billythehat

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

So this is my situation:

I have been living in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos (my current home) for about 22 years.  Next June I will start to receive my UK state pension of about $1,000 (equivalent), and although I am still teaching science online (getting about $1,500-$2,000) income each month, I want to consider if I can have a modest and healthy life living in Thailand using only my state pension.

 

This is because who knows what might happen health-wise etc which might mean that I can no longer teach online... I need to think long-term.... Would young kids really want to learn from an 80-year old teacher?

 

Now why am I thinking of Ao Nang?  Surely I can live more cheaply in north Laos?  Well, yes and no. Although I currently rent a lovely old house on the outskirts of Luang Nang, the rent is $400/month, the air pollution is not good in the burning season (I have a long-term chronic lung 'condition'), and I have no relatives here to call upon in times of dire need.  I could rent a house for perhaps $300, but the savings are not huge.

 

My Thai ex #3 owns a modern, 2 bedroom house about 2km back from the Ao Nang beachfront. I persuaded her to buy this newly-built house (on a mortgage) many years ago as an investment, or in case her small hotel business in Phuket fails.  Well, what with Covid and the general economic situation in Phuket, he hotel just ticks over and she is often unable to rent her house in Ao Nang, even for the monthly rent of 5,000 baht. She has had many problems paying the low monthly mortgage fee, but the house is not under any sort of repossession order (yet).

 

(I'm thinking aloud here!).  I can rent her house for 5,000/month, (because she wants someone to live in the house to look after it, and to keep the bank happy with regular mortgage payments - she's not looking to make any profit).  The burning season doesn't affect Krabi as bad as North Laos (We used to run a guesthouse together in Ao Nang about 16 years ago). The sea-air will be good for my lungs.  Medical amenities are nearby (I don't need any regular medical facilities, but who knows as a get older).

 

For my retirement visa, I would need to use.. er .. available means! But I've done that before a few years ago and never had any problems.

 

So what would be the disadvantage of living in Ao Nang in my ex #3's house?  I should emphasize that I've known this ex for more than 20 years, and although we were not suitable in a marriage (she doesn't do sex!!), we get on very well as very good friends. She is intelligent and honest, with zero interest in any kind of relationship, with either a Thai or foreigner.

 

Comments appreciated!

 

$1000? I assume you’re quoting per month which maybe a reasonable approximation although I don’t know why you didn’t quote the King’s pound! Should you have a private pension pot, all the better. Current UK full state pension is about £200 per week depending on marital status and having at least 30 years of paying in full NI contributions upon reaching the retirement age of 67 for men to qualify for full state pension. Sure, move anywhere you want to but do keep your passport up to date for any escape that may or not be required (you mention health issues) and to pick up some free spare choppers/specs whilst in the UK!  The expense of international travel could be a problem but I guess you’ve covered this issue in the future pension budget.

 

As to be teaching the unteachable at 80 years young, that would seem an admirable goal to help negate the terminal boredom of living there full time in retirement, especially for an active mind.

 

Ao Nang, dunno, as I’ve only stayed there a couple of times, mainly just passing through. Myself, I would go back for a month to see if it still was for me as we sometimes remember times/places being better than they actually were. Up to you, Farang.

2 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Was that "Camp Coffee " , that was awful stuff, mostly chicory if I remember.

aye, that was it, dosed by the teaspoon to naughty kids!

12 hours ago, The Cobra said:

I find as I am getting older that I often reflect back on how things have changed from when I was a kid. What do you remember ?

Here are some of the things that come to mind, 

 

Dad starting the car with a handle.

Mother fighting with a clothes wringer

Lighting a fire in the living room.

Carrying coal

Lighting it with paraffin block firelighters.

Keeping pigeons as pets

Sunday night bathtime

Test card on TV

Only 2 channels

45, 33 and 78 records

Radiograms

Fruit salad, black-jacks, bronco busters

Coppers had capes that walked the street.

Milk delivered in glass bottles

Phonecall from a box in the street.

Party lines

Pathe News before the A and B movie

Saturday cinema

Saturday job in a Butchers

Sunday was a day of rest and everything was closed.

Playing "kick the can" 

 

 

What do you remember ? Not what you were told about but actually remember from when you were a kid ?

Introduction of drinkable coffee. There was a liquid substitute coffee liquid that came in a bottle (can’t remember the name) that tasted awful.

 

No ‘alternative’ teas. Cocoa powder with hot creamy milk and sugar was a treat.

 

My hardworking mum having 3 jobs. I didn’t personally appreciate the sacrifices she made when we were kids until became an adult with responsibilities.

