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Well, it's been a few weeks since I did an update and after the bollocking from @grayray . . 😉 for not posting on this thread for a while, here I am. As always in Thailand, it's been an interesting few weeks and quite a lot has happened. First of all, I've cleared the decks. It all became a bit too complicated, time consuming and to be honest, worrying. I came to Thailand to have fun, initially for 6 months. It certainly started off that way, but after 10 weeks, for varying reasons, I was having to think too much about certain girls. I didn't set out to clear the decks completely, but that's how it worked out. Bank girl - binned. Even "good" girls have baggage and this one was no exception. She was a nice girl and I was aware of some "baggage". Not kids, not sick buffalo, not brother have motorbike accident. It was debt. She did tell me she had debt - what I didn't realise was the extent. She had funded an ex Thai bf's business, to the tune of millions. Usual story, he had no credit, she borrowed to the hilt, using the bank she worked for, 2 good friends and her mum as guarantors in some cases and you've guessed it - they split up and the business went tits up. So turns out she's 5 million in debt, a couple of the debts have gone to court, she's about to lose her house that has a big mortgage that she can't pay and she was laid off by the bank because of all the debt. The irony is she was looking after corporate clients at her bank. It came to a head when one of the banks she owed money to, that her mum had guaranteed, issued court papers. In order to defer this she had to pay 22k within 5 working days. She didn't have it. What amazes me is that banks here can't do credit checks on guarantors as her mum doesn't have any money - she works in a traditional Thai massage place out in the boonies. One of bank girls "plays" to me in the beginning was that she would never ask for money. To be fair, she didn't, but laid the story on so thick, with the tears and blubbing, obviously hoping I'd cave. And you've guessed it. I did. Well, partly. The 22k was 2 months payment. I told her I'd give her 11k for 1 month. I told her I'm sure this would keep the court at bay for a while and buy her some time. I did see the court papers (though in Thai, I could make out the legitimacy). So I gave her 11k in cash, she went back to Rungsit and next day she messaged me the online payment graphic for the 11k payment to the bank. After she'd left, I sat down and thought deeply about the whole situation. I came to the obvious conclusion that the debt isn't going to go away - it's only going to get worse as the courts go through their processes. I was certainly not going to bail her out to the tune of 5 million. But that wasn't the only reason I called it off. During the last weekend she stayed with me, I came into the kitchen one morning and saw her taking a tablet. I asked what she was taking and she showed me the packet. It was a very strong anti-depressant and she showed me another relaxant she was also taking. Both on prescription,as it turns out, from a shrink. We sat on the balcony and she unloaded. She'd been seeing a shrink for 9 months due to the anxiety and pressure of the debt. I can understand and sympathise with that - but what she said next worried me to death. She said 9 months ago she was seriously thinking about suicide. She said she was thinking about killing herself at least once every hour. She was very close a few times and said the only reason she didn't was her mother. She continued that it was always when she was in a high building (her bank offices were high and she had access to the roof area) that she seriously considered jumping. I came over in a cold sweat when she said that - there we were sitting on my 11th floor balcony. Visions flashed through my mind, one of which was getting up one morning, finding her not beside me in bed, looking over the balcony and . . . . . And as a farang, how would the police/authorities view an incident like this? I could be in a lot of trouble for something I'm not responsible for. It was an awful day and night for me after that. I'd already decided to end it before she unloaded on the suicidal tendencies, but I rejigged my strategy so that I wouldn't say anything until she was back in Rungsit. Thankfully the day and night went ok and she left on the Monday morning to go home to Rungsit. Massive sigh of relief on my part as I saw the car drive away from my condo. So later that day I instigated a set of messages and finished it. I didn't want to tip things over the edge, so finished it in as nice a way as possible. She was upset, but accepted it and understood. That was 5 weeks ago and I've had no contact since. However, I am concerned. She was a prolific Facebook poster, having her own site and she put updates on daily. I'm not on that God-awful site personally, but I do have an anonymous account to allow me to have a poke around. Think I mentioned this in a previous post, I've used it previously to vett potential employees when they get on a short-list. Anyway, there's been no update on her site since November 14th. At least that's 2 weeks after I finished it, she was updating for 2 weeks, then all quiet. I do hope she's ok. When all is said and done, she was a lovely girl (some of you boys met her at Le Pub), just got herself into some real crap. My advice was to simply go bankrupt, but it seems the bankruptcy laws are very different here than in the UK. After a couple of days, I sat on my balcony one night with a couple of Singha's and thought it all through. Certainly, without that baggage, I'd have been very interested in a long term relationship with her. Apart from being stunning (of course that's subjective, but she was for me) and I would say almost the perfect age for me (37), she also had no kids. She was intelligent (2 degrees) and did have a good job. But the mountain of debt and her state of mind were the obvious swaying factors. I then looked at things from a financial point of view. Being with her had cost me around 50k over the 8 or 9 weeks I'd been seeing her. This wasn't just handing her money, that was just the 11k to make a bank payment, but covering her travel expenses to and from Rungsit most weekends, buying all her food and drink while she was with me (she rarely drank alcohol, just the odd cocktail and maybe 1 beer during an evening), some