Who owns your time? 4 years in.

Musings

Mae Fa Luang

Been a while since I posted anything. There's not much to report really - but in a good way. Mostly just enjoying life and living in the moment.

• Jun 2026 marked 20 years in Asia
• Sep 2026 marks 4 years free of wage slavery
• Dec 2026 marks 8 years free of piss/tabs

Four solar orbits since pulling the ER2@48 self-emancipation trigger. It got me pondering "value" again.

Mises tells us that human valuations are subjective, contextual and ordinal. Revealed preferences suggest I rank:

• Sovereignty > Comfort
• Time > Money
• Agency > Status
• Solitude > Noise
• Independence > Conformity

Nong Dao - Doi Pha Chang

Four years in and no desire to change course. I'd rather be a sovereign pauper than a CEO in golden handcuffs. Likewise, I'd rather be a healthy peasant than an ailing king. These days, the biggest daily stress is deciding which coffee shop to ride to.

I sometimes read about fellow retirees becoming bored - lacking purpose, structure or identity. Some even long to return to the plantation - astonishing. Not me, I've loved the freedom to do what I want (ride), when I want (afternoons), and where I want (rural CR).

Add to that peaceful mornings spent indulging philosophical, linguistic and AI curiosities against a backdrop of emerald rice paddies, and it's difficult to imagine wanting anything else. Whiteboards and bored teenagers remain a contingency should me poker hand collapse - though I hope the markets are bluffing.

Marvel

James & Tor - Mae Suai

We truly live in extraordinary times. To think a poor lad from England's post-industrial north could leave school at 16, spend a decade as military cannon fodder, put himself through university, travel to 58 countries, speak foreign languages, build a career in the tropics, and retire at 48 is still a little mind-blowing. The generations of men who came before could only marvel at the opportunities available today.

I don't think I've ever been as content. For once, I want nothing to change. How long can it continue? It could all unravel tomorrow, for any reason - or no reason at all. Most of those reasons beyond my control. We model reality under uncertainty, and sovereignty is, ultimately, scarce: a structure demanding continual effort (and luck), to build and preserve.

Today's good fortune is not tomorrow's guarantee.
Maybe sovereignty is earned, but never truly owned?

STFU man - what you been up to?

Update

Akha

Prachuap

Well, as expected, the April smog came with a vengeance. Two air purifiers, door seals and face masks failed to combat the filth, so I jumped on the Mary and rode 1,000km south. Ended up in Prachuap - 14 nights in a Yuttichai hotbok at 220/night - ye olde faithful.

The long slogs up and down were broken up with stops in SuphanBuri (2), Uttaradit (1) and ChaiNat (5) which turned out to be a hidden gem. 5 nights in the SukChit Hotel at 300/night enabled pleasant evening strolls along the banks of the mighty ChaoPraya snaking its way to Krungtep. Met a local lad who'd lost his right leg in a crash but continued riding regardless - balls of steel (but I get it).

Toon Army ChaiNat

Peg Leg ChaiNat

Overall I missed the simple rhythm of life in the north and was delighted to return - immediately riding down memory lane to CM (2), MHS (1) and Phrao (1). Brilliant catching up with a few old faces.

Loss

Wawi

However, I couldn't quite shake a foreboding sense of loss in CM. I visited my 2013-2017 hangouts but everything had changed beyond recognition - like I'd never even been there. I understand Buddhist notions of impermanence but that never stopped the waves of sadness. The mood improved significantly with Bangkok 2.0  in the rear view mirror and the Samoeng twisties ahead. So glad I'd chosen CR back in November.

Mileage

The sanuk-ness per unit baht is off the charts. She hasn't missed a beat - showcasing Honda's famous reliability once again:

10,000 km 14 Feb
20.000 km 14 May
30,000 km 7 Aug

Owen - CM

Omar - CM

On track for the goal of 100,000km in 3 years. She underwent the big 24,000km service on 16th June (4,900 THB). An all day event where they strip the engine to check valve clearances. With time to kill I had my own valves checked during a two hour oil massage. Expensive day.

