One of my colleagues in 2005 in a very small town was on a 14 year overstay. And there was an English man who used to help his SO convey her wares to the local market weekly who was living in one of the outlying villages who'd overstayed for longer than 20 years.
The only way longterm overstayers are apprehended is if they're snitched on.
Well, I don't understand how houses built with wood costs so much. And that's not the only problem with the houses, but it's how they've been building and they're not going to change.
That was the kind of blackmail some acquaintances and I experienced on a boat traveling from Luang Prabang, Laos to Chiang Saen, Thailand many moons ago. As a non-swimmer, I was pretty scared by their antics.