Enzian

I'm of exactly the same mind as the OP. I was in Hanoi for two weeks coming back to BKK March 11 just before the virus hit the fan. I have various reasons to return to Vietnam, but when? Also, before the virus I was spending almost a third of each year in Italy, which will be opening up international flights sooner than most expected, but at 80 I can't risk going from here to a place that still has daily cases. Oh well, there are worse places to be stuck than Bangkok... and it is relatively safe...

So they are saying half the recorded cases are from people going to hospital initially for something else?

About every three days I walk the same route though the Din Daeng neighborhood, including the huge night food market. In many places people have stopped wearing masks, there is no thought of social distancing, and they don't act afraid. I guess if some have ended in hospital I wouldn't know it, but it sure doesn't look like it from the way they act. I attribute the climate and lack of air con, and perhaps in time we will have scientific proof of such. And there may be some general immunity we have not yet identified. In Alameda County CA the rate of infection of asians is half that of whites, which also has not been explained.

18 hours ago, Wiggy said:

They didn’t have much choice. 

When I was Emquartier on Sunday the 18th entrants were free to ignore the QR code registration, though we were required to sign in with our phone number on first entry. But there was nothing to stop one from putting down a fake name and number. A sign said something about foreigners passport numbers required, but it wasn't happening. 

Well, you can complain that the elite is keeping their holdings and the baht strong despite what is happening on the ground (and at the moment the bhat is creeping back in the direction of 30/dollar, amazing). But it also means that my US30K in an uninsured Thai bank FCD account (for visa renewal) is not in much danger; pluses and minuses in everything. 

8 minutes ago, newatthis said:

 

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Is Abhisit in this picture? 

We were already spending down our reserves to improve the quality of our assets when this hit, not so good timing. But the projects can be slowed a crawl and luckily everyone is still paying their rent so far, because there is a moratorium on evictions. 

My experience with credit card travel insurance is that the last thing they want to do is pay out on a claim. This if it happens will likely be similar. I'm pro-business but those guys give it a bad name.

I suggest this was a case of just too many people and too obvious, and the foreign owner/operator did not help. I imagine that all over the country there are tiny out of the way bars with just a couple or 3 patrons that are left alone.

6 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

this sounds like Pulp Fiction.

Except Tarantino's name comes from the Italian city of Taranto in Puglia.

Got to be careful here. I've had food poisoning that put me in hospital (from a restaurant), and I've had e Coli from a restaurant that took weeks to recover because it was misdiagnosed at first.

I'm becoming more aware of the historical tensions between the military and the police in this country. Part of the reason there is non-accountability in both branches is that the issue for them is not the rule of law, it's who is in the driver's seat. Usually it is the military, but Taksin showed it could be the other way around. So the reason each protects its own internally is that holding its own accountable would strengthen the other side, which is what they really don't want.

On the topic of noise, I'm moving from one condo building to another, no noise from neighbors in either place because there hardly are any neighbors. This must be the case in a lot of Bangkok, I've heard the occupancy rates can be as low as 20% in some places.

3 hours ago, PaulieAUS said:

How did she amass $8K in debt?

Her restaurant before I met her was losing money and she kept pouring borrowed money down that black hole till the landlord just took back the premises anyway, at the time we met; I was present when she liquidated the fixtures. When she met me she effectively retired for a few years and played with her phone.

I just ended a long relationship and early in it I paid off a $8K debt she had, but then the relationship went on for more than 3 more years, so in some ways she gave as well as she got. I will say I refused to buy her a house or a car, and there was never such a large item again. But yes, they are consumate actresses, and everything should be taken with a grain of salt, even when you like them a lot.

Find a SuperRich.

2 hours ago, allanos said:

When socialising with "bar girls", for those worrying about a corona virus infection, doggy-style is de rigueur!  (It goes without saying that there are other infections which may be passed along, whether missionary or doggie)! ????

All this stress is keeping me from being rigueur in any position.

This is tough, because I have rentals in the US (I have a manager) and if we get an offer below asking (or even if it is higher!--I'd have to explain) we tune them out, the conversation is over. But I am currently moving around in Sukhumvit, and I have to be realistic about what the "new normal" market prices should be, even if the owners are not.

Highly relevant topic for me. Following my recent breakup I've moved to central Sukhumvit in Bangkok; I shouldn't name the building but it is big and everyone knows it. The landlords I've met here are willing to go 30 days at a time, just tell them toward the end of the 30 days if you are staying or moving. The studio prices are holding at 18k, so that could be better. But with no commitment past 30 days I can shop with impunity, and even move around a bit as a sort of hobby while the semi-crisis remains. I'm hoping in the next few months I can find something in a nicer newer smaller building for the same or slightly more, kind of a project to see if I can do it. I agree the rental market is going to be like pay-for-play (or like it used to be): almost too much choice.

On the question of luck, IMO it is key here. I predict that research will eventually conclude that the heat and humidity in Thailand has made the difference.

For better or worse people are going to do what they want increasingly unless the numbers go up. The fresh (or wet) market in Din Daeng has never closed, it's getting back to previous capacity, and people have always been elbow to elbow. There are massage places that have never closed, there is no enforcement for better or worse. This has been largely an honor system in Bangkok, but it may start wearing off.

A lot of people could stand to go cold turkey for a while and see what happens; an improvement in health I'd think.

Yes, the ban is for the people who don't plan ahead anything in their lives, who then impulse buy and impulse drink and congregate and jump on their motorbikes and roar off into eternity.

Define "salons".