BusyB

Where I live (for tax purposes - I'm rather nomadic occasionally) I was able to WORK and draw a pension for a year and a half. Legally. Goddam EU marxist communism. It's $hi7, stay in the US or the UK. You'd hate it here. And don't get me started on how much holiday I got or the health issues that I didn't pay a penny for in the socialist hell of Germany. Late in life and retired after a lifetime of good universal healthcare the docs are giving me a clean bill of health and I'm just wondering what to do with the last third or so, roughly, of my available adult years. I can't rock climb or tackle obstacles the way I once could. My shoulder is threatening me with some violence in a not too distant future. I have to be careful with my back and couldn't punch my way out of a wet paper bag these days. However I still do hefty gym work and cardio, swim, am active, travel and enjoy life, have lots of fun. But the body is definitely dying and the aches and pains I wake up with sometimes were never there as a young man. The wrinkles set to come are already hinting at the maps they'll draw on my face and the loose skin that will develop on my arms is beginning to pucker. There's no escaping that. I find those thoughts comforting rather than trying to deny it though. Dying is, in the end, just another issue to deal with in life. I'm more worried about the how than the fact itself and I am quite prepared to put an end to me myself if things get really bad. I do hope though that I can get the remainder of the things done I want to do before I get that far. I've made it a priority not to die regretting things I haven't done. But who knows?

30k is painful rich or poor. But whether you get the deposit back or not is independent of their shenanigans. Maybe they're even playing you together? There are legal methods of reclaiming the deposit as long as you have the paperwork, and that doesn't depend on you living there any more. Or maybe just write it off. That way you only get angry once and don't have to pay lawyers. The way I've always seen it with rentals in Thailand (and I've had several long term leases) is that once I've paid the deposit it's no longer part of my current financial considerations. I don't hold it as some kind of 'collateral' or 'savings' against my future bank account. It's gone - paid. I paid 20k last year. I've actually never had a problem getting a deposit back yet. But although losing 20k would have saddened me and made me angry, it wouldn't actually have had an effect on anything else I was doing. I could have come up with a deposit again if I'd had to. Like they say: don't ever invest anything in Thailand you can't simply walk away from. That's real freedom here. Don't dance to their tune remains my take on this. Not worth the bother.

Lies have short legs and I definitely wouldn't want my tenancy (or any other kind of business) based on that kind of a stitch up of one party or the other. It's a dishonest scheme that leaves you vulnerable to something as simple as one of the other parties simply changing their mind. If it got close to renewal time with no solution I'd be inclined to take the initiative and find a cheap short term rental while I looked for a decent new pad. Leave the landlord and the real estate guy to sort it themselves. It'd be worth a little short term extra costs to me for a secure tenancy and peace of mind. A stress free life is worth its weight in gold. Don't dance to others' tunes, play your own.

'A nine-day holiday with two large cases' and hand luggage. A criminal genius.

Well that's just it isn't it? You don't know where anyone on this forum is or who they are. It's always better for the real professionals to remain out of sight and reach of their marks - be they romance scammers, bitcoin scammers or penny stock pumpers or whatever. And there are enough quasi concentration camps in Cambodia in particular where legions of trafficked victims are forced to 'fatten pigs' for the final kill. India is full of them. No way would I move onto another platform. Why? There'd be absolutely nothing in it for me. And I'd be opening myself to unknown potential threats - totally unnecessarily as I have a full enough diary as it is.

I recall the name 'Old Curmudgeon' from way back - used to have a mug with the same words on the side as their avatar.. Someone returning after a long ban? Recent posts I've seen seem to confirm the name tag. Anyway, one of the first thing scammers do is try to get the mark off the main forum where contact was established and onto something like what's App or Instagram.

How ridiculous. Get help.

Dunno if this kind of thing is ever 'reasonable' whatever the circumstances, but there is certainly a motive behind this filthy crime with that kind of coordination involved

What is this twaddle?

Visiting Thailand (or any country) on a tourist visa, or enjoying the privilege of visiting with a visa exemption, is clearly different to setting up a form of long term residency (however unofficial) on back to back tourist visas and exemptions.

Probably not ...

I've only been an active member of these forums (back then as TV) since about 2009, although lurking since my first snowbird gig in 2003/4. I watched dismayed as all the smarta$$e$ bragged back then about being 'English' 'teachers' (some could barely spell never mind the 'grammar') and doing repeat border runs while sacking in enough cash to get stoned all month. And how appalling their attitude was to the kids they were cheating of a decent education. I figured at the time that Immigration/Police were monitoring the forum. They'd have been idiots not to. And I figured they'd start tightening up, which they did around 2006 onwards. Those goons all thought they were smarter than the idiot Thais (from schools to Immigration) they insulted all the time, and completely destroyed what was a reasonable lenient gig for lots of decent people who did the simple things they were asked to do to conform. They utterly ruined it for those who adhered to what were then very lenient regulations. It looks like the same will happen with the DT Visas. Making it a pain in the backside and so much harder for decent folks who screw the bobbin and adhere to the regs. Doesn't bother me so much because I can easily get a legit Non-O retirement visa. But that type of self-centered 'I'm OK, sod the rest' really urinates me off anywhere. Especially when it's obvious that the wannabe smarta$$e$ are actually as thick as mince and clearly don't give a damn about anyone else.

That's the whole plan and why the Reps heaved him back into office at any cost. Because they really want Vance in place who will do exactly as they tell him - and he wrote the foreword for 'Project 2025'. And then you lot can really look in.

The evidence suggests they apparently aren't in the least interested.

The number of Christmases you probably or statistically have left is also a sobering one, when compared to the number you already had ... 🫣

It always has been ...🤣

I wasn't disputing that or your personal rejection of drugs, or even the rights or wrongs of drug consumption. I was merely pointing out that in fact they have a widespread acceptance.throughout societies across the globe. They are factually a multi billion market in most developed countries which says something about their social acceptance - considering they are actually illegal and are being consumed by normally law abiding citizens. For most they are fun. Like some enjoy a few drinks occasionally. The derelict heroin addict is as representative of the issue as the derelict alcoholic is of whisky distillation. And both those cases are actually public health issues, not criminal ones.

Messrs Dunning and Kruger having another grand ball on this thread.

Many also confuse entertainment with news.

A vegan sex change?

Most civilised countries have a massive, thriving, black market for drugs worth billions. Internationally probably trillions. You may look down on drugs and you're welcome to. But the reality is that tens of millions take them, from construction sites and bog cleaners to parliament and the aristocracy. So they're hardly looked down on. They're simply illegal. Alcohol is openly praised and celebrated despite all the damage it does. Looked down on only by usually prudulent curtain twitchers with the smell of vestries and hymn books about them. Though they also look down on drugs.

Looks like hard work to me. Easier to get a job. Should have stayed in the temple.

There's a whole debate about drugs etc. But ya sure gotta be a moron to get involved in dealing/importing/exporting in Thailand - or anywhere else in SEA. They don't do lenient here. They hang people for smaller quantities in Singapore..

Trafficked? Then blackmailed? Maybe the shooter was her trafficker? Strikes me that prices in India in hotels like that aren't going to be any better than in Thailand so why do it. I'm also interested in what drove her to Rajahstan of all places. Weird. Hope we see the follow up to this story.

'Fraid not ;D Although there was one scene in that film (which I saw in Pattaya on the wide screen): When the bad guy hops out of his chopper with his gang and they start off up the glen towards the showdown with the other fictitious character, I was catapulted back to late teens Army days in the 70s, when I spent a lot of time spread out like that as part of a section patrolling up the glen. The POV in the film was an unreal experience that really jolted me.