sbf

5 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Taxi drivers often know the quickest way to go , rather than the shortest way to go , like avoiding traffic lights and traffic jams 

Yes but if trade is slow some drivers will take an obvious foreigner by an extended route. This padding of the journey is dishonest behavior and surely should be challenged, or at least commented on. However for 10 baht personally I would let it slide. 
 

Happened to me once when I took a taxi from Edinburgh train station. I was living and working  in the city at that time and was going back to my house. The driver really took a very long and indirect route doubling the fare over the norm for that journey. 
 

Probably doesn’t happen so much these days with the map apps on phones. 

17 hours ago, kimamey said:

That's true but I suspect that domestic traffic will have a higher percentage of Thais and those arriving internationally will more likely be foreigners.

 

Whatever the case why the difference between international arrivals and domestic? Is there another reason other than the predominant racial makeup?

I would presume there is more risk of new and dangerous variants coming from abroad than domestically requiring extra vigilance

2 hours ago, kuzmabruk said:

This is not your country.  Respect is required.  You have no right to voice or show your opinion.  Leave Thais to take care of Thailand.   Or just leave, might be the better choice. 

I was not born in this country and I will never be a Thai citizen like most who comment here. However I have lived here and been deeply involved with Thailand for decades. My wife is a citizen of this country as are my children . Are you suggesting I cannot have an opinion on any matters at all in the country of my immediate loved ones where I live and work and I am pretty sure I will die. 
 

Can I opine about military coups and dictatorships or street violence? How about the state of the road that runs past our house or the poorly equipped local school or hospital?or should I limit myself to just opining on the weather or not even that? 
 

And where does your call for respect start and stop? And to whom should I give this respect to? Should I show respect to the corrupt official who hinders his own countries economic progress so he can line his own pockets or to the bent copper pushing for a monthly contribution from our family business? 
 

I call this place home as the rest of my family do and I think we should all be able to talk and comment on all aspects of life here freely. I encourage my children to do just this.  
 
I firmly believe in good citizenship and making a positive contribution to the country I live in, but I do not believe in blind obedience to those in power. 
 

Whether recognized or not immigrants have made and I am sure will continue to make a positive contribution to Thailand. It is not for any of us to judge our own contribution to our adopted homeland but I would like to think that in some small way my contribution has been positive. 

58 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

I'd bring a medical certificate which states that you one of the qualifying conditions. Or just go and see if they offer Pfizer.

 

When I was there I was asked Pfizer or AstraZeneca at least four times. Even though the number of your queue slip denotes that. 

 

That said I've got to believe they're runout of Pfizer first shots by now, and what stock remains will be used for committed second shots.

 

There will be more Pfizer in the air soon as the government did order 20 mm doses, with 10 mm due soon-ish. 

 

 

 

 

They had no run out of Pfizer 1st shots last Monday, as I got it there. 2nd shot 27 th

9 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

I need to drive to Phuket next week and would like to know if I still need a negative test to enter, thanks for the feed back

Check for latest updates before you go, but as of yesterday and until September 14th I believe you need

a negative PCR or Rapid Antigen test - you can get this done just before the checkpoint at the Phuket Gateway - 500baht, I did one there yesterday

Also vaccination either ( 1 dose if AZ, Pfizer or 2 doses if Sonovac or Sinopharm  + 14 days for both) 

And proof of Phuket residency - so In your passport a nitification of address in Phuket, unless you are a sandboxer returning for your flight out. 

3 hours ago, edwinchester said:

".....about 200 new infections being reported on daily basis, as a result of active screening with rapid antigen test kits (ATKs)."

 

Time to pull the mainland's trick and cut right back on the number of tests..... voila an instant case reduction.

 

Well I tried to get a rapid antigen test on Phuket yesterday. None available at my local public hospital, told there that the  situation was the same at all hospitals across the island and to come back tomorrow. Finally got one done out at the Chat Chai checkpoint. 

In my experience some foreigners on Phuket need to serve a three month period before they are eligible to register for vaccination. I know I am one of them. I do my visa extension in another province, but have a house on Phuket and family at school here. I split my time equally between the two provinces. With the shutting down of domestic flights I have now been in Phuket for around 2 months. Thought I might as well use my time constructively and get vaccinated during this period, and went through the online process with PhuketWIn. Heard nothing back and went online a couple of weeks after first registering. A notice saying my registration could not be completed appeared and it went on to say that I needed to contact Immigration as there was a problem that could only be resolved there.

I had registered my Phuket address a few years ago with Phuket immigration, so I went in to see what they wanted me to do. They informed me they had no record of my address registration, even though their own receipt of notification of address was stapled into the back of my passport along with that of the province where I do my extension.

