Back in the UK after 10 years in Thailand

[mlkik]

6 minutes ago, sirineou said:

In the US, Florida , me, my wife and 24 year old daughter  have three cars, none of as has any tickets or accidents. 

We pay a litle over $500 (15,000 bht  ) per month.  and have a $500 deductible.

Good car insurance in Thailand is expensive as the accident rate is so high!

[mlkik]

45 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not used air-con last month or this, I probably average 200bht/month over the year.

Got my pickup taxed, checked and insured last week, 2,465bht, that's about the price of the MOT in the UK.

Are you sure that is for insurance?  That is the price for road tax only ! 

[BritManToo]

23 minutes ago, mlkik said:

Well my car insurance was 17 000 baht for first class. I do not know what insurance you could get for that price ?

Are you sure that is for insurance?  That is the price for road tax only !

Government minimum 1,400bht ....... my misses is a witch (devotee of Kali) and protects me from all harm.

Road tax is 900bht (old 2 door pickup).

Edited November 9, 2019 by BritManToo

[mlkik]

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Government minimum 1,400bht ....... my misses is a witch (devotee of Kali) and protects me from all harm.

Road tax is 900bht (old 2 door pickup).

My mrs is a witch and just <deleted> nags me !

[VBF]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

A pot of mint sauce and a bottle of venegar costs about £1 in the UK, in Thailand it is 240 Baht, £ 7 for both .

Jar of pickled onions in the UK 50 P , in Thailand 120 Baht , £3 +

Yeah but fried rice in a UK Thai restaurant is about £7, Pad Thai was seen at £11.50 in Kingston on Thames this summer! 

  https://www.busaba.com/menu/feb2019#busaba-pad-thai 

Wherever you are "foreign" food is expensive...that's why when dining out I eat UK (or Indian) food in UK and Thai food in Thailand....and I've learned to cook some of my favourite Thai dishes even though some of the ingredients are imported.

Edited November 9, 2019 by VBF

[VBF]

1 hour ago, mlkik said:

Are you sure that is for insurance?  That is the price for road tax only ! 

For my little Toyota Aygo my Fully Comprehensive car insurance is £344, (about 13,400 Baht at today's rate) including lots of extras 

 

 

Vehicle Excise Duty aka Road Tax on this model is ZERO!

I get about 60MPG which at UK petrol prices is just as well!!

Edited November 9, 2019 by VBF

[Khon Kaen Jeff]

1 hour ago, mlkik said:

Well my car insurance was 17 000 baht for first class. I do not know what insurance you could get for that price ?

 

We use air con a lot ,just the same as in the UK I will put on the heating when I feel a bit cold.

I do not like to scrimp and save and pretend I have acclimatised !

Exactly, some expats here don't use aircon and try to pretend it's because they don't need it, laughable, we all know the real reason they don't put it on, the same reason why they stream football games instead of paying out for a proper service.

[bannork]

11 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Jeff said:

Exactly, some expats here don't use aircon and try to pretend it's because they don't need it, laughable, we all know the real reason they don't put it on, the same reason why they stream football games instead of paying out for a proper service.

You don't need air-con except in the summer, even then a couple of powerful fans will do nicely if you position them right.

Very pleasant weather in Udon tonight.

 

 

 

[sanemax]

31 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Jeff said:

Exactly, some expats here don't use aircon and try to pretend it's because they don't need it, laughable, we all know the real reason they don't put it on, the same reason why they stream football games instead of paying out for a proper service.

I never use the air-con , I dont like it and it just makes it seem hotter when I go out .

All the condos that I stayed in were in the shade and thus it didnt get to hot .

Also when I have air-con , I got cold like symptons when I went out , caused by the change from cold to hot .

  I also dont put the heating on in the UK .

Instead of going to Thailand and being cold in the aircon and then being hot in the UK with heating  , I just be hot in Thailand and be cold in the UK .

  The money saved is just a bonus

Edited November 9, 2019 by sanemax

[mlkik]

12 minutes ago, bannork said:

You don't need air-con except in the summer, even then a couple of powerful fans will do nicely if you position them right.

