London Lowf

I did! (I always play the white guy)

My personal all-time favourites? #1: Thai – but she moved back to Roi Et and I wouldn’t last a week there. #2: Brit – a club dancer in London, although I met her online. #3: Pole – not particularly attractive but we were fireworks together. #4: Thai – but she became increasingly expensive. #5: Brit – a drop-dead gorgeous ebony who was really into sex (and me). I can only remember one South American – a Columbian who was so nasty and inept that we had a flaming argument before I walked out. What’s your list?

This is certainly true of the younger ones - I've given up on them! However some, particularly if they have been to the West or have experience of Western men, tend to become more proficient in their mid to late thirties.

I would have thought any reasonably busy kiosk (e.g. the one on the corner of Bangla and beach road) would do this. They display both selling and buying rates and the spread is surprisingly narrow - especially compared to the 20% difference on the High Street back in the UK.

As far as the UK goes, this is the best answer so far. We all, along with most of the rest of the world, laid down and played dead with Covid lockdowns - democracy shenanigans aren't even in the same league as a threat to basic human rights. It doesn't matter who is in power, we are now effectively ruled by #1 lawyers and #2 big business.

Odd that you can regard insurance as an investment - so you knew before you paid the premiums that you were going to make worthwhile claims? Yes, some folk do win in a casino but overall, hard gaming is a licence to print money.

Leaving room for bikes?

No, they are not supposed to get into a punch-up but they would be expected (by me) to be able to handle violent offenders - especially the airport police, I would have thought.

Because those people are (supposedly) trained and paid professionals to handle these situations. What struck me about the fracas at Manchester airport was when the second video emerged of the original confrontation - the perps were clearly not trained fighters and yet the police, despite outnumbering them, simply coluld not handle the situation and that is why it got out of hand.

Not unique to Buriram, I see this muliple times a day on Phuket and so I would guess that it is nation-wide.

Exactly - when you take out insurance you are betting that you will have a fire/flood/theft and that is when you win - the insurance company is effectiverly betting that none of that will happen. Overall, the insurance companies win and that is why they are profitable - the policyholders are the losers.

Does this help? https://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/index.html

Thanks for the spoiler! I avoid news and F1 sites on race days as I like to watch the action in the evening rather than waste precious UK summer afternoons, but never imagined I would see an unmissable banner headline on here that completely spilled the beans. Will you be doing this on a regular basis?

That thought has crossed my mind - for now I can afford my rent increases as it is still a bargain compared to many other retirement options, but what about the local Thai workers? The property price explosion will trickle all the way down the market and so they must really be struggling. In the news here there is talk of a huge anti-tourist backlash in many of the popular Spanish resorts for exactly this reason. It's a delicate balance as Thailand is heavily reliant on the tourist dollars, but Phuket certainly seems to be going over the tipping point.

If you like beaches and nature then Phuket is clearly superior - as long as you avoid Patong. I ride a scooter all over the island and so I'm not a taxi-mafia basher, but compared to my home country they are cheap and most tourists probably aren't fazed by the fares although I do accept that they are substantially more expensive than the rest of Thailand. The girls are more expensive, but looking at the offerings in Pattaya (on Youtube, no personal experience) I'm happy to pay their prices - like the taxis, they are a bargain compared to back home. As far as accesiblity goes, I can either fly from the UK direct to Bangkok and then a one hour hop to Phuket, or cut the journey in half with a stopover in the Middle East - either way a single-stop journey with a one hour taxi ride at this end. My only problem is with property prices - my rent went up 33% last December and I'm expecting 25% later this year. I have nothing personal against Russians (I have a nice couple living next door) but they have caused an explosion in the property market. I'll swallow the rent hike this year, but will consider looking elsewhere if it continues.

There's a Da Moreno in Cherngtalay, almost opposite the big Lotus - it's been there for a couple of years.

Why don't you make a shortlist and then ask Fazwaz if any are negotiable over lease duration - my guess would be a resounding "No!" Even if you can find a place then the rent will go up significantly, particularly if your proposed stay in within the November to April season. I spend half of my time in Thailand (two ninety-day visits) and I rent my apartment a year at a time with full payment up-front for exactly these reasons.

A good point as most Thai bathrooms are a wetroom and so laminate or vinyl planks would be unsuitable. I have a seperate walk-in shower tray (with a bath mat outside!) and full-sized glass screen and so my flooring is not subject to more than the odd splash.

I've just done my bathroom in the UK with vinyl click flooring and wonder if it's available in Thailand? It's in 1220 x 180mm planks, like a laminate, has a fake wood finish but is only 4.5mm thick on a 1mm underlay and so not a big step to a neighbouring room. Being vinyl, water ingress is not a problem.

Look for a label on the back of your computer - I'm assuming a desktop - and it should state the rated maximum power consumption in Watts. Multiply by ten (hours) and divide by 1,000 to find Kilowatt Hours (i.e. units) maximum consumption. My laptop does not have this info, but the mains adaptor is rated at 150W output, so 1.5 units for ten hours - maximum. Peanuts!

I had similar inconsistent running on my low-mileage (800 miles in the last three years) scooter back home in the UK - a new spark plug sorted it out. A cheap DIY fix and worth a try.

Anyone who follows F1 will be aware of the list of "rich" countries attempting to join the circus - Thailand is a joke! As someone mentioned earlier, Vietnam almost got there with a very viable street circuit but it all went belly-up at the last minute due to politics and corruption. Also, anyone who has visited Buriram will understand that they simply cannot host this kind of event - I tried back in February to arrange a trip to the bike Moto GP in October but there is VERY little accomodation around Buriram and it was all booked up. I did manage World Superbikes in 2019, but I was very lucky and one of the very few farangs there.

Apart from the scavengers, the official collectors (in Kamala) also rip open the bags to pull out recyclables before it goes into the crusher - they have big black plastic bags hanging off the back of the truck for this stuff. Also, at regular intervals along the back roads there are cages for plastic waste.

Wow - never seen that, and I used to work for a company that supplied plastic blown film/cast film/extrusion machinery. I guess you are also drinking glass particles every time you have a beer? Or ceramic particles every time you eat your dinner?

Yes, but they announced that a few weeks ago and it never happened! Got a notification from the UK Foreign Office, and then another one a few days later to reverse it. I'm going in back in September and will get a TR60 e-visa even if the 60-day visa-exempt is active.