general entertainment, like I took her mum and brother out for lunch a couple of times, etc. I then compared that cost with what I would have spent if I didn't have her. Over the 8 weekends she stayed with me (Fri, Sat and Sun nights) that's 24 nights. Over 24 nights, let's say just half of them I went out on the "pull". So that's 12 nights. If I'd have taken gogo girls, long time, on those 12 nights, how much would that have cost me? With the mercenary way gogo girls go after lady drinks and the unrealistic cost of barfines and what "stipend" they want, I'd say bank girl was a lot, lot cheaper. On a good night out, without even taking a girl, I'm shifting 5k. I only worked out the finances as an exercise. I don't regret what I spent on/with bank girl. She was a pleasure to be with and she certainly did "take care". Anyway, that's a long story but I thought worth sharing. I also cleared the decks with gogo girl. That was a lot easier and a much shorter story. Those who've read my updates will know that first time with gogo girl she was so rough I had a very swollen and sore helmet for 2-3 days afterwards. I gave her a few more chances, trying to instil the "gentle" mantra and for a while she was ok. It was quite a good routine - she'd come to my condo once or twice a week around 3 pm. She was quite an exhibitionist and loved having sex on my balcony in broad daylight on one of the sofas I have outside. I wasn't complaining and on the good days it was excellent. She left around 6 pm to go to work. Ideal set up for me. However, she started to get rough again. That's obviously her MO and despite all my efforts I couldn't get it through her head that doesn't work for me. The last but one time she came I told her if she's rough again she can't come any more. The next time she came, we got out on the balcony, just started a bit of foreplay, first she rubbed my nuts so hard I thought they'd retracted up to my chest, then as we were kissing she bit my top lip. That was it. I got up, told her to go. Enough is enough. She didn't want to go, burst into tears and apologised. Too late, that's it. Had the devil's own job to get her out of my apartment. Had to threaten to call security, which finally did the trick. I put 2k on my kitchen top, told her to take it and go. "No, no, I not want that" she said. I opened the 2 doors to exit my condo and stood outside. Flashes through my head of what I'd left out that she could nick if she was so inclined, thankfully everything was in the safe. She was crying and said she needed the bathroom to tidy herself up. I stayed outside waiting for her, thinking what she could nick in the bathroom. Other than 3 or 4 very expensive bottles of men's smellies, there was nothing I could think of. Didn't think she'd want to nick my nose hair device. It seemed like ages but finally she came outside with her stuff, slung her arms around my waist and asked for forgiveness. Too late. I had to forcefully pull her arms from my back, which took a bit of strength I must say. But I achieved it, went inside and shut/locked the doors. Went into the bathroom, nothing gone. But you can guess what had gone, right? Yep, the 2k she said she didn't want. So, within a few days I'd cleared the decks. I was relieved. It's so easy here to get into these kind of positions. I'm still getting messages from gogo girl, but I'm just ignoring them. If she doesn't give up I'll just block her. This update has got quite large, so will save some stuff for the next update. Main one being, I like a challenge. It's easy for any of us to go to a gogo or bar, barfine a girl and bang her. No achievement in that. So, alongside that, I have a project with a restaurant waitress. Will go into detail on that in the next update. Couple of quick bits though. I went to Cambodia for a few days earlier this month, with a Brit mate ,who I actually met since moving here. Great guy and we have such a laugh. He was going to Pnomh Penh on business, so I tagged along. We had fun, but I wouldn't rush back. We found a great restaurant on the waterside - Oskas. Really nice atmosphere, nice food and good waiting staff. On the Wednesday night it was ladies night, 2 for 1 drinks for ladies. Some real stunners, but overall in the bars the girls were very average. We did go to Secrets. The place itself is good. It's large and has a nice layout. A lot of staff, some general girls and waitress-type staff. We arrived at 3 am, the place was deserted. Only us 2, we sat at the bar. Had a couple of drinks, chatted to a few girls and bought some lady drinks while we surveyed what was available. I wasn't in the mood to take a girl - too late and too much alcohol. But my mate was up for it and spotted a cute waitress standing a short distance from us. He called her over, bought her a drink and chatted for a few minutes. It was around 3.45 by this time. He asked about the barfine. "oh, she waitress, cannot barfine until 5 am". WTF? We're the only 2 customers in there FFS. "Owner not here, rule is 5 am, sorry". Needless to say we drank up, paid up and left. We did have an hilarious incident in the hotel - will include that in the next update. My fingers are tired . . . Happy to give a quick update on the gogos in WS and LK if anyone's interested. Again will go into more detail in the next update, but been on quite a few nights out and crawls over the last few weeks. Bottom line is it's just so volatile and varies incredibly from night to night. In recent weeks I've had both brilliant and crap nights at both WS and LK. There's no logic as to when it's good and when it's poor. Best line-ups of girls I've found in WS are Sapphire and Pin-up. But both mercenary for lady-drinks and even mamasan-drinks. The mate and I have done a few crawls around WS (some good, some poor) and we did one in LK which was lousy. Just generally a bad night - empty gogo's, standard of girl very poor and some gogos with very few girls. While also going to the "popular" gogos, we've also tried a few that are never mentioned, just for variety sake. We found one that's really good that I've never seen mentioned anywhere. My mate and I made a pact not to tell anyone about it, so keeping shtum on that one. What I can say is, for hands on gogos, in WS it's Electric Blue and Beavers (there's an internal open connecting door between the two) and in LK it's Pandoras and Kink. I'll update again in a few weeks if guys are still interested.

