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Aussiepeter
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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 ...
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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.
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Regarding comments here on the AZ vaccine and side effects- I had my first AZ jab two weeks ago. Apart from a sore arm just as I always get from any jab, all I felt was a bit tired for a couple of days. I treated that symptom in the appropriate Australian fashion, with numerous cold beers, taken therapeutically, of course. My 99 y.o. ex WW2 fighter-pilot father has had both AZ jabs and, tells me that he experienced no side effects whatsoever. He also told me that he quit drinking alcohol this year, at the suggestion of his new (Asian) GP, who told him that at his age alcohol consumption may shorten his life, but that is another subject entirely. Personally, I'd have told the doctor to ....
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1 hour ago, CygnusX1 said:
With the massive amount of criticism the Thai Govt’s been receiving on this forum, you might compare this to wealthy first world Australia, where I’m having to wait over 2 months for my first shot, even though I’m over 60 and am happy to get AZ rather than the gold standard Pfizer.
I think in Australia it depends not only on how early you got in, but also where you are. We are in a small country town in Nth Eastern NSW, which has its' own hospital. Up until about three weeks ago, they couldn't give AZ away in this State as many were scared of the well-reported side effects. As I'm over sixty & could only get AZ, I initially decided to hang out for the Pfizer jab, especially as we have been pretty much isolated from covid in this area since the start. Once Covid-delta got out of control & started spreading like an Aussie bushfire & folks started dying, even slackers like me got on the wagon. We are only 600M from the local hospital, so I called and got my first AZ jab the following week, which was exactly 2 weeks ago. My Thai wife is 49, so she qualifies for the Pfizer vax. I called the government covid clinic in the nearest city & she indeed was given a date in late September for her first shot. After booking it, I then called the local hospital (which I should have done first) and she was able to get her first Pfizer jab the next day - yet we are only 40klms from the city with the longer waiting time ! Covid-delta is out of control here now and we have been in lockdown for two weeks, with more to come for sure. Over a thousand new cases here in NSW yesterday and three deaths, including a lass aged only thirty. I get my second AZ jab in October & my wife gets her second Pfizer in the second week of September. Our daughter turns twelve in February & the govt here is now saying they will offer the Pfizer jab to every kid over 12, as children are catching this latest strain at an alarmingly high rate. Stay safe everyone !
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50 minutes ago, Pharoticus said:
Good post. And very true.
This is why I quit Thailand at the very beginning of 2020. I just grew to hate the place.
I moved away after having lived there for over 20 years, and these days miss absolutely nothing about it.
I pity expats who are still here. Thailand is a lousy option for retirees.
Like Pharoticus, I got my family out in 2013 after I'd lived in LOS for more than 20 years, when I saw the writing on the wall. On the topic at hand - what's the big deal ? That 104 million baht is only a bit over $4 mil AUD - hardly a fortune, even by Thai standards. I've accumulated almost that much in my lifetime, all of it legally. As others have said, he probably never declared it all anyway - who would in LOS ? He's small fry. House/land prices are so bad here in Oz, that my modest 3 bedroom 100 y.o. shack on 10 acres cost me over twenty million baht. By comparison, the two storey place I sold in C Mai was three times as big, but only cost 1.5 mil baht. It is all relative, but, you can breath the air here.
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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.
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Oh my goodness - a new level of stupidity that even I, after some 30 years in LOS (before I left for good) find hard to believe, seems to have surfaced. Truly 'Amazing Thailand'. Outstanding.
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6 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:
Definitely a .177 or .22 pellet.
Absolutely. I'm almost sure this is a .22 airgun pellet - the mushroom head type. Looks too big for a .177. When I lived in the 'boonies' up near Chiang Dao in the late 90's, I did a visa run to Laos with the the now ex-wife and we saw some AK47 lookalike (folding stock) Chinese single-shot airguns for sale for 2000 baht. She came home with one. Very powerful - left the old British Diana .177 from my youth for dust. This chap is lucky it never severed his carotid artery, or he'd be toast. Ours was sold on to the "Pu Yai Baan" only a few days later - (far too nasty a thing to be in a house with a Thai woman).
