richard_smith237

Blame the tourists.. how are they getting in the bay without the boats then ???... Where is this pier they talk of on the other side of the Island ? Do they mean the pier on Phi Phi Don ??? Could it be the noisy songthaew boats that are causing the impact ?? Could that be reduced if the boats were quieter ?

What crowd against drunk driving ??..... isn’t that the issue in Thailand, that there is no ‘crowd’ against drunk driving ???.... it seems the only time people are against drunk driving here is when they are impacted by it !!!... The general public only find out about that when a few katoeys get photographed with their norks out and the police and puritanical officials generate far more publicity about how it brings Thailand into disrepute !!! The traditional thai’s who do not like water splashing are not going to be in these area’s anyway... but.. its seems they may not want others enjoying themselves water spashing as it was done 100 years ago !! Completely suffocating it... as if they haven’t struggled enough with Songkran !!! Bar’s are a major attraction for many tourists to Thailand... I don't know why they are so readily targeted.... the bars and businesses such as this need support.. they get the opposite.

Thats plenty of time to sell a vehicle.... (I’ve sold 6 cars in Thailand.. all in less than 3 months). Advertise on Facebook Market Place and anywhere else you can think of. Here too... https://www.one2car.com/en As always you will get a lot of tire kickers who ask ‘is this still available’ then disappear !!! The there is the person who asks for extra photos, details etc.. and then disappears.. Thats just the way it is unfortunately. Google translate is ok to communicate with prospective buyers - its not perfect and sometimes translates mistakes, but its ok for the basics. IF you have a serious buyer who wants to come and see the car, they may speak enough basic English so that you dont need to worry about Thai. Is there anyone in your area who can assist ? (if someone comes to look at the car ?). i.e. staff from the Condo or Moobaan etc ? If you’re offering a good price, someone will snap it up fairly quickly... and for a better deal than the *tents will give you. *tents - they’re the second hand car lots that you see everywhere... (for some reason they’re called tents !!... perhaps because they used to be under a massive tent instead of a large roof !).

Yes... Use a search function such as SkyScanner or Google Flights... Look for the best options price etc... then go to direct to the airline website and see if the price is similar.... (it usually is).

You can get all that from the AOT page without registering and account ?

... the pseudo puritanism continues....

And the over use of plastic... never before have I seen such unnecessarily excessive use of plastic... On busy public transport think mask wearing is a pretty good idea anyway.... .... But, beyond that, there are not many situations whereby I think mask wearing is beneficial...

I think that is the whole point Rooster was trying to make with this thread... One one wants to be the only maskless passenger / person in the room / mall etc etc... so, most people are still wearing a mask because most people are still wearing a mask.. Hence the request “Please Thailand, take off your masks” which for some reason seems to have rubbed so many up the wrong way while they seem not to have realised the rest of the world has moved on. I wonder IF those who who have become upset at Roosters request to Thai’s not to wear masks have been outside of Thailand recently and witnessed how mask wearing is a thing of recent history (other than Japan which has actually always had somewhat of a love affair with mask wearing even pre-covid). I also want to note: I like the idea of mask wearing if someone has a cold (which is how it used to be in Japan). Thus, IF someone has the snivels, they just wear a mask. I’d like to see that adopted.

I'd agree - in 2018 it was about 1 in 100 people walking around wearing masks in Bangkok (obviously for pollution reasons)... It was also probably about 1 in 30 motorcyclists (at a guess). The BTS has an announcement asking people to wear masks but I dont think its mandatory. I wear a mask on the BTS because I’m asked to. No real issues with that, but as we are having the discussion on this forum, I don’t think mask wearing for the purposes of Covid-19 is necessary any longer. IF someone wants to protect themselves, thats up to them - they should be choosing an N-95 mask through, not one of the useless surgical masks (same goes for protection against pollution). Other than the BTS I have not worn a mask in Bangkok for about a year, there has simply been no need. That said, I have stayed at a couple of hotels that have a mask policy... at breakfast in a room full of people the mask on - mask off palaver is rather ridiculous...

A valid point was raised about how easy and effective communication can aid wellbeing within a community, that much of communication is non-verbal and comes from body language and facial expression... Does mask wearing impact the ease of communication. I believe it does... Could long term mask wearing become detrimental to the wellbeing of communities and society on a whole ??... I think there is scope for consideration on this point... So what societies do we know of that cover their faces and how would we evaluate the wellbeing of those societies ? are they are fair case study? perhaps not because there are community factors at play. Nevertheless, does mask wearing impede communication ? And does impeded communication have an aggregate impact on society ? It would be extremely difficult to quantify - but for example on the very extreme fringes... Would a mask wearing society have a greater number of people requiring treatment for depression than a society of equal number where people didn’t wear masks ?

You must already know the mask doesn't protect you from Covid-19.... it just helps to some extent protect others if you do have Covid-19. This comes back to the reasoning about wearing masks... You have throught about the why’s and how’s etc... do you really think all of society think about this issue with the same critical thought ? or are they wearing masks because everyone else does ???? That is the point Rooster was making - So many people wearing masks here not through fear of Covid, but through fear of being different... Mask wearing vs seat-belt analogy is rather misleading, its not as if no-one wears their seatbelts in most other countries any more... In fact it could be argued the opposite is true in Thailand compared to the west - I wonder why this comparison is actually upside down... - In Thailand fewer wear seatbelts meanwhile everyone wears masks. - In the West, all wear seatbelts while none wear masks.

