Homburg

30 day visa exemption appears to be available for Irish nationals, which is what DrJack54 suggested? From that link: Iceland Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy

He is spot-on, but a Thai leader cannot accept advice from a farang, no matter whom, as that would result in loss of face.

Maybe he's asking her how much she will pay him for a "private lesson"?????

I can predict the advertising slogan for this: "Come to Pattaya for bangs you'll never forget!"

Other countries also have fabulous beaches, temples, cultures, and food. It's a competitive world out there. If other countries treat their tourists with more respect than Thailand does then the tourists will vote with their feet and take their tourist $$$ with them.

Perhaps make learning to drive properly one of those life-long strategies? The lives could then be longer.

I expect the speed shown is made up of vertical & horizontal components? My posting was simply based on the numbers you quoted: (29000-7000) 22000 feet loss of altitude in 1 minute gives a vertical fall rate of 4.17miles/minute (5280 feet in a mile) which is 250mph/402kph, so certainly outside normal flight parameters, but not necessarily indicating a dive under power.

I believe that is feet, not metres, so that rate of descent would be around 250 mph/400 kph.

As a tourist I look at Thailand this way, and expect that many tourists would do something similar: Positive Thailand is a destination with sunshine, beaches and shops. Negative Thailand pass - expensive, time-consuming and difficult and one of my party could be rejected and spoil the holiday for all Pre-departure testing- expensive and one of my party could test positive and spoil the holiday for all Testing on arrival- expensive and one of my party could test positive and spoil the holiday for all Testing after arrival - expensive and one of my party could test positive and spoil the holiday for all Requirement to book hotels for post arrival testing - expensive and these hotels are not where I want to be Limited options for getting a drink - why would I go anywhere with a ban on relaxation? Testing before returning home - expensive and one of my party could test positive and upset return plans for all Risk of incarceration in hospi-prison - unacceptably expensive and would spoil the holiday for all Neutral Insurance requirement - expensive, but no biggie. Vaccination requirement - we are vaxxed so again no biggie. To get the tourists back in quantity Thailand needs to remove the negatives that currently make other destinations more attaractive to potential visitors.

I am not in favour of convicted murderers ever being released, whether sexually motivated murders or otherwise. To me it seems that any society that is prepared to release a murderer values the life of the murderer more highly than it valued the life of the victim. How can that be right?

Thai tests WILL detect it. Whether you are infected or not. $$$$$

As a Westerner, at first sight this looked really dumb to me, but perhaps we need to look at it through Thai eyes rather than Western eyes? When I did that I realised that it's absolute genius. Requirement for a negative PCR test before departure meant that the risk of an infected individual being on the plane was minimal, and so the risk of contracting the disease whilst on the plane was low. Now that requirement is dropped it is likely that every flight to Thailand will have one or more infected individuals on it, so many more people on every flight are likely to become infected and so will test positive after arrival. So by dropping the pre-departure test you could increase hospitalisations from (say) 5% of arrivals to (say) 40% of arrivals. Those numbers are just guesstimates, but certainly show the potential for a very significant increase in income for the hospitals and an associated increase in Brown Envelopes. This is Thailand. Money number one. Always.

And reinstated Visa On Arrival. ???? ???? ???? So for the vaccinated: no pre-flight test, no arrival test, no insurance requirement, no hotel bookings or "pass" to apply for, no quarantine, just book a flight, bring your proof of vaccination and get your Visa on Arrival as in the BC years (Before Covid) - don't forget to bring a spare passport pic for the visa. Are you reading this Thailand and wondering where all your tourists are going?

I don't know how basic, but given that it's free and not the only alternative, I don't see it as a biggie. I see the risk of a positive test in LOS, and an enforced stay in a surprisingly expensive Thai hospital with no chance to claim on insurance if asymptomatic, as far more of a concern, or did I get that wrong?

Isolation, around 10 days. ???? Where gets complicated. If your booked accommodation will take you then you can isolate there, also some hotels will take isolating guests who have not booked. There are also government isolation facilities which are free, but basic as I understand. There is a FB group which covers this in some detail.

I have just spent a month in Phnom Penh and can verify that there are many, many tourists there. As an example The Big Easy in Street 172 is PACKED every night. I expect that Siem Reap (Angkor) may be even busier than Phnom Penh. I guess that the tourists who would usually start in Thailand are just by-passing it until the nonsense ends. I personally know of two potential tourists from UK who both tried more than once to get a Thailand Pass, kept getting rejected and gave up. I arrived at PNH (from LHR via BKK), was given a FREE rapid test on arrival. It was negative and so 15 minutes later I was outside in the sunshine starting my holiday. ???? No quarantine for the vaccinated.???? No enforced hotel stays.???? No expensive tests.???? The bars are open and they can serve alcohol. ????????????????????????

Yes. And Swampy is mostly SHUT, so if you have a long lay-over then perhaps take food & drink.

