jesimps

I too always feel safe in Thailand. Many places in the UK I wouldn't venture near the town centre late on a weekend evening. I once stayed in Carmarthen in South Wales on a Saturday night, thinking that it would be a sleepy place. My goodness, it was bedlam, something like what Dodge City must have been like in its heyday. Of course, there's always the chance that you could be attacked in any place in the world.

I too always feel safe in Thailand. Many places in the UK I wouldn't venture near the town centre late on a weekend evening. I once stayed in Carmarthen in South Wales on a Saturday night, thinking that it would be a sleepy place. My goodness, it was bedlam, something like what Dodge City was like in its heyday. Of course, there's always the chance that you could be attacked in any place in the world.

Last Monday I went to the Jomtien Tax Office to request a tax number and the lady there refused point blank to issue me with one. I had my wife explain to her all that i'd been reading on here about how foreigners staying long term had to be assessed for tax, but she wouldn't budge. Said that if I paid tax in my home country I didn't need a number, it was only for farang who worked here. I had a copy of my last P60 with me but didn't get the chance to present it. I did push her a little more but I left empty handed. Guess I'll be sitting back and keeping an eye on the news from here on in as a lot of others appear to be doing.

At least he's wearing a genuine lumberjack shirt 🙂

I had one of those in my globe-trotting days of the 1980s, mainly for the sports news from the UK. Great bit of kit for the pre internet/cell phone days.

This morning (12 June), with my Thai wife in tow who speaks fluent English, I visited the tax office in Jomtien to obtain a TIN. When I presented the lady with my passport, she told me that because I paid tax in my home country (UK) she could not issue me with a TIN. My wife outlined all that had been written in the news the last few months about long-stay expats bringing money into the country needing to be assessed, but she was adamant. No TIN! Up to them. I'll just keep an eye on Asean Now to see if anything comes of this. One thing seems certain, if we do all need to be assessed for tax here, then it hasn't come to the notice of the Jomtien Tax Office yet.

A few years back I would have agreed with you, but these days because of its woke hierarchy enforcing two-tier policing, surveillance cameras everywhere, rampant knife crime and shoplifting and burglary ignored, they are more in line with a third-world dictatorship.

You forgot noise! Dirty great speakers blasting out bass-heavy pop music every time someone goes to do his national monk service.

I've lived in the Pattaya area for over 17 years, strange that I've never met any of the 98% which you refer to. Methinks that you're one of the 98% who've never visited the city.

We all know why that is, don't we? It's actually endangering the public because every identifying characteristic known to the authorities should be made available to the public to help in the arrest of the perp.

Yes please!

If there's a WW3, someone has to be trained to do the fighting. If you have mainly civilians once the conflict starts, you may as well hand the country over to Mad Vlad on a plate. You're always playing catch-up if you try to train a military after the war has started. I can't see many gen Z or woke types being keen on the idea though, nor the hoards heading across the Channel in small boats.

So, if the cops read this forum, they'll be looking for a Brit who's escaped from Pattaya.

I had 20 treatments of radiotherapy on my larynx in 2000, which so far has been successful. I will admit though to a slight feeling of trepidation each time I get a sore throat or lose my voice.

Last time I took a cab from Pattaya to Bangkok I think I was lucky to get there in one piece. The driver was an absolute maniac. I've sworn that in future, if not driving myself, I'll use a big bus.

I was 63 when I first came here and for my first two years lived in Pattaya and Jomtien. I found it no problem at all using baht buses and walking. Even at going on 80, if I moved back into town I'd do the same without any problem. Baht buses are a cheap, trouble-free way of getting around. Occasionally when you do have a bit of a walk and you don't want to get sweaty, you can always grab a normal cab.

Similar to the "Hate Speech" laws springing up in several western countries. The moral of this story is to wait until after you leave the country before you start posting complaints about it online.

This is a little girl for heavens sake and if you have any kids of your own, you'll know that when a kid's got to go it's got to go. As someone already pointed out, you see Thais urinating by the side of the road almost on a daily basis. I even see them doing it on the track opposite my house! These are adults, not kids, so what's their excuse?

Thailand never seems to have any trouble returning foreign criminals to their country of origin. Why can't the UK do that with its incoming criminals. We can't get them to beat it even when we offer to pay and house them abroad.

Same as me. Lazada have wife's phone number, if not in, they phone her, she transfers funds and they leave package inside gate. My financial situation these days makes me very weary of giving out my credit card details.

When I finished my one year tour of active service in Borneo with the Brit Army in the early 1960s, there was only one place that us sex-starved squaddies were headed when our leave was due and that was here. That was in the days when Singapore was pretty wild too, so that should tell you something.

Yes. My ex wife was a doggy person and during our 17 year marriage, always insisted on keeping at least two dogs in the house. Every one of them was a pest in its own way, but to keep the peace I went along with it. Since our divorce in 2000, I've never owned another dog, nor have I regretted it. My Thai wife of the past 16 or so years isn't "doggy" either which makes for a happy marriage. However we still have to suffer the noise from idiots in our hamlet who let their animals wander around crapping everywhere and barking day and night. At least when I was a dog owner, I kept mine in check.

Grateful you show the stats which support your claim that Brits cause most of the problems here. I don't think the Thais would support you on that.

He may be British in your view, but .........

You couldn't pay me to leave "that crap hole", or cheat on the wife.