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Donaldo - you got it. Thailand is finished, broken, and it will never be as it once was - the current regime will have LOS back in the dark ages first. After nearly 30 years in LOS, I saw the writing on the wall in 2013 & got my family out of there, permanently. A $25 thousand fine for a picture of alcoholic drinks online ? Seriously ? How useless is the regime ruining what was once a nice country ? Vaccine fiasco ? The funny thing is, many Thais used to look down on their supposedly 'poor' Laos cousins. The worm has turned. Laos is booming.
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They do this with monotonous regularity in LOS, - I'm convinced it is to upset all the farang's who shop there. Don't worry - they do it here in Australia too. I went to a Woolworths this week & the entire place had been re-shuffled. After 5 minutes, I just gave up and complained to a supervisor - she said "we have a new boss from South Africa, take it up with him - we hate it too". That bloke won't last long, as Aussies HATE change. I stick to Coles here - they are too lazy to change anything.
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Backhand ad forehand. According to the Thai missus' friends in LOS, who once ran a good business in Kaosarn Road (we are in Oz, but she chats with them daily) - LOS is "stuffed" without tourists and will remain so, perhaps for years. They are barely surviving, selling basic foodstuffs in front of their house in BKK & are also 'sh*t scared of getting any dodgy vax for covid, as they "don't trust the current administration". Hmm. Neither does the wife either it seems - she says "Oz is MY home now - forget that other place, 'cos we aren't taking MY daughter there ever, whilst covid is still around". It seems that now that she is an Aussie citizen, it is "MY" daughter, rather than "OUR" daughter but really, who cares ? Not me - I just got the all clear - no prostate cancer five years after 'salvage radiation', to correct a Thai Dr's failed op - I can still hoist the flag too ! Life is good in the great-south-land, even with 'she-that-must-be-obeyed' running the show. Most of the time. Cheers all !
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22 hours ago, DrJack54 said:
If this starts a trend then one thing is a given.
The Australian ambassador will not give a Yelp.
Am I right in assuming that our illustrious Oz govt doesn't give a rats' rectum about those living in LOS ? Am I even surprised ?
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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.
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In Australia, a bloke called Rodney Rude sang a song about beer. In it, he'd become a "wowser" - a non-drinker. The song is about 'how he'd sworn off alcohol for ever' etc then he says, "honestly, it was the worst three days of my life" ! Then, he'd begun drinking again & a chorus of "praise be to beer". About beer Chang - I did a posting to LOS in about 1992, when a certain wealthy Thai convinced Carlsberg to invest $550 million USD in LOS to produce & sell their beer, but they had to make a parallel production line owned entirely by him, to produce 'Elephant Beer' (Chang). They agreed, rather foolishly. The chap then 'encouraged' the mum & pop shops to push his new Chang beer, or lose their supplier of Mekong & Lao-cow whiskey, - their biggest sellers, but they had to take 'X amount' of Carlsberg as well, whether they wanted it or not. Thais didn't want Carlsberg (I did) and wouldn't pay 120 baht for 3 bottles of 5% beer, when they could get 4 bottles of Chang for 100 baht & get "shattered". They discounted Carlsberg heavily & I loved it ! Meantime, I drank 3 large bottles of early Chang beer at a funeral in 1993 & nearly became a corpse. The US military kindly had a case of it tested, only to find each bottle's alcohol level varied wildly, from about 6.8% to 'the sky's the limit', due to poor quality control. Meantime, sales of Carlsberg waned, as Chang took over the market and eventually, Carlsberg gave up & left LOS, leaving the plant behind, along with their $550 mil USD. A court case later was also a fizzer. The Thai chap is untouchable. Somebody once said to me "how do you make a small fortune in Thailand" - his answer was "come here with a large one" ! Chang seems to have dropped its' alcohol level to 'drinkable by some' level. I wouldn't touch the stuff again, even if it was free. Last time I was in LOS (2019) I drank Tiger & also found a beer called Tiger Lite, which was great. Both will probably be gone by the time I ever get back to visiting LOS again, thanks to Covid. Stay safe all of you over there - and 'praise be to beer'.