I did this a few weeks ago. LHR-BKK-PNH in my case. For BKK transit, the layover time must be less than 24 hrs. It is best to have the travel insurance specifically mention that it covers Covid in Thailand. I asked my UK insurers about that and they emailed me a letter confirming that. The letter was accepted without any issues. All the paperwork was checked at LHR before my boarding passes were issued, and I expected that I would not need it all again untilI arrived in PNH, but unlike a recent transit in SIN, everything was VERY, VERY closely scrutinised at the departure gate in BKK. Best to have everything printed out as well as on your phone. I carry two copies of everything just in case one gets retained/lost/damaged.

I can offer my experience gained from 3 recent trips: LHR-SIN-PNH, PNH-SIN-LHR, LHR-BKK-PNH. I have heard of many travellers being denied boarding. 1. Check and meet the entry requirements of the destination country and the transit requirements of all transit countries. For example - for vaccinated travellers Cambodia does not require any Covid insurance, but Thailand requires Covid insurance just to transit BKK! 2. Check the airline website(s) and comply with everything listed, even if wrong. You do not want to be "in the right", but denied boarding because of the airline's mistake. 3. Print it all out, on paper, both from countries and airlines so that you can show to check-in staff that you have complied with everything listed. 4. Leave PLENTY of time for check-in, my recent check-in times have varied between 20 and 40 minutes while staff checked through my paperwork. Top-tip:: be first at check-in so that if the airline does decide (rightly or wrongly) that anything is amiss, you may still have enough time to sort it out. 5. Good luck.

I arrived in PhnomPenh about 2 weeks ago. I had to show my e-visa, negative pcr and vax certificate to board the flight in BKK. The electronic visa takes less than 24 hours to arrive, that probably is only on weekdays though. As others have stated, VOA is still suspended. Print TWO copies of the e-visa (Cambodia needs paper copies), one for arrival and one for departure. I recommend the e-visa as it does NOT take up a page of your passport.

Could the impact of "Long Covid" on mental health explain the insanity that has gripped world governments since the start of the PanPanic?

I have friends in LOS that I have not been able to see for some time now, but I am not tempted to try to visit. For my winter sun break I chose Cambodia instead, and arrived there this week from UK. I flew in on Thai Airways via BKK. On arrival in BKK I was shocked to see the treatment of those passengers who were waiting to enter Thailand. Seated in two rows of plastic chairs on the concourse at Swampy, waiting to be attended to by Thais in spacesuits. (Well I assumed they were Thai - they could have been Martians underneath all that kit.) As a transit passenger I was able to bypass this and the rows of Thaipass checking desks, which I guess was the next stage in the process. All very sensible if there was no Covid in Thailand, but there is. This, plus the day one and day five scams is why I am in Cambodia rather than the Land Of Scams. Contrast Thailand with my arrival in Phnom Penh: No insurance needed, a FREE OF CHARGE (are you reading this, Thailand?) test on arrival, they checked my vax status, checked my pre-flight PCR, I got my negative result in about 15 minutes and was OUTSIDE IN THE SUNSHINE.???? ???? ???? ???? ???? One final point of insanity (or perhaps just profiteering), I did not need to buy Covid insurance for Cambodia, but had to have $50,000 coverage for Thailand - just to transit through Swampy!!! It's almost as if the Thai government had a braistorming session on how to pretend to open the country but really intending to deter as many tourists as possible.

For vaccinated and uninfected travellers I can confirm no quarantine for Cambodia, not even 1 day. I arrived here yesterday from UK (via BKK) having decided that it was easier to visit Cambodia than Thailand. A negative PCR test was required before departure from the UK and there was a free of charge rapid test on arrival (are you listening Thailand?). No insurance needed for Cambodia, although $50,000 cover for Thailand was required JUST TO TRANSIT through BKK! My test result on arrival in Phnom Penh was negative & so I am now free to tour Cambodia without any restrictions. Transit in BKK was more of a hassle than arrival in PNH tbh. I get the impression that the Cambodian Government is trying to rescue the tourist industry. I do not get that impression from the Thai Government, rather that they are trying to create the impression that they are trying to do what Cambodia is actually doing.

I have previously travelled from PNH-BKK-LRH on Thai Smile & TG and been ticketed through (albeit pre-Covid), no need to pass through immigration and collect baggage in BKK and I have a ticket next week LRH-BKK-PNH where I expect the same process. For the OP I would say to make sure that you arrive at the airport at least 3 hours before your flight and have two copies of all your paperwork PRINTED (Cambodia loves paper) to show to check-in. Last time I left PNH (in December, via SIN to LHR) it took the guy at PNH check-in 40 full minutes to check my paperwork. Check-in took so long I truly thought I was going to be denied boarding. Good luck with your journey.

The headline is that 3.5m Thais suffer from rare diseases. A high number as this is not one disease but many. Indeed those who suffer from each rare condition in LOS may be less than 100. There are pharmaceutical companies whose entire focus is on medicines for rare diseases, so the help is out there for many conditions, but these drugs can be eye-wateringly expensive because of the low number of patients to cover the drug development costs, so the biggest reason for lack of treatment is most likely to be cost.