superal

72 hour test & fully vaxed ? I agree but my only concern are fake certs . Fake vaccination certs are that authentic looking , they are even registered within the UK NHS data system and the 72 hour pre-flight pcr test cert is easily faked , apparently . I do not know the easy fix , however there has just been an announcement in the UK that a wonder pill , that can defeat both the flu and covid strains , has been developed which may nullify the dangers of covid and enable a return to some sort of normality .

Thailand does have gambling already in the form of horse racing , lotteries and cockerel fighting . Also online sports betting is possible if you use a vpn . Pre covid and not too far from where I live are 2 casinos located on no mans land . The Thais pay about 50 baht to be able to pass by the immigration and go to the casinos . I have to pay 500 baht to the Thai immigration and 300 o the Cambodian immigration . Its all above board and there are regular mini buses taking punters there every day and it is not unusual to see 20 or more mini buses lined up outside the immigration offices waiting for their passengers to return from the casinos . So the Thai government officials are allowing their nationals to use the casinos . IMO it is inevitable that casinos will be built in Thailand because there is big money to be made and gambling is a big attraction to the Chinese . Nothing wrong with betting as long as you only gamble what you can afford to lose and that is where the problems stem from , weak willed people who lose everything they possess but that is a world wide problem . Thailand's casinos could be limited to foreign passport holders only , or by special arrangements to very wealthy Thais

1/ If there is a single person infected with the virus , the whole village is locked down for 2 weeks , happened late 2020 when a local man returned from Bangkok, where he was working , fell ill and died in the local hospital . Since then there has been no lock down for more than 1 year . 2/ It is true that being vaccinated does not stop you getting infected but it does aid your immune system and prevent the propagation of the virus within your body , thus lessening the potency of the virus and also reduces the passing on of the virus to others . 3/ World statistics suggest that the current omicron variant is on the wain and if it copies its close relative of SARS which peaked in March 2004 and had vanished in July the same year , we do not have to live with the fears and restrictions that we have had to endure for the past 2 years for much longer , so a case of being on your guard for a couple of months more .

Using a private taxi ( not a flag down taxi that is not cleaned between fares ) and thus avoiding crowded airports must reduce your chances of coming into contact with the virus . I do not stay in Buriram but about 1 hours drive away , on the outskirts of a small town where the incidence of covid is small , unlike Bangkok where it it is still abundant . Also I have to stay in my residence for 14 days to comply with the local rules . My family are all fully jabbed , booster included . So I have considered the travel risks and reduced my chances of meeting the virus , hardly naive , unlike your statement .

I agree that waiting until the last minute but we do not know if the same requirements to enter Thailand will still be in place i.e. Thai Pass . Plus of course when the Thai government said it would honour all approved Test & Go applications but within a week or so postponed them by initially stating you must arrive by the 10th of January and then pushed it back to the 15th which messed up a lot of peoples travel plans . Hopefully all these hurdles will be removed soon especially for fully vaccinated folk .

Me too .Just done a 7 day quarantine in Bangkok and my initial plan was to fly back to Buriram but after consideration that I would have to mingle with many people inside of the Don Muang airport and then on a flight for 1 hour with untested passengers , I decided that a taxi ride would be safer . So direct from hotel ( door to door ) and no taxi from hotel to the airport nor a taxi from Buriram airport to final destination . Working out the cost and time there was not much in it and the taxi is sanitised . Taxi 4000 baht

Having completed your 7 day quarantine , fully vaccinated with 2 AZ and 1 Pfizer booster + 3 negative pcr tests ( 1 pre flight and 2 in the Sha + hotel ) , you are free to travel around Thailand ? Well not really because when you have travelled after quarantine to your final destination the local head of the town or village insists that you stay in your residence for another 14 days . Is this in the rules or official ?

This is a little misleading IMO , why ? Because the sell out is due to traders buying them in large numbers and then to be sold off individually at 3 or 4 times the original price ( a minimal markup )

Factseeker , Have your retirement visas expired because you say " we had 12 month retirement visas "

These test kits and vaccines should be free in countries like Thailand where incomes are modest , to say the least . So now we have profiteering from an important test kit that can help stop the spread of the virus . If retailing at 95 baht , that money can be enough to buy food to feed a small family .

