superal

Think we all do

I do not want to digress from the main topic but faranngs pay double , treble or x 10 the price that a Thai will pay in a government hospital , now overpricing for farangs is government approved .

Putin has to be taken out soon by either his own or alien forces . The current situation on his invasion is bleak , followed by further global sanctions and unrest within Russia . He has options , 1/ get round the negotiation table 2/ back off and withdraw his forces 3/ bombard Ukraine and flatten it without any consideration for civilian life 4/ hit the nuclear button 5/ turn the gun on himself . My preference would be option 5 for him . Judging by his actions so far , if he is losing or backed into a corner , I think he would press the button and destroy the planet or at best there would be a nuclear winter of 4 years .

Just wondering how the Pullman hotel in Khon Kaen managed to comply with the amount of beer produced cos it was nowhere near your figures but their German beer was the best beer I have tasted in Thailand . Not sure but I think I read somewhere that the Pullman is closed now ? Who ever made the brewing laws must have been influenced by the big breweries because what difference does it make on how much you produce ? More important would be the compliance with hygiene control / QA/ QC within the production of beer and plant maintenance .

I have to admit John that I have never seen the word oligarch before and had to Google the meaning of it . Reckon I am not the only one .

Very scary . Putin is another Hitler ?

There is a reason for on arrival pcr testing inasmuch there are many fake test certs and the only way to be confident , is to test again on arrival . Pre-flight testing is often a requirement from the airline . What I have not seen mentioned on this topic is that there are now at least 2 different types of anti viral tablets that if taken within the first 5 days of covid infection , can reduce the effects of the virus significantly and in most cases stop hospitalisation . Maybe they are not available in Thailand ? The reasons given by BJ for ending covid restrictions in the UK were that omicron was less severe , majority of the UK population have been jabbed and the anti viral medicines have reduced the hospitals burden . With this ease on the rules for new arrivals announced on the same day that Khon Kaen has imposed further restrictions , makes no sense .

Same in the UK

When air flights were much cheaper , as were decent hotels , food , drink , ladies of the night and lets not forget all of the copies / fakes e.g. watches and brand named shirts etc that were a major attraction for tourists to the markets . Now that all is gone but you can still visit the temples and beaches (there are better beaches on the med ) . On top of the all mentioned before the tourists have to complete the Thailand Pass ( not so easy for seniors ) and take a chance on paying in advance for air tickets , hotels , insurance and pcr tests . Gone are the days when you could book a flight and fly in the next week . The catch 22 is that the majority of tourists come for the night life and ladies but if the bars are closed there will be few tourists but if the bars open will the ladies attend for a few months until the tourists decide to return ? In a nutshell the Thai government wants to turn the clock back 50 years and rid mainland Thailand of cheap tourists and place them in Phuket only where the over worked bar girls will prevail and std will be rife , not for me . I hear that Vietnam will be the new Thailand .

This Anutin statement could well turn and bite him in the backside . Just look at Hong Kong at the moment where it is spreading at an alarming rate and only 6 weeks ago it was almost zero cases . I am also concerned with the UK ditching all covid restrictions too early , a bit like Denmark .

That is the brand that I take and prescribed by my local hospital doctor . It cost me around 500 baht for a box of 30 tablets which are 40 mg .

I have to admit that I am no expert in this field , actually quite the opposite , however I am quoting other more informed friends info . Could it possibly be that if you have once visited a shop/cafe and have used their given password for the WiFi , then the subsequent visits to that shop , your phone will recognise the service and connect automatically ? Whatever the above outcome do you agree that it is not a good idea to conduct sensitive transactions using commercial WiFi ?

I do online banking at home and not outside with a mobile phone . I have read that it is dangerous to do any money business if near free WiFi as some phones automatically leave your paid for service and connect to the free WiFi and most people will not notice it . You are them exposed to scammers .

Agree plus trying to send messages on mobile phones is not easy if you have fat fingers like me , so the laptop is my choice . Your 8000 baht price range can get you a decent phone with a fast processor but you have to know that with budget phones made in China , Chinese phone brands are loading up their budget handsets with malware for potential spying on users it's been revealed. ... Chinese brands sold include Realme, Oppo, Viacom and Xiaomi and Huawei, Oppo has also been identified by Norton Security as having malware installed. Try to avoid buying anything from China

Family debt in Thailand is huge but there is no real help from the Thai government to the low paid , impoverished , out of work , previous employed folks in the tourist industry . That alone is enough to cause long term mental health illness without being infected with covid . As you say , there could be alternatives e.g. skills training schools with a basic wage . Not exactly rocket science is it ?

