11 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

Slightly off topic but what about that new roundabout art south end Patong. At least the northern roundabout has sculpture of a dolphin. Quite nice. The one to the south seems to have snooker balls stacked on top each other. Odd. Adds no artistic value in my opinion. Sorry no photo, well maybe on dash camera ..... 

What has always puzzled me about the dolphin statues on the roundabout at the north end of Patong beach is that it is situated in the only position that you cannot access Patong beach by any of the roads emanating from it (unless you are one of the chinese drivers who just drive up Beach Rd the wrong way that I have seen.)

So you only see it as you go away from the beach?

Ardern is seen by many of the unthinking Kiwis as Jesus reincarnated in a woke world 

but she is surrounded by idiots so no matter how good she is her reign will be disastrous.

The likes of Phil Twyford, of Kiwibuild disaster fame, Andrew Little (wearing his communist star the other day), Kris Faafoi, his only claim to fame is as a TV sports commentator but a nice guy, David Clark posing as the invisible Health Minister, Megan Woods, sad to say but she looks almost competent against her colleagues.

Poor Jacinda, and she really means no harm, but at least the media love her.

If we went back on this proposed scheme we would be minimising contact with other people anyway, just as we are here at the moment.

Everyone should take self responsibility and if they want to go and drink at bars in large numbers, well we all know the risks and so do the people they are mixing with and that is their choice. I would just minimise the chance of them infecting me by keeping to ourselves as much as possible.

The Yorkshire Pub in Soi Sansabai even do black pudding on their Big Breakfast.

Problem is I am told they are closed till November.

Anyone confirm?

13 hours ago, Caldera said:

@geriatrickid I did mention in my later post #19 that I donated to the Soi Dog Foundation in the past and that I'm supportive of their efforts to neuter strays and to educate locals about responsible pet ownership.

 

But this overseas pet adoption business is nuts! In my opinion (and I respect yours), that discredits the foundation. I'm all for treating animals well, but flying a Thai dog halfway round the world to an adopted home in a Western country is way over the top.

Caldera

agree with your first paragraph

20 years ago the dogs were a real problem in Patong and  I was very skeptical when I heard of Soi Dog Foundation.

After the Tsunami things in Patong gradually improved and now I do not see a problem when I last walked on the beach in February. You do not see the scabby, crippled , savage dogs around and it is due to Soi Dog in the main.

If I was marketing for Soi Dog, the foreign adoption scheme would be ideal. A picture of a cuddly pet with sad eyes, that jerked on every animal lovers heart strings getting publicity because it seems outlandish in the West, would get coverage and donations from the people who can't get a dog but would like to help.

I think Phuket Soi Dog does a great job and anyone who had been a regular in Patong in the 1990's would probably agree.

12 hours ago, stevenl said:

The planned campaign start was made more difficult due to lockdown. So with the same timeline the planned campaign start will be a month away, so that is no reason to complain about the lockdown.

 

Seems very obvious to me.

NZ Labour had opened their campaign on the weekend with all the TV and media coverage that that entails for the Labour Party launch.

Ardern then announced level 3 lockdown only for Auckland where National and Act were launching the following weekend. Clearly the launches could not go ahead and the parties would not get any of the huge publicity that Labour had already had.

Then Ardern conscripted TV and Radio everyday for a 1/2 hour media conference with her at the forefront and of course repeated on the 6pm and 10.30pm news.

She then announced she saw no reason to alter the date of the election.

Ardern only altered the date when Winston Peters said he would dissolve his coalition with Labour and that would force Labour to step down as govt as they would then not have the numbers.

Aredern's campaign was already started that is why it was so nefarious

18 hours ago, stevenl said:

Doesn't matter, the reasoning 'she announced the lockdown to prevent the opposition to start their campaign' is out of the window.

Why?

9 hours ago, stevenl said:

With elections postponed, there goes that reasoning out of the window.

Actually it appears the facts on the NZ election delay are that Jacinda was told on Sunday by Winston Peters to delay the election or he would withdraw his support immediately (Jacinda only got 37% of the vote last election and had to form a coalition with Peters to govern) That meant her coalition had disintegrated unless she agreed.

Even the Greens were not informed until this morning as were National and Act.

She had no choice.

Auckland locked down for another 12 days but the general populace ignoring the incompetent government.

People driving, enjoying the sun at beaches etc.

The National opposition party was due to launch their election campaign this weekend in Auckland so Jacinda imposed the shutdown, typical socialist tactic. learnt from her Beijing mates?

