Tracyb

Real-time experience entering this week.  
 

My partner, who is Thai, and I arrived from Doha.  We were whisked away to our hotel with a stop at a hospital for the PCR test.  Booked into our hotel room waiting for test results.  One test required a redo at the lab using the same collected sample.  One test did not.  The one that did not require a redo, mine, eventuality came back negative. The redone test for my partner came back positive.

Now for the interesting part.  The hospital that was connected to our test and go hotel could not take my partner.  They had no place to put him.  No hospital room, no hospitEl room, nothing, nada.  So…..he sat in the hotel all day well into the evening.  Everyone was freaking out.  The hotel couldn’t move him out, the hospital couldn’t find a place for him…..it was a f@#@ed up mess.  Finally, my partner began working through his Thai insurance company ,and THEY found him a place to go.  He finally had a ride show up at the receiving hotel to whisk him away to a HospiTEL.  The insurance company managed to work out the details for govt tracking, etc.  and transferred everything.  He’s being seen by a doctor after a mandatory chest X-ray.  Nursing staff at the hospiTEL are keeping an eye on him..(he’s asymptomatic and has been all along) and he’s due to be released in another day.  Insurance is paying all of the costs….even though he’s asymptomatic.  His policy is one that covers getting a positive test regardless of symptoms…or no symptoms.

so, one wonders what would have become of him had he no alternative insurance policy and an excellent  agent to get him fixed up?

As for me…. This is the sad part……. I planned to stay at the hotel until my partner was cleared and released from quarantine.  The hotel staff where we had booked the test and go and arrived at, and where my partner tested positive, knocked on my door and told me I had to quarantine in my room.  Not allowed to leave the room, not allowed to have any contact with anyone, and oh ya…. go for a PCR test in three days to determine my Covid status.  Housekeeping would drop towels by the door.  No one would enter my room.  
 

I called <deleted>.  “ No way” I said.  The govt doesn’t require me to have a follow up PCR test if I come in and get a negative PCR on arrival so…NO!  I told them I would do twice daily ATK self tests if needed but no way was I going for a second PCR test.They were not happy but they acquiesced on the test.  They still required me to stay in the room.  This is not a sleazy, 1-2star hotel.  My extended stay while waiting for my partner would have set me back a kings ransom at this five star place but I didn’t care.  My mission was to stay in town, support my partner and get him through this so we could eventually get to our home in another city.  
 

I ended up talking to a friend of mine who has a condo in BKK and organized a move in.  He’s out of town so it’s cool…plenty of room, etc.  I packed my bags and bolted.  I sent the hotel my day 5 Negative ATK test results and they forwarded it to the authorities.  My partner is due to be released tomorrow and we’re getting out of BKK asap. We won’t be leaving Thailand again until all this Thai Pass/testing/mandatory quarantine nonsense disappears.  If these regulations remain indefinitely we may just abandon everything and move back to America.

Let this be a lesson to anyone contemplating an entry to Thailand.  Stay away lest you get caught up in a bureaucratic quagmire likened to quicksand and bilked of a hundred thousand baht or more.

I’ve found FedEx overnight letters to be the best bet when I have cards sent to me from the USA.  Usually arrive in three to four days and can be tracked every step of the way.

If you are currently in Bangkok, and you have an address in Chiang Mai, consider shipping some items via Thai Post EMS, Kerry, etc.  probably cheaper than overweight baggage charges.

It so happens that I was there and witnessed this unfortunate incident.  The driver was not urinating on his car….he was urinating in his trousers.  He was obviously distressed.  The police officers, when they arrived, were acting with compassion.  I can’t say the same for drivers passing by….and certainly not for many of the commenters here.

We don’t know what, specifically, caused this incident….however, video file footage did show that the car in front of him stopped abruptly and he was able to veer to his left to avoid hitting the vehicle.  Unfortunately, when his car continued its forward motion there was no road to travel on but there was a small traffic island with a police box standing on it.  So, into the police box the car traveled coming to a rest while causing some damage but no physical injuries…..other than to the elderly man’s pride…obviously.

Traffic was backed up for a bit, some drivers were inconvenienced and some negative comments were shouted by angry drivers who had their travel momentarily interrupted.

Now come all the armchair critics who pontificate about how this man acted and what should be done to him to prevent this from happening in the future or…what should have been done to him to prevent this from happening in the first place.  Well, I honor your right to express yourselves, each one of you.  However, I will ask you to consider that but for the grace of God you could find yourself in the same position one day in the future.  I certainly hope you don’t but if you do I’m certain you’d appreciate some compassion.

EIGHT MONTHS!?  Really?

Who goes on for eight months without a passport?

Best of luck, pal!

1 hour ago, arick said:

This country you can drive with no tax no insurance and drunk and the most that will happen is up to a 10,000 baht fine. However if you cheat somebody out of a buffalo you could be looking at 10 years in jail same with snatching something from a shop. 

….or you could drag a cop to his death on Sukhumvit with your “Supercar” and dodge prosecution by waiting out the clock but……..