PCR tests on omicron can sometimes fail to detect the virus in the early stages . A pre flight and on arrival pcr test could be possibly be carried out within a 48 hour period and both tests miss the virus detection . I am not going to be popular either that when I say that the safest bet would be a pre flight and on arrival PCR test followed by a 5 day quarantine and an end of quarantine test . Either that or open up world travel to fully vaccinated tourists with proof of booster certs . Herein lies the problem on believing that all certs are genuine. Finally there have been some major steps with the use of anti viral oral medicines that are proving a success in hospitals and thus mitigate the use of ventilators , keeping patients out of I C U and freeing up the high level of intensive nursing . However omicron is not to be underestimated as it can be fatal or render life changing illnesses , especially to the non- vaccinated . Food for thought , some countries are charging non jabbed patients for treatment in their I C U wards

I also am looking for a new phone cos I dropped my old zen phone and shattered the glass front and back . I am interested in the Realme X50 5G (8+128GB) mobile phone but am a bit concerned about the fact that most shops on Lazada do not give a warranty , only a 7 day return for change of mind and the package the phone comes in must be intact and unopened . I have read somewhere that some on line stores have sold copies ( big name Asian stores ) Did you by your phone on line or at a phone shop ?

Not trying to digress from the topic but I have a spanner for the works . I did my 7 night quarantine recently in Bangkok ( had 2 pcr tests at the hotel + 1 at UK departure . After the quarantine I am free to travel around Thailand apparently but not according to the village head who insisted that I stay in my Issan home for 14 days because I had come from Bangkok . This must be an unofficial law as it is not imposed generally on short stay tourists or those who are touring and using hotels . So if I had decided to ignore the 14 day village quarantine , what would be the circumstances ?

Pity the I.Os , cos in my case recently I had to renew my driving licence and had to go the Immigration Office for papers .The tm30 was not in my pp , the IO made a fuss and after an hour or so made out a new one . I had only been back for 1 week and entered on a re-entry permit on a non o . The IO even went and spoke to the big boss who instructed the IO to make a new tm30 . Would you have stood your ground and made them lose face ?

Agree & gives me the opinion that there was a brain storming session made up from a group of newly employed post graduates who are all trying to impress . What I would like to see is a census of previous tourists , asking them why they came to Thailand for a holiday . I would bet that the most popular reason would be for the night life & ladies . Here lies the catch 22 question . No tourists coming because the bars are mostly closed and thus no ladies . When the bars open there will be few if any tourists because the high season has gone . Also booking a long haul flight and applying for a Thai pass along with pcr tests in Thailand is a mine field to say the least . Unless you are a fanatic of Thai temples , Thailand has little to offer tourists IMO . I get the notion that the Thai government have not thought their renaissance through . On the other hand I think that Phuket will be prosperous once all restrictions are removed .

New Zealand has to be admired with its no nonsense country closure and low delta covid infection rates . As things stand , omicron is all but unstoppable and thus restrictions or lock downs are achieving little . Chinese tactics of zero covid toleration ( now being imposed on Hong Kong ) are making a big dent in its economy , however I will not be surprised to see Thailand's future covid actions being similar to those of its master , China .

Medical insurance for the elderly is often very expensive or if pre-existing conditions were of a serious nature , you will not get a policy . It is however a solvable problem , how ? 1/ Make 70 years of age and up , free medical treatment globally ( not likely to happen ) 2/ A union of countries who are agreeable to treat over 70s free . ( Maybe on reciprocal agreements ) 3/ Example ; An expat over 70 years old to receive medical treatment abroad and the bill met by his country of origin , that is , if his country of origin had an insurance scheme ( such as the UK has the NHS by way of national insurance contributions ) and the patient is fully paid up . At this moment if you are an expat from the UK and think you can hop on a plane back to the UK if you have a medical problem , forget it cos the NHS hospitals and local doctor surgery's are like dead donkeys ( post covid overworked ) and getting an appointment with your doctor can be up to a 3 week wait , or as I was told , go to the A&E , which I did and waited 7 hours and no treatment .

Please read my post again slowly . I replied to the post from Smedley where he said that any effective 2 vaccines you will be protected from serious illness and needing medical care . It was the case with the delta variant but not against the omicron variant . A third vaccination/ booster is needed . Most of my post was copied from The UK Health Security Agency and pasted here . You call that misinformation ?

Not even a full lock down will stop omicron spreading , why ? because the virus not only spreads by way of bodily contact but it is airborne . As regards smedly statement that 2 vaccines give protection against serious illness etc , that is not the case , especially with the AZ vaccine double jab is concerned . Extract from scientific journal below , The UK Health Security Agency, formerly called Public Health England, conducted the small study involving 581 cases of the omicron variant and uploaded the results on December 10. It reported that the level of neutralising antibodies induced by two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine dropped in the presence of an infection by the omicron variant to below the researchers’ minimum detection threshold. However it carried on to say that a 3rd booster of the pfizer jab did give adequate protection . Finally 2 jabs gave protection / cut infection in the delta virus but not the omicron . So we cannot generalise the covid virus by covid only , has to be the latest mutation strain by name .

You got it right cos even pre-covid there were mutterings of getting rid of the tacky part of tourism and in turn upgrading Thailand's reputation . It would seem that the plan is for the tacky part to be shoved out of town to Phuket . Pattaya to be flattened/ rebuilt to a 4 or 5 star resort that attracts high end tourists . Lets not forget that China has a big influence on doings in Thailand .