In the jungle

I formed my opinion based more on the photographs rather than what EV said on Youtube. Based on the photographs I am not willing to take a punt on such a car that costs one million plus right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2shibi6T5mc An interesting video from the Electric Viking on rust problems with the BYD Atto 3. For now this is enough for me to cross all BYD cars off the list as it seems to be due to a fundamental flaw in their build process.

Congratulations. I thought you were doomed.

Thank you. That is very useful information. How you have things arranged with UK state pensions is exactly how I wish to do it. I will see if I can replicate it.

I have no intention of breaking the law and intend being entirely honest with DWP as to my place of residence. It would, however, be advantageous if I could get them to use my UK address for correspondence. Post that arrives at my UK address is scanned and emailed to me the same day. I find Thailand Post very unreliable.

I also have a UK address and phone number but I assume that I could not use them for DWP in respect of the state pension as place of residence affects entitlements under the state pension scheme.

Thank you for a very clear answer to my question.

I rode across one of these yesterday on a motorcycle at Patio (the nearest station to Chumphon airport). It's like a rollercoaster. Unpleasant in the dry and most likely hazardous in the wet. At the moment the road surface is bare concrete. They are also replacing the rather quaint old station with a huge concrete box station. A complete waste of money given that on a good day probably ten passengers embark/disembark at this station.

I take that as fair comment. I suspect that part of the difference between your priorities and mine are to do with age. I have done more than my fair share of living the high life in the past. I know what its like. I no longer do that because I no longer wish to. These days I focus much more on maintaining good health and making generous provision for those I will leave behind. That said, partly why I have done my best to offer good advice to the OP is because I would love to be able to roll the dice again and be in his position.

How frequently do you have to do this for a UK pension?

Rangsit might be a decent choice now the Skytrain runs to there.

A 'lady drink' is a drink bought at a vastly inflated price so that a prostitute will sit and talk to you. I describe it explicitly for fear that you might unwittingly offer a civilian a lady drink!

I only lived in Bangkok for four years but I travel there reasonably often. I prefer the countryside but job opportunities there are much more limited. Fine for me as I am firmly in old fart territory.

I have actually kept a detailed record of my outgoings over the last six months (181 days to be exact) Total spent = 115,907.90 Baht Daily spend = 640 Baht Monthly spend = 19,200 Baht That is upcountry. I spend only a small fraction of my income. If I needed or wanted to spend more I would do so. I run a car and bike in that budget but I use the bike for 90%+ of journeys. I eat a good quality healthy diet and eat very little meat. My main extravagance, and one of my biggest expenses, is going to the swimming pool five times a week. Add 50% Bangkok premium to that budget and you have 30K.

I think try and get somewhere near a BTS Skytrain station. In 22 years in Thailand I have never been to an area in Bangkok where I felt unsafe.

I agree. 30K plus rent would do it. You can have a decent life on that amount. Anything more is a bonus. On the subject of transport my advice is only consider a scooter if you have a fair amount of experience on such a bike already. Bangkok is not the place to learn.

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/prev/on_pets.html

Have you heard of Lyme disease? Be fearful.

They are noisy. They smell. They may attack you or other people. They may bring parasites that can make you seriously ill or kill you. They cost you money. They will breed uncontrollably unless you neuter them which will cost you more money. They may harass or kill your cats and other pets. I am not a dog person.

Edit: Thailand's self proclaimed top virologist.

Do they really need an autopsy (as stated in the link) to determine how the child died?

I bought it direct from Stihl's authorised distributor in Thailand as opposed to a retailer. Moreover anyone with experience can easily tell the qualitative difference between a real Stihl chainsaw and a fake.

Because I own a Stihl made by Stihl in a Chinese factory. It is probably the cheapest chainsaw they sell in Thailand. It cost 8000 Baht.

Fake.

UK gas price up 129.4% in the last year. UK electricity price up 66.7% in the last year. Office for National Statistics