BKKBike09

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!

Of course, the rigorous actions taken against vaxxed and testd foreign visitors arriving by air are somewhat offset by the thousands of illegal workers crossing land borders every month, untested, untraced, and off to work in crowded conditions in factories and sleep in crowded worker dormitories.

You need to qualify this statement by noting that it also depends at what stage of the pandemic a particular country finds itself. The UK, for instance, still has very high levels of infection, by any measure, but has opened up (to a greater or lesser extent) and is now showing better economic growth than most of the rest of Europe. There comes a point when the raw level of infections is no longer a metric about which to worry, whether because of level of vaccination, mildness of prevalent strain, natural levels of immunity or whatever.

Actually that study says nothing really about the unvaccinated and long Covid. In fact, the researchers go to some lengths to state that it's not clear whether vaccination status has any relevance to the risk of contracting long Covid: Dr David Darley from St Vincent’s Hospital, who is also a lead author on the paper, says there is no data as to whether different variants like Omicron cause the same changes, or what role vaccination may play in reducing the risk of developing long COVID. “From some early international data, we are very hopeful that with a milder variant and with high vaccination rates we may see less long COVID, but we will need further immunological data before we can say this for certain. “We are currently looking at some data from the Delta wave to understand whether vaccination may reduce the possibility of long COVID.”

I heard there was an incident at a condo in the soi. Thai family. Domestic mental health issue of some sort. Son had a gun; father tried to take it off him and got shot. Son apparently then hunkered down in the condo. Father apparently in hospital.

It was in the 'other newspaper' this morning. "The cabinet on Tuesday approved new ministerial regulations requiring Thai citizenship seekers to pass a Thai language test, with fees for citizenship applications going up by twofold, deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said."

Yeah, I got the "there are so many foreigners applying for Thai nationality in Wattana" spiel as well. But on the 4 consecutive days I went there the Registration section had no more than a handful of people waiting at any one time.

My khet (Wattana) insist on a copy of the MOI letter sent to the individual applicant - NOT the letter sent by MOI to SB advising that 'X' has been approved for Thai nationality, a copy of which you get given by SB. Luckily I did receive said letter although it's literally just a pre-paid postage item folded and stapled, not even in an envelope and certainly not registered / EMS delivery. Incidentally, the letter says that the process at the khet has to be completed within 60 days of getting Thai nationality, which it specifies as the date of publication in the RG. Of course the letter was dated a month after RG publication and didn't arrive at my address for another 2 weeks ... Once I've completed all the steps at Wattana I'll post more fully but for now let's just say it's by no means "in an out in a day".

Herewith further examples of all that awaits the reopened world, building on never before seen images as previously unveiled in: https://aseannow.com/topic/1245947-our-world-in-pictures-1-tasty-treats https://aseannow.com/topic/1246198-our-world-in-pictures-2-safety-first 1. It's a big shout out to all Liverpool fans in the construction industry. 2. Courier services have boomed during lockdown. But I wouldn't want to upset these guys. 3. Still, at least they can spell. I mean, come on guys, you spend millions on a BTS campaign and yet still this 'srips' by. 4. Sometimes, though, you almost wish it was incomprehensible. "Darling, guess what I've got you for Valentine's ..." 5. And pity the poor pooch sent in to this doggy spa. "The usual shampoo oh, and give his glands a go too". 6. Strangely, anal gland cleaning was one of the only activities that didn't feature on this promotional poster for the teen movie "The To Do List" at SFX Emporium some years back. 7. Nothing like gratuitous copulation in a pictorial guide to the wonders of your land. As well as a cock pic. 8. Mind you, perhaps the introduction to the guide should have been a clue as to the likely contents. 9. Finally, if anyone has ever made it to Bears Town ski resort outside Seoul, let me know. I'm still trying to work out the instructions, which were a bit 'suttle' for my liking. Perhaps I shouldn't have spent so much trying to "get it off in the middle" beforehand. Remember, keep that camera close at hand!

Glad it brought you some amusement. Some of the food-related pics I've collected over the years are also quite amusing.

Hot on the heels (or should that be "bottom legs burn") of 'Our World in Pictures #1: Tasty Treats' (https://aseannow.com/topic/1245947-our-world-in-pictures-1-tasty-treats), with lockdown and the pleasures of home confinement potentially soon to be but distant memories, it's still important not to let that guard down. Safety first, children! 1. Don't let the artwork fool you. These hounds are savage! 2. I was all for buying this electric scooter until I realised what was required to slow down. 3. Reading further, I discovered, too, that, potentially, Covid and other ailments might also preclude use. That said, the last time I remember leaking out any, ahem, 'material', was after a pub crawl in Southend. 4. I'm not a big fan of zoos, and I guess the inmates would also rather be elsewhere. So gold star to this zoo in Laos (hopefully now shut - it was a woeful place) for best use of the words "unpredictable sharply biting" in a sentence. Reminds me of an ex, but that's another story. 5. "Mind The Gap" as they used to say on certain Tube stations. Not so sure about this "gap" in Taiwan. 6. One of my favourite destinations is Nepal. Domestic flights can often encounter turbulence so, in a case of a picture being worth a thousand words ... 7. Sometimes instructions are best kept simple. 8. While on other occasions, compliance can be, well, challenging. 9. Finally, this has nothing to do with safety. I think. Signing off until the next time ...

