buick

that S&P closed or that it was one of my 'go to spots' ?? i think i know the answer !! i hate thai food and rarely touch the stuff. i didn't come to thailand for the food. S&P had one dish that i liked. plus it was air conditioned. several of the other spots in that compex have no A/C. edit: here is a good one for you. i was in cabo san lucas with a bunch of friends. a real seafood mecca. i ordered a beef burger !!! no one could believe it.

i agree. certainly there is a time when mass testing is very, very critical. but once the virus is loose, the mass testing doesn't carry the same level of importance. let's just say it ranks 10 out of 10 on the critical scale at the beginning of an outbreak. but it is probably at 3 considering where we stand in thailand today. now is the time to focus on maintaining the healthcare system and expanding the vaccinations.

i agree. the place is much improved since my first visit around 2010. the S&P restaurant in that cluster of eateries by the arena was one of my go to spots, but it closed. i've been to home pro, i eat at the MK there as it isn't as crowded as the others in town. home pro is not a bad spot at all. i've never been to Makro. as far as travel to buriram goes, i'm really considering a change to the plan. rather than fly in with nok air and run the airport gaunlet, i'm now planning to book a car service to take me up there one way. then i will fly back (to bkk). i trust the amari hotel, they tell me i can show up there and i won't be in quarantine. but i don't trust what will happen at the airport on arrival. i did notice that nok air has scheduled flights for every day next month. so maybe there will be a change to the quarantine rules by then. right now, flights not going every day and i've seen the schedule change a few times for flights over the next two weeks.

it is amazing how many members here are hyper focused on the number of cases and testing.

that was years and years ago. they added a Robinson's with tops market and quite a few restaurants about 5 years ago. now two 'hot spots' in the city, Big C and Robinson.

may i ask your vaccination status ? i'm being told by the amari hotel people that i'm free to come and go as i please as long as i have proof of vaccination status. i'm planning to fly to buriram next week assuming nok air sticks with their current schedule, it seems to change by the day. oddly, the amari also wants to see my ASQ bkk papers even though that was completed in late july. i have a feeling a representative from buriram hospital will be at the airport to meet all arriving passengers. so we'll see how that goes, their rules may differ from those at amari and i'll be locked up or re-board the plane back to bkk.

if i gave you a link, you would refute it regardless of the content. so i'm not going to bother. sorry.

i agree. i think testing programs are great very early on. hopefully, it is possible do to the contact tracing and try to isolate areas of infection from areas that are clear of infection. but once the virus is widespread, i don't see the necessity for mass testing. you know where the cases are when people show up to get a test because they feel sick. and such test comes up positive. i think many 'experts' have suggested monitoring hospitalizations is a better metric than cases once the virus is widespread. there may be a time when testing in thailand is helpful again, once this wave dies off and there is a need to detect where the next one takes off.

somebody had a serious modeling error to get 700k for deaths in thailand. it is hard to be precise with these things. they should be viewed as very rough estimates. 700k is way off. many members can't tolerate seeing a generally positive statistic (the original post with a low death rate based on total population). and there are so many of them, it can be overwhelming to try and 'manage' all their responses. the fact is the death rate in thailand is very low relative to other countries and will likely stay that way until this 'thing' is over.

it does seem like the number of cases should go up as lockdown restrictions are eased. some areas of the country have higher vax rates than others. bangkok is an example, maybe the increases will not be overly excessive since they have a vax rate higher than other areas. deaths could be reduced, i sure hope that comes to be true.

it took a few emails and a few phone calls to get to what i hope is the answer, at least for MY travel to buriram. the amari hotel says i can come and go as i please but i must provide 3 items: 1. USA vaccination card 2. ASQ hotel letter 3. negative test taken in bkk before departure i've been out of ASQ since late july. i explained to them and they still want the letter. strange. i got this info via email and called back twice to verify, letting them know i am not coming directly from ASQ and have been out for well over a month. not sure why they want it but i have it and will gladly bring a copy for them. i'm also bringing my COE (although not required) as it notes that i've had the vaccination. call it secondary proof of vaccination if they question the info on my CDC card from USA. the COE has the thai consulate general stamp so it looks 'official'. now for the moo baan policy. i had noted a member of the family i'm going to visit returned recently to buriram from another province. i noted he had not been asked to isolate. that was wrong, he was aksed to isolate but it was one of those 'wink wink' requests. he showed a negative test from the hospital in buriram and then got the 'wink wink' on the isolation 'requirement'. he has since come and gone freely from the moo baan. i am planning to fly nok air, or air asia if they start flights. i still don't know if nok air will accept a USA CDC vaccination card. i will probably have to find that out the hard way, once i arrive at the DMK airport. planning to fly out of DMK in about 10 days.

daily exaggerations from certain members (not you).

right, i keep waiting for the daily death number (7 day average) to go down. but it hasn't. i guess the good news is that it is not going up. it has been stuck at around 250 but the most recent was 235 (7 day average). the graph/chart is just starting to turn down.

