Jonathan Swift

12 hours ago, Excel said:

Frankly I am surprised he was suggesting 10,000 cases per day by years end. Given the transmissibility of the Delta strain, then as witnessed in India, UK etc I would have thought 10,000 cases per day by end of September would be nearer the mark. However we will never know the true numbers given the extent and organised corrupt reporting mechanisms put in place by this appalling administration.

Says Dr. Excel, noted epidemiologist and pandemic expert. 

On 7/3/2021 at 2:30 AM, RotBenz8888 said:

#5 (called the "kwam Jing" or the reality): a few thousand tourists, IF they're lucky. 

#6: They'll be lucky to even get the exiled expats back. That would be me, but yes, I'm coming back October

18 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Unless the timid ones gain some courage, and open the nation to tourism, with no restrictions, no quarantine and no sandbox, they will only get 10-30,000 tourists, for the remainder of 2021. 

 

Require double vaccination, with a quality vax, unlike the Sinojunk being used here. And require a covid negative test. And restrict only the nations that are at the top of the covid list. That is all.

 

And remember, with the daily count rising here, international tourists are taking a far greater risk by being here, and being exposed to the Thais, than the Thai people are taking by being exposed to them. Lastly, Thailand needs the world right now, 20X more than the world needs Thailand. This is not the COTKU (Center of the known universe). The locals are in a world of hurt, economically. And it may last a very, very long time. I predict five years, and the fallout will be worse than 1997. And most of it appears to be sabotage. Willful or not.

Spidermike007 for Prime Minister in 2022! Yay!

On 7/3/2021 at 2:13 AM, ezzra said:

Scenarios are dime a dozen and so are dreaming, reality however, is what will happen tomorrow, not in a 120 days, and so far things are not looking good for Thailand as far as vaccinating their population...

Life is what happens while we're making other plans. John Lennon.

23 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I really wish they would give details of exactly where these international tourists will be coming from.

 

 

There may be life on Mars

3 hours ago, Crusader said:

If and when places do re-open, it would be great if the businesses just accept what has gone and do the right thing. Unfortunately, it is likely that many will be adding a few extra baht to prices to try and make up for losses.  I am sure those who keep the prices right will do better for themselves (no one enjoys getting ripped off - regardless of the situation which brought the inflated prices about). 

Raising prices to offset losses is simply against the laws of economics. The law is that of supply and demand. If you raise prices when demand is falling you will soon have much less or nothing. What you are describing is a myth, very likely a misinterpretation of the facts. The last thing you said is the truth of the matter - the ones with the most attractive prices will do better than their competitors, and those who can't or won't compete will disappear.

I have skipped over all comments because I have a tendency to have kneejerk responses that are really not (ahem) productive, but this I'm sure is no surprise and to be expected. I have no expectations of normalcy in any way until October anyway, and I don't think it was ever practical in the first place to think that Phuket or any other place would be normalized this soon. I'm sure that when they increased from 7 - 14 days they knew full well there would be losses. regardless of all criticism I grant Thai officials the right to make these decisions on the fly, given the nature of Covid and its unpredictability

16 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

Wow !

Phuket seems to be bottom of the heap for Tourists.

You would think with all the C##p then Americans have been through with this awful Covid, they would be busting to get away to the Sun for a few weeks.

Maybe they are getting away, just not to Phuket. 

Americans are economically stressed because of Covid, not likely they can afford vacations, especially risky ones where the rules and costs are unclear. I think most Americans will happily settle for modest but enjoyable vacations in the US. I have a retirement visa and residence in Bangkok, were that not the case I would not be planning to come back until everything is well settled. That said, I won't be back until October with vaccine certificate in hand, and only if no quarantine. I don't have $1000/30,000 baht to pi$$ away

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

I, that usually have plenty to say on ThaiVisa am dumbfounded and flabbergasted as to this idea...

Yup, almost as bad as Trump telling us to drink bleach, ALMOST

It would seem that bulletproof vests were not used by those serving the warrant. Gunshot to the lung and spleen would likely have been prevented. I hope the police review their protocols for such things. I sure hope he recovers. 

7 hours ago, worgeordie said:

The response from those in the house was very excessive,

maybe they should have tried a bribe, before opening fire.

 

regards Worgeordie

Very likely they panicked, therefore reason would not have prevailed. 

6 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

A giant Flop backwards.  Why is he so against a walk-in center? Is their not enough sinovac vaccine to go around here in Bangkok.  Someone seems to be a little over controlling in my book.  Lets roll out the vaccine, lets put Viral posters on the news and in ads showing the vaccine is safe and all Thai's must do their part, yet lets also just Sslloowwllyy roll out a vaccine to those that really want it.  I think he is afraid there will be few that show up and then vaccine will be wasted and need to be tossed in the bin, or better yet he is wanting the mor prom app up and running so that when folks sign up and then do not show up he can have them arrested.  So tired of this fricking game these folks are playing.  Looking at booking a flight back to the US, getting vaccinated and then returning after taking care of some personal business I have placed on hold before returning here and doing a 14 day quarantine again even though vaccinated.  Ugh, what a true fool this man and his fellow government officials are, well thats my opinion.  YMMV

It's back to the US for me as well, 30 May. I will come back in October when hopefully the quarantine issue for the vaxed will be sorted. It has always been my plan to go wherever the vax was first available. I also think that delays such as these were quite predictable and that no one should be surprised. 

