wasabi

I'm interested in this too.

I certainly won't be sneezing in my mask ever. I will pull it down and sneeze in a tissue.

The Thai Dr who states we should focus on deaths and not case counts is right. Enough hysteria over what is gradually becoming a mild illness. All the manic testing, painful nasal swabs and hazmat suits have become farcical. Move on.

I agree. There is worldwide hysteria over what has become a rather ordinary illness now. I'm not a Covid denier and that was not true of previous strains but this is what I've read and seen first hand. I think at this point many either profit or enjoy the societal control Covid panic fosters and want to keep the party going as long as possible. There is nothing stopping most places including Thailand from reopening and reaping a huge economic benefit other than paranoia and delusion at this point. Covid has melted the brains and reasoning of millions.

When I flew from BKK to HKT Vaccination cards were required. They were not required from HKT to BKK though.

But was there a dancing elephant logo on the boat to insure quality?

They think they will test their way out of the pandemic. All the while increasing restrictions and throwing the economy in the dumpster. Meanwhile the rest of the world recognizes Omicron is the end game for Covid and are gradually easing restrictions and moving on with their lives. Everyday a new set of rules from germaphobe control freaks who should not be in tactical decision making rules. very doubtful this manic testing puts even a small dent in omicron. Furthermore better to let it rip and get to herd immunity. Tests can be wrong. People are flawed, you cannot control the uncontrollable.

I just got back from Phuket. It is almost as if Covid doesn't exist there. No ATK Covid tests I saw. No temperature checks and masks off in most venues. I'm not here to judge if this is good of bad, only saying if you want to remove yourself from invasive and possibly expensive Covid preventive measures Phuket may be a better choice.

It's obvious whoever is the boss of the Provincial Chon Buri governor complained to him about the rising Covid cases. Thinking only of covering his azz the provincial governor determined if he ordered everyone to get tested everywhere he'd have both cheeks covered, could avoid getting scolded again and could fall back on plan B when cases inevitably rise anyway that it wasn't his fault -- it was the restaurant owners to blame who didn't follow his draconian proclamation. This is what happens when you try to control the uncontrollable with magical thinking. Furthermore all these bone headed ideas are slowly and surely killing the economy and the reasons people come to Thailand in the first place. In all successful betting you play the odds, accepting a reasonable risk for a greater reward, and that is what nations are doing as they try to balance GDP growth and their citizens health, playing the odds. But Thailand is not willing to take any risk They only want the reward, so called high spending towards who are most certainly not going to get a Covid test just to get a beer and a hamburger, it's a ridiculous invasion of privacy and not what any tourist is going to pay to experience. You thought you were getting a 50 THB plate of fries but ended up with a 2 week hospital jail sentence and a 300,000 THB hospital bill to recover from your asymptomatic case of Covid. (Which you can catch multiple times) They should be relaxing the rules particularly since Covid is getting weaker. That is what the Prime Minister in a rare moment of clarity proposed. "Living with Covid" That made sense since no matter what you do people are going to catch Covid, unfortunately some will die but the only guarantee for Thailand is loss of wealth and eventually prominence in Southeast Asia and the ultimate source of this flip-floppery is probably Mr. Living with Covid himself.

I have stock in several companies that make covid tests and they have consistently gone up all year and will probably do so for the next 12 months too since you can always count on people panicking and acting like buffoons. In spite of the steady gains I'd love to see these tests go away in the meantime I'll keep cashing the check. If you're curious the company tickers are ABT DHR LH PKI

I have Thailand Elite and generally very pleased with it, but their inability to provide a solution to the TM30 requirement other than reminding you about it is a frustration I have with them. I know immigration and not they made the TM30 but it seems like they both should work together to have a better solution than print outs which can be hard to come by. We should be able to report any address changes to Thailand Elite and they should handle it from there. They are still addicted to print outs and it makes no sense and is inexcusable but this is Thailand TiT so to live here and enjoy the many pros of it we must accept the cons too.