So why is no one wearing a mask in the vast majority of other countries in the world ????? Because the virologists and public health experts have agreed that it is no longer required. The virologists and public health experts and policy makers in Thailand have agreed that mask wearing is no longer required - it's no longer law. Your response is aggressive and also wrong, as Covid-19 enters 'endemic status’ the need for mask wearing is no longer present. I agree that some will be wearing masks because of pollution, thats fine, there is no disagreement with that from anyone. However, when mask wearers were a small minority before Covid-19 and now mask wearers remain in the majority *post Covid, common senses suggests that the mask wearing is not due to the same factors that have existed before Covid-19 - clearly, when observing the majority the mask wearing is covid-19 related and is a clear example of the 'Bandwagon effect’, a legacy of a conformist society where the majority copy the majority. *it seems most agree were in the post Covid-19 era.

Really? I some women wear a hijab, let them do it. It signals to me that I shouldn't try to chat them up. And I don't. If some people wear headphones or have a screen in front of their face, fine, if that makes them happy. There are still enough people out there who are normal enough for my taste. I have no difficulties meeting new people and talking to them. If some people prefer to ignore me, for whatever reason, that is also fine with me. We don't have to be all friends with each other. Live and let live and all that. Gaccha makes a valid point from a sociological point of view. If people cannot communicate so freely with each other, they can become isolated, when this happens within a community on a larger scale other issues can develop. Thus, it could be argued that an important facet on the health of a community and society is how freely and readily it interacts, when aspects of that interaction are hindered or limited through mask wearing there are potential knock-on effects on the general psychology of a community.

Has it ?.... In Japan recent (Tokyo) the vast majority were wearing facemasks. How about Korea ?, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, PRC, Vientnam, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines etc ?? I wonder if the majority of the population in these countries are also mask wearing ????? (genuine question)

IMO - thats exactly what it is... It's the ‘bandwagon’ effect whereby everyone else is doing something and that influences cognitive bias and public behaviour....

What have cows and towels got to do with it ?? ????

Personally, I think there is a very real reason not to wear a mask on a bike and the reason I never have (I’d wear my full face helmet instead). There’s a risk of the mask blowing up over the eyes... (some may argue this point) - but I’d never risk it unless the mask we very well fitting.

Agreed... but I don't think thats quite the point. The majority of people are perhaps wearing a mask not because they want to, but because they are ‘fearful’ not to... ... i.e. fearful of being the one that stands out, the one that breaks the mould etc...

Deleted - issue resolved.

I would hope that they had checked with the Dutch Lady and ensured this was not the case before attempting to bathe themselves in glory and parading her off to the gallows.

Yeah, I guess that’s a thing now... Before Covid-19 in countries such as Thailand a minority wore masks because of the pollution... Moving forwards some may think they are wearing masks because they are scared of Covid-19... But, will people get upset with a minority wearing masks ??... I have read of examples in the states where people are targeted and ridiculed for wearing a mask when the ‘aggressor’ believes they ‘shouldn’t be’..... madness again !... IMO - people should wear what they want... But outside of a pandemic etc I think the societal conformity and lack of individual thought to ‘step out of this mask wearing trance’ seems a little ridiculous... As others have pointed out, whats the harm?... But there is some harm when people pass judgement based on flawed beliefs or understanding which is only perpetuated by society’s thoughtless & voiceless conformity.

I was recently in Japan... A lot (most) people there wearing masks in the city but not in the provinces. Out in the provinces (ski area) no one was wearing a mask, tourists or Japanese... Yet, in Tokyo (and on the Shinkansen) everyone was wearing a mask - you stood out if you didn’t. I wore a mask and hated it... why ??.... I felt like I had to and it would be upsetting people around me if I didn’t - this seemed ridiculous to me, yet I conformed... then would walk into a busy bar or restaurant and no one had masks on... madness.

Thats something completely different. The majority of the population are still wearing masks for no other reason than everyone else is and they don't want to be the ones breaking with conformity and potentially judged.

Quite! Why is it anyone else's business. It's bizarre that it upsets people. Poor old Rooster. I think there ‘could be’ a problem with it.. (everyone wearing a mask). When society conforms in wearing a mask there is some social judgement against those who do not conform. There have been examples of people speaking out and deriding others for not wearing a mask. Thus, when out and about, in a shopping centre etc and everyone is wearing a mask, we may feel the stares, the occasional ’stink-eye’ and perhaps some ‘colder treatment’ because we haven't conformed and those who are wearing masks may feel some resentment towards us because we are not taking part in the communal ‘don’t put anyone else at danger’ mentality. I haven’t worn a mask in Thailand for over a year, my Wife has stopped wearing a mask for the past 6 months... And I don't care about the judgement from others when wearing a mask is so clearly no longer necessary. But, some people do care about confirming and the judgement of others and thus wear a mask even when they’d prefer not to. This is why a sensible official stance matters - In a country like Thailand where social conformity is such a significant facet of society there needs to be clear announcements that people no longer need to wear masks.

Surely there would be some record of that, with either the authorities or with her. IF she had entered through legitimate means surely she would have spoken up about that. Perhaps the article misses this ?... either deliberately to dramatise, or through incompetence. Thus, I would guess, that as ‘no one knows’ how she entered, she entered illegally and is keeping quiet about it. Its something we’ll never know - As with nearly every stories and report on here, we are left speculating (out of general interest and discussion) and there is never any follow up.