Tomtomtom69

I watched a show on my hotel TV on channel 5 I think it was. All 3 presenters were in some hill tribe village and wearing masks. One of the presenters was a hill tribe villager. One of the two main presenters even wore 2 masks. It sure looked cringeworthy.

You're talking nonsense The government does NOT require masks anymore. No businesses still require masks. The mandate was repealed on June 23, 2022. Just because a mask sign is up, doesn't mean anything. Probably they've been forgotten to be taken down. I've not had to wear a mask in ANY setting in recent times. Not government offices (where I've been multiple times) not at immigration, not at hospitals or clinics I've been to either (I've mostly been to those settings as a visitor not as a patient) but still, the same rules apply.

You actually believe that? Firstly, Thailand tested only a fraction of the number of people that western countries did. Secondly, especially in the US, "Covid" was fraudulently applied to such a lot of deaths that it wasn't possible to determine whether it was a contributing factor or not. Thirdly, masks don't work. All it showed is that Thailand is a very obedient society and that Thais do what they're told. They stay in line and don't dare think for themselves.

Covid began in January 2020 but the major restrictions were introduced in March. Nationwide mask mandates came into force on March 26, 2020 and were repealed on June 23, 2022. However, some individual businesses, government offices, schools and other settings required masks before March 26, 2020 and after June 23, 2022. 2) That incident occurred on November 30, 2022 long after the mask mandate was lifted. The problem is, the Thai government never officially announced whether mask mandates were lifted for all settings. Yes, many settings continued requiring masks after this date but I thought the Skytrain only recommended, not required them beginning in July. The "farang" being berated was Indian, not a farang. The official was a police volunteer. Also at the same time, a Thai national who boarded a bus without a mask was prevented from doing so, all of a sudden. He claims that he had no issues not wearing a mask for the previous few months. Again this was around November 2022.

No ONE should be forcing anyone to be wearing a mask in ANY setting at this point. The mask mandate was lifted on June 23, 2022, almost 3 years ago now, so whether it's a government building a hospital or whoever, it's time to let this superstition go. The government lifted the mandate in 2022 so there can't possibly be a requirement anywhere left when they were the ones who lifted it. Don't force unwilling locals or foreigners to participate in this madness. Now I haven't encountered it myself since late 2023 when unbelievably, one Japanese manufacturing company in Samut Prakan was still demanding visitors submit Covid test results and all employees and visitors wear masks. Even if I see an old mask sign up, I ignore it and there's no issue. That particular company was the one and only exception, which was still demanding masks I've seen since early 2023, although I am aware of some schools still requiring them as recently as 2024 or even more recently for students undertaking certain exams.

Exactly. You'd think that by this stage, seeing most customers no longer needing to wear one and with the mask mandate having ended coming up to 3 years ago now, staff would simply ask their managers: why do we still need to wear masks? I don't understand their fear. Do they really believe they'll be fired for asking a simple question, politely?

It's not. Mask wearing is most common in Thailand, while Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea come close. There are very few masks worn in Myanmar, Laos or Cambodia, while in Vietnam, it's mostly motorcycle riders that wear them as dust protection, although Hanoi locals also wear them outdoors due to the heavy pollution. Still, I don't see Vietnamese virtue signaling while wearing masks like the Thais do. They wear them for a purpose and take them off when not needed.

The irony is that long term mask wearing is more likely to lead to lung infections as you've pointed out, causing a hospital stay, which many Thais mistakenly believe they're avoiding by wearing a mask. The other disturbing thing is the still common Thai practice of masking young children. I was just in Mae Sot and saw a little Thai kid getting ready for Songkran. He must have been just 2 or 3 but his father made him wear a mask, which was dangling on a cord around his neck. Not a single Burmese child I saw anywhere in the area was wearing a mask. Not even 2 years ago on my first post Covid trip did I see any Burmese children wear masks in greater Mae Sot, but some of the Thai kids sure were. It's really fascinating how different Thai and Burmese culture is, despite being separated just by an invisible border. Thais are much more paranoid and obedient to authority, the Burmese just get on with life.

