Surat Thani

Me too, I have not been to my partner's village for years, she owns four houses there, one is thirty feet from a long empty beach but there is nothing to do. I am bored after half a day. It is in between Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani, one road into the village, no shops, a big temple, a few hotels, loads of trees to admire all day long, and loads of mosquitoes. Oh, and loads of gossiping neighbours and kids zipping about on noisy motorbikes which have had their mufflers tweaked.

Suphanburi is a town as far as I remember, I had a girlfriend who lived there, she is still there I think, I visited the town once or twice, and I remember walking down the side of a river which was paved, I am talking about 20+ years ago though.

I have had my car for 19 years now, I have driven it all over Thailand from Phuket to as far north as Chiang Mai, east to Rayong, and west to Ranong, I have never had a problem. A footnote, I drove Mercedes cars in England for decades, and I have discovered that was a waste of money as the Toyota I drive here has never needed a repair so far, except of course for brake pads, etc, and an annual service. It still feels like new (apart from the few dings I have collected over the years due to the low hidden obstacles you get here in car parks etc).

True, I know things could change at the drop of a hat, I make my annual trip to get my visa extended, and I do the 90-day report online. I have just obtained a two-year Thai driving licence. So I am OK until Feb next year as that is when I need to extend the visa again. But I still know my time here is temporary.

The invasion stuff that you refer to is not based on any precedence. If you were citing Russia, you would have had a reasonable case. However, outside of Taiwan (where the claims of sovereignty by the Taiwanese are equally contentious ) and the nine dash line (which is an arbitrary territorial grab) China has never entertained imperial ambitions. Their historical narrative focuses on their humiliations rather than their conquests.