19 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

This forum covers more than just Phuket. ????Would you consider buying property elsewhere in Thailand?

No!

working in an environment where you are not familiar with the nuances of the legal system and having significant capital tied up is a recipe for sleepless nights and ulcers.

Even though your home country's economy may be in tatters at least you can navigate the problems with some knowledge.

All I have looked at in Thailand has ended with disaster or people stuck in a situation they have no power over.

On 6/1/2020 at 12:14 AM, samran said:

So in short: it’s Jacinda’s fault that you can’t get a tan? Talk about first world problems.
 

Who’s going to let you in to their country by the way? Or is that Jacinda’s fault as well?

Lost your sense of humour?

 Probably an early sign of Lockdown Dementia or are you just normally this sour?

52 minutes ago, kiwikeith said:

  NZ,people are now bitching about losing income from the lockdown. NZ has only one active case now and is at level 2 everyone is back to work. Half the 20 deaths were from old people’s homes, the majority of Sweden’s deaths were from old people’s homes. So if the NZ government had not locked down we would be without many loved grandparents. All the rednecks come out of the woods now, it’s election time and all these smart ass people are now turning on the  government,after such a great job ,mostly the rich and the political opposition.

The criticism of the NZ govt and "I'm on TV" Adern is because they closed the businesses down while allowing planeloads of people in without any checks on them for weeks and these people spread Covid 19 to most of the "clusters"

The NZ economy has been severely hit and the number of suicides through business failure and job losses will far exceed the 16 dementia affected elderly people who were infected in supposed safe hospitals. the other 5 I haven't kept note of but I understand they were elderly and had underlying conditions too.

There has been basically no testing and people who have been at risk have been refused tests. A totally incompetent Health Ministry.

NZ has been turned into the Venezuela of the South Pacific on the whim of a totally inexperienced leader who is surrounded by even more incompetent ministers. Food parcels being handed out by the government??? 

And before you say it, yes I am probably rich by your standards and I'm definitely a wannabee redneck but I cannot get out of this goddamn awful place to get some sun on my neck.

Now let's see

A flight on Aeroflot

or exposure to Covid-19?

Waiting to get back to Phuket as our flights have been cancelled we have been trying to forecast various scenarios

I think there is so much money tied up in airlines, planes, airports and tourism and it is such a cash cow for nearly all governments there will be huge pressure to get all this infrastructure moving as quickly as possible.

The jobs are also so necessary and effect all countries.

My pick is flying will start in July and in full sweep by November. 

Whether Thailand and Phuket get a share of the pent up spending will remain to be seen but I am optimistic. Look at the recovery after the Tsunami, just miraculous

Just about to book a return to Phuket transiting Singapore and wonder if anyone has come through Singapore lately and if there is any delay with health checks, temps taken etc with the panic on Corona Virus.

One connection has 1hr 50mins time in airport and we usually do that.

Do you think it may be cutting it too fine in the current conditions

2 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

Poor animals. I yell out to the tourists to stop and leave when see them in these horrible perverse places. Went past the Rawai camp last week and the elephants tied down bored and looking very sad. I wouldn't go ride one of them even if you offered me a lot of money.

So you want the elephants on Phuket euthanised?

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

So a happy ending for you P2!????

And in front of the wife

On the good side for Bangkok Phuket Hospital.

Wife had something stuck in her ear and it was increasingly painful.

Tried a clinic in Patong but they said no, you must go to hospital.

As we were flying out 4 days later I took her to Bangkok Phuket as an ear problem with the variation in cabin pressure could be extremely painful.

First class service, taken by a nurse upstairs to the ear ward, Had BP etc taken and saw a doctor in 10 minutes or so and she located the problem, removed it and that was it. No meds prescribed not even ear drops!

The longest wait was to pay the bill which was I thought reasonable at B1950.

And don't forget the free parking, in NZ that alone would have cost me B400

Certainly a lot more than we used to pay but I was expecting much more.

And we got some delicious foodstall food as we left from the carpark stalls as a bonus

Forgot to mention

On the road around Bang Wad Dam there has just been about 30 pallets of concrete blocks placed waiting to be used.

Asked a guy with a digger there and he said they were building a pier, at least that is what I think he meant.

Anyone with more info?

At Bang Wad yesterday and it looks pretty good, higher than I expected.

Thanks for that Xylophone

We are the same, I have never bothered before but seems like there are regular re-readings or re-interpreting of the laws on reporting so I would prefer to make sure we comply as it is not a big problem.

Logically the notification on arrival of your intended address should suffice.