gearbox

Nobody questions that the covid vaccines work, they just shouldn't be called vaccines. Maybe covid shots like the flu shots.

Don't worry, you'll get infected too..I had 3 Pfizer shots, still got covid.

Covid times...even without any testing if they had covid they'll technically need to self isolate and bang up themselves somewhere. The vast majority of countries still have self isolation requirements. With tourists it would be either hotel or hospital. I went through this 3 times without issues - ASQ, then sandbox, the last time test & go...then got covid here, but I live here so self isolation is easy. Many people see scams and greed in the system, I think it is mostly fear and incompetence. There is no such thing as competent government.

The covid vaccines are not real vaccines, they should be called "symptom relieving drugs". The real vaccines prevent transmission effectively. Both me and my gf went through covid with very mild symptoms 3 weeks ago, I have 3 shots, she has 4. All the people around who got covid so far had 3 shots too. Soon the people would start thinking that the real vaccines like hep B behave the same way.

Not opened yet. It was open last year during the darkest covid times, but now still closed.

Most of the Aussie travel insurance policies require that you you take them before leaving Australia. You can still buy online most of them, but if you need to use them your claim may be denied if they see your passport stamps. I use Atlas Travel, Safetywing is pretty much the same, but the cover for 72 years old will be low. You can check World Nomads, covid time they stopped issuing policies for Aussies, maybe they started issuing policies again.

That's the meaning of average....e.g one person eats pork, 10 other eat only rice, on average the group eats pork with rice.

True to some extent, but don't expect your life expectancy to be way higher than those born right now. Being alive at 60 or 65 adds just a couple of years at best. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/life-expectancy-death/deaths-in-australia/contents/life-expectancy

Definitely not conslusively...if one lives on the southern islands like Koh Samui or Phuket, there is great fresh seafood available, good air quality and unparalleled opportunities for water sports except surfing.

Only the area at the front is open, and from his judgement most were tourists. There were many bars open before the Green Mango opening, however no idea how many customers they are getting. The ladyboy cabaret opposite Combo has opened too. Overall it seems the northern part of Chaweng is getting back in business.

A friend was there last night... apparently it was packed and they ran out of ???? ????

Rubbish article by Guardian. No way the Thais would be divided about what is happening in faraway countries they can't even find on the map. The majority of Thais don't even discuss their own politics. I've heard only one person mentioning the war, in fact I haven't seen any people as apolitical as the Thais, which is probably not a bad thing after all.

July-November. https://www.thethailandlife.com/box-jellyfish-thailand

The easiest way probably is to find an agent who has connections with the banks to facilitate account opening. From my experience in Samui if you have some kind of non-o visa the best branch to try is Krungsri at Central festival, then Bangkok bank in the same location.

World fragile, is Asia ready? Asia is ready. When I go in the shops or look around the house almost everything is manufactured in Asia. The world needs much more Asia than Asia the world.

If you read the Australian newspapers China is about to invade Australia any time soon... people should be digging bomb shelters in the backyards. Today's article informs us that they are also trying to grab the Australia's share of Antarctica, which apparently is 42%. https://www.smh.com.au/national/while-putin-s-hurricane-rages-xi-calculates-20220404-p5aajk.html

The main beneficiary is the US kleptocracy, on the surface at least it damaged one of their main competitors - EU, and weakened another opponent - Russia, although Russia is little more than petrol station with nukes. In the mean time they arranged to sell expensive gas to EU, and extract commitment for more arms sales. Ukraine is not the first and not going to be the last, there is trouble brewing in Latin America where more and more countries are shifting to China, surely there are preparations for a few more wars and regime changes. Thanks for being honest that the Arab lives matter little to you, most get to that stage after a few drinks in private conversation.

Umm..I don't really get into exchanges with 24/7 propaganda trolls, but where did you see in my post any endorsement of the terrible war in Ukraine? By the way Putin is considered somewhat moderate, there are really some unhinged characters in the Russian politics fully capable of triggering nuclear war.

The propaganda presents Ukraine as a flourishing democracy against evil enemy, but the facts are that Ukraine was a failed state before the war. It is the second most corrupted country in Europe (Russia is No 1), and the GDP per capita is on par with Guatemala. Nobody cared about Ukraine before the war, after the war finishes it will quickly disappear from the news. These figures are telling: https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/ukraine/foreign-direct-investment After the American instigated coup in 2014 the FDI kept falling and falling, and the numbers are negligible. Who in their right mind is not massively investing in this thriving democracy? Ukraine was used to poke Russia (as if Russia didn't have enough problems already). Maybe it was miscalculated how far Putin would go. So far the results are that Ukraine is devastated, EU and Russia are weakened, China got its own petrol station, and some are laughing all the way to the bank. BTW there is another war going on for years already, where many western governments are complicit in war crimes, and the number of victims far exceed the Ukrainian casualties: https://caat.org.uk/homepage/stop-arming-saudi-arabia/the-war-on-yemens-civilians/ However no thousands of comments denouncing it...very very quiet.

If business is business then there should be no complaints about businesses and countries trading with Russia or China. In all wars one should follow the money to find who is getting richer. Ukrainians have been used, after this war they would either go under occupation, or others will move in, bribing and acquiring assets for a song. Both outcomes bad for them.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australian-resources-revenue-booms-but-it-s-not-predicted-to-last-20220401-p5aa6g.html Australia to get 50% more revenue exporting resources because of the war in Ukraine - 425 billions AUD, markup of 212.5 billions. I wonder how much of this markup would be donated to Ukraine...my first guess is one big fat zero.

Sounds logical, most of the trade is with ASEAN and North East Asia anyway. I was 2 days ago in Global House and it seems 95% of the white goods there were from China, Japan, South Korea and Turkey. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/biggest-trade-partner-of-each-country-1960-2020/ China needs richer ASEAN in order to shift more trade to countries not involved in "containments".

I think Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe are going to open very soon, saw workers cleaning around Hooters recently. The Ark bar renovation is ongoing, the rumour is they'll open in 2-3 months. In Chaweng most of the beachfront hotels and restaurants are now open, but the visitors are way way less than pre covid. IMO good time for a visit.

This doesn't sound good...my debit card was issued 2019, it will expire soon. I have a Krungsri account with a debit card, I don't think there are any changes there, may need to use this one more often.

Followed the instructions in the link and did withdrawal without any problems. Thanks again.