55Jay

Soon as he mentioned the economy, I quit reading.

Several years ago, some Thais rented land across the street and opened a ramshackle bar/karaoke on what was a previously peaceful village road, and of course they had a huge set of speakers and not a care in the world. We had a few run-ins with them and it was getting a bit tense, local cops useless as ever. Noticed it was blissfully quiet and dark over there one night about 8 months on. Didn't twig until the next morning when I saw 2 Thais rock up on motorcycles, making lots of loud phone calls as they inspected the suddenly vacated property. Village Central Intelligence Agency said they were the loan sharks. Nice and quiet again after that. ????

It's how the system works. Government pays cops a pittance, so they rely on graft and roadside donations to make up the difference. Proceeds filter up through the Pyramid scheme to the higher ups overseeing more cops = nice cut. Overweight Thai guy in my moo baan, probably late 20s, son of a cop killed in the line of duty years ago, was able to buy a job on the RTP and made it through the training "academy", I presume. He used to drive a new Mitsu SUV, but a few nights ago, pulled up in a used but very cherry, tricked out BMW. Not bad for a cop with about 2 years on the job.

"Only"? 12 months? No.

I was slow to get on board with online shopping too, but over time, especially last 2 years with COVID, Lazada's become fairly routine. Haven't had one of the "scam" type situations, yet. Worst so far is a few things I've ordered turn out to be Out of Stock/cancelled. Always been able to opt for COD, so haven't gotten jammed up dealing with refund process. It's all good, give it a try. Edit to add: Also reduced the amount of grocery store items I used to haul back in luggage from the US too! LOL.

Not sure I agree with 7/11 specifically, but the sentiment is right, IMO. Love it! ???? Ministry of Foreign Affairs handled the establishment of ExpatVax registration process quite well - presume that was a curve ball tasker outside their normal rice bowl. If I was a highly trained former General Officer, and former Commander of the Thai Armed Forces, now a Prime Minster with special powers in a time of National Emergency, I would relish the opportunity to think outside the box and perhaps temporarily mobilize and exploit private industry's logistics capabilities. The big Thai Breweries, for example, are rather adept at getting their liquid products distributed to every corner of the Kingdom. Kerry and/or other substantial delivery companies somehow manage to get a bottle of Cholula hot sauce from BKK to my door, 100s of kilometers away, in 48 hours. And/or the existing fleet of busses with a network of hubs all over the Kingdom. X number of Pfizer doses required for Y number of people in Z province? This feels like a relatively easy one. We'll see if the Minster of Public Health can "git 'er done".

Don't recall ever being particularly moved by the Olympics. Don't follow sports in general. Haven't lived in my country of origin for 20+ years, so at this point, I feel unplugged and "apart from" that whole program. Despite long service in the military, never was much of a flag waver either.

Good report, thanks for posting. Granted it's only the 11th of August, however, the idea that some of these Pfizer doses would be distributed to other provinces around Thailand, is ebbing in my mind. Confidence wasn't high to begin with, but we'll see.

Where did he pinch the Pfizer vaccines from? Page 1 of the Benevolent Tyrant's Handbook. Order a functionary to remove a small portion of vaccine doses, donated by another country, and then go on a stage seeking adulation and pats on the back for "gifting" critical supplies that being hoarded in a government refrigerator for the past week. How many medical personnel at this hospital were directed to stop what they were doing in order to attend this ham-fisted PR show. Thailand's way behind the power curve with vaccinations. Less talk and clumsy PR shows. More action.

I have no quarrel with that. Happening here too. Feared a slight mention of Trump would derail this topic, even though that was part of my reasoning that is on topic. Anyway, see where this is going, so I'm going to bounce out of any further exchange along political/conspiracy lines lest a Mod come along and shut 'er down. Cheers, see you around campus.....

In general, people are easy to wind up and get emotional, at which point they don't see clearly and often make poor decisions, or simply none at all and simply follow the herd. To Driver52: You can't put a political label on that ^. Both exploit weakness of the masses in this regard. It's how Trump got elected. I don't need "luck". Hell, I live in Thailand so I have the luxury of being able to not give a s**t about what's happening on the other side of the planet. At any rate, I'm willing to get vaccinated, eventually, whenever my number comes up, but as I said, the longer that takes = more data for the medical community to study. I could wind up with a better vaccine in the future. Or an emerging narrative that vaccines aren't necessarily required, without admitting out-loud that perhaps, they never were.

