ourdon

NO - The disease is now a fixture like annual flu I used to try to be involved with this discussion but I do so no longer. I have in fact changed my opinion. To everyone that chooses not to get vaccinated, good on you. You have that right (in some places). What you don't have, is the right to plug up the medical facilities. You volunteered to get the disease, live (or die) with your choice. Do so in the hospital parking lot with a toe tag not the ICU. Why does no one remember that the largest group of unvaccinated people are kids. While they seemed to have some partial immunity to the original covid, That is much less true of the new variants. The new variants kill kids. Getting vaccines to their children should be a parents priority world wide. Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine should be handed out for free from every drug store in the world. Manufacturers should be making this stuff in Olympic swimming pool sized batches. Shovel that stuff into your arms boys and girls. If these drugs turn out to offer less than perfect immunity we should offer free injections of bleach. And to complete this amazing medical treatment let us bend you over and shove a 200 watt lightbulb up your ass.. I will be happy to personally come over and turn the power on. ::: Treatment approved by the pillow guy. Rant completed ::: endit

I'm with you on the STV. A-Nut-In has convinced me to find some other country to retire in but snowbirding fulfills all my requirements. I'm giving up my OA visa. I spend the early spring months wandering through small towns in the wine regions of France then to Canada for the summer and fall. A good life. Now the problem is: No they have made no changes in the STV program. That means that according to existing laws you (and I) still would have to quarantine for 14 or 15 days. They never thought to update the requirements .... how Thai of them. I have put in several requests for clarification to the Thai embassy to no avail. I was told that the embassy is expecting (hoping) for clarity and will update the website after the November 1 st. announcements. Then they went dark on me. Fingers crossed, luck to both of us.

In Kamala, check the places just up and down from the police station. Don't know how nice, but pre covid they tended to be populated with a predominance of Europeans. Dive bars tend to be around where the dive shops/boats are. Goggle that, and look in those areas Luck mate

Just cause I can't seem to get enough of this thread. I was looking up car rentals in the US for a relative. I ran across these conditions. They indicate that the local constabulary finds uses for the IDP world wide. An International Drivers License is recommended but not obligatory if drivers license is not in English. An International Driver License is mandatory if drivers license is not in Roman alphabet (such as Japanese, Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, etc.)and must be accompanied with your national drivers license. The local supplier will require a security deposit to be blocked on the primary drivers credit card for the duration of the rental. Contact Auto Europe for exceptions. Drivers license must be held for a minimum of 1 years (some exceptions may apply). Residents outside US, Canada, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands must present a passport at time of pick up. Out of curiosity, I have another question. Wouldn't the 90 day licence change be only for long term visa holders? It seems to be somewhat out of line to force someone with a tourist visa to get a Thai licence.

You know, I really don't consider this at all important or interesting but you still have got me bringing out my magnifying glass and reading the fine print. It seems you are absolutely correct. If I may read from the bottom of the Contracting States list (2) The state in which the visitor is driving may limit the period during which an IDP is recognised for each visit to that state. Regards

For What it's Worth: There seems to be some disagreement on how long an IDP is valid. It Seems to be a year. The issuing country/agency determines the length of validity not the person reading it at the other end. I also note that your valid drivers licence must accompany the IDP (I didn't know that).

Just a FWIW. I have needed the IDP for the local constabulary in Thailand and in Australia. In Europe the IDP was ignored and my regular DL was required As Kwasaki points out the IDP requirement is not observed all over Thailand ........ but it can become required if you don't have one and the constable needs some tea money for his sergeant. Up to you but I prefer CYA to paying fines

The international drivers licence is a bit of a misnomer, but you are subject to fines for not having one. Every countries driver licences are different and written in the local language. Police in tourist areas would have to be conversant in several languages to read them. When you get one from your AAA or CAA or wherever, they take specific information from your drivers licence and put it in specific places on the IDL. The same information is in the same place whether your licence is American or Bulgarian. The police are trained where to look on an IDL for the information they need. It will show that you don't drive a motorcycle. Learn to drive a bike wherever you are. Thailand is no place to test the learning curve. Too many people come away from this "learning experience" as a large can of ashes Have fun in the sun

I think some of you people (you know who you are) have broken in to the TAT drug supply. You're supposed to share dammit!

Thank you for keeping us safe, Dick Tracey!

Yeah, sorta The STV program has been extended until September 2022. What they didn't do is update the requirements, like quarantine length, testing, etc. The Vancouver consulate is encouraged to believe that the November statement/press release will bring clarity to the situation. I'm still waiting for a reasonable air route. Singapore air will be flying to and from Vancouver BC starting December 2. I plan on being on a flight that week if I can find out what the freaking requirements of the STV are.

As Cipher mentions, it will depend on an intelligently crafted policy. Thailand is screwed

NO!!!

Funny (not 555), The JIT model of supply chain management was developed to end the costly manufacturers inventories. It worked fine for years as long as the components were only separated by a relatively small distance chronologically and spatially. As we added more and distant components the model became more and more "wobbly" (a technical economist word). The pandemic put a spear through its' heart. Now as you say, manufacturers are trying to build up inventories while still trying to operate under the JIT model. We have the worst of two worlds. We need to get the worlds best economists along with some chaos theory profs to design us a post pandemic model that works. It will mean that everyone from Dubuque to Milan to Mumbai and Shanghai will also have to buy into the model. Pissing contests between components cannot be tolerated. We also need to do this prior to the end of 2020. Local governments will not accept any reduction in their ability to throw spanners into the economic machinery. We would have periods of conflict. "Cinch yer saddle down tight boys, I think we're in for a hellava ride!"