Yes.

i agree. the lockdowns may have reduced the number of deaths to date, however, the vaccinations will reduce the deaths in the future.

i'm fairly certain that the odd soi side in that area on sukhumvit is a designated bike lane. at one time, they had a painted lane on the sidewalk but it has faded away in most places. i'm not sure about the even soi side. i used to bike alot in the USA, alot of areas to ride w/o cars around (or people). i did not wear the usual bike team uniform and rode a mountain bike, not a true road bike. i don't quite get the OP comment about ride against traffic ? people walk both ways on the sidewalk so a biker is riding both with some and against some pedestrian traffic. i personally think a biker on the sidewalk should always yield to pedestrians. it is primarily their space (the pedestrians), don't ride like a maniac. stop your bike if necessary, it isn't a big deal to get going again. if you are trying to set time records riding on the sidewalk, please stop that now.

thanks for the quick response. i'm trying to get more info with the hope that things have changed. i'm usually in buriram twice a month, at the amari next to the stadium in buriram city. the people i know there live in moo baan kheha, which is on the edge of the city proper on the road to surin. i'll update again based on what i hear and/or experience. i'm afraid to really know how it is going to work, one might just have to try it. i'm also not highly confident that my USA vaccine card is going to satisfy Nok Air on their flight requirements. edit: i have emailed the amari, but no response in 24 hrs.

are you sure about this ? flights and buses are starting up again. i'm hoping to travel to buriram later this month staying in a hotel. not planning to self isolate at hotel. am i dreaming ? i know the flight requires proof of vaccination and i may be subject to a covid test upon arrival at buriram airport. a member of the family i'm going to visit recently returned to buriram from another province and the head moo baan guy made him take a test, no home isolation. i guess it can vary ?

thanks for posting this. i've been trying to get the rules for arrival in buriram and they are outlined in your link. of course i'll still be prepared for 'changes' at any time.

this is my understanding also based on what i've read during this lovely pandemic. in the past, the lag was longer but more recently, the lag is shorter. i'm not sure why, i'm hoping the reason is more people are saved so those that hung on for 3-4 weeks survive. if the decline in cases is real, the daily deaths should be going down right about now. we had a sub 200 number recently. otherwise, we are still at a 7 day average daily death number of around 250. have been for over a week. i don't think that is an outrageously high number based on thailand's population and relative to the numbers seen in other countries. but it would be nice to see a decrease.

i like the 190 daily death number. we need more days with a number below 200 to show a decline in the 7 day average of daily deaths. still sitting near an all time high on that stat, but it is stalling out on growth so that is generally good news.

i like the hotel option, why does she need a hotel near you ? you say the one nearby is closed. but does she really need to be near your home ? seems reasonable to help someone out with lodging and food so they can get back on their feet after the covid thing. i know i've paid for a couple of people (paid their rent, food, and testing). i agree there isn't much risk but why not pay some money and just avoid it. i've saved so much money with everything shutdown for so long that it isn't hard for me to help out the people i know.

the growth in the 7 day average for daily deaths has slowed quite a bit. it made a big run from 180 range, btwn august 10 and 14, to 250 by august 21. but over the last week we are still seeing the 7 day average number for daily deaths at about 255 (ranging btwn 262 and 247). you can see the chart in the link if you scroll down and click on the 7 day average in the daily death chart. it looks like it might be topping out (no more 300+ numbers please !!). https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/thailand/

i bought a 30 day covid 19 policy to return from the USA. it was about 4,300 thb. i bought it through AXA. i didn't shop around so not sure if that was a high or low price. but gives you a data point. USA was considered a high risk country (i bought it in June 2021) so i paid the highest premium. as i recall the 'low risk' countries were around 2,500 thb.

i was just thinking that, it might be easier to wait a few days and buy the fake cards instead.