There's also one that says COVID itself, was released to do that. There's a "theory" out there for everyone, many of which conflict with others and cancel themselves out. It's only limited by the imagination of people, many of which appear to be wading in the shallow end of the gene pool to begin with.

I'm still on the sidelines watching this unfold, both intentionally and unintentionally, while minding COVID precautions, masks, etc. The intentional pause was from the very start as Trump talked out of his butthole (as usual) about Project "Warp Speed". LOL, no thanks. Unintentional is because I'm not in a high priority age group or qualifying medical condition category. Did, however, get registered on the new ExpatVac site on 3rd August, but no vaccination appointment email yet. Suspect I won't get one at all, and that's ok, let the higher priority folks go first. Upside is by the time I do qualify to get one, there will be even more data collected for the medical science community to evaluate, and that resonates favorably with me. I could wind up getting an improved, 2.0 version of the vaccine for Variant Echo or Foxtrot by then, who knows.

When we lived in a rural area, I would spray/fog once a week with the usual cans of mozzie stuff while they're down/hiding during the day (except the striped ones) - garden and potted plants, under patio furniture, basically any dark, recessed area that's inviting to them, before they rise up for their evening feed. Never get them all, or enough to put much of a dent in their breeding cycle, but it did thin them out quite a bit, for a while. Also noticed that when we were still abroad, coming to Thailand for holidays at the house, I was a mozzie magnet, but after (roughly) 5 years living here full-time, not so much. We live in a typical suburban moo baan now, so unlike the country house living, we keep the doors and windows closed during the day, which keeps the mozzies at bay, and also reduces the amount of plentiful airborne dust from getting in the house.

https://www.npr.org/2011/03/08/134240721/asian-nations-try-not-to-get-scorched-by-hot-money

"Like, OMG, like, it's totally the 19th one! It's, like, right there in the name! Duh, you guys!" ????

Check him out on FB. Appears to have a few extra coins in his pocket, and a reason to run the gauntlet, not just temples and soapy massages, which aren't open anyway.

Good call. He checked all the boxes and did it right, but as he would likely say off camera, "S**t happens". I'm ready to get the heck out of here for a while - think many are - but continue to stay put to avoid the mandatory 14-day return quarantine on return, or getting caught up in the system like this guy did. Comfortable house, lovely wife, good chow, it's all good.

Roger, thanks. FYI: @macnmotion

First two did for me. Maybe the person who got a vaccination appointment email already, can confirm it came from the same address. Waiting for mine, keeping an eye on my Spam inbox as well, in case it comes from a separate Ministry of Health email address.

Ah, the good old "plan"demic. Thought that one went out of style, along with the duck lips selfie pose. ????

Yes, that's the idea of this ExpatVac effort so that a portion of the US provided Pfizer is allocated to foreigners who register, including those outside BKK. While the MoFA registration site seems to be working well, the test will be to see how that data and coordination flows across to the MoPH, then down to the provincial MoPH offices, which I presume will be the ones to select a vaccination site nearest to the vaccine registrant (us). The other half is the physical logistics of it ^, end-state being you wind up with a Pfizer needle hanging out of your arm, at some point. Seems like a lot of moving parts and attention to detail, so we'll see how it plays out.

Cynicism not without precedent. LOL. Seems there was just enough unwelcome sunlight cast on this US Vaccine snafu so the Boys in BKK retreated, like cockroaches when you flick on the light switch. Fact MoFA was directed to honcho the registration process, is astounding, as is a largely functional website platform cranked out in relatively short order. Awesome what Amazing Thailand can achieve, once certain people get out of their own way, and let it happen.

Roger that, thanks. Got mine done at the time another way, but yours and others' input is good to have sprinkled on several pages here as others come along with the same problem.

Dunno what type, but recall he did mention something about 3,000 Baht for the jab, might have said private hospital too, but can't remember. Just called to chat with a bit more on this, but no answer, which isn't unusual.