Have just returned from Jomtien Immigration where I've started my Marriage Visa (Non"O" ) renewal. I used to have a Retirement Visa, but had to change it as I needed a Work Permit. Yesterday I downloaded the TM.7 form from https://immigrationbangkok.com › thailand-immigration-forms in Word format, completed it ( typed text into the boxes ) and printed two copies. This morning, took the requisite photos of the Mrs and me outside and inside the house, then printed them out, 2 to a sheet of A4; then off to the bank. Deposited THB 100, updated the Bank Book, asked for a letter for Immigration + a printed Statement for the last 6 months. Then off to Jomtien with a folder full of various paperwork ( copies of Yellow House Book, copies of Freedom to Marry, copies of Marriage Certificate etc etc. ) Arrived to find that there is no queue ( it must have been just before 10.00 ), so straight to the desk. Both officers gabbing on their 'phones. Stood in front of the senior one , who directed us to here junior partner, who in turns points to a seat. When she's finished on the phone, I present ( 2 sets ) of paperwork. She takes one look and passes them both back to my wife and says something. My wife disappears to the front of the office and comes back with 2 new TM.7's. I ask "What's up ?" and am told that the forms I have ( downloaded yesterday ) are last years and are no good ! Also, the forms have to be handwritten, not typed. So I fill them all out again. The usual "you need more copies of this", "this copy no good, do again", "why you not use agent ?". Nothing said about Health Insurance ( though I do have my Pacific Cross paperwork with me ). They also took the copies of the Certificate of Freedom to Marry out of the paperwork piles and says "Not need any more ". So, after about 90 minutes, we were on our way out, having been told that some time this week we are to expect a house visit ( that's a first ), and need to make ourselves available. I now have a Temporary Extension of Stay stamp in my Passport, valid until 25th December, at which point I need return to Jomtien to see if Bangkok have raised any objections to the renewal.

