grain

Over the years there have been scores of tourists who have either died or been seriously injured from slipping at Hin Lad Waterfall, yet they continue to promote it as one of the island's main tourist attractions. Surely it can't be too difficult to construct some safety rails and a viewing platform at the top with a railing for everyone who wants to take selfies there.

agreed, we generally lose power for a few hours in those strong winds, but some heavy rain would be wonderful.

Well I certainly hope so. We're in Nakhon Ratchasima and we haven't seen any rain for months, it's so dry and dusty everywhere, really horrible at the present time, a few days of tropical downpours would be most welcome, wash all the dirt and dust away....bring it on!

The thing with the slap-on-the-wrist and a 500Bt fine crowd is there are soooooooooooooo many of them. If they all got what they really deserve, which is 3,6,12,18 months behind bars, the Thai prisons would be so overcrowded it would be ridiculous, they'd be stacked up to the ceilings. I'm sure the judges are aware of this. There are just too many miscreants for the Thai system to effectively deal with.

You can drive for 3 months in WA with a foreign d/l including a Thai one, I'm not sure about other states. If you Google for driving info in the state/states you plan to visit you'll soon find the regulations.

If I was you I'd listen to the missis and go by car.

Agree entirely, in TKD every pattern, every move, starts with a defensive move - a block first, followed by a strike, in TKD they never attack first, unless it's in tournaments. But always better to avoid, and if one doesn't feel capable of winning get away. When we were teens we often prevented fights by psyching out someone. One time this big rocker was going to fight our friend Clive, it was getting close to starting, I went stood next to the big Rocker and said to him softly...Jesus mate, you're not going to fight him are you? Watch out for his head, he's fast, and when you're on the ground watch for his boots, he's a nasty bastard. And I saw the doubt come into the big rocker's face, he was having second thoughts. It's over then, beat the guy with the brain (and BS because Clive couldn't fight his way out a wet paper bag) 😄

I been in many punch ups and brawls in my younger days, but I'm in my mid-70s now and as gentle as a lamb. Nose has been broken twice, the 2 smallest fingers on both hands are twisted from being broken by landing badly places punches, plus I have cracks in a couple of ribs. Other than that I've been fortunate that I've never been glassed or badly stomped in bar fights. I learned boxing as a boy at the local youth club, and got to green belt in TKD, which helped me out. I was never a bully or a hooligan that went looking for trouble but if anyone started something then I gleefully jumped in. These days however I just smile and walk away if anyone gives me some lip, I know I no longer have the speed or strength. It makes me laugh whenever I watch those videos of old guys trying to fight and getting knocked flat on their backs in two seconds. I think you silly old fools, don't you realize those days are gone for good.

These Christian groups come and go, there used to be one with a HQ in that little soi off Pothole, directly behind Bua Khao. Some years ago they were giving money to the local gals so they didn't have to sell their bodies, so many bargals popped in there on their way to work and picked up a bit extra. And there often used to be a group of young singing bible bashers outside Central.

Bit harsh putting the blame on the local chickens 😂

Same with me, thank God. We go to Australia early March, return to Thailand early June.

The worst we ever had was a few years ago and we had been in Australia for 3 months and just arrived back in Thailand, we got a taxi from BKK to our village in Korat and the old lady directly across the road from us must have passed away while we were sitting in the taxi. By the time we reached home it was like the "Guns & Roses" road crew were busy erecting the scaffolding and setting up the speaker bins on the opposite side of the road directly facing us. It started every day at 5:30am and went to about midnight. It was terrible. But in hindsight I was bloody daft for remaining, I should have tossed some stuff into my car and headed down to Pattaya for a week, which is exactly what I'll do next time.

It's a face thing, the louder the noise, the bigger the sound system, the more money you have and the bigger your face. It's often to the point of absurdity. Right bang smack in the middle of the covid pandemic in Thailand a lady up the road from us had her son become a monk and she went the whole 9-yards with the massive sound system blocking the road. My wife went to the party, she told me everyone wore masks, but due to the deafening volume everyone had to lean in close together to hear what each other was saying, and of course this was at a time when everyone was supposed to be social distancing.

That's the first thing they think of, I reckon before they even notify the local authorities of the death they have phoned the sound system company to come around and erect the scaffolding and set up like a rock concert.

Thank you, lots of good ideas here.

Not in Thailand, the apartment is in Perth, my wife and I will be going to Perth next month and I'll be doing renovations while there. Ideally I'll get a painter to repaint the property but if the cost is too high we'll have to do it ourselves. Interior only, no exterior painting at all. Lounge and bedroom ceilings are OK, but bathroom ceiling is a bit flakey in parts and will need rubbing back and repainting. I understand I'll need mould-proof paint for the bathroom. The lounge walls are brick in some parts and plastered in the rest. Last time the place was painted was 10 years ago. Can we just repaint the walls right off or do they have to be prepared in some way first. As the unit is smallish everyone say paint white but I find white a bit uninteresting. Also everyone say use flat matte paint but I kinda prefer gloss, I think the gloss painted walls are better when wiping off stains. We'll also need to paint skirting, doors, frames. If white walls then white doors too, but I think the skirtings would look good painted in a dark contrasting color. Both of us have done a pit of painting before but not a lot, so I welcome any tips, pointers, pitfalls to look out for.

Your village sounds like our village. It's a great at night unless someone dies, gets married, or becomes a monk. Then like you I'm looking at getting out for a week.

Take the bus CM to NK, put the bike in the bus luggage area, or on the roof if a 3rd class bus. I have no idea if there will be any difficulty taking the bike across the border, but there may well be, it is a vehicle after all. Perhaps you should do a Google search for a cycling club in SEA and ask there.

I'm considering keeping my time spent in Thailand to just under 180 days in future tax years. When exactly does the Thai tax year begin and end? What are the exact dates?

Could well be a load of BS too, pretty well every drug smuggler who gets busted at an airport has a cock & bull story about someone put the gear into their bags and they had no knowledge and have been set up. Going to HK to pray at temples sounds like even more BS.

Not quite correct Chris. Lao (as with the other former French colonies, Cambodia & Vietnam) has very good coffee and a thriving coffee growing industry. Lao does have it's own TV stations, you can even get them when you are in NE Thailand. Alcohol and bargirls are not banned at all. Beer Lao is excellent and readily available all over the country, there are also numerous other beers available, and local Lao Lao is available everywhere. There isn't the huge bargirl scene like Thailand but a scaled down version does exist. In past years it was illegal for foreigners to have relations out of wedlock with local girls but those restrictions have vanished now. Personally I far prefer Thailand to Lao, but I do like going to Vientiane every year or so just for a change.

That was your mistake. I've told my Thai wife if ever I'm unconscious never never never take me to one of those Bangkok hospitals, take me to the nearest government hospital.

More than likely this is to connect up with the China - Vientiane railway to get Chinese products by rail to Thailand, Malaysia and S'Pore.

I went with my TGF to our local amphur a few months ago, was told to go get legally married then come back and ask again. So I've given up on ever having one.

andych: best thing you can do for yourself is move on and forget about all these plans you are considering. If you persist your life is going to become very complicated by dealing with both Thai and British government laws and regulations and lengthy procedures. And you're going to put yourself into a situation of continual financial drain. At the present time it's very early days, don't progress any further with this, if you do, the deeper you get the more tangled up your life will become and the more difficult it will be to extract yourself at a later date. If you want to save yourself a lot of stress, complications, headaches and expense move on now. However, if you must continue with this relationship then your best course of action is to take an early retirement, come live in Thailand, live together with your girlfriend (no need at all to get legally married at this early stage) and see how it goes. I wish you all the best.