5 hours ago, Hummin said:

It was actually air conditioned and freezing cold, from what I remember, with loud karaoke and soap opera videos, and I was trapped above the toilet. The usual ticket office scam: they sold you a premium VIP bus ticket with a good seat, kept you waiting at their office until the bus was about to leave, then rushed you onto the bus just as the doors closed.

I was also scammed once by a Dutch owned hotel at Kamala Beach. They sold me, through the hotel’s own website, what was supposed to be a decent second-floor room with a sea view. The “sea view” was a tiny glimpse of the sea if you stuck your head out over the one-by-one-metre balcony at ground floor. An overpriced, <deleted>ty place. His excuse, the hotel was sold out, and even then I did not get my money back. I gave him some heat for a few months on different review pages.

One must try to look at the positives in such cases.

In relation to the bus trip, you may have boarded with some food poisoning, then you would have had the best seat on the bus, right next to the toilet. 🙂

In relation to the hotel, there may have been a tsunami, and without sea view, your chance of survival would have been greater. 🙂

I had lived in Thailand for 10 years before i ever went to Pattaya (with family). Nothing special, just a beach with plenty of sewage overflows. My first ever stop in Thailand was Udon Thani and it ticked all my boxes. Within 2 years had a wife, living in a village just 15 minutes from anything i wanted in town (hospitals, good schools, shopping centres, Makro). I had spent my last 15 years in the UK living in a large village or small town in Hampshire, I enjoyed the semi-rural life - Had trout fishing, lots of wildlife and good walking. So transition to a Thai village was not hard - large garden, small farm, fish ponds.

Good neighbours - when house hit by lightning, they were putting out the fire in the roof within 2 minutes. Built up a small circle of Farang friends. Not much of a drinker, so bars not important. No intention to live anywhere else, at least while health holds out.

Life in a condo - think i would be jumping within a few months!