This is the perfect example of why I pay 200 baht to the guy in the Visa shop just to the left of immigration to fill out all my forms for me put all the pictures in the right place put them all in the right order. Every time I tried to do it myself something wasn't right I was missing something so now every single time I have him do it and for a couple hundred baht I have never had to go get any other forms they know exactly what's needed and in exactly what order they should be in money well spent in my opinion

Terak lek's parrot named Yuki who is on the way to becoming a Monty Python sketch if it continues to chew the arial on our car....

Well I doubt they spent the night playing scrabble. 🤣

The leaves are all gone. There will be 3 feet of snow before long.... oooooh my aching back.

Leeds Corn Exchange Building.

Pattaya Meals was a food preparation and meal delivery service. You called in or messaged your order and it was delivered quickly free of charge in central Pattaya. It opened early in 2016 and I ordered from them dozens of times since then. However, I noticed this post on Pattaya Meal's Facebook page when I tried to order recently: "Pattaya Meals November 10 at 1:49 PM · Due to gross misconduct, theft, scams and a variety of other scumbag actions Pattaya Meals is done. It's a real shame that the hard work of the original owners (who gave the business to this individual on a payment plan) has gone to waste and they've been left owed a large sum of money by the individual in question. It's also abhorrent the manner in which this individual treated the landlords building - inflicting large amounts of damage to both hard fixtures and soft furnishings. This Facebook page will be closed down as the business has been also. It is a testament to the kindness and support of the Pattaya community to business owners that it managed to last as long as it did." Sad, sad news and an ignominious end for what was originally a small, family-owned Thai business that provided excellent meals and service at low prices. I did notice a farang had joined the PM team in 2019 and big changes were made, not always for the better. Both service and the quality of the food started to slip. I ordered from PM less and less frequently and stopped entirely in September, but decided to give it another try when I saw the above FB post. Does anyone know what the story was? I've heard (in a face-to-face conversation, not on the Internet) a version that at least sounds plausible. If it's true, then a hard-working Thai family really got messed over by several farang acting in concert. Here I'm going to be pro-active and remind everyone not to name individuals in public posts because of Thailand's strict laws on defamation. But I would appreciate it very much if anyone who knows the details could send me a private message. Thanks in advance. Evil

The Conservative Manifesto!

Smart move D. Met her and she was a nice lady I agree but when I read this: 'She said 9 months ago she was seriously thinking about suicide. She said she was thinking about killing herself at least once every hour. She was very close a few times and said the only reason she didn't was her mother. She continued that it was always when she was in a high building (her bank offices were high and she had access to the roof area) that she seriously considered jumping. I came over in a cold sweat when she said that - there we were sitting on my 11th floor balcony. Visions flashed through my mind, one of which was getting up one morning, finding her not beside me in bed, looking over the balcony and . . . . . ' Run FForest run .... and keep running ......... there's baggage but she had the whole of the Royal Mail Train .... well done !!!

Food's not easy in Thailand. Do it yourself, never take partners. Many of these folk are criminals that slipped away to start a new life. Mixed bag there of genuinely nice people to down right sewer rats. And many sewer rats in Pattaya.

