StevieAus

22 hours ago, Iamemjay said:

Scoot (unlike what the post above says) offer online self serve vouchers available for 12 months. I applied last night and received my voucher this morning. Very Impressed. 

 

AirAsia are a bit more tricky. I'm an Aussie and technically I can still return to Oz, but frankly, I would be crazy to do it. So they won't refund (at this stage, but I think that will change in time as more restrictions are imposed).

 I thought Air Asia announced that they have cancelled all international flights until 25 April 2020 their website is showing no flights to Australia to that date, whether that extends who knows.

We were due to travel the 1 May for two weeks but will not go for obvious reasons.

19 hours ago, glennb6 said:

and when rules become tyranny....

 

" That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. "

 

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.-- "

 

woops, sorry, wrong country - here they just have military coops.

Are the “ military coops” where they detain the dissenters?

Others here have debated the pros and cons, we are with 3bb and from memory we switched to fiber at no extra cost some time ago

We have seen an improvement and it is more reliable.

I watch TV from overseas and it has definitely improved although I do pay more for a higher speed

8 hours ago, Canuck1966 said:

That would require common sense

Really they should be doing things like emptying IDC (and repatriating) and also pardoning certain levels of prisoners.

I'm sure Thai airways can afford some free flights , another few quid on top of the billions of losses isn't going to make a difference

Also amnesty for any overstayers for say two months.

The S Koreans have done it for the Thais, but fat chance of these tone deaf morons reciprocating.

If it gets into a prison it will take the whole place down, much like when it gets on a cruise ship.

 

The Thais in Korea had to leave the country, I suspect the overstayers here in Thailand don’t want to leave otherwise why would they be here?

On 3/13/2020 at 11:40 AM, PhilAtUbon said:

I arrived on Saturday morning. Not a hand sanitiser in sight anywhere in swampy - not even in the bog.

I brought my own 60 ml bottle of Purell. I used it before and after the fingerprint scanner. Then they were umming and ahhing about whether I could take it on the plane to Ubon.

I read something earlier this week that questioned the effectiveness of these hand sanitizers and that the only effective way to remove a virus or whatever from your skin is by washing with soap and water, not leaving it on your skin.

17 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Nobody likes Kiwis anyway

That’s not very nice, but they do produce some great wine, especially the Sav Blancs 

On 3/13/2020 at 8:51 AM, Bkk Brian said:

The OP too all the right steps, the hospital took all the wrong steps. Saying there's no COVID in Issan shows just how ignorant and unprepared they are.

The only ignorance here is you clearly not understanding how medical and hospital systems work.

Not every hospital is equipped to deal with every illness or form of treatment and that doesn’t only apply to Thailand, it applies in Australia and from what Ihave observed the UK as well particularly when the hospital is small.

It is routine practice for patients to be transferred to where the specialized treatment exists, I wouldn’t expect my local hospital here in Thailand to be able to deal with the Coronavirus or some of the hospitals in Sydney either.

8 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

Huh?  You can't find sanitizers?

Make your own.  2/3 91% alcohol to 1/3 aloe vera gel for hand sanitizer.  Final solution needs to be 70%+ alcohol.

 

Spray sanitizer: bleach+water.  

Area surfaces: 1/2cup to gallon water

Food surfaces: 2 teaspoons to gallon water

Excellent advice and if not sure what bleach is it’s sold in Thailand and most Thais refer to it as “ HAITA” which is the brand name

23 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Very many rural Thais do not use serving spoons. They all dig into the dish with the one spoon that goes in and out of their mouth. Even worse. many will use their spoon to take and put food on your plate!

I have seen Thais sitting in a circle picking up food from a large central plate with their hands using sticky rice.

These were not rural or poor people either.

4 hours ago, les1 said:

My wife & I came in from DaNang on Wednesday & as far as we could see nothing was being implemented on entering the Country. No temperature checks coming in however on leaving the Country 10 days earlier they checked temperatures on entering the departure lounges. Today UK Confirmed over 600 cases of Covid19 but Thailand with thousands of Chinese holidaying in all areas of the Country declaring only a handful. Also today the Guy who discovered Ebola maintains that you only need to talk to someone to contract the disease. Unbelievable....????

If you are referring to Professor Peter Piot he was one of the team that discovered Ebola.

In the interview with Sky News that I read he stated that the Corona Vrus is respiratory and that a lot of the infection is in the throat.

If this is the case I would find it quite believable depending on how close you are to the the person to whom you are talking that it could be transmitted.

We do after all expel air when talking some more than others.

On 3/9/2020 at 3:00 PM, Youlike said:

Wrong mate, i'm used to the A380's and they have bigger seats, better computer and look much better anyway. Also i hate those buses where you have to wait in the heat and even have no space while standing/holding while the driver is racing the thing over the road.

 

And i can agree with the other posters that the staff of QA is rude and don't care about the customers.

The point I was making is that seats in economy are smaller than in business whatever airline you fly.

Fortunately I don’t have to fly economy and regarding the Qatar staff have always found them excellent maybe it’s different at the front try it one day,

On 3/8/2020 at 1:15 PM, Youlike said:

I'm also done with Qatar Air....small seats, old planes, the buses, bad food, silly accents from Bangladeshi staff....

Old planes?

You must be thinking of Thai, Qatar has one of the youngest fleets of any airline in the world average age of aircraft 5 years.