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Thanks to those who liked my response & how I was a victim of an 'innocent Thai lady' on a loan. To the chap who posted this topic - you need to remember that you are NOT at 'home' and so 'local rules apply'. It took me 30 years to learn that & I speak Thai fluently - all three dialects. I can also read Thai. Just before I left LOS I met an Aussie jailed for dealing drugs - he was supposedly still 'in jail' but, I met him in a very well known girly-bar on a Sunday evening ! Seems his Thai missus was selling 'ya-ba' but, he knew nothing about it. He did however have big $ and, had a good Thai lawyer (ha ha). Obviously, the Judge was 'fair' as he got only one year. His wife with no lawyer, got fifteen years ! When I asked him when he 'got out', he said, "in another eight months". Welcome to LOS. He had 'arranged' ($) to be let out of prison every Sunday night at 2000 hours for "a <deleted>, a few beers and a western meal" ! He had to return to the back door of C Mai jail at midnight, or turn into a pumpkin. Fact. Money talks in Thailand - so to the Op, - if you don't know that - you WILL get shafted & you WILL lose your money, but it is your 2 mil baht. Lastly, shortly after I "repaired some Thai blokes' car" for 12K baht, I got clever & married a not unattractive but very virginal 28 yo locksmith - I was 49. That was 20 years ago. We now live in Australia & will never live in LOS ever again - our 11 y.o. daughter only speaks English. After 8 years back here, my Thai wife is an Aussie citizen & says she will never go back but, I am allowed to return to LOS every two years, as I support her mum. Pretty good deal, really.
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Been a while since I posted anything on tv, but as an Aussie of UK heritage I've really enjoyed the niggling between the obviously UK & Oz expats offering advice on this post, especially as I am 5000 miles away in Australia & Friday nights are boring, usually. My advice would be "never lend to anyone in LOS" but, that is just me. Like most others, I can see this going very badly for the op and, I lived in LOS for nearly 30 years. Like others on here, I too lent money I could afford to lose to a Thai (once only) back in 2001. The difference was (and I bet I get a bite from our mutual mate Mr NCC from Hua Hin) I lent 12K baht to a Thai lady aged about forty whose pants I was then trying to get into ! She was a divorcee and stunning, but I was told by Thais that she was "innocent about men" and I had no hope of even getting a date. Anyway, I asked her out for lunch & she told me to pick her up at the C Mai Customs Office which I thought odd, as she was supposedly unemployed. After lunch she hit me up for a "loan" for a new radiator and four tyres for her "borrowed" car. Never got as much as a kiss on the cheek & never saw her, or my 12K baht, ever again. I found out later my "innocent lady" was the Mia Noi of a big shot in the Customs Office in C Mai and he'd got her a casual job, as she was not a government employee. Worse still, I'd just fixed his damn car ! I put it down to 'swings & roundabouts' as I'd had the odd freebie in LOS over the years, from other Thai lasses.
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Just before my family & I left C Mai permanently in 2013, I met a lovely 32 y.o. lass in 'Big C' in Hang Dong. She spoke excellent English - she was behind me in the checkout queue and helped me translate something with the checkout girl. She had a decent Uni degree in agriculture & worked for 10K baht a month. She said she had been working in a banking job for 15K baht a month, but after a few months her supervisor (Thai male) had told her she had to perform 'extra duties' with him, or suffer a pay cut. She quit & took the lower paid job. Nice lass. Chinese/Thai and clever. She also told me that salaries in C Mai are way lower than in BKK, but locals don't want to move.
