7 minutes ago, freedomnow said:

From LP to VV ?

VV is the backpacker ghetto epicentre of SEA....can't get out it fast enough to lovely splendid LP if I ever stopped for a break prior to rail line....

Yes a backpacker ghetto on the west side of town near to the river but relatively 'normal' on the east side of town and near to the railway line.  LP is a wonderful place to live but my hobby (amateur radio) does not sit well (that's an understatement!!) with the local police chief and my garden just by the peninsula is too small for all my antennas.  In VV I can rent a rural house on the edge of town with a bigger garden.

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

I was happily working in the UK as CTO of a mobile technology company that had just purchased my one-man-band AI/mobile internet company. Their new office was in an unheated and damp basement that had been empty for years.

 

A few months after starting work in that office I developed a cough that got worse and worse until I was unable to hold a conversation without having explosive coughing fits.  This was suspected Aspergillosis (fungal spores in my lungs) that were present in the damp office air.

 

This is a chronic disease which can't be cured but can be managed with the right medication and living environment.  My doctor suggested that living in a hot and humid climate may well help to minimise my symptoms.  So I took a trip to Thailand and my coughing stopped!  I returned to the UK climate and my coughing came back with a vengeance.  I did several trips to/from Thailand and each time that I stayed in Thailand my symptoms were minimal and they always returned when I came back to the UK.

 

So I had to make the life-changing decision to move to Thailand (or a similar hot/humid climate).  At that time I had funds to start up a new business in Thailand, but my wife was having none of it.  Understandably, she was unwilling to move to Thailand with our 3 young kids who were well-settled in the village school.

 

So we agreed to separate and I moved to Thailand, but vowed to keep in touch with my kids.  Unfortunately, that takes 2 to tango and my wife (soon to be ex) cut me off from my kids and (according to my brother) told them that I had left her for a Thai women...)

 

I still send e-cards on their birthdays and at Xmas, but they never reply, even going so far as to block my email address on the e-card website ????.  My UK kids are now in their early twenties and I guess they will never know the truth about why their dad left them to live in Thailand.

 

It's more than 20 years since I left the UK. I have moved around a bit in south-east Asia and some locations had 'cool' climates which caused me problems. But in general, as long as I walk or jog 4-5 Km per day AND eat healthy food AND gargle with salt water AND take ani-histamine and anti-congestants - my lungs are great!!

They had AI 20 years ago??????

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

Hi Sid, after I returned back from hospital tests in the UK (see post above), I planned to return to Burma to continue my in-class teaching.  However for the second time the military junta refused to issue me with a visa.  So with that situation and bearing in mind my cancer 'scare', I decided to retire from in-class teaching and only teach online (which I have mostly been doing for the past few years anyway).

 

After recovering from the UK climate on Phangan Island for a couple of months I moved back to Luang Prabang in north Laos where I was once the Principal of the international school.  When I start to draw my UK pension (in only 22 months from now yippee), I will probably move down to live in Vang Vieng because with the new railway and motorway it's only an hour or 2 from Vientiane and the only decent private hospital in the country (although exercise/good diet keeps me healthy, I am mindful of my age and assume that other medical ailments may arise).

 

My small but adequate pension will also enable me to spend more time doing voluntary teaching in the community ????

Wasnt you living in Madagascar at one stage?

16 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Wasnt you living in Madagascar at one stage?

I was living on the island of Mauritius for a short while after leaving Laos because at that time it was too difficult to enter Thailand.  when Thailand eased it's Covid entry rules I returned ????

2 hours ago, bignok said:

He moved for health reasons. Learn to read.

Yeah that was the excuse

59 minutes ago, Dan O said:

They had AI 20 years ago??????

Yep!  If you follow this link to a BBC article from 2004 (some years after I wrote the software):

 

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Has text-porn finally made computers 'human'?

 

their comment is:

 

"

But the best candidate for passing the Turing test is the Natachata program that conducts smutty conversations via text messages.

Regular users of pornographic SMS chat may be shocked to find out that they are swapping dirty talk with machines rather than young women and men.

But it's a fair bet that they are because the Natachata chatbot, written by former rocket scientist Simon Luttrell, is so widely used by porn chat merchants.

"

I wrote this AI chat application which (at the time) was rather good ????.  Granted that it was rather limited in subject matter.  Apart from smutty chat (which was the money-maker), it was also able to discuss sport, geography, maths and would remember user's names and likes/dislikes etc.