Very pleasant weather in Udon tonight.

 

 

 

When I finish my beer in Udon tonight I will go to bed knowing the air con is already on !

Edited November 9, 2019 by mlkik

[sanemax]

1 hour ago, VBF said:

Yeah but fried rice in a UK Thai restaurant is about £7, Pad Thai was seen at £11.50 in Kingston on Thames this summer! 

  https://www.busaba.com/menu/feb2019#busaba-pad-thai 

Wherever you are "foreign" food is expensive...that's why when dining out I eat UK (or Indian) food in UK and Thai food in Thailand....and I've learned to cook some of my favourite Thai dishes even though some of the ingredients are imported.

Coincidentally   enough, I walked past there yesterday, didnt go inside though .

Thailand is cheap to eat out, but expensive to cook at home and its the opposite in the UK.

Cheap to eat at home and expensive to eat out .

   In nine years in Thailand , I didnt cook for myself once , ate out every single time .

Complete opposite in the UK, cook for myself every time and havent eaten out once yet

Had a few saveloys and chips to take away, but thats about it .

  Had a Chinese all you can eat buffet (in Kingston Rotunda upstairs) for £7 , plenty of food, but not healthy at all

[Khon Kaen Jeff]

13 minutes ago, bannork said:

You don't need air-con except in the summer, even then a couple of powerful fans will do nicely if you position them right.

Very pleasant weather in Udon tonight.

 

 

 

Utter nonsense.

[bannork]

29 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Jeff said:

Utter nonsense.

Tell that to my Thai family and in laws. None of us use air-.con, never have. 

[EVENKEEL]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've been downing my fake Baileys Irish Cream since mid-day.

Don't spill any on your dress.

[VBF]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

Coincidentally   enough, I walked past there yesterday, didnt go inside though .

Thailand is cheap to eat out, but expensive to cook at home and its the opposite in the UK.

Cheap to eat at home and expensive to eat out .

   In nine years in Thailand , I didnt cook for myself once , ate out every single time .

Complete opposite in the UK, cook for myself every time and havent eaten out once yet

Had a few saveloys and chips to take away, but thats about it .

  Had a Chinese all you can eat buffet (in Kingston Rotunda upstairs) for £7 , plenty of food, but not healthy at all

We obviously frequent similar areas @sanemax I live about 20 minutes south of Kingston...you?

I'm not keen on Chinese food except Szechuan (spicier) but there are some excellent  Bangla restaurant / takeaways about (the ones most people call Indian) - my local delivery has a deal of a free dish if you order more than £14 worth, BUT if you order the right combination of dishes you can easily get 3 meals out of it - that's good sized portions too.

 

Just cooked a batch of Panang Gai....3 lots in the freezer, one helping going in me in about an hour. ????

 

[sanemax]

31 minutes ago, VBF said:

We obviously frequent similar areas @sanemax I live about 20 minutes south of Kingston...you?

I'm not keen on Chinese food except Szechuan (spicier) but there are some excellent  Bangla restaurant / takeaways about (the ones most people call Indian) - my local delivery has a deal of a free dish if you order more than £14 worth, BUT if you order the right combination of dishes you can easily get 3 meals out of it - that's good sized portions too.

 

Just cooked a batch of Panang Gai....3 lots in the freezer, one helping going in me in about an hour. ????

 

On the 85 & 65 bus routes .

They sell Chang in Tescos in Teddington , 4 quid for four small cans

[VBF]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

On the 85 & 65 bus routes .

They sell Chang in Tescos in Teddington , 4 quid for four small cans

That's one thing I do NOT miss about Thailand - their rotten beer! (That's not saying I don't drink it when I'm there, of course!) ????

You should be ashamed of yourself drinking that p*** in UK though! 

Get yourself down to Wetherspoons, man ????

[faraday]

Car insurance is not expensive here. I paid 11.5k bt first class for the p/u. That's with Roojai. Most of the other companies were at least 5k more, & offered less.