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5 hours ago, BobinBKK said:
I think you're right about his motives as I did the same thing myself. I also factored in what I would be providing in lue of salary. And yes, I found someone that understood how the math works ????
In 1992, aged 39 & a divorced farang army Officer, I was in the same boat. I found a stocky but pretty lass of 20 mixing concrete by hand for 80 baht a day, in Udon. Single mum - baby living with grandma. I needed a 'house-keeper' to clean house and feed me for 6 months - with 'other duties' as required. I speak Lao. She jumped at the chance and then, jumped on me. I paid her 10K a month but she always knew I was farang military and would leave after the 6 months. She told the entire suburb swiftly we were "as good as married" & that ended any other female activity for me. I bought her anything she wanted/needed for the entire time as a bonus, as I could more than afford it. I was an Officer & single & I liked her a lot. Then I was posted to C Mai and she refused to go with me. End of story.
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On 3/12/2021 at 7:21 PM, NCC1701A said:
yes this makes complete sense!
why have any speed limit at all?
In Australia's Northern Territory for many years they had a "no posted speed limit" on outback highway roads. It attracted rev-head tourists, who wanted to try out their muscle machines without hassle from police. The law basically said "whatever speed is safe for the conditions" but it was obviously aimed at tourism. Then, along came a Japanese dentist in his new Ferrari - he "lost it completely' at about 260 kph ( 155 MPH) & totally destroyed himself and his near new Italian stallion. A couple more prangs like this and even the $ starved NT government said, enough is enough. In LOS a speed increase ? "Mai pen rai - just add a few zero's to the annual road toll" - and some folks actually wonder why I got my Thai family out of there eight years ago ! Then add the filthy air pollution .....
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40 minutes ago, Surelynot said:Haven't heard from the guy who slagged me off for mentioning air pollution in Chang Mai on another thread.....maybe he is in hospital now?
Don't sweat it, I get slagged off all the time by those on here that are living in denial, for telling the truth about C Mai - but then I got throat cancer (cured by radiation Oz) as a non-smoker from breathing the wonderful "fresh air" in C Mai for over twenty years. Only done one really clever thing in my life & that was selling our beautiful house in Saraphi in 2013 and moving to Oz, where our family breathes pure clean air 24/7. I loved C Mai when I first moved there in 1992 - it's horrid for 8 or 9 months a year now & getting worse - anyone who says it isn't is on another planet.
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When I was first posted to LOS in the early 90's I was based in Chiang Mai and Chiang Dao. The local highway patrol bought six new Holden Camira's. I was familiar with them ,as I had one for a few months as an Officers' support vehicle in Oz. They were only four cylinders, 1.8L from memory with a built in design fault. They had 'wet-liner' cylinder sleeves (whatever the heck they are) and most of them started using heaps of oil & blowing clouds of smoke after they'd done just 40,000 kms. Pretty lousy. They needed constant maintenance. All six bought by the CM police were dead within a couple of years. Nearly all the Holden Commodores shipped to LOS from Oz came with a 2L four cylinder Nissan motor or its' Oz equivalent. Rubbish to drive - totally gutless. The six cylinder was never a sales chance in LOS after about 1974 because of the huge import taxes on engines over 2L back then. I spent my nearly thirty years in LOS looking out for any decent old Aussie car body - either Ford or Holden, to do up in LOS & then ship back to Australia. Labour in LOS is peanuts - a respray is pocket money - upholstery cheap as chips etc. Most of the time, I could not find one that any Thai was even prepared to sell. Those that would sell wanted crazy prices for junk - like 500,000 baht for a rusty shell, now fitted with an ailing diesel truck engine and not legally registered. "As soon as they see a farang is interested," they add two zero's on to the price. There is a chap on the ring road between Sankampang and Borsang in C Mai who has about twenty old Oz cars and a few old Ford Mustangs for sale, but as soon as he sees a foreigner looking at them ..... you get the picture.
