BKKBike09

I think you'll find he already is. Tourism and Sports isn't exactly a plum portfolio (as opposed to Energy, Health, Transport - the ones with the big budgets and mega-projects). Is the '1944 Convention' a Buddhist or Christian era date, I wonder?

Tell me about the Ladyboys ... fascinating creatures ... don't suppose you've got any stories about them ...

"Softly, softly"?? Code for: "Unfortunately most bars and similar establishment breaking the rules have made certain 'arrangements' that mean we have to leave them alone. However, hapless street hawkers trying to make a day-to-day living have no such protection and so are easy prey".

Of course, here in Thailand, unlike, er, the rest of the World, Omicron remains a great danger: The Omicron variant is responsible for 80% of infections and the rest caused by the Delta strain. "It would not be correct to conclude that Omicron is less severe," Dr Apisamai said. (from a report in the newspaper that shall not be named). Honestly, don't these people ever get out?

Look up the company financials. https://datawarehouse.dbd.go.th Maybe the business is going under. If it goes under then the staff will get nothing. Maybe the owner(s) are trying to do the right thing by staff and keep them employed and in the SS system, even if it means cutting salaries. Or maybe they're just trying it on. 11K is risible. Would probably make more as a Grab driver. Are management also taking cuts?

The source article also included the good doctor explaining: "Besides, CCSA approved lower fees for COVID-19 tests that would take effect on March 1, he said. An antigen test kit that people will buy will be priced at 55 baht, down from 80 baht. An ATK for which the National Health Security Office will pay for service units will be priced at no more than 250 baht, down from 300 baht. The fee for an RT-PCR test by service units will be cut to 900 baht from 1,200 baht." Sooo ... the health service is paying 5 x more for ATK kits than if they just bought them at 7-11? Someone's got a nice little earner there. "Ah, but these are 'special' ATK test kits etc etc".

It says in the Thai original that the gun owned by the retired policeman (in his 70s) had been pawned to someone military, while the other gun was owned directly by someone military. It's not uncommon here for people to pawn a gun and that's how many legally registered weapons end up being used for criminal purposes. Each weapon has a permit specific to that weapon and the individual named as owner. It's illegal to have in your possession a gun that's not properly registered in your name (as an aside - e.g. foreigners who 'own' a gun but it's actually in their wife's name) so, what's a pawn shop owner, or anyone who's taken a gun from someone as collateral for a loan, to do when the registered owner can't/won't repay the loan / dies etc? They can't legally sell it because it's not in their name and they shouldn't have it in the first place. Hence these guns get sold on illicitly without, of course, the legal owner necessarily being any the wiser.

This would be the same person who has co-authored another must-read study entitled: "Transgender Kathoey and gay men using tourist-zone scenes as ‘social opportunities’ for nonheteronormative living in Thailand". Which contends "tourist-zones with nonheteronormative scenes can importantly supply new ‘social opportunities’ and resources for nonheteronormative living", presumably thanks to some elderly retirees 'enacting privilege' because of their superior wealth. Thankfully Dr Scuzzarello is herself not short of a bob or two, so she can brag about her new $200 running shoes (probably made in a Vietnamese or Indonesian factory by underpaid locals).

Judging by how many people still obsessively mask, if not double mask, in the great outdoors and in their car on their own, I doubt that. Many people remain very afraid of Covid. Also, compliance and acceptance of 'authority' is inculcated from an early age. They might not like it, but they won't do anything about it qv. look at all those protests (not) organised by people working in the tourism sector.

So at the moment it looks like the unvaccinated in the US are 100 times more likely to die from Covid than the vaccinated+boosted? 0.1 / 100,000 vs 9.74 / 100,000. Sounds terrifying. But the unvaccinated death rate is actually now lower in the US than the death rate in 2019 and 2020 from flu. Covid WAS really bad but now it isn't. CDC data in fact shows the average unvaccinated American is now, statistically, 5x more likely to die from an "unintentional injury" than from Covid. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db427.htm At this stage in the pandemic surely it's time to start comparing Covid risk to that of other disease and accidents: time to stop living in fear.

