Gold Star

I don't know about the lottery numbers, but I do know that we won the lottery that day.

With Pattaya's current incredibly high reported infection rates, ironically it is the tourists that are more at risk of catching it from the locals. There must be 10x as many daily new infections now going unreported and kept quiet. I have heard of a few that are positive that can't afford to lose their jobs after 2 years of having no income. The risk to a tourist getting it after a few days of being here is high and prevents them from boarding their scheduled flights home as per current restrictions, on top of being faced with an expensive and useless forced hospital detainment. Forget the 'family resort' idea, and open the bars. Only the most foolish of families would ever attempt to come here and risk children being separated and incarcerated in hospitals with the current draconian Covid detainment procedures and poor testing in place. Cancel the Thailand pass and sandbox schemes entirely. Shift the responsibility to the airlines, so they check that those boarding have a vax certificate, or that they present a negative test. They check that each passenger has a passport now anyway so its just one more paper. Thailand has done as much as they can by now, as bungled as it has been. Try as they might, this is probably as good as it is going to get. We have to get on with life and learn to live with this as endemic, and accept that this will be with us like the common cold, just as they have announced. If they want, we can still wear our masks around to give the impression we are doing something about it, so they can save face.

It sure is a good place to check your brakes and maneuverability skills when someone bigger than you pulls out in front of you on the highway to do a U-turn. My friend wasn't so lucky as I have been so far. RIP

The wife and I were nearly decapitated near Satun by a low cable hooked by a truck crossing the road in front of us. It luckily hit my windscreen which pushed it up just high enough to catch the forehead of my helmet, shearing off my GoPro, with my head smashing backwards into my wife's helmet. We coasted to a stop, in time to see the truck driver unhook the cable from his truck, then drove away. Onlookers were amazed that we survived, and rushed to buy lottery tickets with my number plate. I have learned that poor shoddy Thai electrical work will kill me one day here, one way or another.

This read is one of the best I have found to help someone who is a new driver/rider in Thailand. It gets deep to explain how Thai culture influences their driving habits and roadway design, and you will have a lot of 'Aha, that makes sense now' moments. Even after 7 years riding motorcycles here, I still learned a lot from it. Ever wonder why they like those stupid U-turns so much instead of intersections? Read on: https://www.chiangmailocator.com/wiki-traffic-rules-in-thailand-and-how-to-avoid-traffic-accidents-p169

I applaud all efforts of cleaning of any kind in Thailand, as well as trash removal. However if they think they are cleaning the parking lot surfaces for viruses, don't tell them the UV rays from the powerful sunlight already took care of that. Carry on...

Threatened with deportation yes, but not because he refused to pay. On about day 5 of his hunger strike in order to try get them to do a PCR test to confirm if he had Covid or not, he was phoned on his hospital phone in his room by someone of authority like police or immigration to tell him if he didn't comply and be a good patient, he would be deported and banned from Thailand for life upon completing his detainment. His horror story started when he was tested upon arrival in the hotel parking lot, after getting out of the van from the airport along with all the others. The swabs were laying about on an open table, and the tester did not change gloves between testing others, and who knows how many van loads of other people's noses he also stuck his fingers to before his arrival. My friend did not test 'Positive' or 'Negative', but 'Detected'. That was enough to land him a 10 day stay in a solitary dirty room at a Pattaya hospital. He was not symptomatic, or asymptomatic. He says there were many others in the hospital ward in the same situation, their screams often heard throughout the hallways as his were. There is a lot more horror to his treatment there, which I won't disclose due to the laws here. I can say he has been through a lot of very tough things in life, but they managed to break him, and he would have done or paid anything to get out of there. He came to realize that one has no rights under the power of the emergency decree, where logic and fairness has no place. His lawyer tried but was helpless to assist from the outside. The only way out was to start eating and comply. They were never able to produce one positive test on him the whole time, so insurance would not cover it. Upon being released, he and his Thai spouse were asked to sign a form saying they would pay the 100K+ hospital bill if insurance wouldn't cover it, but he said he was a pensioner, and had no money and they both refused to sign. He also had a lot of friends that came there to support him when he was released at the discharge desk, and perhaps all those witnesses may have helped prevent a much worse outcome.

Yes it would be. However he never tested positive, yet was incarcerated for 10 days. Accident or fire insurers don't pay for damages when there is no accident or fire.

Perhaps since so many have been incarcerated for 10 days in an expensive hospital upon arrival without testing positive or having Covid, normal insurance won't pay the extremely high bill, as they could not present documentation of any infection. Such was the case of my friend from the UK on Dec 25, and he refused to pay for his wretched detainment. This would allow them to reap even more profits from the scam.

