sandrew33

Maybe stop designing seats for midgets? ????????‍♂️

Are you new here? ????

Yes, many Thais are broken after 20+ years of this nonsense.

He probably meant horrendous for the Thai people, the Thai economy and the opportunities that have been squandered. But sure for you personally with no real interests outside yourself its been ok.

Thaksin isn’t the future but some sort of reconciliation with the establishment is likely necessary for the country to end these insane political cycles. If him returning is a part of that then so be it. He’s no greater risk to the future of the country than leaving things as they are now and have been since 2014.

Which basically rules out everyone of significance in Thai politics. Ideally there would be a reckoning for all who have committed major constitutional breaches but one would settle for a peace treaty where all elections in the future are decided by a fair vote under a more reasonable constitution. How that is achieved is anyone’s guess.

It was at Kata Noi. I felt like I was in a bad Moscow disco on a section of the beach. Apparently it was being pumped out from a hotel with beach frontage ????????‍♂️ In response to other question about age there was a lot of under 40’s and quite a lot with kids. My sense was much higher percentage of younger Russians than pre Covid. Overall though Phuket nowhere near as busy as pre Covid

I’m in Phuket now and have spent the last 2 days travelling around. The place is busy but it’s busy because of an incredibly high percentage of Russians who aren’t really tourists given they have booked out half the condos in parts of the island for many months and they have 3+ month bookings on car and motorbike hire. I mean they are hiding from the war and the potential consequences (conscription) of war. Which is fine but it’s also not really tourism. The areas around Karon, Kata, Rawai are so Russian that awful Russian disco music is heard blaring through loudspeakers everywhere ???? it’s an unusual experience

By the way, for those arguing Thailand has done so well, most sensible people who pay attention understand cases have been underreported throughout and that deaths haven’t been reported in the same way as most countries in the West. The most useful stat is excess deaths it’s harder to hide truth. Here’s a comparison of Thailand, Australia and Japan. By comparison Thailand is significantly worse and increasingly so. Japan is rapidly gaining on Oz after hiding for longer. Australia has essentially been open for a year. But Thailand has a much higher rate of excess deaths despite its claims of greater virtue and greater mask wearing. In fact outside the US it’s my Thai friends & colleagues who have had Covid more often than elsewhere. It’s our Thai offices that have had much higher rates of Covid related sick leave. But hey masks right? I understand I won’t convert an old zealot so hope you have a great new year ????

I lived in a country with virtually no Covid for 2 years. It had nothing to do with masks (we mostly didn’t wear them). When we did wear them we had a surge in cases. China is wearing masks now and has had according to some dubious numbers 250m cases in 3 weeks. Why aren’t masks helping? There is literally no real world evidence that supports mass mask wearing does anything since Omicron arrived. Staggering that anyone doesn’t get this yet

????????‍♂️ You certainly provide compelling counters ????

If Thailand is shutting down events for Covid then it needs to announce it to the world so that grown ups can make decisions to go to more sensible countries ????

As it should be. Good to hear. I’ll be down there in a couple of weeks. My only concern is the health of a certain member of a certain family and whether that will result in more interruptions to things for a period of time.

Right. But the masks aren’t helping are they? This is the point. I got stuck for much of Covid in WA, so barely worn a mask in 3 years. The only time we wore them was when we reopened the borders. We wore them for a couple of months as case soared. Then we stopped wearing them and cases plummeted. That’s how waves work. Once Covid particularly since Omicron is in a location masks are a largely futile. But many will assign value to them on the “it could have been worse” or the “at least we did something” arguments. I get that. There’s just no real world evidence that mass mask wearing has done anything v Omicron.

And my 1300 co workers? In our building people wear them to enter as it’s a large commercial building but once they hit our floors they largely take them off. I’d suggest maybe 20% wear them in the office and 99% wear them to enter and leave the office. Summarising the most common observation it’s “it’s easier for Thai to just wear them so other people don’t scold”

Well, there is literally no evidence that mask mass wearing anywhere has achieved anything and the current situations in China and Japan illustrate that perfectly. There is certainly evidence that in controlled circumstances including certain types of masks worn perfectly for defined (short) periods they have some impact. But that’s not what people are doing in Thailand or anywhere else. So they are in fact pointless. I understand you can’t bring yourself to grasp that so here we are ???? i don’t care if people wear them by the way, just when they either force others to or coerce others to (which is the Thai way)

“Anti-maskers”? Surely we are all anti mask in the sense that all things being equal we wouldn’t wear them. I mean why would anyone wear them if, for example, they were pointless. It’d almost make folk an object of ridicule at that point right?

It’s interesting to look at cases in those 3 places too. China and Japan leading the world in current daily cases per million. Also RE Thailand interesting to look at its excess death rate. It argues low cases and deaths and attributes that to its Covid response - although many have doubted the numbers - but it’s excess deaths are well above other countries with similarly good Covid responses. Countries that haven’t used masks in ages. So maybe the masks are pointless theatre as the data suggests elsewhere. Since attention to detail is your thing ????

I think it’s funny that you think Thais are making up their own mind on this. They are doing it out of conformity. The fact they remove them in an instant in farang focused venues or in the company of farang or at farang owned business confirms this. Asking them confirms it more.

Huh, I was in Thailand every month until February 2020. You are exaggerating.

Lol. Yes because they really reduce spread right? The waves have been identical everywhere with reasonable measurement. They surge, then they peak and then they abate. Every time. Masks, no masks, doesn’t matter.

It’s not being triggered to point out absurdity, I mean if you want up wear a maxi pad on your head that’s your call too. But when 90% of people wear them I’ll probably observe that it looks absurd. Cos it does. And Thais acknowledge that the primary driver now is social conformity not health. It’s not wanting to face the stares of other Thais. In areas heavily populated with tourists this conformity rapidly falls away. If people genuinely believe they help and are free to choose then go for it. But the absurdity is real when you see people masked up outdoors and then quickly removing them to go into a crowded indoor cafe/restaurant and leave them off for hours only to put them back on to go outdoors. It’s absurd. But sure if people want to do it that’s fine. It’s unwelcoming and it deprives the place of much basic human connection but sure whatever …

I lived in Thailand from 2008 until 2018, the number of Thais wearing masks was miniscule. You made that up. And it’s genuinely hilarious that the response to an increase of Covid cases in fully masked schools is to extend the mask rules in schools. Which based on the first half of the sentence clearly don’t work. Which is of course evidenced everywhere else in the world. But sure double down on masks to solve a problem masks don’t solve. Thai logic at its best ????????

If common sense had anything to do with masks you wouldn’t see people wearing them outdoors and you certainly wouldn’t see quite so many Thais riding motorbikes with their mask on but no helmet.

Hopefully it reduces the absurd level of pointless mask wearing. Was quite jarring to e see folk wearing pointless cloth & surgical masks even outdoors en masse in BKK just a couple of weeks ago. For those of us currently living elsewhere it is quite odd.