Half decent read though.

Chelsea scum😄

Great update for sure.....thanks for posting.

Cliff, yeah forgot to mention to you that wifey looked good that night in the leopard print blouse, tell her I said hello...................if she remembers me LOL! I want a picture of her with me like that too...........when you're not looking! Never trust an American

Tonight at about 18.30 hrs downtown Patts time........

Possibly snakes and ladders. 🤗

Good to see you too. Variety is the spice of life, as "they" say. Fancied a change and she does have a really fit body. @Jambo, no scrabble but she did play with my counters . . .

I always do the same, even for a basic visa extention.

That's some load of baggage. You did well. Thanks for the update!

I believe they gave a pretty accurate version of events with that FB post. Some farang who's name I don't recall, but was posted incl. his picture on the BCP, took over the business, collected the income but didnt pay suppliers nor the original owners.

Shakes ones head.

Nice update ! See when I say they're ALL a pain in the arse....... But you did the right thing, stopping it before the disaster stage. 👍👍

The 2014 umbrella movement "Occupy Central" was completely a peacefull "sit in". It was the police who attacked first with teargas grenades. Later on, the government promised to listen to the revendications of the demonstrators, and when after 2 months the movement was peacefully stopped, first thing the police did was to throw the leaders in jail . Hence the recent movement was "leaderless" to avoid this. Next step was to disqualify the few young opposition guys that where elected in LEGCO. Google it, plenty documentation about it.

Some would point the finger at the protesters as the main protagonists in instigating the violence, but a bit of searching on the internet calls into question that assumption. Using a keyword search on "hong kong protest timeline" found this article from Amnesty International. Patterns of repression: Timeline of the 2019 Hong Kong protests Mass protests arose in Hong Kong in April 2019, worsening from 9 June onward, initially over proposed legislative amendments that would have allowed for extradition to mainland China. The protests have continued at least weekly, and often daily, ever since. In response, the Hong Kong Police Force has frequently resorted to indiscriminate and unlawful use of less lethal weapons, such as tear gas, and has engaged in a clear pattern of unnecessary and excessive force during arrests of protesters. Police abuses appear to have steadily worsened over the course of the protests. The vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, but protester violence appears to be escalating alongside excessive use of force by the police. Protests at Hong Kong’s airport turned violent, and protesters have also broken into the Legislative Council Complex and vandalised Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations. This violence has been seen to increase alongside the government’s failure to address public demands and the police’s consistent use of excessive force. Amnesty International has monitored events on the ground and through verifying photographic and video evidence that it has been sent directly and that has been posted online. An Amnesty International field investigation team in early September interviewed people with first-hand information of police abuses, including 21 people arrested during the protests, and also directly observed an indiscriminate and reckless police responses to protests during the evenings of 7 and 8 September. The overall picture is clear: The Hong Kong Police Force has committed pervasive human rights violations as a state actor in responding to the protests and is not in a position to investigate itself and to remedy the widespread unlawful suppression of protests. Amnesty International is urgently calling for an effective independent, impartial investigation aimed at delivering truth, justice, and reparation, as there is little trust in existing internal mechanisms and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). When peaceful protests are met with tear gas and rubber bullets, escalation of the violence on both sides was inevitable.

Quite near to me in Bangsaray is a very large and relatively new Big C with the usual other retail outlets in the same complex. I was shopping in it yesterday and as far as I can see there is not one single Christmas type promotion or the appalling Xmas songs over the sound system. I do so hope it lasts.😀

The coasters are quite nice.