 

Anyway, others also thought it was rather good because I sold the AI program for $2.2M...

9 hours ago, simon43 said:

I was happily working in the UK as CTO of a mobile technology company that had just purchased my one-man-band AI/mobile internet company. Their new office was in an unheated and damp basement that had been empty for years.

 

A few months after starting work in that office I developed a cough that got worse and worse until I was unable to hold a conversation without having explosive coughing fits.  This was suspected Aspergillosis (fungal spores in my lungs) that were present in the damp office air.

 

This is a chronic disease which can't be cured but can be managed with the right medication and living environment.  My doctor suggested that living in a hot and humid climate may well help to minimise my symptoms.  So I took a trip to Thailand and my coughing stopped!  I returned to the UK climate and my coughing came back with a vengeance.  I did several trips to/from Thailand and each time that I stayed in Thailand my symptoms were minimal and they always returned when I came back to the UK.

 

So I had to make the life-changing decision to move to Thailand (or a similar hot/humid climate).  At that time I had funds to start up a new business in Thailand, but my wife was having none of it.  Understandably, she was unwilling to move to Thailand with our 3 young kids who were well-settled in the village school.

 

So we agreed to separate and I moved to Thailand, but vowed to keep in touch with my kids.  Unfortunately, that takes 2 to tango and my wife (soon to be ex) cut me off from my kids and (according to my brother) told them that I had left her for a Thai women...)

 

I still send e-cards on their birthdays and at Xmas, but they never reply, even going so far as to block my email address on the e-card website ????.  My UK kids are now in their early twenties and I guess they will never know the truth about why their dad left them to live in Thailand.

 

It's more than 20 years since I left the UK. I have moved around a bit in south-east Asia and some locations had 'cool' climates which caused me problems. But in general, as long as I walk or jog 4-5 Km per day AND eat healthy food AND gargle with salt water AND take ani-histamine and anti-congestants - my lungs are great!!

You gave up you family and abindined your kids to move to Thailand because you had a cough?  

 

Nothing to do with anything else? 

3 hours ago, LaosLover said:

Love your posts G-man. Respect and wishing you better days.

 

I'm an American who divorced and English woman (no sex and I caught her snorting heroin twice). The landlord of a really chav pub I liked offered me a free room, in case I need a sudden escape.

 

After the big heave-ho talk, it turned out to be a garden shed. With a cot, and an AC/DC poster. 

 

It was like a stop on the Underground Railroad to freedom. Others had preceded me, one had left an AC/DC poster.

 

I could have afforded a real room, but I stayed there for a week, seriously on the piss, like the losers before me. And then I moved to Ubon. And you can and will too. 

 

As soon as you can possibly leave, do so. Even if it means sleeping semi-rough.

I first read it wrong and thought someone had put up a poster of a AC unit. Had a great laugh.

Just now, bunnydrops said:

Married late an it is still going well, so no story from me. But my wife's friend married a guy from S. Carolina a couple of years ago. His ex had left him for another man. She has just called him and said she is coming back. He told her he had already remarried. She said "I don't care, I'm coming back" She is from Peru.  I guess sometimes the past just won't go away.

 

I did not walk out on my EX and moved to Thailand and yes, I was married for about 30 years and we both moved to Thailand together. Long story short, I met me Thai wife on one of our holidays and fell in love, got divorced and remarried. I am not like most of your posters here I never blamed my first wife for braking up, it was my fault. Still married till today but moved away from Thailand because of financial reasons. So, stop blaming your EX all the time some time it is yourself. 

6 minutes ago, still kicking said:

I did not walk out on my EX and moved to Thailand and yes, I was married for about 30 years and we both moved to Thailand together. Long story short, I met me Thai wife on one of our holidays and fell in love, got divorced and remarried. I am not like most of your posters here I never blamed my first wife for braking up, it was my fault. Still married till today but moved away from Thailand because of financial reasons. So, stop blaming your EX all the time some time it is yourself. 

Wow !

So you met your current wife (Thai) on a holiday to Thailand with your now ex wife?

4 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Wow !

So you met your current wife (Thai) on a holiday to Thailand with your now ex wife?

Yes, I did she worked for an airline at Suvarnabhumi. That is how we met 

15 hours ago, simon43 said:

still send e-cards on their birthdays and at Xmas, but they never reply, even going so far as to block my email address on the e-card website ????. 

Well the kids are morons.

15 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I wonder ....how many of you would go back to farangland now after a few years away if your ex said come back your welcome!!