Also works with UOB.

Yes.

In these dissonant times, it's easy to lose sight of the big world out there and the simple pleasures of life ... such as food! And what better way to stimulate the palate than by recalling some of the delicious treats on offer out there: 1. Mmm.... 4 inches of pure pleasure. 2. Any tasty treat is best washed down with a refreshing beverage. Although I'm not so sure about the diet option. 3. I like nuggets as much as the next person, but these are certainly some novel ways to enjoy those bite-sized delights. 4. I like 'Vaggie' too, but I've never had it from a tin. 5. Let's not forget our furry friends either. It's good of the brand to indicate that too many treats might lead to a feculent feline. 6. Of course, if a bad case of 'Browny Ring' means an untimely end for kitty, why, here's a Delia Smith favourite to the rescue! 7. It's always good to have a healthy salad at your fingers. But that's where it should stop. 8. But if you didn't enjoy 'fingernail salad' in Laos, I wouldn't complain about it and then order ice cream. 9. If there's no time for a sit-down meal, nuts make for a handy snack. Depending on the nut, of course. 10. The old '<deleted>' for 'crab' blooper never fails to amuse, but it's even better to order <deleted> with plawn. 11. Sometimes a sandwich is just what you want. I think. 12. I'm sold on the 'huge fried prawns' but not so sure about the bread.

The new rules should be published in a NOTAM by Thai CAA, the NOTAM being what airlines should follow - the latest NOTAM is still this one from 21 Dec which doesn't say anything about 10 Jan per se. Of course I appreciate that airline check in counter staff probably won't care ... VTBB BANGKOK ACC/FIC/COM CENTRE A2693/21 - COVID-19: THAILAND REVISED PROTOCOL REGARDING THE THAILAND PASS REGISTRATION SYSTEM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REVISED MEASURES FOR ENTERING INTO THAILAND AS FLW: THAILAND PASS WILL BE CLSD FOR ALL NEW TEST AND GO AND SANDBOX APPLICATIONS (EXCEPT PHUKET SANDBOX) NEW MEASURES APPLY FOR ALL APPLICANTS ON THAILAND PASS ARE AS FLW: 1.APPLICANTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED THEIR THAILAND PASS QR CODE CAN ENTER THAILAND UNDER THE SCHEME THEY HAVE REGISTERED. 2.APPLICANTS WHO HAVE REGISTERED, BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED THEIR QR CODE MUST WAIT FOR THEIR THAILAND PASS TO BE CONSIDERED/APPROVED. ONCE APPROVED, THEY CAN ENTER THAILAND UNDER THE SCHEME THEY HAVE REGISTERED. 3.NEW APPLICANTS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REGISTER FOR TEST AND GO AND SANDBOX MEASURES (EXCEPT PHUKET SANDBOX), THAILAND PASS WILL ONLY ACCEPT NEW APPLICANTS SEEKING TO ENTER THAILAND UNDER ALTERNATIVE QUARANTINE (AQ) OR PHUKET SANDBOX ONLY. 4.PAX WHO WILL ARR IN THAILAND UNDER TEST AND GO AND SANDBOX PROGRAMME MUST UNDERGO THEIR 2ND COVID-19 TEST USING THE RT-PCR TECHNIQUE (NOT ATK SELF-TEST) AT GOVERNMENT-DESIGNATED FACILITIES (NO ADDITIONAL COST. 21 DEC 17:00 2021 UNTIL 31 JAN 17:00 2022. CREATED: 21 DEC 11:47 2021 https://www.notams.faa.gov/dinsQueryWeb/ (The original CAAT NOTAM is here https://ais.caat.or.th/file/notam/161/NOTAM LIST A JAN 2022.pdf)

Let's play a new game called "spot the book reader" ... Perhaps they're all on their way to a book fair and are looking on their phones for ideas as to what books to buy? I did try an image search using "people reading books in BTS train thailand" but it didn't throw up any results. Funny, that.

Er, it's very easy to look at people's phones and see what's on the screen. Or you can tell by the frantic swiping up and down, left and right, that they sure as heck aren't reading War And Peace.

