gearbox

500 tourists in Samui can hardly make any difference. At this time in terms of covid requirements Thailand just can't compete with places like Turkey, which aims for 25 million tourists this year. However the northern hemisphere winter is coming in 2-3 months, and warm places like Samui will become far more desirable. The vaccination in Europe and key Asian markets like Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan is progressing, so if they drop the quarantine requirements for vaccinated it will be a lot more busier from December onward. No Chinese or Australians probably until March next year.

You don't need to make expensive calls...I was on the phone with Bankwest a few weeks ago and paid $1.06 AUD for 25 minutes call with Skype. I use Skype cards to load my account, they sell them in Woolies and Coles from time to time with 50% off, and the credit once loaded does not expire.

I use Transferwise (now Wise) from Australia, and paid with Commbank And Citibank, no issues. If you transfer a large amount you may have the transfer delayed a bit, and you may need to provide extra info for money laundering checks. I transfer money internationally to my Bangkok bank account, and then use iBanking to transfer internally (usually small amounts).

It seems many governments are withholding the breakthrough data in order not to undermine the vaccination campaigns and boost the anti vaxers. Makes some sense..although some people say we can handle the truth. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1425492860619481098/ Most vaccines seem to lose quite a bit of protection within 6 months, hopefully the boosters will be game changers. So if there is a breakthrough case the length of time after the second shot can be important factor, which makes the reporting even more complicated. It is a very small sample, but it is reported that all vaccinated cases in Samui are asymptomatic, all symptomatic and severe cases are not vaccinated. Around 45% of the Samui people are fully vaccinated, Sinovac and AZ.

Sell the nation wellbeing for a few dollars? Do you think the foreigners arriving in Phuket are responsible for the current massive wave of infections? I don't think fully opening Thailand would have any significant impact on the current covid crisis. And there won't be many people coming either - who is going to come to a country where the hospitals are full and there is a significant risk of catching covid? As usual it would be returnees living here, or staying here for longer periods.

As far as I know it seems they got nothing since the start of the pandemics...they have asked for soft loans, but got nothing so far. With Bangkok Airways as a listed company if there was something they would have included it in the financial reports. https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-airlines-loans-idUKL4N2OX11U The way the things are developing there are going to be casualties if they don't reopen the flights soon, or some support is given.

It is a very beautiful country..top of the shelf landscape. I traveled extensively both islands, definitely would be back there after the covid. One of the few countries in the world not to be skipped by the avid travelers.

Unless there is a new bad variant there would be a lot of tourists mid next year. There would be a surplus of vaccines early next year, and most people would have a booster mid next year. Enjoy the empty beaches while you can. I certainly got used to the empty Chaweng, so much nicer to swim without looking around for zipping jetskis all the time.

It is a much more convenient and cheaper way to come back than the ASQ in Bangkok.

These pics are not from Samui. I haven't seen any Chinese organized groups in Samui, in fact the footpaths there are so narrow it would be quite difficult to lead a group this way. Prior to covid the Chinese were the highest spending group in my girlfriend's business in Samui. I've spoken to quite a few of her customers, well educated and polite, many working in the hi-tech indistries.

I think it is a bit complicated. It probably depends on the dates of your bookings - if you book a flight for the next week probably it is 100% certain you'll get a Samui+ flight, just because there are no other flights. If you try to book far ahead, they may book you via the normal Bangkok Airways domestic flights. Usually the airlines show their codeshare flight number, not the Bangkok Airways PG number. You can chat with Bangkok Airways via FB to match the codeshare code to Bangkok Airways PG number before booking and paying. My advice is to book directly with the airline, and get some sort of a flexible ticket, in case you need to change it to fit the Samui+ flights. For this reason I changed my return flight back to Thailand to Phuket - there are direct flights available which remove the need to guess whether the domestic flight is a Samui+ flight. My inbound flight is Abu Dhabi - Phuket direct. Also there is a bigger choice of SHA+ hotels in Phuket. No issues moving from Phuket to Samui later - my gf is going to come and stay with me, and we'll drive back to Samui later.

If his death is vaccine related it would be an extremely rare case. Turkey has been using Pfizer boosters for Sinovac for a while now, and as far as I know there are no reports of such serious adverse effects. BTW there is a Turkish study to be shortly published which suggests that 2 X Sinovac + Sinovac booster is more effective than 2 X Sinovac + Pfizer booster.. https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/3-doses-of-Sinovac-is-better-than-mixing-with-Pfizer-Turkish-minister Another recent development with Pfizer is that according to UK studies it is better to get the second shot in 8 weeks instead in 3 or 4 weeks...apparently the protection lasts way longer. I'm currently in EU and my second Pfizer shot is due in a week, but I may delay it in view of the latest developments to at least 5-6 weeks. In Thailand it may be a risky strategy as shots may not be available when planned/needed, but there are plenty of vaccines in the EU.

You are correct, at least on paper Thailand requires IDP, however in practice I haven't seen a police officer asking for it. None of the people I know have IDP when they come to visit....at least the Australians. The IDP in Australia is quite expensive - 1 year IDP is $42 AUD, most people just don't bother to get it. $42 is 4 X 500 baht fines, so it is a matter of being lucky or not ???? But yes, if one wants to be 100% compliant IDP is required, and as you mentioned, it can be used only for 90 days.

Interesting that there are quite a few people in a field hospital...I didn't know that there is a field hospital in Samui. Looks like the Thais are not getting dispatched to the private hospitals. Is there a choice of a hospital if one gets tested positive? Can a foreigner choose the field hospital?

I don't know whether the OP arranged his transport already, but in the Samui-Phangan FB group there are quite a few messages for organized minibus/car share Samui-BKK.

I think in Thailand you don't need IDP if your licence is in English. It depends on the country, as far as I remember in Cambodia you do need IDP even if your home country licence is in English. It was one of the main revenue streams for the Cambodian police - if no IDP, you get fined, the fine may depend on your home country licence, the richer the country the bigger the fine ????