It isn't the alcohol, it's all the other stupid ass regs they have erected. I'd be there now. I still hope to get back by Xmas, but I think I'm going to take a look about North Bali this year while I'm in the neighborhood. I'm heartened that I can shoot a game of pool and have a San Meg. I would certainly appreciate being able to transit through Bangkok going to Phuket. Flying in from Europe gives you a lot more choices than flying in from Canada. It would cut a third off the cost of my tickets and my travel time. They did extend the STV till the end of Sept. 2022 (Huzzah). They didn't think to change the original requirements for this visa so in theory (or reality) I'd have to spend 15 days in strict quarantine on arrival. I'm hoping they change them Nov 1, when Bangkok should open (Razzberry). I'm sure that if they're going to update the conditions for the visa effective Nov. 1, they'll announce the current conditions late in the evening of October 31. Existential thought processes demands it. Coherent thought is the enemy. Thank you for listening to my whine.

I have no doubt that this will have an economic tsunami like effect in Asia. If you dig around, somewhere on this site it mentions that the Chinese are/were the predominant condo buyers in Thailand. I've driven past miles of condo construction coming out of Da Nang in Viet. I think the Chinese like sand on a beach has "got into everything". When these real estate multi millionaires start defaulting on their obligations you're going to see massive hits to economies that are just starting to recover from the devastation of the pandemic. We may be watching the formation of the economic version of "The Perfect Storm". In theory, this could and should be limited to Asia but the markets are more skittish than a ewe at the Highland games. If someone farts loudly in Vladivostok there is a gas shortage in JoBurg three days later. This like the 2008 meltdown has simply been caused by greed. I wonder how many innocent people will have their lives devastated because of it?

Ahhmmmm? So what would actually change? As I see it, almost every bar girl in Pattaya and Patong has always been incredibly invested in business and her customers leisure.

As the DOJ seems to be interviewing Joe publicly, what are they actually going to charge him with - littering or non environmental use of plastic bags? He obviously is an earner.

You live in a country where some think having sex under a specific group of rubber trees angers the gods and causes excess rain and flooding I believe you're an incredible optimist. I don't think they have a suspicion that there could be oil in them.

Some good news I hope WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about Taiwan and they agreed to abide by the Taiwan agreement. "I've spoken with Xi about Taiwan. We agree ... we'll abide by the Taiwan agreement," he said. "We made it clear that I don't think he should be doing anything other than abiding by the agreement." Hopefully we go back to 380 incursions a year.

It may be fiber going into the condo but does that fiber extend all the way to the internet provider. Your system is just as fast as the slowest part of it. I'm not familiar with the ipad but I add my laptop to the condo network and cast from my computer to the TV. Think the ipad would be similar but you may be able to cast without a dongle. Good luck

Interesting that this conversation is going on. My newsfeed just brought up the latest Chinese incursion into Taiwan's identification zone. This time the incursion included three dozen fighters, a squadron of nuclear capable bombers and some AWACS. The last few years have been rather jagged for Taiwan. In 2020 China made 380 incursions into Taiwan's airspace. This year they have made over 600 so far. The US made its feelings about this known. The Chinese spokesperson said many words which boiled down to "Mind your own damm business" The math for Taiwan is pretty grim. For the CCP, domestic troubles fade away when one is in a patriotic, popular foreign war. Gawd I hope we're REALLY wrong. Flying gets problematical when there are active volcano's or radiation clouds in the area

Could be wrong on my figures so correct me if necessary (politely). The 70% to 75% that was bandied about as herd immunity levels was for the original covid (lets call it base), and this was theoretical. Along came the Alpha and Gamma mutations which were two, to two and a half times more contagious than the base disease. This blew the original percentage estimates for the base disease herd immunity to shreds and left it a number that should only be remembered as a historical possibility. Now along come our fabulous Delta variant which is several times more transmissible than the Alpha and gamma variants and throws any figures being developed for them out the proverbial window. This is my understanding of where we are. I don't know what herd immunity levels are for the delta variant are but suspect they are somewhere in the 90th percentile. If you're still throwing that 70% figure around you're just trying to blow smoke up my kilt. Now I don't object to this if it comes with a drink, dinner and a kiss. ????

"There is a large difference between these two types of glass. In the end, the main difference all boils down to how the glass breaks. Tempered glass breaks into smaller pieces, and laminated glass will crack but remain together due to the plastic layer that is baked between the two pieces of glass." Thank you google and image glassworks. Personally I've been using tempered. I like your aluminum framing. I have unframed pieces and a series of scars on my shins. You'd think I'd eventually learn where the damm things were. Nah! It seems the choice remains yours. ????

Boy for some reason this thread brings back memories, running into some really rude tourists on the Mexican West coast, Damm I was young. As I've aged (somewhat less than gracefully) I have come to think of these petty grifters as an entertainment opportunity. About when they're half way through their sad story I let them know that they are very lucky and all their problems will be resolved if they are willing to accept my testament to Jesus Christ on their behalf. When they accept the lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior all their problems will fall away. About this time I stop and take a quick break to the head. When I get back I've always been alone. While you're doing this you move into their personal space just a little and stare at them unblinking while you proselytize. It rattles the hell right out of them. I got the idea from my great aunt. When the Jehovah's Witnesses came to her door she invited them in. It gave her a chance to sell them some Amway products