I love the irony of saying on the one hand "force people to wear masks" (disclosure: I DETEST them) and then on the other, raising "the authoritarian, legal and ethical implications" of vaccine mandates. I know, I know ... masks aren't the same as something injected into you and all that, but it's still the same authoritarian tendency "for your own good and that of people around you". I'm sure I could find reams of stats about how effective masks are (or, conversely, about how ineffectual they are), but I for one am fed up with all this. It's obvious that, for the vast majority, Covid is not the threat it was a year ago and there are many more medical options for prevention and treatment. As for the minority - sorry, but time to suck it up and keep on boosting / masking / distancing for as long as you feel you need, but spare everyone else the misery. Enough of the glass half empty, guys! I'm off for a run - without a mask.

One could argue a more accurate statement would be "people at greater risk of serious illness if they catch Covid NEED that third booster shot in order to gain the best available protection against Omicron". As for the thread topic: "Are we just going to have to live with unvaccinated people across Thailand?" - they should be hunted down and forcibly vaccinated in front of jeering crowds (the crowds of course socially distanced and all participants double masked and triple or, even better, quadruple jabbed).

Thought it might have been a transformer fire (oil cooled ones brew up nicely) but no, looks like just plain old wiring. Mind you, as StreetView shows, there was plenty of it!

Was just there this weekend (first visit in three years). Didn't go bar-crawling but did drive around that area and Soi 80 out of curiosity. Some bars open in both but many shuttered. All rather depressing. Even worse looking in daylight.

I also had a PCX for nearly 10 years and just changed it last month for an ADV. I only use it to run around town. PCX was rock solid. Twist and go. Change oil and tires from time to time. That was it. I prefer styling of ADV and I think it's slightly more comfortable ergonomically than PCX (I'm over 6'). It feels slightly less powerful than PCX but hey, they're both heavy scooters. The ADV is 149 cc and original PCX was 153 cc, or something like that. Space under the seat is pretty similar. I don't care for the all electronic display and the keyless ignition system is way more complicated than it should be. I'd rather have analogue dials and a key any day but those days are long gone. Is my ADV going to serve me trouble free for 10 years? Have to wait and see.

"For a while, she and her network was able to extract patients with residence in Thailand from the grip of the hospitals “who only follow the rules” and transfer them to self isolation in their homes or to public hospitals, but this loophole was recently plugged." From the article: don't like the sound of the 'self isolation' at home "loophole" now being off the table. The Day 1 / Day 5 hotel+test requirement is fine for tourists who generally need to stay in a hotel anyway but lunacy for anyone with a permanent address here. It also applies to Thai Nationals so we can't say it's a 'foreigner only' problem. Also, what happens if you have family/friends come to visit and they stay with you other than Day 1 / Day 5, and one of them tests positive on Day 5 ... how far does the 'close contact' net get spread (no need to answer, it's a rhetorical question).

How is the virus "winning" against those who are at extremely low risk of serious illness or death (e.g. because of age, physical health, previous Covid infection)?

Who cares what was the case nearly a year ago? Being vaccinated is of course a good idea for various at risk groups but the title of this thread is misleading because it implies it reflects the current situation. It does not. This shows what has happened since the study from May 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7104e2.htm

Theoretically could you book only first night/test "because you're only in Thailand 4 days briefly visiting friends" (and get a ticket showing departure after 4 days, albeit a ticket that can be changed) ... although, of course, your plans then changed because you were having so much fun and you decided to stay longer. I bet there's no way of booking a Day 5 package after arrival. I also doubt there'd be any way that you'd be picked up on this when leaving a month later. Not advising this - just curious if it would work because I see the good folk at CCSA have said that people visiting for less than 5 nights don't need to book Night 5 etc ... Personally I think this Day 5 requirement is farcical, but what do I know.

It's important that owners of fierce dogs provide appropriate warning signs, specifically signs that include pictures of the dogs in question so potential miscreants know they should be afraid. Very afraid.

