Aussiepeter

Life in LOS is what you make of it - whatever government is in power. As a foreigner you have no input anyway, so as many on here have already said, why sweat it ? In my case, after nearly thirty years in Thailand I got old, re-married & had a baby but worst of all, I got cancer twice (two different kinds). LOS is no place for an old farang with major medical problems, unless you have very deep pockets, otherwise I may well have stayed. On top of all that, my father was then 91 & running a thoroughbred agistment farm on his own in Australia and, the current administration in LOS gave me dysentery. So, we left LOS eight years ago and have no regrets whatsoever. I do miss some aspects of life in LOS, such as the cheap 'talaat nut' (moving markets) in C Mai, or shopping trips to the Burmese border. Nonetheless, my wife has happily settled down permanently in Australia and gives me no grief. Our daughter goes to high school here next year which is good, as she can't speak a word of Thai. My cancer is in remission, all of my medical care is either very cheap or free & at 70 years of age, I finally have several good racehorses in my stable and my 99 y.o. father and I are mates again, as I am about to inherit his farm. It's all good - as another person said "you never know when your time is up" so geography is not all that relevant, if you are happy. Interestingly, even though we are here to stay, the 'boss' allows me to go back on my own to visit LOS for a week or two at any time and I have done so several times. Spent almost half my life in LOS, so I've never really left ....

I think Thailand is finished for ever as a tourist destination, unless the current administration goes. In the main news across Australia tonight at 1900 hours (7pm) our government (ABC) channel spent several minutes airing the entire film of the alleged drug dealer being allegedly suffocated by allegedly real Thai cops, with plastic bags. The whole story and, how it was a senior cop allegedly confiscated dozens of luxury cars that had been illegally imported & then kept them for himself. They spared nothing and pulled no punches. Next they reported that Australia is gearing up to resume flights to overseas countries. The alcohol restrictions in LOS have already been widely reported here and it is well-known that LOS is a "dry" country for any potential tourists now. Even my Thai wife said "an Aussie or Kiwi who can't have a beer with a meal won't go there - they will go next door" (meaning Laos or Vietnam). She did mention 'mum & pop' shops, but they are of no use to tourists, who don't have local knowledge. I feel great pity for those expats stuck there who like a tipple every now and again. The glory days in LOS are long gone, sadly. We bought an apartment in sterile Singapore 3 years ago - at least I can buy alcohol there 24/7, in the unlikely event that I need to, when flights resume. No visa hassles either. 

13 hours ago, freedomnow said:

Thought your story of old was great - do you think it was fantastic because you were younger or it was generally just better all-round (why) or bit of both ? Also, was it easier to stay here long-term then ?

I was always on a Non-Immigrant 'O' visa which gave me 15 months total stay before a renewal. I learnt to speak northernThai and learnt about all the 'secret places' in the north that tourists would not know about, including "cathouses" and even secret "clubs" where they seldom see a farang. I was in my early 40's during the nineties and single, in a C Mai just starting to blossom. It was much easier to stay long-term, some just went to a border every month. The rot started with Thaksin's reign. His government made some truly horrid decisions - such as bringing in income limits that forced many harmless old-timers to either leave, or like a now-deceased best friend, to break the law. My mate had lived a frugal life with his legal Thai wife in Mae Taeng for over twenty years and always went to Penang for a legal double entry visa. Nobody cared how little or how much $ he had. He worked as a teacher for a Royal Project & had a small pension, but it was peanuts. Then one day the rules changed. He went to get a new visa and they told him that (his exact words to me) "we don't want your type of people here any more, so this will be your last visa". He chose to drop off the radar and never got another visa - living happily with his wife as always & hurting nobody, right up until he died from a stroke with a massive 6 year overstay ! Then there was their stupid restrictions to hours for buying alcohol. I had heaps of money and could easily work around their silly alcohol rules, but as the air in the north became filthier each year I'd finally had enough. A diagnosis of throat cancer (I'm a non-smoker) sealed the deal. I'm not even going to mention their horrific driving. After our daughter was born I made the decision to leave for good, as I did not want her to breath the muck passed off as "fresh air" in C Mai for seven or eight months a year, or become a road toll statistic. The 90's were a fantastic time to be in LOS, with little enforcement of any kind. You could even have a few beers on the train from BKK to CM & I bought the guards a few beers sometimes. That too has ceased, to the detriment of Thailand (I think). We've lived in Oz now with pristine air for eight years, own a farm and my wife is a now a citizen. I went back to C Mai twice before covid hit, but neither my wife nor my daughter, who only speaks English, has any interest in returning. Sadly, the good old days are over.

