mfd101

Has your dog been vaccinated for rabies? That is the major consideration in every case, not the money.

Wuhan-style = Chinese authoritarianism. Efficient, effective. Cameras everywhere.

Thai authoritarianism = bungling incompetence. No Wuhan here.

I'm staying under the bed with a can of insect spray.

21 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

But quitting has brought me problems of filling my days up.

You could always try reading a book.

So people live in a bubble, ignorant of other people's customs and of the history of their own people ...

Only 120 years ago most people in The West lived in one- or two-room 'houses' with only 1 bed in one room. Whole family piled in together, all ages. 

Earlier still the maid and the labourer would have been part of the deal also. Whence all the folktales about 'bedtricks' ie husband goes out in middle of night for a leak and gets back into the 'wrong' bed etc etc.

Perhaps the vaxes could be jabbed within the rather ample grounds of the US Embassy, with different queues as appropriate.

6 minutes ago, WhiteBuffaloATM said:

The “ important point” here is that if you are fully western vaxed, at any age, with any condition,with any Variant, you will NOT DIE or even be Hospitalized

 

 

 

Your certainty is touching but it would be closer to reality to say: ... You probably won't die and quite likely won't need to be hospitalized.

The vaxes - all of them, but some rather better than others - do MORE than reduce the symptoms.

They all reduce the chances of catching the virus. They all - as stated - reduce the symptoms and thereby reduce the chances of having to go to hospital and thereby reduce the chances of ICU and thereby reduce the chances of dying from the virus.

But it's about probability not certainty. There's no guarantees, just like crossing the road or running down the stairs at home.

The main thing to remember is that the corruption & incompetence are owned not just by the 2 gentlemen mentioned. They are the product of layers of feudal hierarchy, contempt for the lower ranks, poor education and theft on a mind-boggling scale.

The World Bank estimated a few years ago that 30%-60% (rather a wide bandwidth!) of Thai government expenditure went on 'graft'. Which we can probably agree might well be a reasonable guess.

Nothing will change until a student-led rebellion leads to mass uprisings & the overthrow of the whole rotten system. I live for the day.

2 hours ago, meauwnam said:

It's hard to believe that 20 percent of the elderly have already been vaccinated. Most people I know in the Isaan do not want to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca or Sinovac. People want Pfizer or Moderna

Noone in my Khmer family still living in the village has been vaxed. Too frightened given the stories they've heard.  As far as I can tell, much the same across the whole village. Statistics not a strong point.

Whether that'll change for the Fizzers & the Mods, who can tell, but of course the Fizzers & the Mods may never actually arrive here at the end of the world.

I have pointed out to the b/f that he'll need to get done once AZ is available for the non-geriatrics. Otherwise we won't be able to travel, probably ever.

17 minutes ago, tonray said:

2 does each + factoring in spoilage and waste....also third dose may be warranted as booster

Plus free supplies to the small Pacific islands (where Oz increasingly has to compete with China for influence).

1 hour ago, Hayduke said:

 

Nearly every day we hear about the astounding number of vaccines the government claims to have ordered, purchased, secured, contracted for, committed to….etc etc. If you believe the government, you'd think the country would be awash in vaccines by now.

 

 

 

 

What is most surprising is the tiny numbers the Thai government seems to deal in, whether Sinovac or AZ or any other, compared to what Western countries order.

Oz - with a population 1/3 that of Thailand - has just ordered some 90 million Pfizers for delivery next year. And that on top of multiple other diverse orders for the current rounds.

4 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Well, duh! All we need to do is follow the examples of other countries. Learn from their mistakes & their successes. And, yes, save the senile!

Thailand is an inward-looking country. Very few people at any level of society and decision-making have any idea of what is happening in other countries. Language is a major barrier, not overcome by inadequate education.

The culture encourages Thais to think they are world-leaders in many things. Yet the poor country cousins - Laos & Cambodia - have been performing much better than Thailand during the plaguetime.

58 minutes ago, connda said:

What's your long term plans when China reunifies Taiwan and SE Asia becomes a Chinese occupied territory? 

When the balloon goes up over Taiwan, it might just be safer here than in Canberra ...

My only alternative to living here in the jungle at the end of the road would be to return to the bourgeois paradise of Oz (Canberra! or Melbin). But the cost of reestablishing there would be monumental and I've spent my adult life there till 8 years ago so been there done that ...

How one copes with the negatives of Thailand depends greatly on personal circumstances including where you live. Here in Prasat the doings & misdoings of the guvamint leave us mostly untouched. We laugh, along with all the peasants, as Prayut et al stumble from pillar to post.

At 72 I live in the largest most comfortable house I've ever lived in with plenty of room to swing a cat & for all my books. We have a 2-rai block with trees and gardens growing, and 2-metre wall all round, very quiet. Blissful for me, and blissful for b/f who travels the 40km each day to the family farm.

I look forward (but not too soon ... 20 years?) to dying in my bed here, my Khmer family all round and the monks chanting (not too loud) outside.