Beechboy

7 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

I have force myself to make abstraction of his tattoos, so that I can feel sympathetic.

 

Guess I am living in some parallel world, sorry.

Yep. Me too.

Irrational and unfair I know but as soon as I see those aberrations  all sypathy abates.

11 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I hear anecdotal reports are the best data for making policy during a pandemic.

Who is supposed to be 'making policy?'

What a stupid remark. It was a comment no more. 

2 hours ago, mstevens said:

The horse has well and truly bolted. 

Multiply that figure by x 10 at the very least.

From anecdotal reports that have come to me it is out of contriol in certain areas.

ICU beds unavailable in Surin town apparently.

Can anybody confirm or otherwise?

Prayut needs stringing up!! Now.

7 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

It didn't "walk in" with anyone!  It's a strain of Covid that was first noticed in the UK, but can and does develop anywhere.  Viruses mutate and new strains develop - that's why you need a new flu vaccination every year.

That's not quite true. There have been dozens of so-called varients of this virus identified thus far. Most are weaker an ineffective. They are all unique in their cell structure and this is recognised and identified.

The UK labs are foremost in identification and immediately share information with all other nations.

The Thai scientists will have this information and are well capable of "matching" it with the UK varient.

The fact that they have noted that the structures are identical makes their concerns reagring importation real.

It would be a virtual impossibility for two identical strains to arise unilaterally in counties on the opposite side of the world.

As others have said, mass testing is the answer for now. Mass vaccination is essential and needed urgently.

"For Britain, where hospitals are overwhelmed by a deluge of cases of a new, more contagious variant of the virus, the decision by its drug regulator offered some hope of a reprieve. The health service is preparing to soon vaccinate a million people per week at makeshift sites in soccer stadiums and racecourses.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca shot is poised to become the world’s dominant form of inoculation. At $3 to $4 a dose, it is a fraction of the cost of some other vaccines. And it can be shipped and stored at normal refrigeration temperatures for six months, rather than in the ultracold freezers required by rival vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, making it easier to administer to people in poorer and harder-to-reach parts of the world.

When given in two, full-strength doses, AstraZeneca’s vaccine showed 62 percent efficacy in clinical trials — considerably lower than the roughly 95 percent efficacy achieved by Pfizer and Moderna’s shots. For reasons scientists don’t yet understand, AstraZeneca’s vaccine showed 90 percent efficacy in a smaller group of volunteers who were given a half-strength initial dose."

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

Oh! Really?

I was telling them not judging them.

One would hope that financial gain does not come into the equation.

The cynic in me says that some will look to gain, and not just in LOS.

Wartime profiteering. 

Trump voted out!

"Glisters"   .... get the quote correct if you want to evoke Shakespeare.

A common mistake from the layman, but a journalist should know better.

I suffered from alcohol withdrawal after a few years of heavy drinking, it's no joke.

The depression is overwhelming. The physical problems (shaking and fits) are frightening. I had 'wet brain' for 2-3 months.

Diazepam probably saved my life.

Myths:-

(1) Being an alcoholic is not a sign of weakness. It is an easily attainable product and many of us have to cope with unavoidable problems ( the death of my wife in my case.)

We are only human. Alcohol is an easy and instant release.

(2) It is not a permanent state. I can now enjoy a social drink or two without the need to be dependent.

I, for one, feel sorry for the impoverished Thai alcoholic with a mountain of problems other than booze who has to go through withdrawal without the help I found necessary.

Alcohol withdrawal is awful and dangerous.

Why do people always have to administer blame? We are the only living species aware of our mortality after all. Escapism is not weakness.

These are uncertain times.

There is much unknown. Especially in Thailand.

If the hotel owner genuinely believed that this guy was infected then he acted correctly. I do not see this as xenophobia.

Sounds as if the chap, by his drinking, was causing problems in any case. 

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

What I caught from just reading the entire thread was a predictable sense of good riddance to the Thai government (and nothing negative aimed at Thai citizens at all)...

--for placing all their eggs in the Chinese tourism basket, only to have it come crashing down

--while at the same time doing their best to make life miserable for the expat and western tourist community here.

--and in the process, failing to reinvest the profits from mass China tourism to offset its negative environmental and other impacts and actually make the country a better tourist experience for all... safe, clean, comfortable, courteous, convenient, etc etc.

 

It's hard to not have the feeling at this point that they finally reaped what they sowed, even if only for some temporary duration.

 

I get that and do agree. But would tend to see in as a generalisation.

The last few years the country seems to be more hostile towards Westerners, but I am thinking about things on a personal level and all the good people who would suffer from a complete crash of tourism.

We have Social Security and the NHS in UK.How much will impoverished Thais be able to rely on such things?

4 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

Very much looking forward to the total collapse of the tourism industry here.

Why?