Spot on. I laugh at their paranoia.

I notice things much more than your average person; clearly, Thailand is number one in mask wearing worldwide although Japan and Taiwan come very close.

I don't recall many Thais wearing masks during SARS. I spent some time here then. It is true that even in the west, be it America, the UK, Australia, there are some mask wearers now, that you wouldn't have seen at all pre-Covid, but the percentages are way below that of Thailand. Even in August 2022, when I visited Australia for the first time pre-Covid, I could go all day without seeing a single mask, depending on where I was. In some places, I did estimate there to be around 3% of people wearing masks but this reduced to well under 1% by my next trip in April 2023. In September-October 2022 when I went to Europe, I counted about 15 people in total wearing masks on my entire trip. Out of probably thousands upon thousands I saw, excluding the 5% or so masked on the flights over and back.

100% spot on! It took Thais about 2 years to finally remove their masks but for some, they'll never take them off. There's a cleaning lady who rides her bicycle home through our village with her mask on every afternoon. She has never not worn her mask since early 2020. I doubt she'll ever go back to the pre-Covid norm of not wearing a mask. Some Thais, especially the upper middle and upper class ethnic Chinese Thais do in fact wear masks in the most absurd of circumstances, for virtue signaling or all sorts of reasons. I know of one such family, they have a "little emperor" as a son. He's around 8 or 9 now. He's been wearing his mask most of the time since Covid began and nowadays still wears one on occasion. One of the most recent photos I saw of the family on Facebook showed him wearing a mask while reading a book inside a cafe in Japan. The same kid also wore his mask during a private boat trip down in Phuket not too long ago. He wears his mask while at school, even though most of his peers have stopped wearing theirs. The contrast with neighboring countries is huge. If, like me you went to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar in the months following the post-Covid reopening, you would have noticed the striking difference with Thailand. Cambodia was largely mask-free already in November 2022. I distinctly remember estimating the rate of mask wearing in Siem Reap to be no higher than 2-3%. The only employees still wearing them were 7-11 workers (CP owns 7-11 Cambodia as they do in Thailand, which may explain the continued mask mandates for employees). In contrast, Bangkokians were still wearing masks at that time, indoors and outdoors, to the tune of somewhere between 70-90%, depending on the setting and whether it was indoors or outdoors. Mask wearing on the Skytrain and many malls was still at 90%+. Even in rural areas, mask wearing was still at around 15-25%, spiking to 70-80% or higher as soon as you stepped inside a 7-11, a Lotus or any store. In Phnom Penh, mask wearing at the time was higher than Siem Reap, but still not higher than 5-10%. I remember snickering after passing a double masked Thai expat, who's Cambodian driver was unmasked at the AEON mall. I also noticed how seriously Thais still took mask wearing in June 2023 at the Lao-China border. There was a group of approximately 10 Thai tourists of whom, 9 out of the 10 were masked up. Some were double masked. Approximately 100 people were in the immigration hall, of whom about 70% were Chinese, none of which were wearing masks. Around 20 Laotians were also there, of whom 2 were masked, but one of them (a monk) removed his mask as it was getting pretty stifling in there. The power went out and we had to wait for 45 minutes in intense heat and humidity. During this time, Chinese immigration staff, still required to wear masks at the time, all lowered their masks every 2 minutes to take a breath, but the double masked Thai tourists didn't even flinch. By the time the power came back on and we all started passing through immigration, i noticed that the Lao driver employed to take the Thai group to Jinghong in Sipsongbanna wasn't wearing a mask, while his group of Thai tourists were all obediently masked up. Once I got inside my train, I noticed only 10% of passengers masked up, and maximum 5% anywhere else (such as at malls, or outdoors). Thus mask wearing is definitely more of a Thai thing than in most other Asian countries even.

Unbelievable that some hospitals are still insisting on masks. My understanding is that private hospitals generally no longer do, especially the ones popular with expats and tourists, but public ones still might.

LOL. Thai noses are actually quite nice; our noses tend to be ugly, unfortunately.