 

19°C here in Udon.

[faraday]

[BritManToo]

10 hours ago, VBF said:

Yeah but fried rice in a UK Thai restaurant is about £7, Pad Thai was seen at £11.50 in Kingston on Thames this summer! 

  https://www.busaba.com/menu/feb2019#busaba-pad-thai 

Wherever you are "foreign" food is expensive...that's why when dining out I eat UK (or Indian) food in UK and Thai food in Thailand....and I've learned to cook some of my favourite Thai dishes even though some of the ingredients are imported.

Fried rice costs almost nothing to cook yourself, no matter where you are in the world.

Yesterdays rice out of the rice cooker stir fried with an egg, add whatever meat scraps you have in the fridge.

Edited November 9, 2019 by BritManToo

[mlkik]

8 hours ago, bannork said:

Tell that to my Thai family and in laws. None of us use air-.con, never have. 

Many Thai simply can not afford to use air con as the electricity bill is to expensive.

 

Fans are ok at this time of year but in the summer they are next to useless.

[bannork]

1 hour ago, mlkik said:

Many Thai simply can not afford to use air con as the electricity bill is to expensive.

 

Fans are ok at this time of year but in the summer they are next to useless.

Have to disagree- one man's fan is another man's air-con.

[bannork]

3 hours ago, faraday said:

Pour souls. Though I used to love the snow as a kid in the countryside, sledging down the hills with the feet as brakes. Not so much fun in the city , especially when it turns to slush. And terrible for the old folks.

Still, i would like to enjoy one snowfall before my curtain comes down. That magic of waking up in the morning, drawing back the curtains and there you are!

[mlkik]

2 minutes ago, bannork said:

Pour souls. Though I used to love the snow as a kid in the countryside, sledging down the hills with the feet as brakes. Not so much fun in the city , especially when it turns to slush. And terrible for the old folks.

Still, i would like to enjoy one snowfall before my curtain comes down. That magic of waking up in the morning, drawing back the curtains and there you are!

When I lived in the UK I used to love standing at the window next to the radiator and looking at the snow.

 

 

 

[CharlieH]

14 minutes ago, bannork said:

Pour souls. Though I used to love the snow as a kid in the countryside, sledging down the hills with the feet as brakes. Not so much fun in the city , especially when it turns to slush. And terrible for the old folks.

Still, i would like to enjoy one snowfall before my curtain comes down. That magic of waking up in the morning, drawing back the curtains and there you are!

My last encounter was 2yrs ago, yes it can be a pain, but somehow always carries a smile and good memories, nice to visit for a time, which always different to living it, which I don't have any plan to do again.

[faraday]

Yes, I'd like to experience snow one last time: Magical.

[GalaxyMan]

2 hours ago, mlkik said:

When I lived in the UK I used to love standing at the window next to the radiator and looking at the snow.

I have such fond memories of watching the snow and freezing wind blowing people down in the streets...on TV in Florida. ????

[VBF]

9 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Fried rice costs almost nothing to cook yourself, no matter where you are in the world.

Yesterdays rice out of the rice cooker stir fried with an egg, add whatever meat scraps you have in the fridge.

Absolutely - good to add some Oyster Sauce and onions too. I always bring "Ros-Dee" back from Thailand but some of the "all-spice" seasonings work too.

I actually find Asian food easier to cook than British food and there are loads of ingredients available online and in little local shops albeit "at a price"

 

No, my post was only to illustrate the pricing vis-a-vis Thai food in UK and vice-versa.

Bon appetit, all ????

[sanemax]

12 hours ago, faraday said:

Its a nice sunny morning here in London today , blue sky and 15 Degrees .

I did also notice that the weatherr in Thailand is forecast to be around the zero degree mark this week

[sanemax]

8 hours ago, mlkik said:

When I lived in the UK I used to love standing at the window next to the radiator and looking at the snow.

 

 

 

Life in the  fast lane eh ?

Taking a walk on the wildside .

You could have gone to further extreme by opening your window?