Spock

There are actually lots of very wowserish Thai people, largely among the middle class, particularly noticeable to me when I rented in the vast Lumpini apartment building complex in Rangsit where no alcohol was available at the 2 7/11 stores on site. It's not a country in which I am keen to spend time anymore.

Cambodia is where I am now heading. I don't trust the Thais. Lived there for 6 years and now find it conservative and puritanical as well as poorly governed. For some years now Cambodia has provided a more relaxed and friendly environment in which to stay or live than Thailand.

There would want to be. 6000 baht is absurd.

You are probably at Bangkok Patana or somewhere similar which would have had an online program for all and collected fees throughout. No way such a school would fold.

As an Australian citizen stuck in the safety cocoon in which this country envelops its citizens, I would happily be in any other country which doesn't prevent its own citizens travelling OS, or boasts the longest locked down city, the most punitive traffic fines available and the most restrictive speed limits in the world. You may value the priority placed on attempting to ensure that people's safety is the only priority in life worth pursuing, but the flip side is a dull and bland society which is currently revealing to discerning citizens just how an obsession with safety to the detriment of anything else can be stultifyingly boring and restrictive.

Generally people move to these developing countries because they are more liberal and offer more freedom than their own. Having said that with Thailand's high infection rate, the country probably should have been in a long lockdown with restaurants and bars closed. It's when alcohol is banned through shops that the ban becomes really draconian. I am sure this happened last year when Thailand locked down. I enjoy a drink at home every night and I certainly would not consider moving to a country that banned alcohol at all points of sale.

Thailand's inability to get on the vaccine bandwagon is a disgrace. These ridiculous tourists schemes have simply been a sideshow to detract from the bleeding obvious, that the government has been totally inept at securing vaccines for its own people, while its neighbour, Cambodia, has immunized 99% of the population of Phnom Penh and a large proportion of its population. I am hoping now to go to Cambodia instead of Thailand in December for an extended stay.

The cost of feeding a prisoner I read about 10 years ago - less than $1.50 a day. I have a goof Thai friend doing time and have visited on numerous occasions as well as regularly correspond. I have a fairly good understand what life inside is like.

70% are drug related

Doesn't cost the taxpayer much to keep anyone in a Thai jail and it also a much worse punishment than death.

That wasn't my point, but carry on regardless.

If you are vaccinated it is an attitude you can afford to hold. Unfortunately Thailand is a long way off being vaccinated to the point they can open the floodgates to let the virus in.

Australia was in the same situation and didn't order enough vaccine. Then the locally manufactured Astra Zeneca, already not producing sufficient quantities, was undermined by an AZ blood clot scare, and the government banned its use for under 60s. Then with rising cases, the government reversed its ban, but the PR damage meant the country became awash with unused AZ. There is more of an uptake since it has become obvious that lockdowns will be a permanent feature of Australian life until 80% vaccination is reached. Thailand and Australia actually have quite a lot in common in terms of the rollout, with Thailand displaying an even greater level of incompetence as well as being totally overrun by cases.

Why was export over domestic use agreed to in the first place? The Australian manufacturer of AZ produces vaccine for Australia first and foremost. I would have thought Thailand would have the same arrangement, supplying its own people first then the region later. The vaccine rollout is more incompetent than I previously thought. Where did the government anticipate that there supplies were going to come from? No wonder the country is in such a hopeless situation.

Don't think AZ from Australia has been approved either by the EU.

In that case, not everybody wants to again welcome tourists nor do tourists want to come to Thailand.

Covid is definitely spreading beyond Bangkok. I have a Thai friend in prison in Sam Khok, an area between Surit Thani and Ayutthaya which up till now I believe had been largely spared from the virus. Now there are over 30 infected prisoners plus some guards, including the one responsible for sending, receiving and reading prisoner's letters, so I assume there is no point writing or waiting for letters from inside. My friends has suffered 2 severe bouts of TB so can only hope his weakened system, particularly lungs, are able to cope.

So you left the taxi driver to the mercy of the pair and drove off? Though your Mrs is probably right.