7 hours ago, bamboozled said:

Does anyone know when the movie theater was shut down across the intersection from Pantip Plaza? Has anyone ventured in there and poked around? Must be fascinating. It saddens me to think it has just been left there to rot when in my mind it could have been a great attraction given the location. But I suppose all those old theaters were abandoned because they weren't a draw anymore. Amazing it just sits there year after year...

I lived in C Mai for twenty-five years or so, but finally left in 2013. At one stage I visited many of the abandoned buildings and wrote a story about them for a local magazine, only to have them lose my draft. The movie theatre was still operating in 1989 as I went there once or twice - very nice & very cheap (no double pricing). I recall a sad occasion when a farang was found dead there after the end of a film. Apparently a cobra had slithered in at some time during the film and had bitten him several times - it was rainy season. If you go down Changklan Rd past the old theatre about 500m, just before the next traffic lights there is an abandoned 14 storey building in a Soi on the right - it's been there unfinished  since at least 1990. It had been approved as eight floors from memory, but the builder illegally added extra floors. A similar hotel building that had been "modified" collapsed in the early 90's (in Udon Thani from memory), killing a US Medal of Honour winner from the Vietnam conflict, his Thai wife & others eating dinner. After that they clamped down on illegally modified high-rise buildings. They demolished the old railway hotel opposite C Mai railway station, but not before I climbed up to the top and got some amazing (pre-digital) photos. The best secret is Asia's first ever revolving restaurant, which sits on top of the long abandoned Bpoy Luang Hotel. It is on the main highway intersection with the road coming from the railway station. I left in 2013, but it was still there a few years ago when I visited. (I did write about it a while back on 'tv'). Assuming it is still there, it looks like a smaller round room on top of an old white rectangular building. I rode a Honda Dream up the ramp/fire-esape to the top about 20 years ago & climbed into the old revolving restaurant. It was a big G.I. hotel in the Vietnam War & had a disco-like mirror-ball in the revolving restaurant & it had a big swimming pool in the rear. All the lifts etc have been removed and it is just a shell now, but it was incredible back in 1968 or so. They started to refurb it in the 90's as a hospital, but the 97 crash killed it. They fixed up a couple of rooms and filmed episodes of a popular Thai 'soap' opera there in the early 90's too. I actually appeared in that show quite by accident, when I stopped & asked a BIB for directions (I speak local Thai). The 'cop' laughed and told me in perfect English that he was not a real cop but was an actor and, "would I mind riding my motorbike up the street again and asking him the same question, so they could film it" ! I was famous in local bars for a week to two. The 90's were a fantastic time to be in Chiang Mai (or elsewhere in Thailand for that matter) and, the air was clean !

This is not the first death on Samui caused by deadly box jellyfish. I recall writing about this subject on here previously. Several years back two young German ladies were both stung severely by chironex (box) jellyfish after going for an early evening swim on Samui. Both girls were in their early twenties. One girl died, whilst the other was horribly disfigured and was air-evacuated in a critical condition to Germany. As usual in LOS, absolutely nothing was done to prevent it ever happening again. In the rainy season in northern Australia, these creatures are so common that nobody goes into the sea between November and March, unless they are in a netted safe swimming area or wearing protective clothing. Warning signs everywhere. Only last year a very fit indigenous teenager died in north Queensland after being stung by a box jellyfish. Warning signs in multiple languages and safety nets should have been installed on Samui & other islands years ago after the first fatalities but of course, that might have put tourists off. The best treatment is aluminium sulphate gel applied immediately to the injured area or failing that being available, vinegar. The box jellyfish has tentacles up to 3 metres long and each one has a stinging nematode every 5mm - so victims usually get a massive number of stings. An alluminium sulphate product called "Stingose" in a tube is often the first thing into the bag on a beach trip here in Oz, as we have all manner of less deadly but still painful jellyfish. I feel very sad for the little boy who lost his life to one of these nasty creatures - yet another avoidable death in LOS. I am pleased that they have (now) finally installed safety nets on Samui.

