superal

If the Thai economy was reflected in the Baht why is it so strong ? baffling because things will not improve for at least another year . Is the Thai government printing money ?

That's the bit that baffles me .

and yet the teflon Thai Baht remains unaffected , in fact it's only 44.5 to the £ today . What the heck is going on ? Is there gonna be an almighty Baht crash ?

Who are the " authorities " ?

Children excluded but not adults who have been offered the vaccine . Asking questions is acceptable and most are answered by well informed medical persons . Please tell us about your medical knowledge that has any credence to be included in this forum or are you just another conspiracist lamb ?

Sinovac , AZ , Pfizer = a Heinz vaccine , to be sure , to be sure , to be sure

Anti vaccers should be made to pay for any treatment caused by the covid virus . These conspiracy believers spout off about its all B/S by all the world's governments . Just wondering if their thoughts are impeded by some other form of drugs ? Yet as soon as they get the covid they expect and get hospital treatment . Unless they have a very good reason of refusing the vaccine they should be at the back of the hospital queue because they are putting some brave medical staff in danger .

Yes indeed , we recall when the army took control and nearly every evening there was a broadcast made by the new P.M. talking about Thai happiness , the countries aspirations and the love of the former king . Sorry to say but it seems it's all gone txxs up and Thailand is at a low level of national contentment and hopes for the future . However it's not too late to change things around because the only way is up but can it be achieved by the current junta ? can a leopard change his spots ? Is corruption an endemic way of life in Thailand ? Is the scale of happiness decided by possessions and greed ? As far as I know there are only 3 options . 1/ Democracy but that always leads to a red/yellow shirt battle 2/ Military rule as of today 3/ Communism , this is edging closer ( for most of Asia ) . It could and should be so much better for the people of Thailand

Tis true , so where is this all leading to ? I choose my words carefully but fear the worst .

Thanks and I get where our coming from but what is really needed is a globally accepted link . So OK you have the San Francisco QR app which ( to the unaware ) could take you anywhere to maybe a fake site and those in Thailand who supervise the front of the house , would not have a clue what they are looking at . BTW is that app authentic throughout the USA ?

From what I have read online your item 2 is the problem and from what I hear middle eastern countries have access to fake documents but not so sure about European countries . The vaccines are working but are not able to prevent infection though they can prevent hospitalization . When you think about it there is no reason for any lockdown if all who want the vaccine have had the double jabs . If you have not had the vaccine but are waiting for it , do not socialise , stay home till your vaccines have been given . The rest can return to normal life including the un-vaccinated who will be taking a big chance . Temperature checks to remain at every commercial access . Vaccine certs to be shown . The UK vaccine roll out and cert issue is managed by the NHS and every cert has a QR code that gives traceability and I think would be very difficult to hack into the system . Do not know how other countries are managing their securities

Coming for a detox ?

Quite easy really , no bars = no tourists . Makes no sense to close bars to the double jabbed tourist who could just show their passports with entry dates or maybe C.O.E. , whilst crowds mingle in shopping malls , markets and queue at ATMs and zero social distancing + many chin masks .

Why the ban on bars ? Like it or not it is the nightlife/ bars that are a major attraction to Thailand . So now we have most who come to Thailand will have been vaccinated but for some reason are not provided with bars to drink alcohol . Straight away I would cross off Thailand for my hols . Travelling has become difficult this year but Europe is getting more popular . In any case who wants to do a long haul trip to detox Thailand . ( or drink beer out of tea cups )

So all of a sudden we are all vaccine experts . Sinovac is the preferred vaccine in Asia . Could it be that the cost is an influence ? probably as one dose of sinovac in Thailand is around $ 4-5 as opposed to Pfizer at near on $38 and sinovac can be stored in a normal fridge where as Pfizer has to be within an urn of liquid nitrogen . Now knowing that money is number one in Thailand , could there be a link ? If you Google the sinovac vaccine there are medical studies that give it credence and this may be the way to vaccinate many of the poorer nations especially taking into account the costs . I too was a sceptic of sinovac until I took the time to Google it .

The efficacy of sinovac seems to differ on various web sites and I even read where it said an AZ first dose followed by a Sinovac as 2nd dose gave a factor of 6x normal protection . However what is certain is that the cost of a single dose of sinovac is not a constant figure . In Thailand as little as $4 and the Philippines as much as $38 . AZ=$10 , Pfizer=39 , Moderna $50 , Sputnik v = under $20 . So forgetting corruption if economy is driving vaccine procurement we can understand why sinovac is the preferred Thai vaccine

Many thanks , please pm me with the info

Must be very disruptive for you and almost impossible to book flights for others which is a big downer that I have not heard mentioned before . Just out of interest , what are the documents needed by other popular countries and would you be able to book the flights yourself for your sons and friends ?

This is a big plus for Thai business people who need to travel within the country . Also for the returning expats who on completion of their quarantine will be able to get to their preferred destination , After all to be able to travel anywhere in Thailand after your quarantine was a prominent feature of the "sandbox " and the past few weeks has made that all but impossible . Not forgetting that expats who are abroad will be aware of the limitations for provincial travel in Thailand , until now and with the new changes that will encourage more of them to visit their families and friends . Bravo I say

Thanks Lorry for some good info that will probably also enlighten a lot of Aseannow readers . If you could let me know the name and numbers for the overland trips it would help further .

2 or 3 years ago and going back 8 years I would take a taxi 3 or 4 times a year from Suvarnabhumi airport on a 400 km trip and most of the times they were decent taxis and drivers but if they were run down cabs I would ask to be taken to the bus station . However I have been in some cabs , when staying in Bangkok , that would not be allowed to trade in the UK . Sticking to the topic , covid prepared taxis please

When booking a Bangkok taxi for a longish trip are they all covid safe ? i.e. Are the drivers vaccinated and if so do they display their vaccine certs and is it in the Thai language only ? Are the taxis cleaned to a virus clean standard and is there a screen between the driver and backseat passengers ? This is the norm in the UK at the moment with unannounced daily inspections by the licencing authorities where I live and I was interested if Thailand has the same standards . I cannot imagine that taxis that work on the ranks or get flagged down could follow a strict hygiene process but a private hire taxi could .

That's what I wanted to hear , many thanks

Thanks for your info but what is happening with the internal flights is they have been cut to the bone and one example is Don Muang to Buriram , used to be 3 or four a day but now only one by Nok Air that leaves at 08 30 am , so almost impossible to get a connecting flight from within Thailand . This means you either stay a night in Bangkok or take a taxi cos there are no buses or trains as of yet , unless you know otherwise /. I suppose this will be the trend until such times we return to some sort of normality .

What is very concerning is that there are now fake vaccine certs being sold on the web and being used in Asian and middle eastern countries , the report said . Also the fakers are able to gain access to the data system soas to make a cert check up look authentic . I did not read about the UK NHS app getting hijacked .