They further advised transferring  my address registration to Phuket, which I did after a couple of further visits as I had to gather the house documents required which took a little doing. A couple of weeks after changing address I went onto Phuket Win website and saw the same message. Went back to Immigration, was told that there was a 3 month period of residence required before I would be eligible. That would mean I could not get a Phuket Win appointment until at least  October. This was never explained to me on my previous Immigration visit. On probing it turns out that this is because they want to stop people coming to Phuket just to get a vaccination. This I could understand if it was early in the roll out. However most foreigners in my province of extension are now vaccinated with at least one dose. When I pointed this out they just said sorry these are the rules. 

So now I am about to make the journey from Phuket to get vaccinated in Bangkok. Will receive second dose 3 weeks later and will return to the family at that stage, as long as they have not toughened the entry requirements between times - always a possibility. 

As above with addition of - until the 14 th September 

The 90% figure is somewhat heartening. It reflects what I hear talking to Thai friends, family and employees. Most voice concern about the direction of travel of many of the key metrics of governmental competence here.

They talk of an education system which is not fit for purpose and getting worse, something which is confirmed by Thailands fall in world educational standings over the last few decades. They see corruption getting worse, even though it was a key promise of the junta when they seized power that this issue would be addressed. Again this seems to be confirmed by international surveys. They talk about the increasing gap between rich and poor, again something well documented in international reports and not just for Thailand. 

However there is also a knowledge that the 10% whose interests this government largely represents and promotes will pull every trick in the book to stay in power. Disenfranchising opposition parties, rigging the political system in their favor, and on and on. Given that most people value a peaceable life and the great difficulty many have just making ends meet, in combination with the pretty compliant nature of many people here, for me it is hard to judge what will happen going forwards.  

3 hours ago, Andy65 said:

Phuket is open for domestic tourists. Just need to fulfill the requirements and find a way to get here.

Almost no domestic flights, certainly none from Bangkok to Phuket, leaving Sarasin as the main potential entry point for Domestic tourists. At the checkpoint for the last few weeks you have needed proof of Phuket residency to be allowed in. Thais with ID's from other provinces are not generally allowed in. The entry vaccination requirements means most Thai's are not eligible to enter given that most of the population are not yet vaccinated. 

The corruption epidemic in Thailand has been strengthening for many years. Click on max at the top of the graph linked to get data going back to 1995

https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/corruption-rank

Here is a particular armed forces related one. Seems there was officially no corruption found. The wikipedia link gives just a basic outline, worth having a dig around if you are interested and live outside Thailand or have a VPN. Access to the more in depth info not easy to get within country. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajabhakti_Park

Does anyone know if there is a publicly accessible breakdown of cases on Phuket by nationality? One of my staff was told by an officer at the Chat Chai checkpoint at Sarasin Bridge that the outbreak was mostly amongst Burmese immigrant laborers. This seems a little strange to me as the island has required vaccination and / or a test to enter since around Songkran. 

4 hours ago, oldcpu said:

Thanks ... I don't plan to leave the Island, but I am curious as to what proof they will ask for to prove residency for any foreigner ('resident' of Phuket) who does return to Phuket.

 

I wonder if for Thai people it may (in part) be the "Blue Book" ... and I also wonder if foreign (non-immigrant or work-visa) who have a Yellow Book (indicating the place where they are resident) could use that as proof of them being considered a Phuket resident? 

 

If after this update becomes effective, I would be most curious to read of the experience of any foreigner/resident of Phuket in returning to Phuket (after having left).

Most of us have a notification of address stapled into the back of our passports. I assume that would be accepted for entry to Phuket if indeed the notification was for a Phuket address. But confirmation of this with Immigration is necessary. I am possibly going up near Chat Chai checkpoint tomorrow, I will try to check. 

3 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

For me it worked.

Showed 12 male Thais.

But no Red Bull Boss

Many thanks and apologies my bad, I entered Thai nationals wanted by the country of Thailand, and got nothing. I see if you enter Thai nationals without searching for any country specifically wanting them you get your list.

But does that mean that all the Thai nationals who are wanted are wanted by other countries forces rather than Thai police forces?

9 hours ago, Seismic said:

Here you go ASEAN NOW, let me do your job for you. https://www.interpol.int/en/How-we-work/Notices/View-Red-Notices

Thats interesting link but I think the search facility on the linked site is not working. I searched for which Thailand nationals the Thai police had put a red notice out for and there were none. Did I do something wrong?

10 hours ago, daveAustin said:

In a bid to keep numbers low, unless Oz and NZ get their people vaccinated enmasse they’ll be locking down for years. 

Can't speak for Australia but no lock downs in NZ currently and hasn't been a national lockdown since early 2020 when the pandemic first arrived. There have been one or two regional ones but all some time ago. No significant community spread for some time and deaths still less than 30 in a population of 5 million. The NZ government has said that they will have the entire adult population who want to be vaccinated jabbed by this years end. You can track progress against target at the below link, they are ahead of target and vaccine delivery seems to be running with the vaccination schedule. 

