Spilornis

Came across an announcement that Thai AirAsiaX will be flying twice a week direct to Tbilisi Georgia. (From October 8 ) Tbilisi is a lovely city but one wonders if it has anything to do with Georgia having open borders with Russia. The flights are charter and bookings are done through a travel agent. (An unusual model for AirAsia) https://newsroom.airasia.com/news/thai-airasia-x-to-fly-direct-to-tbilisi-georgia-2-times-a-week-from-oct-2022

So true but many want to think that it's the more deadly 2020 version. I often ask myself would the World close down for Omicron.

Something strange here. Korea is one of the most honest places around. Perhaps not your normal tour group Clicked on the full article... Especially the last paragraph "Hundreds of Thais have, in recent weeks, been detained by South Korean immigration officials and many of them were deported back to Thailand after they were suspected of entering Jeju to work illegally in South Korea"

Thanks Had it in Russia when I was there for the World Cup. Delicious and not cheap. It was boiled but very tender

Here it's cats everywhere. Just strays breeding prolifically. Eating dog... so what. A bit like the aversion in the UK and elsewhere to horse meat

You guys haven't lived until you've taken the Rocket Paddle Steamer in Bangladesh. US$5 gets you a first class cabin. On the subject of trains Bangladesh banned travel on the roof of trains recently. What a spoiler

Singapore is a very heavily masked society but their recent per capita case numbers are some of the highest in the world at over 12k cases per day. Numbers can be skewed by a greater willingness to report positive cases but masks aren't the silver bullet. In Singapore they invariably use N95 masks and they know how to wear them.

Saudi Arabia could halve the barrel price of oil within a month or two but it's enjoying the bonanza of record prices. These sanctions were never thought through and it's just a matter of time before many more countries start to ignore them. Cooking oil and wheat shortages are fast becoming a flash point for developing countries

Being reported that masks are to remain in air conditioned buildings which would mean malls and supermarkets, offices etc “Only fully vaccinated persons in non-high-risk groups can go mask-free in public places, though facemasks will still be required in certain places like air-conditioned buildings, entertainment venues, hospitals, public gatherings and in areas with poor ventilation.” https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/06/26/thailands-no-mask-mandate-comes-with-conditions-warns-ministry-2378-covid-19-new-cases-on-sunday-june-26

In Malaysia and Singapore outside masks were removed two months ago but there does not appear to be any desire to go further and remove them indoors. In Malaysia masks are worn outdoors by almost all of the Chinese community. Malays and Indians far less.

Looking at it dispassionately there is now no justification for the additional covid related entry requirements imposed by many SE Asian countries. All they are now doing is creating confusion and reluctance among would be travellers

India and Sri Lanka have foreigner pricing that is ten to twenty times that of a local for entry to monuments and museums. You get used to it but the downside is that because most monuments are similarly priced you tend not to go to the "secondary" sites for a quick look. Would be much better if you could buy a 30 day pass that assumed one monument every two days and it gave you unlimited entry. Similarly in Thailand expats could buy an annual "park pass" that assumed say one entry per month

Strange decision especially as it relates to wearing masks outdoors. All the nearby South East Asian countries who have considered the issue in the last two months (Singapore, Indonesia Malaysia etc) have removed the outdoor mask mandate. It has had a negligible impact on daily official covid numbers. I would expect Vietnam to follow shortly

Which districts are dropping the mask mandates? Do they include big cities/towns. Is it only outdoor masks that are dropped. Here in Malaysia mask wearing seems to align mainly with ethnicity. They are not compulsory outdoors but I'm not seeing any moves to drop them indoors. On my few trips into the smaller towns mask wearing seemed to be low. Interesting that in Singapore masks were dropped over a month ago for non customer facing office workers

Has never been tax on most fuel in Malaysia. The subsidy was removed some time back but in the last few years it was re-introduced. It costs the Government billions and is very inefficient. There are moves to make the subsidy only available to the bottom 40% economically but no one has come up with a simple way for how that would work. Foreign registered cars are prohibited from filling up with 95 (they must use 97 which I assume has a lesser or no subsidy). As an aside Singapore has a rule that cars leaving Singapore need to have their fuel tanks 3/4full to avoid Singaporeans filling up in Malaysia and avoiding Singapore taxes.

The weather warning even hit the Malaysian papers. It looks like a lot of rain on the way. Stay safe everyone https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2022/05/21/metmalaysia-issues-tropical-depression-advisory

I don't disagree but the only compulsory insurance being asked for is against covid treatment. If this is what is needed simply put a levy of say US$20 on every traveller for the rest of 2022. This is what Sri Lanka did some months ago

Strange that they are pushing masks outside when the region (Singapore and Malaysia) has relaxed that mandate. I would expect Indonesia to be the next to move now the Ramadan period is over Here in Malaysia there have been a lot of pictures of unmasked senior politicians at crowded social events. I assume they are outdoors or banquets. A month ago you would never have seen this in the media. At the end of Ramadan the PM celebrated with 100k persons at his open house meal serving. All/most unmasked

July....they don't move quickly. How about next week !

Amazed that classes are only just beginning. Hard to think of many other countries where the children have been absent from school for so long. Malaysia which is very conservative on the pandemic has had full schooling for 6 months and during the second half of 2021 it had senior classes back. One of the problems faced in Malaysia was the lack of technology for online learning faced by many families. They simply could not afford multiple mobile phones let alone laptops. The Govt gave out some free data allowance which helped but it was less than ideal to say the least. Good to see the kids back...

Cases will continue especially in countries where testing levels are reasonable. On the other hand it seems that the present strains can be handled by health services without the need for the drastic measures we have seen for the last two years. Definitely time to remove the outdoor mask mandate in Thailand

No Chinese tourism, reduced Russian travel and a natural reluctance by many to avoid long distance air travel due to masks, higher fares, lack of flights etc means they have a way to go. Need to pick a market and go for it. The obvious one is young backpackers taking a year off studies. They're making decisions right now

Just because they reduce the cover does not mean that the cost of the cover goes down. If 90%+ of claims are under US$10k the insurer's risk remains relatively unchanged. What would change the premium dramatically is if insurers could issue the product with the consumer paying the first say US$2500

Sounds positive. Singapore has said it will consider removing all testing for the vaccinated in the next few weeks and has already removed insurance requirements and outside masks. Malaysia is removing quarantine for close contacts who are asymptomatic and is considering removing check in apps After a long time the region is slowly re-opening. May could be a big month in this regard

One never knows. The Bali nightclub bombings saw Bali tourism plummet for a year or more but when it returned it was in even higher numbers and from new sources.