn to ride (Lagos? Jakarta?), but not many...

She failed it twice. During which time she was out driving in her D-Max too. Long trips (Udon to Bueng Kan and Loei). In the end it was go to the Land Transport building and wait in the ladies' toilet with ฿2000. Given the terrible driving standards the death rate on Thai roads is actually quite low.

I share a password from my youngest daughter in UK. Has worked well for the past few years. I can VPN to UK or US to get content from Netflix in those countries. Also have an Android box but to be honest don't use it much. Use mostly Netflix, iPlayer, Amazon..

Even a basic OBD2 reader will show stored fault codes and also live data. Live data will be things like coolant temperature and the pre- and post-cat O2 sensor waveforms. Generic (non-proprietry) powertrain fault codes take the form 'PXXXX' where 'XXXX' are four characters. P0300 is a random or multicylinder misfire. P0301 is a misfire on cyl 1 etc. When you get a code you can Google it. Before reading any codes for the first time be sure to clear all existing codes. Then run the vehicle until the fault occurs and read codes. My money would be on sparkplugs or ignition coil breakdown.

My wife is 100% Isaan and proud of it. Yes, she has loads of money - buys and sells land and property in Thailand and owns half a hotel in UK...... Lucky your wife has never pressured you over anything. That's not the norm with these women from my observations...

Around fifteen years ago when my wife was building some properties up in Udon we had a pickup and it was very useful for carrying construction materials etc. Made a lot of sense. Subsequently when I had work in Bangkok and my wife bought a condo in Pattaya driving it became an absolute pain in the rear end. We sold it and bought a Camry, still a large car but vastly more comfortable, better handling and more maneuverable. Last year my wife bought a Yaris and its a great little car for city driving, in fact I prefer it over the Camry - 'small' cars have really come on a long way in the last 15 years or so. Pickups get favourable tax treatment in Thailand so you do get a lot of metal for your money. Also I think many foreigners get pressured into buying them by their Isaan wives (handy on the farm and to carry the extended family in the back). The OP will no doubt lose a bit of money on it - but try a private sale first (FB, BahtSold etc).

About 15 years ago we were routinely importing from Japan. Not worth it now unless its something pretty special (weak GBP etc). Its certainly possible to import from Thailand and in fact there's people I know doing it. Mostly older Japanese classic stuff. Need to pay your taxes and duties and do the usual approval stuff (MPH speedo, rear fogs etc). Insurance might be more expensive... Actually I remember some years ago a load of new RHD Mercedes arrived in the UK from Thailand - there was a story to it, but I've forgotten the details.

I think this is the one with 8 spark plugs? The back set are a bit difficult to get at and get overlooked. Change them out if they've not been done recently and only use NGK or Denso. Get yourself an OBD reader so you can monitor temperature and view stored codes.

I can only speak from experience with ICE ZS in the UK market (although they are Thai built). These use a version of the GM/Opel SGE engine. Its not the smoothest but Ok. The same engine series is used in cars like the old Opel Adam, Chevrolet Cruze, Spark etc. SAIC (MG, Rowe etc are to all intents 'GM small cars China'). On earlier examples of the Chinese-made units the timing chains were made out of cheese and would quickly throw up a P0016 code (cam-crank sync error due to chain wear). Later ones had improved chains. The CVT autos were a Bosch designed unit but I heard that the latest ones are fitted with Aisin units - not been able to verify that though. My limited experience of driving them is poor steering and quite a bit of body roll. They are certainly built down to a price - evidenced by quite thin and hard plastic and thin paint in places. Its fair to say that UK used car dealers are not great fans of MGs. They don't wear their miles well and not particularly sought-after by buyers. Product support in the UK is poor - big issues with parts supply and very limited technical support. Possibly Thailand is better. IMHO there is absolutely no comparison between a Toyota or Honda product and MG. My general advice to buyers is that if you are not especially interested in cars and want something to get from A to B with minimal ownership hassle then look at the Toyota range. Toyota don't make many mistakes and when they do make a mistake they fix it very quickly.

The majority of trained and experienced bikers could probably ride for 100 years and not be killed. But a few will be. Its statistics, isn't? "Do you feel lucky?". Here in Thailand its 'the other guy'. Being quick-witted doesn't help when an SUV drives right over you from behind. My wife's younger son is currently driving around in a Ford Everest (belongs to his girlfriend's family). He has NEVER had any kind of formal driver training and never even attempted a driving test, let alone passed one. My wife's sister bought a brand new D-Max last year. Attempted driving test two times and failed both. Bought a licence for ฿2000. My blood runs cold every time I see her get in the thing.

"There are concerns that these new regulations could prompt Chinese travelers to opt for other destinations" There is a God!