 

My dad introducing us to curry powder leading to a lifetime addiction to spicy food.

His wardrobe smelling of Old Spice after shave lotion and Brylcreem hair cream. He never used anything else.

 

A constipated Uncle Ron not reading the label on a bottle of Syrup of Figs and chugging the whole bottle down – we laughed like drains for a week after the outcome!

 

Riding old pedal petrol mopeds on the nearby disused railway line (the tracks long removed), again leading to a lifetime of riding motorcycles.

 

Having a paper round, a Saturday job, being a golf caddy and dragging wet coal sacks up the steep hill to where we lived….eeeee it were tuff but seemed quite normal, you just got on with it.

 

Collecting early Marvel comics – probably worth a few shillings now.

 

Living with neighbours that knew it each other and looked out for them. Everyone knew everyone.

 

Yer mates from school and what mischief we got up to.

 

The local chippy that didn’t cost an arm and a leg for a meal. Always a big queue on a Friday and I loved the onion vinegar supplied from the giant glass jar of pickled onions. Never got the gherkins thing though…

 

Collecting old stamps (later stolen by some scumbag) and an interest in astronomy. I remember the wonder of viewing the heavens through a proper telescope.

 

Keeping pets although my dad never liked or wanted a dog in the house.

 

Secondary school teachers with anger management issues, especially after they’d had a few scoops in the pub opposite the school at dinnertime.

 

The kindness of most adults when we were young.

 

Mum taking us to her Bingo club on a Thursday night – no problem for us boys as it meant plenty of crisps and coke all evening!

 

Disco/activity clubs for young lads and lasses to meet up and socialize and then a skateboard race home after.

 

You could buy a packet of 5 Park Drive cigarettes.

 

Party 7 beer cans, Old English Cider, milk stout and packets and packets of real crisps.

 

The one Chinese takeaway in town.

 

Sports day at school.

 

Walking for miles to get somewhere where there was no local transport in town. Never a problem.

 

Visits from the local chimney sweep. He kept champion winning sheep dogs and out-lived his wife and son. He never complained and had many interesting stories of his youth, one of which was riding speedway bikes at the Wimbledon Speedway.

 

Checking out the female babysitters.

 

Having jabs for various diseases.

 

My dad’s sister married a Canadian pilot (she was a WAAF in WW2) and emigrated to Canada after the war. She would send the occasional parcel of a round of extra strong mature Canadian cheese. It was delicious and until this day, I cannot eat mild cheeses.

 

My immediate neighbour was a Scottish man. We understood (my dad’s fault entirely) that his name was Jock and we called him that. Later, we kids discovered his real name was John although he or his wife never corrected us! His mum lived with them and used to feed Hedgehogs in the evening. I haven’t seen one for years now.

 

The trauma of my parent’s divorce and its affect later in life.

 

Searching for crabs amongst the mussel beds under the white chalk cliffs where folk sold cockles, mussels, large crabs and lobsters. Mum liked jellied Ells. Our opinion was that she was welcome to them and no, we didn’t want any!

 

A wee bit later, the importance of education and learning a trade.

 

Having proper seasons; it pretty much always snowed at Christmas and the other seasons followed their course.

 

Watching the first moon landing on an old black and white telly and loved watching Star Trek.

 

Dad always had his radio on somewhere in the house. He used to play piano at the local pub near his air-base during WW2.

 

The one coal fire in the house to huddle around during the cold winter. You could have hung meat for keeping in the other rooms. Going to bed with hot water bottles.

 

And so much more but I’ll leave it there for now. I had an operation yesterday and feeling a bit sore and groggy from the anesthetic this morning.

 

All those moments lost in time…pass me that tissue box would you please?

On 11/7/2022 at 3:10 AM, xylophone said:

Thanks for the information BTH and I'm sure you're right, given your expertise in this area, however I also do believe the water run-off from the hill on the other side of the road which was "re-routed" had something to do with it, this especially as the road collapse happened about three weeks after they had finished this so-called "remedial work"!! However I bow to your superior knowledge.

 

Yes the old Suzuki Swift is going well and is just about to clock up 40,000 km in just over 10 years, so not really used a great deal, however I will be trying the Patong-Kathu road today in order to buy some more wine.

 

Are you due over to this part of the world any time soon?? If you are, don't hesitate to give me a call so that we can catch up.

 

All the very best. Xylo

message sent

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

my little Suzuki Swift
 

The trusty Suzi still going strong I see!