16.326 I don't take names and numbers, but I do see foreigners reading actual books from time to time. Japanese BTS users in particular (and not reading manga). While I would not claim that Caucasian BTS users are avid readers, I would say that they are much less likely to be staring at a smartphone.

You almost never see any Thai person reading an actual book on the BTS. I'd say 95% are staring mindlessly at their phones. Some may be reading an e-book but mostly it just seems to be social media. On the Tube in London you still see a fair number of people reading actual books, but it's a dwindling number.

Surely the key point to make for anyone wanting to get rich via crypto / markets / commodities or whatever trading is that if you're going to do it yourself (rather than via a broker or a fund or whatever) it requires a full-time commitment to identify the opportunities and make the most of them - as you appear to be doing. The future of crypto will indeed be more adoption for real world use - but at the cost of more regulation and much less volatility (opportunity). In this transition period, I do think that there's opportunity to make a lot of money from BUT that requires full-time focus. And I can see there being the mother of all crypto crashes along the way. In the meantime as a speculative long-term investment, who knows? A lot of people who bought in a couple of years ago and held on - or who spend all day every day trading - have made and will make a lot of money. Good for them notwithstanding that a joke meme coin with a dog on it can be treated as an investment opportunity - and make serious money. And that's before we get into the whole ethics of billionaires like Musk boosting or tanking a coin with a single tweet - which he can do because there's no regulation. And NFT 'art' ... don't get me started. However ... all that said, if approached purely from the basis of "can I make money from this regardless of my personal views" (after all, one person's NFT could be another's Damien Hirst Pickled Sheep - I think it's worthless but if someone else thinks it's worth millions and stumps up for it ...), then worth a punt if you can afford to lose whatever you put in. I bought some BTC, ETH and MKR earlier in the year and the portfolio value was up 60% at one point; today, despite the bloodbath last couple of days, it's still up 15% thanks to the ETH. I also gave some money (on a profit share basis) to a good friend who does this stuff all day. If the crypto bulls are right, in a couple of years I'll have a tidy sum. If not, I won't be on the streets.

I'm going by what CDC data says for the last few months. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status I suspect it's a question of 250 being a figure for all deaths since start of pandemic vs how things are now. Many more people were likely to die at the start because the virus was unknown, treatment options were more limited / less well understood, there were no vaccines etc. Nowadays there are much better treatment options, there are vaccines and, to be blunt, probably a fair number of people who would have died if they got Covid have already died. It's misleading, I feel, to focus on death rates from earlier in the pandemic. However you cut it, the individual risk of dying from Covid can now be greatly reduced. Government should focus on real time death rates to inform policy.

1. I was responding to a post that stated the rate at 6:100,000 (citing CDC data) 2. Here's some more CDC data along the same lines. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status

Interesting data. Below is data for influenza deaths in USA. Averaged out across all age groups (as per the CDC stats above, that's basically 7 deaths per 100,000 for influenza vs 6 deaths per 100,000 for Covid even in the unvaccinated. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1127799/influenza-us-mortality-rate-by-age-group/ Covid is clearly a serious health threat to specific vulnerable groups but from the way data is often presented, you'd think it was the Black Death.

Ah, the temperature scanners! I think I'd change 'largely redundant' to "complete and total waste of time'. They're like those ridiculous plastic face shields that some people wear. Make sense in an OR or a dentist's chair; pointless in a department store. There should be a TV sweepstakes for who's recorded the lowest temperature on one of those scanners. 29.3 C for me.

I've had 3 x AZ (1 in UK in mid April, 1 in TH in early July, 1 in UK in early Nov). I wanted a 'complete' vax cert from one country hence the 3rd shot in UK. That was before Omicron but guess I can count it as a booster. Didn't have any reaction to any of the shots. I did catch Covid here in late September but it was very mild. I also read an article recently that cited Dr Clive Dix, former chairman of the UK Vaccine Task Force, when stating "The AstraZeneca adenovirus vaccine scores well on cell memory and may ultimately protect better than messenger RNA jabs such as Pfizer-BioNTech, now that we are relying more on this second line of defence. He believes the UK should have stuck with AstraZeneca for mix-and-match boosters." [Article is here but it's behind a paywall: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/12/23/prof-lockdowns-apocalyptic-omicron-claims-undermine-faith-vaccines/] Who knows. I don't care whether I catch it (again) if the vaccines provide good protection against serious illness. There's so little clarity around this, though, because so many studies talk about protection from "symptomatic infection", which runs the gamut from sniffles for a day to intubation in ICU. So 3 x AZ or 2 x AZ + 1 of something else? I suspect both options work well but I'm not a clinical virologist and I suspect the issue of a 3rd booster will soon be supplanted by the issue of a 4th, 5th, 6th etc booster ...