Dogs, cats, people - all much the same. Nice as pie for years and then they suddenly snap, for no obvious reason. Not for nothing that in Thailand they have a saying "สัตว์หน้าขนไว้ใจไม่ได้" ["sat na khon wai jai mai dai - 'animals with furry faces can't be trusted', which also applies to monkeys]. Always makes me nervous seeing young kids playing with larger dogs (or adult cats) because the kids often don't have the nouse to know what might upset the animal in question. Or maybe it is feeling off colour / has an unseen injury and so just wants to be left alone.

It's been nearly a year since the coup and several years since the Rohingya persecution got really bad so, given how long both Total and Chevron have been operating in Yadana, it's taken them a while to develop a conscience. Chevron and many other oil majors are pulling out of many SE Asian production fields largely because a) many of the fields are heavily depleted and nearing end of life and b) fossil fuels are becoming a liability. I don't think "ethics" has much to do with it. Just bottom line.

Thanks. The SB guy who did the letter for me also said that Bang Khun Thian DO requires SB to verify the docs. Much easier to get to SB from Wattana than Bang Khun Thian!

I can't see it would be a problem. They ask for your full name when taking the ID photo: the official who takes the pic then enters your name and thumb prints (scanned electronically) into the computer system and prints out a form with English / Thai names on it that you sign, said form then taken to another desk at which point the official there takes your old ID card - in my case my pink card - and sends you off to the ID card printing desk.

Picked up my ID yesterday from Wattana DO. In at 0900 and out at 1030. The process involved: House Registration desk (application to change my nationality in my current Blue Book) > ID Card desk > ID Card Photo Desk > ID Card Photo verification desk > House Registration desk to change nationality and issue a new book because I said I'd rather have a new book than one with crossings out etc etc Would have been a bit quicker but first time around they spelt my middle name in English wrong and I didn't notice till I got back to the House Registration desk ... so back to the Photo Desk for a new photo and a new ID card. All very helpful and friendly and, best of all, all free, even issuing a replacement Household Registration. Of course, it took three weeks of bureaucracy to get to this stage: Day 1 - go to Wattana and check with them what docs etc needed to get ID, as I was going to pick up said docs that day from SB. Given a list of 13 items. Day 2 - go back to Wattana with all the docs on the list: asked if I had made copies; I said no, because they didn't ask for copies and only 1 item on the list specified original + copy (house sale and purchase contract - but only required if the Household Registration you use doesn't have a recorded Owner 'jao baan'). Also told I will need to schedule an interview for the House Reg application and that Wattana will also need to write to SB to have SB confirm that all the docs they issue are genuine. Asked if I wanted to collect and deliver said letter myself or have it sent by post ... Day 3 - back to Wattana to get the letter for SB. Went to SB who were very helpful and typed up a letter while I waited. Could have gone back to Wattana same day but couldn't be ar**d. Day 4 - back to Wattana with SB letter and all docs. They told me which ones to copy etc. Copied them at a copy station next door. Told to wait for phone call to make interview appointment. They called a day or two later and interview date set for two weeks later on 21 Jan. Then got a call to ask if I could do 19 Jan (thankfully an easier day for me and my missus). Wed 19 Jan - Interview by House Registration officer to process application to amend entry in House Reg and then get ID. Routine if redundant questions. Asked about vaccination status (dates of shots / type of vax!). Tempted to say 'none of your business' but ultimately who cares. Had to bring two witnesses - one of them my wife. The other was one of my employees. Mon 24 - Wattana called to say DO Chief had signed docs. Could I come today? I said I was busy and we fixed up for Wed 26. Wed 26 - As per above. I only brought 1 witness (my employee) because my wife wasn't free (working on a film set upcountry). We knew she wouldn't be free after 22 Jan for 2 weeks when we went for the interview and told the officials then. They said it was no problem if my wife signed some power of attorney forms in advance and I used those as required, which I did. So, all done in 3 years 9 months!