superal

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 .

Not really . Look at China and especially Hong Kong that seems to be on the verge of lock down with air travel all but stopped , closure of shopping malls , religious venues and hair dressers etc . No more than 2 people assembly and more rules coming soon . Also mandatory covid testing on a regular basis and $1000 fines for non compliance . Given Thailand's close alliance with China , I think we may have to wait some time to return to normality . Yet today we hear that the UK may be dropping all restrictions on covid control this month .

Think I may upset a few readers with the following . Like it or not , most of us are seeing this horrid event from our own perspective . That is from a non- Buddhist reasoning . One of the main Buddhist beliefs is not to take life from a living creature and that life is a recurring act served by reincarnation . Difficult to get your head round for most of us non Buddhists . Maybe a compromise could be to round up all strays and keep in a compound and carry out some neutering , especially with the growing threat of rabies . However other countries in Asia with Buddhism as the main religion do not seem to have the same problems e.g.Cambodia . However I do not understand how the farming of live stock is excluded . Finally , it was not too long ago that a round-up of strays was made on regular occasions but that appears to have stopped .

I agree partly , why ? double vaxxed ? do you include sinovac and sinopharm that have been proved worthless against the virus ? However if a Pfizer or Moderna booster have been given , that apparently does work , no matter what the first 2 jabs were . . A PCR test on departure can miss detection of omicron in the early stages of the virus but it will mean that those on the flight are less likely to get the infection . A day 5 test would pick up the virus but in reality it would men a 5 day quarantine to make any sense ( as opposed to what the new testngo rules are ) . I do agree on opening up globally for travel but the amount of fake vaccination certs make it less than a perfect solution . It seems that many countries have conceded that the virus cannot be controlled and thus they are opening up to protect their economies . Also there are new covid anti viral medicines that are proving to be effective in the treatment of the covid virus and lessening the burden on the hospitals.

My flight was Gatwick-Bangkok direct ( some passengers did not disembark ) - then onward to Singapore . As you say , great value , have a couple of drinks before departure and have a sleep in flight and time passes quickly with a big money saving flight . I normally fly to/from Heathrow which is easier for me to get to and I always take a taxi , however the taxi fare is only another tenner by using Gatwick . BTW Gatwick South terminal is closed , every flight was using the north terminal .

I last flew with Thai Air in December 2021 on a one way to the UK at £600 ish . No alternative for a direct flight and I did not want a middle east stop over because of the covid risk . I have since returned to Thailand beginning of January this year and took a chance with a budget airline named Scoot Air who are owned by Singapore Air . Only differences are they fly out of Gatwick , they are a budget airline , meaning if you want to eat or drink you must pay extra which I did when booking and that was about £9.40 for a small curry . Drinks ordered by way of their download app . The total cost for a return trip / direct flights on fairly new 787 aircraft was £361 . So for the budget conscious this could be a good bet , however they do not start flying the London/Thailand route again until March 22 ND this year but please check for sure and updates .

Does it mean the tyre is not serviceable ? also bald tyres screech too

Is that why my Isuzu pickup used to screech when doing u turns , despite there being plenty of tread ?

Lets face it , Thai road users have little if any respect for the driving laws in Thailand . I highlighted road users as I wanted to include the motor cyclists who seem to think they are exempt from any laws. I believe there is a Highway Patrol unit in Thailand but they are rarely seen . Every time I drive either in town or country , I witness the driving laws being broken , there is an act of driving dangerously , without consideration to other road users , apathy or pure stupidity . There is also apathy from the government who know full well that their country has the worse road fatality rate in the world , are aware of the western driving ways yet choose to ignore them . The buck stops at the top . In a parallel , if the loss of life occurred say within industry the directors would be held accountable for manslaughter .

Good food at the Brick house especially the English breakfast , also good for watching footy in the evening as they have many televisions . I have also had good meals in the Pannarai , nice hotel . I preferred UT over Pattaya when pre covid days 2 or 3 years ago .

I have heard that fake pcr negative test certs and fake vaccination certs can be bought , some countries easier than others . In both cases the majority of certs come by way of a person employed within the countries health system . The certs can be traced for validity and will be found in the register as compliant . I have also read that the omicron virus is not so easy to detect in the early stages , compared with the delta virus and can be misinterpreted as negative . It is possible for someone to take a pcr test just prior to boarding a flight then test again on arrival and results say negative when the reality is really positive . This probably happened with the previous Testngo , hence the second 5 day test .

Maintenance is not in the Thai dictionary it seems . Only when buying a new vehicle is there maintenance and servicing which is mandatory and of course a money maker .

I would normally fly Thai or Eva direct from Heathrow ( British Airways at a push ) but this time I took a chance and flew direct with the no frills Scoot Air who I believe are owned by Singapore Air . Scoot fly out of Gatwick but are not flying this route again until 26th March 2022 . The aircraft was a 787 and looked new . Very few passengers , about 90 (mostly Thai ) with a 220 capacity . Have to pre-order food which was small at around £9 40 and if you want a drink on board you have to download their app and order . I could not download the app but was served 2 small tiger beers and paid on arrival when I could download OK . Plenty of legroom and because of lack of passengers I was able to lay out across 3 seats and got some sleep . The total cost for a return trip was £361 which is a huge saving .