It would be informative to all if the covid stats for both testing and infections rates per Province were reported by the government . I am surprised that the WHO has not got such requests . Or are we to assume that the reports concern the Bangkok areas ?

I agree with you but would like to add . The topic is really outdated as of now the Thai government only want wealthy retirees in Thailand and not those with basic pensions . Will the financial qualifications change soon to reflect that ? If it happens there could be a mass exodus of current expat retirees from Thailand . Indeed the Thai government should be encouraging the modest retirees as collectively they make a contribution to the countries economy and also support their Thai families . The visa for retirees could be simplified by having a retirement pass book with all of the required info and a duration of say 5 years that could be scrutinised and stamped every 6 months . After a probationary period of say 2 years ( or zero years with an enrolment fee ) the retiree should be included in the Thai government health scheme at a fee . Private health insurance only being available to over 70 s at a huge premium , if at all . It would be interesting to have a poll on age groups of this forums members . I would bet that the majority are under the age of 70 years .

There is always one clever clogs isn't there ? Most replies have been informative . Until now my lady has paid the bills by going to the offices and paying cash . She has always paid this way for years , has few if any online banking skills and answered my question to her about paying online , saying " I do not know " , hence my request for info on this forum . Now that I have the info from some helpful members I can proceed with a confident outlook . There is no need for condescending replies

Some might say you could have avoided your problems if you had a legal lease drawn up under Thai law , ( because of the tenants actions and yours , it is doubtful ) . A lease can include a monetary deposit from the new tenant prior to gaining access to the property , along with a third party guarantor for the rental side which will normally include utility bills . The deposit to be returned at the end of the lease if the property remains in good condition and that the terms of the lease were honoured . In pursuance of any claim against the lessee the legal expenses would become payable by those at fault and probably include the forfeit of the initial deposit. With all of the aforementioned a lessee with an official lease will seldom default .

I do online banking with my UK bank but not with my Bangkok bank as I have heard it is not straightforward nor reliable . Do you have to be able to read Thai or is the app translatable ?

Interesting dilemma but I would like to ask you the following . If instead of setting up the new debit accounts for the 3 services , could you have approached the 3 companies and explained the problem and request that they cease providing their services immediately . That would have cut out the 30 or 40 day wait and also stopped the bills , for the waiting period , that I suppose you would have to pay . After all the 3 service contracts are assigned to you , or is there a legal aspect to this ?

Mislabelled ? you are a very forgiving person and have picked up on one of my concerns . There has been some good informative replies on this subject

Referring to your statement in bold type above . I have just completed my 7 day quarantine in a Bangkok Sha Plus+ hotel . With both of my pcr tests I had to leave my room , use the lift and go to the ground floor , then walk another 50 meters to the test area . I asked the test team why they do not test me in or outside of my room because I am supposed to be in quarantine in my room . By me walking through the hotel I could be infecting others or getting infected by others . Have I got this wrong ?

I thought you made a typo on the price per kilo , until I did a search . Then I found wild Alaskan smoked king salmon at $29 for a 6-8 oz fillet . That works out at over 4000 baht per kilo . Who pays these prices ?

No doubt a treasured family photo and thanks for sharing it with us . Is that you in your fathers arms ?

Reckon I could rely on John West and Princes to be correctly labelled but the others , not so sure .

Is the Chinese farmed salmon sold in Thailand and appropriately labelled , showing its origin etc ?

If you are a regular consumer of salmon in Thailand , where do you buy it from, what price per kilo , which country was its origin and was it farmed or pole caught ? I was recently reading an article about the salmon trade and the intense salmon farming methods which produce inferior fish compared to the natural wild caught Alaskan salmon . Finally , smoked salmon , is it available in cutlets in Thailand ?

2 days ago my lady had to pay 220 a kilo and today her friend said it was 280 a kilo in the local market . I am talking about pork loin which is arguably the best cut .

Cannot argue with that but I still do not want to catch the virus . Heads you win , tails you lose ?