Not just UK, but they seem to be the nationality with the connections that get them into the media for fundraising. My German friend had a very nasty accident on his 'big bike' and spent several months in hospital accumulating a huge bill. Didn't get reported in the media. Had to make a major call on family back in Germany. Sadly ended up with a severe and permanent disability and returned back to Munich. Another expat mate of mine was killed in Saraburi in October last year. Out on his bike on a Saturday morning and an SUV just drove clean over him. Its all too common. Almost exactly the same kind of 'accident' that killed my wife's uncle in Udon. I'm a lifelong biker and ran DSA Direct Access riding courses for a time back in the UK also was IAM Car and Bike Observer and Examiner but I stay off two wheels in Thailand - getting on a bike here is attempted suicide...

Basically some kind of bill/official document with your UK address on it. I used my driving licence.

I feel pretty safe in our condo in Pattaya. Wife has land and property in Udon Thani province and we do a visit up there from time to time. Don't feel so safe there and neither does the wife. Its a big family with some kind of local 'mafia' connections. Her father's brother was shot dead a few years ago. Father found out who the shooter was, followed him to a roadside eatery and blew the guy's brains out. Police took no action. Father sadly passed away at the end of last year (natural causes). One of wife's friends was involved in a love triangle. The jilted husband killed his wife and her lover. My wife was one of the first on the scene - pretty messy apparently and my wife was quite traumatised. Another incident was a young local girl found raped and beaten to death at the side of a main road. No proper police investigation apparently. Few years ago we were driving on the Udon to Kut Chap road and a youth on the back of a motorbike fired a gun at our car. I think it was just a bit of showing off though. Overall I feel most at risk from the traffic here in Thailand rather than from random violence. We do keep a couple of guns in the house up in Udon though. If the wife hears a noise at night she grabs a gun..

I would put a 90deg horizontal elbow on that waste outlet and cut the sink cabinet to run the waste under the sink. Then make up a P-trap under the sink itself, connected to the waste. Run D/W flexible waste pipe through a hole cut high up in the side of the cabinet and connect it to the sink waste prior to P-trap.

Colon cancer according to his other posts...

In 2018 I helped a Pattaya expat return to UK for treatment. Stomach cancer. Long story, but he was the brother of my eldest daughter's boss at the time. Only about 58. He had treatment for over a year in Thailand at great cost - over 6M THB IIRC. It was just a money grab. We got him back to UK. NHS were very good - into hospital the day after he arrived back. Sadly he'd left it too late and died within a month. My advice - get back to your Western country ASAP.

Yes. What do you want to know?

Personally I enjoy the warm weather. We've not long come back from Udon. Our house there has no A/C just a fan. Built from Q-Con block with good roof overhangs and trees around. During the day I sit outside under a gazebo, or we're off out to a coffee shop or restaurant. Right now I'm at the condo near Pattaya (Pratamnak). Its on highish ground so there is usually some breeze. We have two small balconies and if I leave the doors open there is a pleasant breeze through the condo. Its very comfortable. We also have ceiling mounted Daikin A/Cs. No idea of BTU but them seem very powerful. Will drop the room temp to 27deg within a few minutes. Just use them at night to cool the place a little before bed and then switch to the ceiling fan. We walk outside morning and evening. This weather is why I came to Thailand. Spent Christmas and New Year in the UK and the cold weather was torture!

I haven't been out yet but my wife says there will be no water throwing today. She's actually right about most things, so I'll be going out later with no fear of getting wet.

The American 'Christian Right' are behind this 'human trafficking' BS. Christian Conservative NGOs got access to US federal funding in 2001 (thanks to Bush) and went on a global mission to impose their veiwpoint and very broad definition of 'trafficking' on countries such as Thailand.

I just renewed and was charged about US$88 for 2 years + 3 'free' months.....

Last year my wife's sister up in Udon bought herself a brand new D-Max pickup. She had no driving licence and had never driven any kind of car/truck before. I gather a friend gave her some basic instruction in driVing it - 'to get her started'. She has subsequently failed the driving test twice - despite driving daily, and covering several thousand kilometres. Latest news is that she has now 'bought' a DL for ฿2000. We were in Udon last month and she was complaining how poor the headlights were. She often drives at night and said she could only see a few metres in front of the car. I was surprised and offered to check out the lights that evening. She duly turned up in the truck and I jumped in. The problem then became obvious. She thought the DRLs (daytime running lights) were the headlights! I reached across and switched on the actual never-before-used headlights and she was amazed at the amount of light in front of the car!

My wife has both Thai and British passports. We travel frequently between UK and Thailand - spend overall about half the year in each country. My wife does a bit of work as a real estate agent in Thailand and is partner in a small hotel in UK. I am basically retired but partner with my sister in a motor trade dealership in UK. We therefore will have to shuttle back and forth for the foreseeable future. Our GP is aware of our arrangements and says its no problem. For example, she is happy to forward-prescribe any meds for when we are in Thailand (e.g. my statins).