What a horrible thought, I would sooner swallow razor blades.

IMO the problem I had in both my long term relationships in Australia was the fact both were high maintenance. I got to the stage I just could not be bothered with all the s##t I kept getting, which got worse with time. 28 years ( married ) and 16 years ( defacto ) so it's not as if I was a quitter. If I had not had the mental baggage of duty and responsibility, I probably would have ended both in a couple of months. Maybe longer with the defacto, at least she was good in bed. Both screwed me out of half my assets.

 

About 8 years with my Thai GF now, she is not high maintenance, and does things for me a Western woman simply would not do. We would average one argument every six months, usually miscommunication or cultural differences. Done and dusted after an hour, no sulking.

 

I walked out on both, with relief. Enjoyed freedom again.

 

 

9 hours ago, simon43 said:

I will probably move down to live in Vang Vieng because with the new railway and motorway it's only an hour or 2 from Vientiane and the only decent private hospital in the country 

????

Bangkok Hospital just opened a branch in Vientiane.

3 minutes ago, LaosLover said:

Bangkok Hospital just opened a branch in Vientiane.

Vientiane is a strange city.

15 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I wonder ....how many of you would go back to farangland now after a few years away if your ex said come back your welcome!!

Once you leave there is no going back. Don't even try, she will never let you forget it.

 

 

1 minute ago, bignok said:

Vientiane is a strange city.

The part a tourist might visit is six short streets. I may nominate it for your most peaceful town thread.

 

Health disaster-wise, if you need to get to Udon, they will open up the border at any hour for you.

14 hours ago, roo860 said:

mines dead, fortunately

For the members who posted sad and confused emojis you never met the <deleted>, fortunately. 

6 minutes ago, LaosLover said:

The part a tourist might visit is six short streets. I may nominate it for your most peaceful town thread.

 

Health disaster-wise, if you need to get to Udon, they will open up the border at any hour for you.

Rooms poor value for money. Food is mixed. Strange currency.

16 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Did you just walk out and say I want a separation I think I will have a better life in Thailand or Asia ?

LOL. I left the country many years after I left my partner and her children, during which time none of them tried to stay in contact, so nothing to regret never seeing them again.

You can tell by my name that I disagree about Vientiane. But I don't want to hijack a thread where someone's looking for support.

 

Anyway, after I left, I sent a postcard back saying the internet was down (because people think that Thailand is as undeveloped as The Belgian Congo) and that I was going into a sudden life or death operation and that I might not make it. And then I ghosted. 

 

I caught her on Mumsnet (her kids were adults) screaming, "I don't care if he lives or dies, but where's my money?".

 

In Ubon, as it turned out.

 

11 minutes ago, roo860 said:

For the members who posted sad and confused emojis you never met the <deleted>, fortunately. 

I wouldnt worry about judgemental people. They are usually the worst people you ever meet in person.

 

6 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

You gave up you family and abindined your kids to move to Thailand because you had a cough?  

 

Nothing to do with anything else? 

You apparently have never suffered a chronic disease to understand why he left the cold country.

7 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

You gave up you family and abindined your kids to move to Thailand because you had a cough?  

 

Nothing to do with anything else? 

Hey troll, go research aspergillosis.  It might help you to avoid sounding like an ignorant (edited out to avoid suspension!)

1 hour ago, bignok said:

Tell us about your perfect self then

I never said I was perfect as Im not so not sure what your rambling on about but its just lip service.  I'm also not on here spreading bs excuses to justify walking out and dumping a wife and abandoning my kids like an old rag. While no one is perfect own your behavior and dont make excuses. 

2 minutes ago, Dan O said:

abandoning my kids like an old rag. 

I abandoned HER (adult) kids like an old rag. It was great.

1 minute ago, Dan O said:

I never said I was perfect as Im not so not sure what your rambling on about but its just lip service.  I'm also not on here spreading bs excuses to justify walking out and dumping a wife and abandoning my kids like an old rag. While no one is perfect own your behavior and dont make excuses. 

Tell us about your marrages then. Perhaps you never had one.

 

Plenty of marriages break down. Staying and arguing everyday is worse than moving away.

 

Also plenty of people get bad diseases and are told to live in warmer climates.

 

Maybe you should think before judging others.

5 minutes ago, Dan O said:

While no one is perfect own your behavior and dont make excuses

You should own your own attitude then or try to fix it. You seem to be angry and judging complete strangers for no reason. That means an internal problem. You have the problem not them.