Yep Travel Trolley I use exclusively these days. Dont even bother with Skyscanner any more as TT 9 times out of 10 are the cheapest for Oman and Eva. 3 Times they have gone beyond the call of duty (none of which were their fault) when twice I was able to and wanted to change "unchangeable dates" and once when Oman had a group of 43 people on open tickets reschedule for my Bangkok Muscat sector and I as single traveller was bumped. Called TT back in London told them politely to get their arses in gear and half hour later a phone call back saying all sorted just check in online as normal. They also send you a trust pilot review link to complete for which you get £10 voucher off next trip (every ticket not just the once)

The TW surprised me greatly today. Popped into Harvey Nicholas in Manchester and bought me what I was going to pay for myself. Jobs a good un!. And no! It wasn't the vaseline or beer lol!

Lovely drink and nice chimp. Poofs I'd do away with.

Yes you ought to be fine I believe.

Whenever I've tried real ale outside of the UK it's been served far too cold.The USA & Sweden spring to mind. I don't think I could drink it in Thailand at the right temperature,just too fucking hot there.Anyway being a pisshead one has to be adaptable.

having seen the violent damage dione to the property by a certain non thai, to the xetend of wall punched in, everything damaged and dumped, I can only feel very sorry for the actual owners who, I understand were left unpaid too

Don't mind the cold.... it's the damp and grey that gets me...

The Avenue

I will have to get myself ready for the next get together...I keep missing these. However, I will be looking forward to more of the damn delicious pies! I took this pic on my last trip a few months back 😘

Well wifey and i had a blast and i hope that was the case with all attendees. Many thanks to Phil and Jambo for the food it was scrummy but the sangsom coke took priority and by christ i paid for it the following morning with a king size hangover 🙄 To be repeated i hope, it was real nice to put a face to boardie names and i can confirm they're a bloody good sociable bunch, the ladies looked lovely too 👍

Great pics guys... thank you very much. Had this fellow spend the last 2 days in my back yard at the town house. Looking a bit scruffy but still a hansum fella. My back yard is a safe place to bed down so I get a few dropping by every few nights.

Meanwhile, down at the chicken farm: Sai and I have a different opinion on the mating call of the Thai male chicken: I say: Cock-a-doodle-do ! Sai says: Ecky-eck-eck-eck ! 🤣

Low tide at the beach this morning

Bar 4 is no longer there either? Geez....few years back this gal from Sisaket kept me company.

A few snaps from last night. A huge thank you to everyone who turned out. We raised a glass to absent friends. Great food prepared by Bob Palmer and sponsored by Jambo. Thanks to you mate. Hope I can host another one in the future.

Out sweeping some leaves in front of the yard today, heard this noise sounded like a wind tunnel. Looked up and Mr. Blimp was above me. Called Rachanee out to take a look, got my 18-200MM lens on. She asked me "How does it stay up there with no wings on"? Hmmmmm......got some explaining to do.

My point is that the hobos can't afford to get to the embassy and pay to submit the form. They live on the beach and eat from dumpsters.

It's how our country works on virtually all matters similar to this one. There are too many Americans for the government to try policing this, and there is nothing but downside cost and no upside benefit for the government to try policing it. Our system is set up to accommodate the people who are doing the right thing, not to penalize those people because of the belief that somebody somewhere is doing something wrong. That's true regardless of how justifiable that belief might be.

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/retirees-and-medical-insurance-266933 "There is no convincing evidence that expats in Thailand are the major drain on Thai hospital finances. Indeed, there is much evidence that younger tourists are the main problem and most of them are uninsured. Out of 10 crowd-funded evacuations publicized in the last year, all but one were under 50 years and several in their 30s." Amen. Exactly the same as I was meaning.

GB, I just remembered I had a pretty good back up,TG who was a Isan champion thai fighter,see her go once or twice,hard and tough,but,oh!so gentle in bed. loved a good 69 season especially on a quiet arvo back in the room,started every session we had,i am sitting here remembering little details from back 30years ago ,when I have trouble finding some thing I put away 10minutes ago. oh! its great to be alive------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- just regards grayray

Yorkshire Air Museum, located on the outskirts of York. Full thread is as per below link. https://thailand-247.com/index.php?/topic/1762-raf-museum-york-north-yorkshire/