Their only aircraft carrier they have is short takeoff, and is moored at the dock in Sattahip, but has no aircraft. They used Harriers, until they became obsolete. I hope they at least choose vertical takeoff jets, as they sure would look nice sitting there on the deck. Perhaps these jets may be of use in the defence of their neighbours like Taiwan, from Chinese invasion and continued aggression in the South China Sea.

The Billion dollar Pineapple Express. Money well spent.

Do they honestly believe they are doing things to promote and targeting retirees to come here at present? With all the idiotic visa requirements and paperwork to jump through, rules about keeping funds in the bank or proof of foreign income transfers, useless 90 day reporting, health care insurance requirements even for those uninsurable, forbidding land/property ownership, and double standards, I thought they were trying to drive us all away. I would hate to find out what additional difficulties we would encounter if they wanted to get rid of us.

Coincidentally, the local restaurant has Manta Ray and Sea Cucumber salad on special.

<deleted>! A squid would be more appropriate logo, as in 'Come to Thailand to play our 'Squid Game' upon arrival.' My 70 year old expat friend from the UK arrived to isolate at his Pattaya hotel on Dec 24 after being in the plane and van with many others. Upon arrival, his PCR test was performed in the dirty parking lot with swabs left in the open on a table by a guy that didn't change his gloves between tests, and Buddha only knows how many people he tested before him or where and how the swabs were stored. His results were not 'positive' or 'negative', but simply an ambiguous remark of a trace 'detected'. That would be normal with what is going on in the air all over and around Pattaya. He was awoken and forcefully taken out of his room by ambulance to be held iinHospita ln Pattaya where they did a barrage of more tests, x rays, blood, urine, all but having another confirming PCR test. He had no symptoms, and was tested in England several times prior. He had demanded another PCR test which they refused to do. They would not let him see or talk to a doctor. He went on a hunger strike in the hospital for 5 more days in order to get a PCR test to prove he was negative. They finally relented, and did a PCR test which proved him to be 'negative'. Even now, they still refuse to let him out and intend to hold him for a full 11 days even after proof of this clearly unsanitary performed and contaminated and inconclusive test result. He is being held against his will, and the doors to his balcony have been hastily made and bolted in a way to only partially open to prevent his escape or being driven to suicide by jumping from the 5th floor. Meanwhile his hotel he booked is still charging him, and his Bangkok Hospital kidnapping bills are being needlessly run up with more unnecessary tests, and are growing. His top notch insurance is not likely to pay for the forced incarceration, as he does not have Covid, nor is he being treated for it. He says there are at least 30 others with him there that are healthy, but held there in the same situation as he is in. The 'Test and Go to Covid Jail' program. Do not be fooled for a minute to think that Thailand is freely open for travel or tourism with this current system of random 'Hospital Incarceration Upon Arrival at Your Expense' game being played. Only come to Thailand when they learn to treat travellers better than they do in Afghanistan. But perhaps some actually want to come play 'Thai Squid Game'.

This will be a very widely circulated copy throughout the world. Buffalo Physiotherapy is very expensive.

Would that make him a Scammedinasian?

Left 'ahead' of schedule?

TAT is like a headless chicken, flailing around and bleeding to death in different directions: - Let's get rid of the Chinese (Zero dollar tours) - Let's bring in Pokemon Go' to save us - Let's bring back the Chinese - Let's make visas unnecessarily difficult - Let's bring in the Indians to save us - Let's close our Island parks - Let's bring in high dollar tourists - Let's charge tourists 10x more in parks - Let's shut down Pattaya and make it all a family resort - Let's have New Years entertainment - Let's shut down any entertainment - Let's make it nearly impossible to buy alcohol - Let's create a tough list of restrictions and conditions for entry, insurance, and testing, make people pay for it all in advance, then change it every week Enough! Just quit squirming around with all the useless hype, remove the hurdles, and truly open the country. Tourists will come, but it has to be easy.

Yet, they wouldn't dare auction any Sea Cucumber.

Afghanistan would be a better Christmas holiday destination. Stop lying to people that the country is now open for tourism.

We ain't seen nothing yet. We have seen what the organized professionals have done. Just wait till every average Somchai runs his cable out his window from his flat through all this mess in order to charge his electric vehicle along every footpath and roadside.

Better than the last economic plan, 'Pokemon Go'.

Now who is going to come over and tell him that he does not have to suck up to the Chinese so much? Thailand could be a much larger recipient of western investment as factories and business leave China, and search elsewhere to set up in more hospitable countries. If he could only see that carrot, perhaps some stupid restrictions and rules for foreigners coming and living in Thailand might become more bearable than they are now.

A reminder never to come between a pregnant female and food. Especially a wild pachyderm.

Same same in the shower...