about 13 years ago I opened a Bangkok Bank account when here on an Education visa quite easily. I used it for a few years then closed it. 2 years ago I decided to move here permanently and tried to reopen it when here on a Tourist visa. I needed a Thai bank account to change from A tourist visa to an Elite visa but Thailand Elite was unable to help me until I actually had the TE visa which presented a Catch-22 paradox. I went to several branches and each noted I was once a customer but for different reasons were unwilling to help me, citing different required documents and rules. Finally a branch in Phrakhanong District of Bangkok was willing to help me if I got a letter notarized by the US embassy stating I was allowed to have a bank account in Thailand. The embassy was willing to notarize the letter which I simply typed up myself, but they had a chuckle as they have no authority on whether or not a Thai bank opens an account for me, they were just willing to notarize that I had signed this piece of paper. After presenting the official looking letter my bank account was opened, a week later I managed to get my wife added to the account. The moral of the story is for Farangs they often make up the rules as they go at banks and you typically just have to keep trying.

Here is a little more information about domestic Phuket entry requirements. Proof of vaccine as one of the methods is clearly noted. I looked for information like this before and didn't see it but nevertheless good to know. Screening Measures for Domestic Travel to enter Phuket – Royal Vacation (royalvacationdmc.com)

There is surely an announcement about it somewhere but I didn't see it noted anywhere in our boarding requirements or in any recent news I read. Though ignorance of the law is not an excuse to break the law so yes, on us.

My wife and I who are both US citizens were asked for proof of vaccination before boarding a flight from Bangkok to Phuket today. My booster which I got 3 weeks ago in Bangkok was saved in the Mor Phrom app. We did bring our little paper cards with the first two vaccines from America. They wanted to see those and the third one in the app, though if I hadn't mentioned it they might have been satisfied with just the cards from America. We received no heads up this would be required and it was only asked for right before boarding the plane. If we didn't have the little certificates from America with us I'm not sure what would have happened though I do have a copy saved in my phone Most of the other passengers were Thai and they were not asked for proof of vaccination. I can see some logic to that since it's a scientific fact that only dirty farangs can transmit covid to Thais and not the other way around The whole thing was redundant since neither of us could have gotten in the country without proof of vaccination in the first place. Sometimes seems like they are just throwing stones in the dark as far as fighting covid here and in the rest of the world. That said the covid precautions in Phuket have been extremely relaxed.

It reminds me of a recent Thai headline that stated Hotels in dire straights because foreigners fail to come. Shifting the blame to people not coming when they made it all but impossible to come to Thailand.

True but mass hysteria and paranoia are now taken for fact while governments play out the political theater and measures to control what can't and doesn't need to be controlled any longer.

ok

The worldwide reaction to Omicron is complete hysteria and political theater. I am not a Covid denier and have taken it seriously throughout, but the media and government outlets conveniently ignore the latest news that this is not a dangerous variant, may actually help end the pandemic, and instead revert to their comfortable stance of controlling the population for the sake of acting like they are doing something rather than helping anyone at all. Thailand in particular has gone full retard since the pandemic began. Making the wrong decision at every turn while congratulating themselves regardless. Every action is either an under or over reaction but not never a measured and sane course. The shutdown of Thailand Pass has already done much more economic damage than protecting a single person's health. I am lucky that these clowns have no effect on me personally but it is sad to see.

Hopefully they're going to need a recycling plant for all those stupid temperature machines once this hysteria abates.

guard up or down won't make a difference because everyone will catch the virus at some point. This is just setting the stage to blame people for the inevitable. But given it's low virulence and hospitalization rate catching it is not a cause for alarm. But the media worldwide can't resist a good crisis even if it must be created.

The only test that is needed an MRI to see what is wrong with our Glorious leader's brain.

Song Kran in it's current filthy water gun festival incarnation should be permanently canceled. Worst time of year to be in Thailand both for the nasty water getting splashed in your eyes and the road carnage.

They truly want to kill off everything that brings in tourists and replace it with a fantasy Thailand where high rollers forgo Monaco, Dubai and Miami instead rerouting their private jets straight to old Siam where they can breathe the sooted air and catch listeria from Som Tam vendors far and wide.

Yep high PM 2.5 levels is a magnet for high end high rolling tourists though they could just Photoshop the skies blue in their ad campaigns