Enzian

I'm not on a visa extension (I mean I'm Non-O), but reading about all the stress experienced here gives me insight into why I've spent a good part of this year studying the ins and outs of Scotch whisky.

Italy is the country, with 60 mil pop, I follow most closely. For a while the number of daily new cases got down to 200/day with an average of 5 new deaths/day. Now it's close to 2000 new per day with an average of 20 deaths per day. Literally 99% of all new cases are classified as "mild". The chance of an Italian catching it at all (not counting asymptomatic untested) is 1 in 180. The death rate for closed cases which had an outcome, however, and probably due to the initial virulence, has been 14%. Almost all older of course. Given this outlook it is understandable that the country is trying to open up. The wild card, as everywhere, is long term effects. Particular to Italy is the way the Conte government has been letting in illegal migrants who are positive, and the full results of that are not yet apparent.

What about the tables of ED drugs and the like always being sold in the open around Sukhumvit 11 and a couple of blocks in either direction? I would never buy any, but I've always wondered 1) are they fake, packaging and all? 2) even if they are real, does sitting out in the heat and sun do anything? 3) why is it allowed to go on at all, don't drug stores have to be licensed? 

And finally, are the efforts described in the article serious and wide spread, or just token and window dressing?

Hope springs eternal in the human breast,

Man never is, but always to be blest.

Alexander Pope, 18th century

I've said a million times, It can't be legalized because then the police might have to do some work, and the last reason the police exist for is to do any work. Say a john has a woman to his room and later discovers that something valuable is missing; he and she are engaged in an illegal activity, so he can't file a police report which would cause some cop to have to do some work. Various other scenarios are easily imaginable. 

10 hours ago, chrisandsu said:

My old boss just lost 10-15million baht to a ex massage girl . He would convince himself he wasn’t a cheap Charlie by throwing money at her and her family . Now he wishes he was a cheap Charlie . 

In my recently ended 4+ year relationship with a Thai woman half my age I probably spent very roughly a million and half baht more than I would have if I had just kept playing the field. So I guess I got off cheap; or I really am a Cheap Charlie (Charles my real middle name ironically), as I'm trying (with mixed success) to convince my new half-my-age gf. 

2 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Well, I do wish all well. I continue to observe how fortunate to be retired in Chiang Mai. Not missing the tornado warnings, remnants of hurricanes moving up the Ohio Valley from the Gulf. Not missing the cold air in the winter sweeping down from Canada. And certainly not missing being around Americans denying reality with Covid ...

Now if you could just get the government to take the winter pollution seriously.

I disagree with them in that the Trump administration needs to interfere in Thai affairs, in the matter of absurd tariffs on imported wine. I'm ready to start a revolution over having to pay 400THB (cheapest to be found) for a bottle of Australian Shiraz that would cost about 120 THB in Australia.

And don't get me started on paying at least 600 THB for a bottle of Italian Primitivo or Nero D'Avola that would cost 200 in Italy. US CA wines same problem. 

24 minutes ago, paul1804 said:

I really don’t get what the Thai officials have done for the past few months and their strategy to bring tourists back in 2020. 
Firstly there were quite a number of foreigners residing in Thailand on various different visa’s of which many are quite complicated.  Given the current world situation and the tourism economics in Thailand why did the government pretty much chase out a large percentage of those foreigners and are still telling them today that they have to leave by the 26th of this month. These people are renting accomodation, spending money in supermarkets, restaurants, bars, gymnasiums etc  They are Covid free and in a small way keeping some businesses open, employing staff etc. So on one hand the Thai government is trying to attract new tourists they are chasing out those already residing here!  How does this make sense or is that a “foreign” word to Thai officials! 
What would have been so much more sensible after the First amnesty ended would been to have offered these foreigners 30 day renewals at the normal fee back in July and there would currently be thousands more Covid free money spending foreigners residing in Thailand. Can anybody explain the strategy that Thailand has adopted by continually chasing out these people and what the reason is? 

 

 

This is a really good question and I hypothesize the following: it's a "control" issue by the questionably legitimate and insecure government of a still developing country where everything goes by rote and rules and face and the only thing they are sure of is obey the guy next above you. Never lose control! Don't let the guests take charge! They want everyone to know they and not the visitors are the ones in charge, even if they are cutting off their nose to spite their face. Knowing who the boss is, is the most important consideration. Agreeing that what you say makes sense would be far behind. Having said that, they may still change their collective "minds" by the 26th if they can make it seem like a toss-off aside.

4 hours ago, scammed said:

how do i find these paperwork ?

this is what bothers me the most about death,

well that and autopsy, is there any paperwork for that too ?

DISPOSAL OF REMAINS form.docx

To Poet, post #100: But here's this: not hard for me to keep the 800K on ice in a Thai bank, but as an 80 yr old, even with no pre-existing conditions to speak of in my case, what would I have to pay for an insurance policy that would satisfy this government? I have assets, my son is on top of things from the US daily, I can self-insure. That's my preference at this point.

9 minutes ago, VBF said:

Hang on a minute......

The guy's dead, cremate him with a "basic" funeral!

Why keep a body lying around if nobody claims it?  I know that when I die I shan't give a stuff what happens to my body. It's like throwing away a used tissue (best burnt for hygiene) 

 

No one can take the body to a temple and cremate it without the right Thai paperwork filed with the right Thai authorities. At some point, soon I hope, the relative or the embassy will put in motion the means to resolve this, but it's not going to be simple. I don't think this will end up being left to the hospital, but we'll see. And of course the hospital will want their money before letting it go, it's like they're holding it for ransom, but I'm not saying anything to disparage them.

2 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

Riiiiight, let’s throw them all into the same pot. Sounds extremely fair to me! 

Brings to mind the old racist cartoons of Africans throwing missionaries into a giant pot, still funny in a way. But unfortunately they've largely brought it on themselves. There's an African man sometimes stands on the odd street side of Sukhumvit (like one of the hookers, but 4 times as large and not as cute) and often speaks to me as I walk past, trying to start a conversation. I'm tempted to talk to him for a minute to see what his scam or illegal trade is, but then the police might assume I was doing real business with him. I'm making assumptions about him and others of his like I see, but I don't feel guilty about it.

He's appealing for patience, because as everyone knows, the worse is surely yet to come and neither the general culture nor the government knows exactly what to do about it--tho I will go against the grain and say the government has done a few things that have helped a little here and there. Savings are being spent down and defaults continue to be an issue. 30% occupancy is just another term for Slow Death. Maybe they should at least look to improve the efficiency of small scale and truck farming, so the next time around everyone will be guaranteed enough to eat.

4 minutes ago, polpott said:

Saw a couple of Afghani girls interviewed yesterday. I'd be well up for that.

The Nigerian Mafia in Italy may well get to them first.

Human compassion for the misfortunes of others is not a suicide pact. If the economies of Greece and Italy collapse under the burden of the migrants and Covid, and the poor of those countries fall even further to the level of the migrants, has anything really been gained?

4 hours ago, Percy P said:

Japan did not build the Bridge over the River, they had it built by prisoners of their war which many died including Thai people

Everyone knows that, it's like saying that Filippo Brunelleschi did not build the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence Italy, it was really the artisans of the town that built it. Or like saying the Pantheon in Rome wasn't built by Agrippa and Hadrian et al., it was built by slaves and poor laborers. It's how historians talk.