John Drake

About once per month I check in on the Aseannow Visa forum to see if anybody is howling mad because of some new rule. If all the topics look like they're short and 2-3 pages, I figure everything is fine for another month.

I don't see anything in this story that makes me jealous of people with a Thai elite visa.

Trivial.

No, they're yours. You keep'em. Don't try and fob them off on Thailand.

What I think you see on this forum whenever China is mentioned is a Pavlovian revenge fantasy. Some Westerners cannot come to grips with the fact that they are no longer Bwana, that they don't have automatic deference paid to them simply because of the country of their origin. So when they see an article like this, it gets their hopes up. My own experience with Chinese people, mainly teachers and academics at Chinese universities, is they are loyal to their country. To use a word that will really cause consternation on these boards: they are patriotic. Otherwise, they have same hopes and wishes for their families and career as people elsewhere in the world. The ones in their late 40s and early 50s will tell you that China has traveled an enormous distance during their lifetime, economically and socially. I'm no expert at all, but if I had a prediction to make about all this Evergrande/Chinese debt it's that they will maintain internal debt payments and stiff the foreign debt holders. China, as we've seen with Covid, is able to maintain internal self sufficiency. I wouldn't be surprised to see this play out just like Covid, with the Chinese the last ones standing.

It's amazing, isn't it. Many, many of the same people who have been posing as Covid experts for the past year, have suddenly revealed themselves to be China specialists, too.

This woman appears to be everything I came to Thailand to avoid.

Lynn Howard. B-Ark

What water pressure???

Seems to me that China and Japan own the Thailand train concession. Don't see much room for the Germans.

Then why do we have another topic in the Thailand News forum with a headline about Pfizer starting work on an Omicron vaccine. That would certainly imply that their existing vaccine isn't up to snuff.

Can we see the unserious alternative?

For which the model will be China.

Well, in the UK . . . .

What's happened to all the pronouncements from Dr. Yong? I thought he was supposed to be the "Top Doc" around here. He seems to have vanished.

I encountered a taxi driver in Bangkok a few years who was called John Wayne. The reason was he learned English watching John Wayne movie and, yes, he sounded like John Wayne when he spoke. Maybe make Thai students watch more John Wayne movies in class.

Ranking done by a for profit company with a dubious reputation. Owned by a Swedish billionaire. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maxjedeurpalmgren/2018/08/23/meet-the-billionaire-college-dropout-whos-teaching-the-world-english/?sh=3b597a67332d

Seems any mention of Pattaya only generates giggles and sarcasm.

Wow. They're really butt hurt over this.

Will Pfizer even work on the new South African mutation?

Maybe the US should change its mind and turn around and invite Thailand to the meeting. Still excluding China, of course. I wonder how the Thais would deal with that? After making a fuss about not getting an invitation, they need to choose to go with the US and its meeting or stand with China.

Ordinarily, I would agree with you. But the statement from the Thai foreign minister this time has upped the level to what I consider to be antagonistic. He actually sounded like a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, instead of a Thai one. This is the language that China has been using about the US. Finally, when have you ever heard a Thai foreign minister take this tone and this level of an insult towards China?

I think Thailand's lack of an invitation is acknowledgment that the country is now considered a satellite of China.

Is this another way of saying, dual pricing along with all the other usual scams are being "retained?"

So the hotel quarantine, transport charges, and insurance still remain in place, with all of it going through the Thailand Pass. The only thing different is the test, I guess, which has been changed, not dropped.