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10 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

AstraZeneca has been as effective. I know you yankees hate to admit it, but it was the first and has been administered in more countries. But yes, either/or would have sorted China.

I acknowledge that and reflected it in my first sentence. Meanwhile the Chinese are furiously trying to perfect MRNA technology. 

11 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

The politburo also do not care about the people or the economy for that matter… they will remain rich either way. 

The people have been largely satisfied with or at least tolerant of the politburo because the economy was growing in leaps and bounds. They may not be so ambivalent if Xi tanks the economy.

And I'm not so sure that the politburo doesn't care about the economy. They want their riches to increase, not decrease. Therefore Xi may lose politburo support of if he tanks the economy. 

The majority is happy with the status quo when things are rosy. Xi is doing many things that will cause long term damage to the Chinese economy. 

2 hours ago, MikeyIdea said:

China won't lift restrictions this year. They have way too many elderly that are not vaccinated

I agree. Plus China still refuses to buy the foreign sourced vaccines that are superior to their own.

IMO a combination of MRNA vaccines plus immunity by exposure to COVID has gotten the rest of the world past the pandemic. China is going to face a spike in infections when they finally do open, which will be worse if they don't use better vaccines. 

I believe they'll restrict travel until they develop their own MRNA vaccines and are able to produce enough to vaccinate the majority of their population. 

I also think this has been immensely destructive to their economy. I was formerly involved in the textile machinery business with many customers in China. It's very difficult to generate new business without personal visits from buyer. Repeat orders can be dealt with via the internet, but buyers constantly require new fashions and products which is why places like Pratumam exist. I'm sure many other industries are the same. Not to mention the difficulty in machine maintenance if technician visits are hugely burdensome. This extended shut down will dampen  Chinese business opportunities for years.

Xi us an idiot on that front and many others

On 8/19/2022 at 9:23 PM, chalawaan said:

I'm a big-time Asia porn-hound on several top sites, and I've never come across her. (see what I did there?)????

Google is your friend. Lots of videos found when searching "Natt Chanapa"

5 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Thai gold is based on jewelry usage and at 96% (23k) far better than what we call jewelry gold in western countries (14k or less for most).

In Asian centers of US cities there are "Thai style" gold jewelry shops which sell 24k gold jewelry. They'll buy Thai made 23k but obviously at a discount. 

But yes, typical western 14k gold jewelry is horrifically over priced junk in comparison what's sold at the thousands of Thai gold shops.

22 hours ago, DaLa said:

I have shops in a multi storey building at Chatuchak and again due to covid they found it necessary to place chains and locks around several of the exits

Excellent point. Same in many venues, for example Villa Market on Second Road Pattaya. Back entrance locked for COVID checkpoint consolidation. 

On 8/5/2022 at 8:12 AM, snoop1130 said:

Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered administrative officials and police to check the safety of entertainment places nationwide

How about buildings that are not entertainment places? How about government offices? No need for enforcement of safety regulations in those places? How many were forced to have a single entrance/exit due to COVID regulations?

28 minutes ago, baboon said:

I can't speak for Air France, but the difference between the KLM and BA versions of the 777 is seating configuration. KLM use the horrible, cramped 3-4-3 while BA retain the 3-3-3. Lousy service and crappy food I can put up with for just that little bit of extra space, not that I find BA's service too bad.

Air France uses 3-4-3 seating on the 777 they fly to BKK. Also, per seatguru.com some BA 777's use 3-4-3 seating. Most airlines are moving to it as they refresh interiors. 

And if that wasn't bad enough Airbus is now offering 3-4-3 seating in the narrower A350 ????

16 minutes ago, Iamfalang said:

Let's choose:

 

forget studies.    not educated, no skills,

Should do wonders for the quality of agogo bar staff...

Very conscientious of them to protect the wildlife in that remote out of doors location with masks.

Definitely worthy of a 12 month "State of Emergency".

4 hours ago, Loinx22 said:

I mean I'm guessing (once again this is so stupid that it's kinda pointless talking about) that hotels go by name... So Xi Jingping gets foreign price. 

When checking in at any Thai hotel you must show a Passport/ID card. 

I agree that the idea is so stupid that it will never be implemented, but if somehow it is they'd presumably determine price via Passports 

On 6/17/2022 at 4:52 PM, webfact said:

the change, according to the minister, will initially be limited to hotels that cater to tourists.

So it will be okay on Soi 6 in Pattaya where all the bars have rooms upstairs. 

Any hours when ganja sales aren't allowed?

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thai durian has outranked rice and para rubber as Thailand’s top export performer

Can't blame them. I'd export it too.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

If you don't read Thai why not ask you Thai partner  or a friend what he or she thinks!

She says "Muay Thai"

1 hour ago, bbko said:

Obviously this isn't the only option, a 9 hour layover??  Search and choose a better flight plan.

"Kuwait Airlines is offering the best price, saving $600 on the trip vs the next best option (for 2 persons Business Class)"

Obviously there are better options. This is the cheapest. My question is are the better options worth $600+ more.

Judging by the responses, probably yes.

1 hour ago, sqwakvfr said:

I lived in Kuwait, have flown Kuwait Airways and been to Kuwait airport many times.  Would I ever go back to Kuwait? No.  Would I ever fly Kuwait Airways again? No.  Would I ever ever want to layover at Kuwait Airport? No.  The air fare  is low because of the poor service and low demand for it’s flights.  My last flight on KW was from Kuwait to Bangkok after I finished my last contract.  The flight was awful.  Kuwait is like Saudi Arabia.  No adult drinks served. Of course you can imagine what the inflight entertainment was like.  Typical meal service was some kind of rice dish with chicken or beef.  Drinks were water, tea(of course) coffee and Pepsi bottled in the MIddle East.  

 

Look at Qatar or Emirates if you want the USA East Coast to Middle East route.  Doha and Dubai are great airports to layover.  

Thanks. Pretty much what I expected to hear, but I used to avoid Turkish Airlines thinking it would be awful and shocked at how good they are when I finally tried them. I thought possibly it would be the same situation with Kuwait but I guess not.

On 6/4/2022 at 9:55 PM, eastcst84 said:

Perfect. Thanks @ubonjoe I think I will just apply here in the US before hand. Just wanted to check if there was something else I didn't know about.

 

 

At least with my experience in Jomtien, it's much, much easier to apply for the Non O visa in the US vs in Thailand. 

Also, if you have medical insurance in the US it will likely have sufficient coverage to meet the insurance requirement. What you need to do is call them and ask for a coverage letter. Do that early as it can take several weeks to obtain.