I'm not sure about that, but you are correct that Asians (some nationalities anyway) are still concerned about Covid. This is particularly true in Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan and explains the continued mask wearing in these countries and regions.

Precisely. So few people wore masks prior to Covid, that I could barely recall anyone who ever did, except for the very occasional sick person suffering from a cold or the occasional nurse or doctor at a hospital. Even today, walking through any given mall, a good 15-20% of the population of all ages, though many of them tend to be older or they're women, wear masks. What I don't get is, when I see say a family or 3 or 4 and only the child(ren) wear masks but not their parents.

In Vietnam, generally speaking it's ONLY motorcycle riders that still wear masks. Of course, exceptions exist, but there are generally fewer mask wearers than in Thailand. I remember going to Vietnam back in August 2022, on my first post-Covid trip and noticed how in Ho Chi Minh City, barely 50% of people still wore masks, vs 97% in Bangkok at the time. I went to Taiwan in October of last year and that's one of the very few countries where the rate of mask wearing is comparable to Thailand. You'll still see some babies, toddlers and young children masked up (just like you will in Thailand). In any given setting in Thailand (and Taiwan) you'll see anywhere from 10-30% of people masked up, excluding hospitals, where, depending on the type of hospital (public or private) and it's location (urban, rural, in a suburban area or popular with expats/tourists), the rate of mask wearing may be as high as near 100%.

I've traveled along 1175 many dozens of times over the years, but only once since Covid, which was in 2023. Strangely, that time, I was briefly pulled over and the two officials on duty were debating on whether to let me through. They did, without incident, but I found it strange that one guy was asking the other if I was to be permitted through. The second guy immediately nodded and said fine...but it seemed odd there was even such a question being posed. In other words, it seems like even at the time, there were sometimes people not granted access? The current closure began only in January and is indefinite; there's no way of knowing if or when they'll ease up and thanks to the total lack of signposting indicating the closure, the only way of knowing what's going on is via forums such as this one, Mae Sot specific expat forums and well, wasting your time going there only to be denied passage. Pre-Covid, route 1175 was definitely open without incident. I have the feeling access was restricted during Covid due to "disease control" measures, but that's not an issue, I didn't go anywhere near the area during Covid nor would I have wanted to. Too many annoying restrictions during those times all throughout the country; they were even stricter in some of the border areas. I remember clearly that a lot of villages in Tak, Mae Hong Son and other provinces prevented foreigners, or even just outsiders, from entering altogether, beginning in 2020 and ending only around the middle of 2022. A YouTuber stuck in Thailand during Covid called "Planet Doug" did a video around July of 2022 and was surprised to find some villages still closed at the time and this was in Tak. It seems that since Covid restrictions were lifted, soldiers stationed along this route have in a way, kept the area under some sort of control they didn't have it in pre-Covid, though generally speaking, foreigners weren't denied access to the highway until January of this year.

You can't smoke on a train in Thailand.

Yes, as far as the major cities are concerned. Perhaps there was a bit of heightened scrutiny when they first started this in January and February, but seems to have fizzled out by now. As long as you travel to Mae Sot and Mae Ramad via the major highways, you probably won't even be asked for anything. On the way back via route 12, the army officer at the first checkpoint in Mae Sot up on the hill asked me where I had started my journey (I told him Mae Ramad) and that was the only interaction I had in/out of Mae Sot. Only route 1175 was a problem as I mentioned in a previous reply. That highway is rarely used, thus having to avoid it is usually not an issue for most people.

So to summarize....as long as you reach Mae Sot and Mae Ramad via the two main highways (from Tak or Mae Sariang), you'll be fine! Seems that everything is normal in those cities, but don't try to return to the interior of the country via some remote, secondary highways as some of those are restricted.