The rest of the time I ride aimlessly around CR. The weekly timetable mostly empty. A massage on Tuesdays, and Sundays out with James and Dear on their day off - the Posh and Becks of their Akha village.

Health

Mae Mon

The "gym" consists of:

• push-up handles $2
• doorway pull-up bar $4
• skipping rope $2

That's it - $8. I'm still doing this routine every other day, though the cardio has been dialed up:

• Push-ups 3 x 20
• Pull-ups 3 x 5
• Squats 3 x 12
• Hip-hinge 3 x 12
• Skipping 6 x 2 min

I don't really enjoy it but persevere in the hope of maintaining enough functional health to continue riding for another decade. At least it's cheap (free), quick (30 mins), easy (in room) and ticks the main health boxes: push, pull, legs, cardio.

CRUFC

Chiang Rai

I also go for an hour's stroll most evenings (rainy season permitting) but that's more about being in nature as opposed to gym-bro-maxxin.

Hadn't been to the dentist for ages so went for a scale and polish ($27) followed by 3 fillings ($64) and a mucocele removal ($50). Add this to the colonoscopy and hemorrhoid-banding back in February - and that's $650 shat on me arse and mouth - fun times.

I notice random aches and pains more often these days as I progress through a sixth decade. The meat sack losing its battle with entropy - an inevitable defeat baked in at conception. Even so, I can never shake the feeling: I never signed up for this. Then Fatha's voice ringing in me heed: life ain't fair son. Hehe.

Wealth

Phrao

Doi Pui

The future is, as always, uncertain. Iran, oil prices, inflation, AI, demographics - any one of these could reshape markets in ways I can't predict. I have no influence over these forces.

What I can control is my monthly spend. Every dollar not spent today remains invested for tomorrow. Asset allocation is another lever I can pull, but a much smaller one. Once the seeds are planted, I can't stop macroeconomic storms or geopolitical plagues. But, I can decide how much crop to harvest.

$30k USD for 4 years of freedom in the tropics? Sign me up. This includes everything except the $6k Mary. Would I take this trade again? Abso-fkn-lutely.

Yookay Promise

17km to exgf village

MaeDaLa - CM

I stopped paying National Insurance contributions when the cost jumped from ~£200/yr to ~£1,000/yr. Figured I'd accrued enough with 36 qualifying years locking in around 97% of the State Pension.

Moreover, the UKSP doesn't enjoy triple-lock treatment in Thailand, so inflation will erode its purchasing power over time - significantly.

Yookay ponzi

I view the UKSP more as a sketchy government promise than a real investment. More like an illiquid synthetic bond paying a fixed annuity - provided one lives long enough to claim it. At 67... 68 ... or 70 as yookay is forced to move the goalposts due to ongoing skintness and profligacy.

Viewed through that lens, paying ~£1,000 to marginally increase a dodgy government promise no longer feels like a good use of capital. In fact, a yookay promise holds less weight than Barry Payne's "trust me bro" financial advice - shouted over booming techno with Bangla-bargirls giving it: "mai flen yoo, weh yoo goh?"

Liquidation Lessons

Issara Cafe - Samoeng

Speaking of Barry Payne, the ER1@39 disaster finally drew to a close - after 15 years of liquidators stripping the carcass bare.

The train wreck in simple terms:

• 2011: Invest $100
• 2014: Liquidation
• 2018: Receive $33
• 2026: Receive $11

Looking back, it's almost funny. I wouldn't touch this type of shit with a barge pole today. Comical naivety.

But ... pain is information.

MHS

This scam turned out to be the most valuable economics lesson I ever had. It lit a fire under me arse to learn capital markets, a journey leading to Mises and the Austrian School.

I've never outsourced agency or abdicated responsibility since. Incentives matter, and nobody cares about your future more than you. So own it.

Still, looking back, wish I'd never gone all in -100% balls deep - ffs - what was I thinking? Oh yeah, I wasn't, I was "living the dream" in a Pissed-up-Phuket-Pussy-Paradise🤣

Phaya Prai - Myanmar Border - CR