They changed tack with the all Pfizer rollout this week by increasing the time between 1st and 2nd jabs from 3 to 6 weeks. This was after scientific evidence of more optimized efficacy was shown by doing this. I guess they also would like to get as many people with first injection as possible whilst there is no community transmission, given the difficulties Australia is having at present.

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data

41 minutes ago, transam said:

Nothing to do with it, but nor do you.

$44,400 becomes $3,100,000 after all living expenses., you tell us how...?

 

 

In all fairness he and or his wife could have inherited land and other wealth from parents or other relatives which would be included in their declared assets. Also his wife may have some well paid position in industry or government. The facts as laid out really are not much use at all.  

9 hours ago, jazzdog32095 said:

Don't believe that is close to the stats for Covid roll out unless there are millions of false medical documents being issued to get 60 and under in the door.

I think it is probably reasonably close to correct. From my group of Thai family and friends here including some who live on Phuket, the only fully vaccinated I know are all young ( < 40 years old ) and they are all government employees. I could completely understand this if they were medics and other front line workers such as teachers, immigration officers and so on, but they are not. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of vaccination by socio-economic class, occupation and so on. Is that data available anywhere?  

Rapid Antigen test is substantially cheaper than PCR and either are acceptable for entry to Phuket. Rapid Antigen tests are available for 500 or so baht at public hospitals and clinics in Phuket and Phang Nga. However two weeks ago a staff member had to drive 50 km to find a clinic to get a Rapid Antigen Test performed as no clinics, nor the hospital in the closer Phang Nga towns could perform them at that time.

Another staff member recently went to get a test at Thalang Hospital, Phuket. This was about a week ago. There was apparently a strict limit of 50 Rapid Antigen tests a day at that time, so they were told to arrive early. They arrived at 7am, were tested about 11am, and received the results at 2pm. Nearly a whole days work lost for the staff member who must travel to the other side of Sarasin Bridge daily as part of their work duties. Now this will happen twice a week, so effectively our company is bearing some burden for the sandbox. 

I am not complaining about the fact that health measures are in place, but more so the lack of an efficient health service to meet those requirements locally. In contrast I had a Rapid Antigen test at a hospital in another province a few days earlier in order to be able to travel to Phuket. Arrived at the hospital without appointment, waited 10 minutes to be tested and was told to either wait or come back in an hour for the results. Decided to go pick up a few items I needed in town. The hospital called me after 40 minutes and told me the results were ready for pick-up. 

There are many people who live in the north of Phuket who travel to Phang Nga every day for schooling or livelihoods, and I imagine even more who do the reverse trip. The check-point staff have been pretty good, especially up to the opening of the sandbox, but this journey has become increasingly difficult in both directions. Leaving the island all foreigners need to show their passport at checkpoint, I guess to make sure they are not early escaping sand-boxers. Immigration were good enough ( and possibly tired of seeing me there sometimes twice in a day) to give me a letter which meant I did not have to park the car and go and report every time. This had a one month validity.

The new 72 hour and vaccination requirements will cause problems once schools on Phuket reopen as many children cross every day in each direction to attend schools in the other province. Most children will not be able to pass as they are not vaccinated yet. It will also be expensive for parents of any who are under the age requirement or have been vaccinated as they have to pay for the tests and the kids will lose at least a day per week schooling unless they can find a convenient location which can perform the test efficiently. 

I can no longer do the journey out of Phuket as I have not been vaccinated yet, despite registering for that. Once I leave Phuket under current conditions I cannot return. I would be more than happy to relieve the Thai taxpayers of the burden of the cost of vaccinating myself if this was possible, but it is not yet so.  Effectively Phuket is a large open prison as far as I am concerned.  

Can herd immunity ever be reached in Thailand, given that some in New Zealand with its Pfizer vaccine roll out seem to have some doubts that it can be achieved there? Not Thailand related directly, but surely many of the same principles and problems apply here. A bit depressing but a good read. 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/125589173/covid19-new-data-suggests-herd-immunity-unachievable-in-new-zealand

I cross into Phuket one or two times a day at the moment. If you are a frequent traveller on legitimate business, you can get a letter at the checkpoint which is good for about a month or so which just outlines your home address, where you travel to, why and how regularly. This letter I just show at the checkpoint and then when they say I need a new one I just stop, do the application on the app, then within a few minutes the next letter is ready. I travel between house in Phuket and daughters school in Khokloi,  Phang Nga. 

We have been told this letter is good only until 1 July. However the school at the weekend asked all our details to enable them to produce apply for something which will allow us to cross everyday after 1 July.