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2 hours ago, TheFishman1 said:The air quality in Chiang Mai is terrible today
Exactly why I abandoned my fantastic 5 y.o. 2 storey palace in Saraphi that I designed & built & that was perfect in every way, making almost no profit and, took my wife and daughter & got the living hell out of Thailand for ever in 2013. The corruption, terrible driving and all the other immigration B/S was one thing - but the foul air was the final straw. Diagnosed with throat cancer upon arrival back in Oz, the fifth such non-smoker to have the same illness (T1 laryngeal cancer) caused, according to my specialist on the Gold Coast, from long-term exposure to filthy air. I lived in LOS for nearly thirty years, mostly in "Changers" and, saw the air degrade from average to terrible in LOS, in only ten years. I had to endure three months of radiation treatment - but I'm alive. It is 2200 hours here in Oz - I just wandered outside to take a pee, as we live in the bush. Crystal clear clean air. Paradise. Then I turned on my computer to look at T/V. I'm not at all religious, but I thanked God. The poor silly dill, a very wealthy man also from Oz, who spent four times the money I spent on a two storey home, to build a single storey bungalow opposite my old house in Saraphi, lives in total denial. He'll get the picture too, when he starts coughing.
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Hey Natai Beach - I bet it scared you. I had an old farmer come up to me on the Newell Highway in a brand new Chrysler Valiant V8 Regal - they had a 318 V8 from memory, in 1972. I let him get move up to me to see if he was a cop - he pulled alongside on a long straight - then slowly went past, whilst giving me 'the finger' & smiling at his young son (I assume) next to him. He was flat out at about 100mph. My GTHO had the stripes removed by me, to remove police attention - so it looked like any other Ford. I then pulled out to pass him, looked left at him at the same speed and smiled, then I changed down to third gear and floored it. (By this time, I'd had the 390 California Heads, big cam and 4 barrel 950 double pumper Holley carby fitted). At about 125 mph I threw into top gear and he was a memory. I was a young 20 y.o. soldier - it still bothers me now at 70 to think of how I could survive driving that monster daily, let alone survive a couple of wars. I'm not surprised that they banned them. I only got one ticket in it though - speeding, - 48mph in a 35 mph zone ! I drive at the speed limit, or even slower, at 70.
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3 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:
And yet the OP claims V8 RWD sedans are cheap.
They were cheap about five or six years ago, but not now. Everyone is either 'panic-buying' their once 'dream' car or, reliving their mis-spent youth. However, you can't drive fast anymore in Oz - cops and speed cameras are everywhere. Fines are astronomical. That being said, I'd prefer to drive in Oz, or anywhere else really, than ever drive again in LOS.
Q. re Thai girlfriend receiving a UK pension after partner dies..
in Home Country Forum
Posted
Although I'm half British & have dual citizenship, I think the Australian Govt. looks after its' citizens better than the UK does but that being said, the UK govt has been broke for years - there is little else they can cut/do to save money, so I pity them. I often see on here that the UK Embassy doesn't look after their citizens in LOS, but my only dealings with them at the old (now demolished) UK Embassy back in 2000 were good. They gave my Thai wife a one year visitor visa when I only wanted 2 weeks, to visit my now late mother. Here in Oz, my Thai wife will inherit 67% of my army pension when I cark it, for the duration of her life. Our daughter would also be eligible to receive extra payments until she turns 18 - (she is 11 now) but chances are I'll be around a while yet, so it is unlikely our daughter will get anything extra. In the unlikely event that my wife wished to return to LOS to live, her 67% of my army pension is entirely transportable for life. That's not going to happen though - she loves it here and has already told all and sundry back home that she will never return to Thailand, other than for a holiday. As a legal migrant, she's become what used to be called "a New Australian" - only in her case, she's become "a New Farang" !