 

To the topic under discussion and my own 2 Baht as an Engineer:

 

The soil is mainly a sandy loam (sand & clay) with free drainage characteristics. From the photos shown so far, the removal of the road appears to show shear failure of the road metal where the movement of the underlying soil tends to slide due to the overbearing pressure/loading on the soil. The friction of the road foundation is unable to resist the shear force of the moving soil and fails. The movement does not ‘wash away’ foundations but alters the way one structure movement affects another structure (soil friction/angle.) 

 

If, after some deliberation and cost analysis, the road is to be retained, the stabilization of the existing soil would be a priority before any works are undertaken. The use of piling/other systems would incur, due to the soil type, to be of some considerable depth for an effective retaining structure.

 

Long term, the slope in this location will continue to fail due to several factors; the removal of trees etc. and the current road alignment abandoned and a new road alignment built. The soil report, post failure, and its’ recommendations should reveal the mystery…
 

16 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Things which makes a bar noteworthy -

Pretty staff 

decent priced booze

good food

music 

Sir, you missed an equally valid reason; Staff Attitude.

On 3/16/2022 at 3:14 AM, simon43 said:

[quote]

Daily News had pictures of a foreigner with a quite reasonable set of abs, with no explanation as to where they got this. 

[/quote]

 

I would hazard a guess - daily workouts in the gym? ????

Not necessarily in the gym…about 7 quid on Ebay...

 

8 hours ago, xylophone said:

Couldn't organise a p!ss up in a brewery comes to mind.

I've seen this quote translated in a UK travel brochure as "Bustling with Character."  ????

 

Those grid frames on Nanai do look a wee bit slippy when wet and on a motosai...

 

 

12 hours ago, xylophone said:

the words of a song by Joe Jackson came to mind......

Still touring,  new tour starting  in Ireland next year. ????

 

 

Comparing the old photo with the current 2021 view.

 

Note the similar roof shape of the structure to the right of Bangla Road (old with green tiles and dormer) and current image (brown tiles and same dormer construction) – Location of grounds to Patong Beach Hotel.

 

 

23 hours ago, xylophone said:

Well BTH, little side Sois are no longer there, and when you ventured through them and onto the car park, indeed there were a few bars which had set up shop on the perimeter of it, including a few in the middle, and the large music bar on the far side was called, "Hippie Road Bar" and occasionally had a good band playing there.

 

However that's all disappeared now, along with the other bars around it because they've all been knocked down, waiting for a hotel development by the looks of things.

 

Earlier on, there was one Indian restaurant in the Soi, called the, Indian Curry Club (ICC) however in recent times another one opened up, quite a bit larger and painted inside and out in vivid white which gave one the impression of being in a mortuary, so it's no wonder it had hardly any customers!

 

As KarenBravo has said, the Italian/pizza place on the right-hand side heading towards Bangla moved across the road some while ago and IMO also improved its food.

 

There were bars down there although I only frequented one called, "Wicked Bar" which was bought by three Kiwi guys, and it was quite a lively place at one time, although before that it was run by an Aussie and was called "Billabong Bar" and I occasionally watched sport in it.

 

Later on when the Yorkshire Inn was taken over and cleaned up, by a guy called Paul, I think his name was, the food was very good and I enjoyed a few good meals there with visiting friends who wanted some traditional English fayre.

 

There are still a couple of other small restaurants down there, one of them being in the front of the Summer Breeze small hotel, and I have attended a couple of Christmas dinners there, and they were good.

 

As KB has said, it wasn't really big enough to have raging night out, but was worth a visit for the food at the Yorkshire and/or the sport there or at the Billabong bar.

 

PS. Also sad to note that the entrance to Soi Sansabai, off what is known as "middle road" has had the top section of it completely demolished; that would be the section opposite the restaurant/hotel/pool place called Chang??

Posted a couple of days ago on YouTube; Sansabai from about 8 minutes on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVjMYW_oZfE

 

Yes, I remember the ICC (Indian Curry Club) in Sansabai. I would often fuel up in there before heading off for the night. Not a bad curry either.

 

The soi looks very different at the top end now as the usual cash-cows/investors are absent.

 

Wonder where they’re storing all those unused tuk-tuks?

1 hour ago, GrandPapillon said:

link? always game for a funny story to read ????

 

This reminded me that I hadn’t heard from Phet for many years. I assume he’s now retired and tapping out his memoirs somewhere in the west midlands of England. 

 

This link shows he was still scribbling tales of Lalaland after we met up in Bangkok in 2011 for a pizza and a few scoops of ale. 
https://brokenmanrepaired.wordpress.com/page/2/