Thanks very much for sharing! What were you doing in Mae Sot? Here's my experience: I am fluent in Thai, including reading and writing. My Burmese is minimal though. I entered Mae Sot and passed by the 3 checkpoints as usual. I was waived through all the checkpoints on the way in. I got right up to the border between the 1st and 2nd friendship bridges and within less than 100m of the Star casino scam center (which appears to have been shut down). No army or checkpoints anywhere near there. I spent some time on the outskirts of Mae Sot outside of town without incident either and didn't see any checkpoints. On the way to Mae Ramad, a checkpoint waived me through again. Up until this point, everything looked and felt normal. However, when I wanted to return via Route 1175, me and my friend on his motorcycle hit a roadblock: We were told by the army that foreigners are NOT allowed to use that road. No matter what I told them or how I tried to get some logic out of them, they said no. They were told that due to "human trafficking concerns", no foreigners could pass, period. This also applies to parts of route 4003 as mentioned earlier. I was told foreigners can only pass through route 12 from Tak and route 105 from Mae Hong Son, although route 1099 from Ok Koi works too (my friend came that way to meet me). It is unclear whether route 1175 (which I know well, as I've passed through well over a dozen times over the years) is dangerous (if it is, that would make sense why it's restricted) but the army could only tell us that they were told that foreigners are only allowed to use main roads to continue to the interior of Thailand. The strange thing is that there were no signs anywhere indicating this. If the army would at least place some signs in Thai and English and perhaps also Chinese and Burmese that mention 1175 as being closed, it would ensure we don't have to waste our time or that of the military attempting to go that way and then being refused passage.

I haven't heard anything about foreigners being questioned before heading to the Three Pagodas Pass, even though there are (or were) scam centers there too, not to mention how much easier it is to cross the border illegally there. You can literally do it almost without anyone noticing (not that I recommend it!) Just saying though.. one could easily slip out one of the back doors of the market and then you're in Myanmar. I understand the Payathonzu scam centers (Payathonzu being the town on the Burmese side) have now been relocated to areas further inside the country. Compared to the greater Mae Sot area, the former, relatively short lived scam centers in Payathonzu were a far cry from the sophisticated operations near Myawaddy and Mae Ramad (Shwe Koko).

Highly unlikely, but I appreciate the sarcasm!

In a sense. I am now reading a Thai language news article from Thai TV5. Google the following and the article comes up: ทบ. เผยผลคุมชายแดนตาก สกัดต่างชาติผิดกฎหมาย, which mentions the following measures pertaining to foreign individuals entering Mae Sot, Mae Ramad and Phob Phra districts (dated January 30, 2025): 1. Questioning foreigners entering Mae Sot by air / land and asking what their intentions are in the area, including penalizing drivers who bring foreigners to the area for hire (this one sounds strange...so now a foreigner isn't allowed to hire transportation to get to Mae Sot?) It does confirm what I just mentioned, which is that foreigners driving their own vehicles are the most likely to be allowed to enter without issues, whereas those on public transportation are either going to be turned around, require a Thai guarantor or intense questioning of their intentions (whichever the case may be) 2. Place checkpoints on roads leading into Mae Sot, Mae Ramad and Phob Phra districts 3. Implement measures 24/7 on roads leading to the border areas, both main roads and secondary roads 4. Inspect hotels, especially those where foreigners are staying, to ensure they are properly registered (previously, I would always use my Thai driver's license to check-in, but since I want them to do a TM30 so I can do a 90 day report at immigration in Mae Sot, I'll use my passport this time) The article then goes on to mention that prior to the measures being imposed on January 21, there were so and so many vehicles and x number of foreigners and this number dropped by around 75% the following week. It also mentions that a lot of foreigners voluntarily left the area, after being warned about the scam cities across the border. A Burmese national who attempted to visit the Mae Ta-lor area just told me now (on Facebook) that he was turned around and that told that "foreigners can't enter this area". Apparently, Thai nationals have to deposit their ID cards at the checkpoint and can then retrieve them once they head back out. The affected area is in Mae Ramad district and not even along the border, but further inland, which is strange. Most expats I've interacted with on Facebook, who are living in Mae Sot have confirmed that if you're driving your own vehicle and have a clear reason for travel, you should be alright. It helps to be fluent in Thai and/or traveling with a Thai person as well. However, even expats from the area may be prevented from visiting Mae Ta-Lor.