I am a regular tourist from UK coming every year for three months for twenty years and evenly split between Bkk. (to drink with expats) and Cha Am where my English wife joins me.

I more or less use the same places and have made some wonderful Thai friends in the tourist industry. I am always treated well, well received and respectfully looked after. These people's actual livlihoods are at risk. Many bar girls and the staff are also good people, but in unfortunate circumstances that they regret but have little choice with poor families to support up North. Most taxi drivers, even in Bkk, are not rouges just family men trying to make a living and support their families.

Ok. I get and share the dislike of the current regime, I occasionally am subject to scams and cynicism and am fully aware of the parochial mindset that many Thais possess, but I do not think that these factors are sufficient to delight in the collapse of the whole economy with many, many decent people in danger of severe hardship with no back-up from a hard regime who consider much of the population as cannon fodder.    

The general tone of much of this thread is unhealthy and nasty. It'snot just Thai bashing, it's Thai hatred. Are you mostly ex-pats? I don't get it.

The original Old German Beer House on Soi. 11 started charging for the toilet in the days when it was connected directly to the apartments.

The reason given was sound in as much as too many outsiders with no connection to the bar were using the facility often with disrespect to users following. If my memory serves me correctly, and after complaints from the regulars, they introduced a token system or something in recompense.

Outsiders are a problem for some places and can leave the toilet in a worse place than before they went in (as can some customers.) They use water, they use paper towels etc., all trivial but it mounts up, especially with the extra cleaning staff needed.  

However 10 baht is trivial and unlikely to deter.

It should be 50 baht with EVERY bar issuing a token to customers who are drinking their beer.

Except for graffiti and cottaging public toilets are decent in the Uk, but are being shut down due to local council cost cutting. Most stores have toilets, which are without fault. Most pubs do as well but need to keep an eye out for outsiders.

However, needing to go is a natural thing and it cannot be held in. People will <deleted> anywhere if they have to and it can make for a health hazard.

P.S.Do they have public toilets in Thailand? I've been going to the country for over twenty years and cannot have noticed.

16 hours ago, overherebc said:

To the original poster.

You do have the option of arriving visa exempt and being stamped in for 30 days and then extending that for another 30 at the local Imm' office. ( 1900 baht ).

I'm assuming you haven't got a long history of time here in the past year ie more time here than at home.

Carrying a printed out hotel booking, a flight out ( cheap )  booked to nearby that can be cancelled or thrown away and 20,000 baht, or equivalent in uk, usa or eu.

Just a suggestion. ????

Yes. I have done that once before. Thanks.

Otherwise it's a short flight abroad and a few days spending our money in another country.

I'll see how my application to Queensgate goes first. It is a badly thought and confusing change and certainly no improvement on the old way.

How to use technology badly.

Probably in the wrong section but I have just done an evisa thing, which is now the only way to apply for one  .... UK national from Thai Embassy visa dept on Queensgate.

I thought it would be simpler, but there are one or two complications which would seem to make in more of a hassle than the old postal method.

1. You have to state in detail exactly where you are staying and it seems for the full two months. If you have need to be flexible. I stay in Bkk until my other, half who has a restaurant, is able to join me for a month when she can close it. This decision is based upon business demands in the New Year, which vary. Then we go to Cha-Am for a month.

I booked a hotel in Bkk. for my first two weeks only because of this.

I submitted evidence of this booking, but will this suffice?

2. Evidence of residence. It says something about UK nationals/residents not having to provide proof of this. Yet if you fail to upload something you cannot progress. I uploaded the main page from my passport, but will this suffice?

3. You now have to provide proof of income or proof of funds as well. Not sure which as there are differing requests on the site. As it is not clear which and not wanting to send my (longish) monthly bank statement I chose instead to send a copy of my savings account with RCI. Will this suffice?

If I am turned down, after twenty years of successful applications then we will have to go elsewhere by plane after a month to get my re-entry. My lady has expressed a wish to see Vietnam. It seems that these new demands for a tourist visa might actually send tourists elsewhere.

Once all this is done you still have to download the lot, with bar code, and send it with your passport to Queensgate.

It also requests £10 "cash." I presume that this is a note, not a P.O.  

It's now far more complicated and fussy than it ever was.

Has anybody had any problems such as those I have detailed above?

I suppose it will get easier the second time around, if there is one next year.

"TW is covered by normal financial regulations."

You also have to send them, via the internet, proof of identity and current address. I had to send them a selfie with me holding the photo page of my passport up as well. Once that's done it's easy peasy, even as easy as PayPal but quicker and cheaper.

They also require the recipients address.

Perhaps you receive a poor exchange rate.

It's a minefield.

I have used PayPal in the past for smallish amounts but for my larger sum a difference of nearly 2 baht per pound would have made it a very expensive transaction.