EricTh

It might be already too late. WHO reported it has spread to 20 countries today.

There have been reports from members here that they didn't need to show any vaccine passport. Your vaccine cert should be enough.

Don't mind me asking. Why did you choose a rabbit instead of a dog like most people? Does a rabbit need less maintenance than a dog? What happens when an intruder cat meet your rabbit in your yard?

What about those on Non O retirement visa? Do they have to have insurance of 1 year or is 30 days enough?

Westerners usually refuse to wear masks. There is one case in Malaysia where a westerner refused to wear mask and even call Malaysia a 'communist' country, later she was fined.

I think most Thai do watch porn through the internet, it's just a click away. That article must have been written by some 'religious' person that doesn't reflect reality.

It's Pfizer.

If you are going to quarantine for 14 days, not many real tourist would come and it'd back to the old Covid days.

Yes, the system has flaws but if the teacher were good, he would have made the lesson more interesting so that the students would be more interested to learn. The problem is that most native English speakers teach English as if the students were first language learners.

I've read that the antigen test must be done at the hotel which is ridiculous. Why do we need to pay transport fee to the hotel and get our antigen test at the airport? Why not at the airport?

The purpose of all vaccines is to train our immune system to recognize the virus in the first place and to develop immune memory. It was never meant to prevent infection as reported by some misleading vaccine producer. If we catch the virus and all we have is a mild cold or mild fever for 1 to 2 days, I think the vaccine has done its job. Certainly no hospitalization needed in these cases.

I think Thai people are too fearful of Covid. Many countries are beginning to realize that we must live with the virus after almost two years. If you are fully vaccinated and if you do catch the virus, it will just be like a mild cold unless you have a poor immune system.

Let's hope the new virus won't affect the reopening of bars.

The problem in Thailand is that the most important criterion for hiring English teacher is that they must be native speakers. Most of these English teachers don't know how to teach English as a second language. Speaking it fluently is not the same as teaching it well.

The ranking is for non-native English speaking countries. USA, Canada, Australia, UK are all excluded for obvious reason.

The ranking is for second language speakers. They have to master at least two languages. USA, Canada, Australia, UK are all native English speakers who only need to master one language. Saying a few sentences like sawatdee krap doesn't qualify one as a speaker of that language.

Europeans can master English easily because they are of the same language family with many cognates, that's why the top 20 are almost all European countries. I had a laugh when a farang couldn't remember how to say fish in Thai after the owner of the shop keep on teaching him every time he wants to order the same dish. I think Thai would have an easier time learning Lao language than farang.

How did you come to this conclusion?

After looking at this case, I am having second thoughts on getting a booster. This booster shot recommended by certain governments is unnecessary and pose more risk to the health. Two doses is enough to develop immune memory which is the most important. The immune memory will produce the required antibodies when the real virus attacks. The antibody produced during vaccination shouldn't be the yardstick because all antibodies fall off after a few months if there are no virus present in our body system. This is basic virology.

That's what most countries said when the Delta variant appeared in India. Just ban visitors from India, look what happened now, it spread all over the world.

Just when things are beginning to improve, now we have a new variant the South African mutated virus which is predicted to be more infectious. Will this affect Thailand's opening?

Singapore didn't test more intensively, it's a lie. Germany is having a surge of 76,000 daily cases yesterday even though its population is 70% fully vaccinated.

I think the article was worded incorrectly. It means that tourists can just go to any hotels that they have booked (not for the ATK test) to sleep. The ATK test should be done at the airport. A lot of miscommunication when they don't translate it correctly.

I've written in this forum many times in the past regarding this in the past. Having vaccinated doesn't mean you won't get infected, it just means you won't be under ventilators to help you breathe or die from the virus. Two days recovery time for the 78 year old is super quick, if he had not been vaccinated, he would not have made it through considering his advanced age. The media is full of disinformation that certain vaccine is better than certain vaccines in preventing infection due to marketing strategy. There are many breakthrough cases reported in USA and Europe. Germany is seeing a surge of 76,000 daily cases even though 70% were fully vaccinated.

Can you recommend a hotel to stay in Pai and Ban Rak Thai to stay that is value for money? Are the hotels in Ban Rak Thai cheaper or more expensive than that in Pai?