As others have commented, it's a reticulated python of about average size for over there. It always amazed me as a child that snakes could swim, but being raised in the bush in Australia, I've seen it all. I used to have a Thai hill-tribe wife many years ago, so I saw (and ate) plenty of snakes, though python was seldom on the menu, thank goodness. Where we live now in the northeast of NSW in Oz, there's a lot of uncleared rainforest/jungle, which those who grow a certain illicit 'weed' like, as it conceals their activities. This area is known for the quality of its' weed the world over. The locals often comment on the huge pythons they encounter when  "out in the rainforest" as this area gets some of the biggest carpet pythons known to mankind - 5m long is usual and I've seen them 6m+ several times. Our 90 y.o. nearly blind lady neighbour had one eat several of her hens last year, before the govt. bloke came round and re-located it. We are going into summer here and already, the "greenies" are asking locals to watch out for giant pythons crossing the road, as like most nasty critters in Australia, snakes are protected and there are heavy fines for messing with them. Yes, they make nice belts too, but then, that's illegal ...

5 hours ago, transam said:

If she was married she would have N.I. number, treated as an individual to claim a pension if 65+, if in the UK. I did some talking to pensions about a Thai lady whose husband popped, her husband did get an allowance for her, but, as she was 62, nothing, the same as UK women, who have to go to social security or get a job. Thai lady here must do the same thing, but unfortunately, they don't have social security.

UK Pension allowance for foreign wives stopped in 2010 for new pensioner applicants, those who were getting it before April 2010 lost it in April 2020.......... 

Many thanks to Sir Trans for this information. My best friend from the many years I lived in LOS, the late David Francis, married his Thai wife in 1999 at the Amphur in Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai. Some on here may remember him as the author of numerous articles about LOS in tourist magazines around that time. He actually survived in LOS on a UK Army pension of only 100 GBP a month, for eighteen years - some sort of record ! He had been a corporal at one time in HM Royal Marines, but the rest of his pension had been garnisheed for some reason. He supplemented his pension by teaching English to hill tribe kids under the Royal Project. I was still a serving Officer when I met him in 1994 and I helped him whenever I could, as he was such a decent bloke. He died aged 66 after a massive stroke in 2008, but had told my wife and I that his wife would inherit his army pension. His wife moved away shortly after his death and I have often wondered if she indeed got that pension, as she had never been to the UK and spoke no English whatsoever. I believe she did have help in applying for it in 2008, but I was 'away' working and never heard about the outcome. Although his wife spoke no English, David had taught himself central Thai and spoke it well, but with a broad cockney accent - even I had difficulty understanding him when he spoke Thai ! From the sounds of it, his Thai widow may have got the pension right up until 2020. I hope so - she was a widow earning 80 baht a day peeling garlic when he met her. A true Thai love story - they had 10 very happy years together.

19 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I remember when Thaksin started in politics. He told the people he is already rich and he does not need to get richer in politics. And the people believed him. And then, not much later, he had to admit what he called an "honest mistake", hiding assets in the name of his maids, drivers, etc. Yeah, very honest.

And then he did all the time those honest mistakes. And he was not only corrupt, he showed to all Thais and the world that he is corrupt and can get away with it. Obviously he gave the masses a few crumbs and the masses loved him. Stupid! 

I was here when Thaksin brought people hope when he started and I was here in the years when many people saw when Thaksin enriched himself. And I was here when the "first" coup happened and people gave flowers to the soldiers because they were happy that finally someone stood up against Thaksin. That was a joyful time.

 

It seems many people who think Thaksin is good were not here or closed their eyes to reality. He is a criminal and he always was a criminal. What is so difficult to understand about that obvious fact?