Have flown with them business class many times if you fly economy with any airline the seats are small..

3 hours ago, Chazar said:

Forever dressed in semi military apparel

That is the “ dress uniform” for most government departments staff including women have to wear it one day a week, forget which day it is.

On 2/25/2020 at 7:07 AM, ChrisY1 said:

Even if there is a chance of a "fluke" :))

A train derailed in Australia within the last couple of weeks but it was just a fluke.

38 minutes ago, angloirishaussie said:

already have British,Irish republic and Australian 

would not mind a blue one

Even although I have had some great holidays in the Irish Republic ( and hangovers) I reckon my daughter’s British, Australian and Thai passports pip yours !!!

1 hour ago, loong said:

must and voluntary in the same sentence???

Either they must do it or they do it voluntarily.

I think the “ voluntary” refers to the type of quarantine such as at home, if it was “compulsory” you could be held somewhere with no choice.

Totally agree on the subject of homework, our three and a half year old daughter goes to a private school here in Northern Chiang Mai Province, mainly because they have a heavy emphasis on learning English and so she has access to other kids.Yet she comes home with homework which mainly is coloring in exercises, beggars belief.

On the subject of speaking English at home fortunately because my Thai is abysmal that’s all that occurs between my daughter and myself, her Thai mother speaks excellent English so they rotate between Thai, Lana and English often leaving me in the

dark.

I wonder if this is part of the problem with the low standard of English here, they learn at school but don’t or can’t practice at home ?

Finally on the subject of car safety I see kids leaving school standing up on the front seat of the car, I have suggested to the junior school principal that they educate both the parents and the kids on the dangers.

Unfortunately it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

A great article by the way.

I bought some from Rimping at their Meechok store I think the brand was Remstenberg but that was some time ago.

I have found them pretty good in ordering products particularly if you have the old container with the barcode.

If you go to one store they will be able to tell you if they have the product available elsewhere and have it transferred. It will save you tre king around the city.

On 2/21/2020 at 11:22 AM, ThreeEyedRaven said:

I have seen them do it with my own eyes more than once, so denying police do it doesn't work with me. There is a depth of stupidity beyond belief when they do it especially to those who aren't wearing a helmet. They know the dangers as people have died from exactly this before, so the cop should be charged with murder, pure and simple.

I understand that the police in the UK are now authorized to use “ force” including “ stingers” roll out nail mats to stop motorcyclists who fail to stop.

Should they’ve charged with murder as well ?

Perhaps if you were the victim of these people you might think differently.

PS research the definition of murder I think you are way off the track.

11 hours ago, treetops said:

Yes.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coming-to-the-uk/faster-travel-through-the-uk-border

Many thanks for your reply somehow I must have missed this advice.

On the last occasion there was one Immigration Officer dealing with Non EU passports as we all hold Aus passports it could have saved time and not have to listen to a group of foul mouth guys from the Indian Sub Continent.

Having read the document out of interest I found towards the end the statement that holders of Biometric Passports from Australia, NZ, USA, Canada etc can continue to use the E- gates

I presume they are referring to the gates used by holders of UK and EU passports.

I have visited the UK a few times in recent years usually entering through Manchester and have joined the non EU passport line which on the last occasion took almost two hours.

Can anyone with the above passports confirm if my understanding is correct and that I can join the line with UK EU passport holders.

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

When it comes to applying the law in this country, nothing is ' unbelievable' and money can buy everyone and everything, well, almost...

Do you really think that doesn’t happens in other countries as well have a look at some of the cases in the US ?

Money and influence talks everywhere.

6 hours ago, digibum said:

 

This is pretty much the plan.  I am just trying to get an idea of what the obvious pros and cons might be and see if I'm missing something.  Obviously, I would consult with a lawyer before going either route to make sure all of the i's are dotted and the t's crossed.  I don't want either myself or my wife to get some shocking news when one of us dies. 

 

It's also helpful to see the various advice given because it helps form the questions I can ask the lawyer. 

 

Often times, you can read about a lot of this stuff, but some minor twist in your circumstances changes everything.  For instance, I don't think I read anywhere that a husband and wife could not enter into a usufruct.  There seems to be some debate about that, but I had no idea it was even a question. 

I have never heard that before, that  a husband and wife couldn’t enter into a userfruct as I would have thought they would be the people who most commonly use the provision.

I have three userfructs on three different properties

 My wife also has a userfruct with one of our Farang friends as he isn’t married.

We have used an excellent Thai lawyer for over fifteen years and she has told me that some Land Offices do try to apply their own interpretation of the law and that on occasions “she has had to pull them into line”

1 hour ago, ianwheldale said:

That varies. Went from 2yr to 5yr a couple of months ago in Chiang Mai. Only test was identifying colours on traffic lights set up behind the counter. In and out in under an hour!

I live in Chiang Mai Province but live further North

Last year I renewed the car and motor bike licence at the local office but unlike the City office wouldn’t accept the pink ID card as proof of residence requiring the Immigration certificate.

I had to do the color tests, braking test and watch my own DVD in English about things I learned over fifty years ago.

The only benefit was that my DVD finished before the Thais and they issued both licences for six years.

Bizarre !!!

15 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

An angry denial of the truth speaks volumes...  I think Sweden are correct in there assumptions the figures don't add up in Thailand ????

Yet according to a chart published on this site Thailand are better placed than Sweden, Denmark and Finland to deal with a pandemic.