darksidedog

25 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

The government hopes the Phuket Sandbox will draw 129,000 visitors to the country in the third quarter

Or about 10,000 a week.

26 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

direct flights from six European cites to Phuket from July, although it anticipates only a fraction of seats being filled, with about 100 passengers in the first week,

100 a week is of course 1% of the required 10,000 a week.

Maybe the restrictions need to be thought out once more, as it is apparent tourists are not happy with the current plan, a point that officials seem to have ignored.

20 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Phuket province is now ready to go ahead with the Phuket Sandbox reopening to limited quarantine-free tourism for fully vaccinated international visitors.

Going to poke a few holes in that statement.

Phuket is Not ready, nor is anywhere else in the country.

Quarantine free? Yeah, can't leave for 14 days, movements monitored like a criminal, despite having been vaccinated. Plague carrying locals have zero restrictions meantime.

Tourism? Well, most go on holiday to chill out and have a good time. No bars, no beer or wine with dinner? A myriad of rules to follow.

The first international news story to break of a tourist being nailed for stupid money, or worse, jail, for some technical infringement, what very limited numbers trickling in will stop straight away and it will take years more to repair that damage.

Phuket, I repeat, is not ready and it really needs to rethink its attitude to those dollar wielding visitors if it ever expects to see them again when the time is right.

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

over 50 percent of foreigners who had confirmed they would visit Phuket as part of the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ scheme have now cancelled their plans.

And with this added stupidity, expect further cancellations. I am continually stunned that officials believe tourists are so desperate to visit here that they will be prepared to go through draconian hoops to do so.

As a prison visitor for many years, I am concerned at the continuing high numbers of infections in the jails. It seems that no effort whatsoever is being made to thwart its spread. I would also like very much, given the prison numbers are reported separately to the country, to know the fatality numbers, which I suspect will be disproportionately high to the rest of the population.

The numbers in time will tell, though I am pretty sure you can chalk this one up as a fail.

All the time non vaccinated people from more local areas with significant outbreaks can come and go as they please, where is the sense in insisting on such measures for vaccinated tourists?

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

They will need to be in a "sealed area", stay in Pattaya for 14 days before going elsewhere and possibly have to quarantine for the first three days at one Pattaya hotel

I am not sure which is furthest from reality. Expecting tourists to agree to such conditions, or getting 450,000 folks round here vaccinated in the next few weeks?

The only problem being of course, that you can bring all the charges you like against the crooked cops, but their crooked buddies will make sure they never actually get found guilty of anything. It's just a show folks to make the masses think that justice might be possible, when it isn't.

15 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s government is now in a race against time to fully vaccinate its population

I am not confident it is a race it is going to win, given the complete incompetence shown thus far.

One of the joys of living here, is just when you think you have seen everything, a new marvel of superstitious wonder comes along and sets you off laughing again. I would love to hear an explanation from the locals as to how exactly this willy works.

When this year they will be delivered is the big question. The second half of the year after all covers a very long period. If there is to be any tourist season whatsoever, the majority will have to be vaccinated way before the year ends.

About 200 meters from Siamburys, opposite the Bird Cage is a little place called Old School Pizza.

Very good with the bonus of not being expensive. 160-240 Baht for 12 inch.

Awesome crust, nice sauce, plenty of topping.

It's a bit basic if you are dining in, as it isn't a swanky joint, but if its reliably good food you are going for it's a winner.

Shameful behaviour, though I suspect exactly the same has happened everywhere. Some people just can't wait their turn.

Excellent news. Brought a smile to my morning.

Only another few tens of thousands doing the same around the country to be rounded up likewise and the job will be done.

I can understand this in the hot spots, though for provinces with zero cases it seems a bit extreme. Are they doing this in relation to the colour coded provinces, or are the cops able to fleece people everywhere?

When I lived in India I was always advised that if I had an accident (thankfully I never did), under no circumstances should I stop, but to drive to the nearest police station, to avoid being potentially beaten or hacked to death by an angry mob.

While the locals stopped short of going that far, it certainly seems that one or more were quite enthusiastic in giving him a good slapping, an act none of whom I suspect will face charges for.

1 hour ago, Surelynot said:

The second bit is the most important I guess...........soon be for sale on the streets.

With the headline quoting 380kg and the photo showing a haul of 320kg, I guess 60kg has already been sold!

Asking around over the last few days I have discovered I do not know anyone who has actually been tested. While my social network might not be huge, I would have thought someone would have had one. Does make you wonder how many cases we would be getting if they were running ten or twenty times more than they are.

I note that several suggested that they may have had Covid already, having experienced symptoms at some point since it arrived last year.

That "Island of Death" label is going to be even harder to get rid of now then.

A larger problem I have found than the unroadworthy state of the bike is the unworthy condition of the person operating said bike on the road. As we have all seen, they often prove to be a deadly combination.

Looking across the whole last month, it shows a pretty steady 2,000 cases a day, without huge rises or falls. Not going away, but not spreading like a bushfire yet either. We can only hope as vaccination finally gets rolling that the numbers will start to tilt downwards.

Back home that would be reckless driving by the lorry and driving with undue care and attention for the pick up.

Green does not mean go. It means proceed with caution, a fact many in Thailand are blithely unaware of, and which would have saved the lady had she had the sense to check if her path was clear. Moron of the day award goes to the truck driver though, who really should get jail time for that.

Forgive me for being suspicious, but that is a very dramatic drop in daily numbers. Did they run out of tests?