13 hours ago, ourmanflint said:

Want to bet that you have to be vaccinated fully, have proof in form of certificate, translate certificate into Thai, buy covid insurance, have test 72 hours before and test 5 days after entering Thailand all at your expense

Certificate won't have to be translated into Thai

22 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

Another foreign criminal some how makes it into Thailand. How many thousands more of various criminal types are hiding in Thailand? Thai Immigration makes it next to impossible at times to deal with a simple expat retirement/marriage visa yet somehow with all the bureaucracy red tape and hoop jumping guys like this are far more common than you think.

And I was worried that a 10 year old drunk driving misdemeanor conviction would prevent my settling here. You are exactly right of course. I am American, and I took refuge here to escape the carnage and ugliness of the US, exemplified by this animal. ... But, to be fair, there are always people that fall between the cracks in a bureaucracy. This is so sad, the pain of the relatives. I have had people in my life violently murdered, it's horrible. 

8 hours ago, tonray said:

Just what we need for the image of foreigners in Thailand...oh brother. hit him with 6000 baht fine...if he transgresses again....throw him out

Must be an American. People like him are why I tell people "Ma ca pracanr" I'm from the moon

21 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

I don/t understand. Mr Prayuth said that the standard vaccination would be Astra Zenica, but they use a lot of Sinovac too...Or do they relabel the sinovac??

That's actually a funny image - some impromptu warehouse where labels are being photocopied and slapped onto vials. But for all his failings, I doubt he is that dangerously irresponsible

7 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Most of our embassies are telling us they won't help us directly with doses. Could they possibly help in another way? Such as lobbying the Thai authorities to provide the app in English, allow passport numbers, and officially make it clear that high risk foreigners can be in the earlier group?

Even if such "lobbying" or "stiff letters" were worth doing, the time lag in any actual results would be such that the vaccines would be avaiable by then anyway. Me, I'm going back to the US to get mine end of May, then come back here in October when hopefully there will be no quarantine

On 4/23/2021 at 10:44 AM, mstevens said:

I answered no and honestly, I think the vast majority of Thais would never consider a foreigner (especially a Caucasian) to be Thai, no matter how hard he or she tried and no matter how fluent they became in the Thai language. In Thailand, Foreigners will always be foreigners. 

That is what you get when you superimpose your rigid and prejudiced western sensibilities onto Thai culture. I'm sure you will never be fully accepted because you don't want to be, and aren't trying.. It isn't a matter of foreigners always being foreigners, it's a matter of foreigners being accepted among Thais as equals.  It's a matter of mutual respect and acceptance

On 4/23/2021 at 10:14 AM, FritsSikkink said:

Integrate and assimilate are 2 completely different things. Integration is good, assimilating is rejecting your own heritage. 

Thank you for that. And when does your version of Webster's splitting hairs over semantics dictionary come out? And how did you know which the questioner actually meant? Resistance is futile. You will all be assimillated. 

The 81% who voted no are the ones who can never assimillate because they don't care to or lack the qualities necessary to do so. The 18% who voted yes are likely the ones who DO manage to assimillate. I see the happily well assimilated ones all the time, as well as the cranky complaining non assimilated ones. The position you find yourself in is your own doing, your own choice, based on your own attitude. I am satisfied with the degree which I have assimilated which, though not 100%, is sufficient to let me know I have won the respect of Thai people by first showing them respect for their culture and ways. You will never hear me call them racist because if that's what you think it's because you brought that attitude out yourself.

On 4/23/2021 at 10:06 AM, Pilotman said:

No, further more, I'm not at all sure why anyone would want to fully integrate/assimilate and in effect, reject their own heritage. They are not, or should not be, mutually exclusive. That is why I cannot understand those who go for Thai citizenship. 

Of course you don't understand. You're a nationalist. You consider your culture to be superior. That's why you could never, or would never assimillate. 

17 hours ago, Naroge said:

The key words are "reside in Thailand". Until that is clarified there is no point to speculate.

I was allowed back in as an ex pat with non o retirement visa because I "reside in Thailand". It was clearly stated then, seems clear enough now. If you have a permanent residence here, you "reside" here.

2 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Nothing false .....A well over 99% recovery rate has been reported on a million times in the last year,,,,

Well folks you can't fix stupid, nor can you stop a psychopath from hallucinating. Use your own common sense and heed the experts, not some random voice in a forum.

4 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

Sir the odds of catching covid are almost none and the recovery rate if you do catch it is well over 99% as reported by the mainstream press.....

People like you should be jailed for endangering the public health by making blatantly false public statements about this deadly pandemic.