I too lived in Thailand when Thaksin was in power & just as the this poster has said, Thaksin was rotten to the core. I gave up trying to convince Thais (and farang) in Chiang Mai who adored him, that he was a total scumbag. I'd bang my head on the wall, yet I am one of the few expats who made it my business to not only learn to speak, read and write 'Phasaa Klang' (the Thai language taught in schools - also known as Central Thai) near-fluently, but also to learn to speak the language of the North, known as 'Phasaa Nuea' or, "Cum-Muang" (district language), as that was what my wife & family speak. Back in his time, Thaksins' company sold a satellite to the Burmese government for what I believe was reported as some $500 ? million USD - only the Burmese didn't have the cash, so 'Mr T' settled for $75 ? million USD in cash - and then gave the Burmese a "soft" loan on the Thai government for the remainder. Any further comment on the man would be superfluous. Thailand will NEVER change. After living there for around thirty years I know it and, after eight years in Oz breathing clean pure air and becoming an Australian citizen who now speaks educated English, my wife surely knows it, as she has told all and sundry that she is NEVER going back to LOS, other than perhaps to visit the MIL for a few days when covid is gone. She fears for her friends' back in Chiang Mai, but not enough to lose any sleep over it whatsoever. She is Thai, after all.

21 minutes ago, BumGun said:

Australian's trying to return from India were threatened with years in jail and massive fines if they managed to some how find their way home. During the Brisbane lock down WA etc closed their borders to Qld.

 

18 months and the only quarantine centre is Howard Springs, how we have treated Aussies trying to come home is a national disgrace,  the vaccination roll out is a complete balls up, the random state lockdowns a national embarrassment (finer postcode based granular control would have been best where we acted as a nation rather then a bunch of fiefdoms) Another example, Australian citizens who were pregnant when the flew out of Aus. and couldn't get back because of Covid had their kids over seas and the kids being born over seas means they are not Australian citizens and the parents can't come home because their kid isn't a citizen.

 

The only countries completely  forbidding their citizens leaving unless they receive permission from the dear leader is us and North Korea. I think it was Clive James who said  "it's not that Australians are descendant from convicts that's the problem, it's that so many of them are descended from jailers"  

 

They've already backed away from the "opening the country if you're vaccinated and only home quarantine on return in October this year" to maybe sometime next year ...maybe.  At some stage Australian's themselves  are going to have to stop sucking their thumb, come out from under the bed and face the world again.

 

This isn't a sprint, things could change next week where some state goes full idiot and locks their borders again and local lockdowns are inevitable.

 

That said, I don't blame the politicians , they went full stupid with the support of the idiot voters as seen in the re-election in Qld, WA and Tas. Governments.  Hell, WA wanted a full time border shut down to ostensibly control the "drug problem" and McGowan won with a bigger majority!

 

You may not be effected, but that doesn't mean plenty aren't and to presume we're some sort of free country is absurd,

Not wishing to 'poo-poo' this answer, but this bit about children being born overseas from Australian parents preventing the parents from returning is totally incorrect. ANY child born ANYWHERE to a parent who is an Australian Citizen, may apply to become an Australian Citizen by Descent. Sure, you have to apply for it, but that's no big deal, assuming the relationship of the parents is genuine (i.e. the child was not conceived as a way to expedite migration to Australia). My daughter was born in Chiang Mai, - I applied for her citizenship at the Oz Embassy BKK and it took a whole ten days. As for the bloke who says Oz is a police state - well, not true. I never see the cops here., but then I don't break the law. I don't drive drunk. Don't park where you can't park - you don't get fined. Work & don't pay tax - well, that's illegal. Don't value your life and chose to ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet - well that is insane & deserves a fine. My Thai wife has been here for 8 years now - she goes to TAFE (Technical College) to learn to read & write English and it is free. They even find paid jobs for migrants, if they so wish. She says she will never go back to LOS, as its' government is ***t and doesn't take care of its' people - only themselves. Every one of her class feels the same way & nearly all are Asian migrants - Thai, Lao, Cambodian, Indonesian, Vietnamese and even a few Japanese. Yes, the vaccine rollout here is slow, but we live in the bush & I don't want the AZ vax, so I'm prepared to wait for one of the better ones. Bottom line ? Wife & I would rather be here, very safe, where under 200 from a population of 26 million have died from Covid, than in LOS.