orchidfan

Exactly the same story when my Thai wife and I visited years ago. The queen drove out (slowly)...only a metre or two away. My wife also got it all on video. What really amazed her was that HM car was preceded by ONE motorcycle cop, and that they gently merged into the traffic without any fanfare. My wife just couldn't believe that the Queen could travel around so effortlessly knowing how things are done here.

I remember the Great flood of 2011 NOT fondly. Downstairs of the house and garden under metres of filthy smelling water for months. Moved what we could upstairs but still a lot of damage to built in furniture, garden 90% dead. Only transport in or out of the property by boat (until we finally abandoned and went to our condo). I think we got B20,000 compensation for hundreds of thousands of baht in damages. As I recall it was brought on by 3 consecutive tropical storms (which had been typhoons before making land fall) then the decision to open the flood gates upstream and let us in Pathum Thani cop it. Hopefully not again !

The 2 times I left my card in the ATM...Once a nice young lady ran after me im the the open fresh market market and returned it to me (she didn't have to do that but did) Second time the BB just replaced it in about 10 minutes. Most bank staff I've found know what "lost my card" in English means Finally. I gave up using my Oz ATM card because of the B220 ATM fee here and this combined with the $Aud5 fee plus 3% charge at the Oz bank.end. All up around over 30Aud in fees. Now only use Wise transfers directly to my BB account. Takes 2 minutes and they charge around 5 or 6 AUD total. Try that. ????

Frankly. It's a pain in the **s to stand at the atm and wait for some people going through this "cardless" procedure. Lost your card ?? Forgot your card ?? Give me a break.. In 20yrs have lost one debit card (forgot to take it out of the machine) . Bank replaced it free the next day. I think some.of the members here are paranoid about their millions in the bank. And the people I wait behind at the 7/11 atm doing this nonsense take out 100baht!

Wrongly reported as "Monsoon". It was as a result of Tropical storm Ma On which came across from the Philippines ,then Guangxi, Vietnam and into Thailand. BTW, the word Monsoon means a Wind...not a storm. But they often occur together.

Also one of the first UN contributors in the Korean war 1950~53. Ref. Wikipedia

Hong Kong don't stamp your passport but give you a small slip of paper with your arrival date on it.# Oz, they ask you (at least Oz citizens ) if you want a stamp or not. Both far more sensible in regards to not quickly filling up your passport......especially considering the cost and time to get a new one. # HKID holders only insert their card into a reader, press their thumb image and are in.

I have no "paper fetish" nor the yellow vaccine "passport". I lived and worked in Hong Kong for 20years and still have Permanent HKID, so know pretty well how it works ! My Thai wife is still working there (also Permanent HKID) and recently came back to Thailand. The ONLY record she had of her 3 vaccinations done in HK is a PAPER " Covid~19 Vaccination Record issued by their Department of Health. It has a QR code at the top which they scan on entry at.the airport. At the bottom of.this form in Bold. Large print is "Keep the record properly " Domestically they also have the "Leave home safe" app into which she had to scan, from her PAPER record, her vaccination status. I recall that she also had to show the CX staff.pre~checkin, her paper vaccination record and her PAPER, RT~PCR test result. So I agree with your sentiment but it's not a paperless world yet.

I personally haven't bothered with the yellow passport as any of the overseas places I have/will travel to readily accept the paper "certificate", but understand that some people might require it or prefer it for their travels. Incidentally there was a dedicated desk doing "vaccine passport" updates there that day too. So they had everything covered.

As I noted above, the person who printed me out a hard copy Vaccination Certificate also, without asking, updated Morprom and took my phone and showed me. I explained that I needed the paper certificate as some overseas authorities (Hong Kong etc) may not understand MorProm. But thanked him (her?) anyway.

I'm pretty sure that Red Line (to/from Rangsit ) stops at Bangsue.

Decided to get the 4th shot today (71yo) as it is free this month at Bang Sue station. Luckily had Thai stepdaughter to drive me there from Thanyaburi. It's a bit of a circuitous route to get into Bang Sue after leaving the tollway, but we made it. The place is gigantic and not easy to navigate into the huge vaccination center, but with helpful staff guiding us, we found our way. I was a "walk in" without appointment but that was sign posted, plus helpful staff to point us into Registration. This was amusing as the form I was given (one for Thais and another in English for "others") allows you to fill in all the questions including height, weight AND blood pressure! So as nobody took these measurements you could write anything ! Anyway, after nominating Moderna as the preferred vax (many choices) l was guided to the row of "stations" doing this jab. All very well organized and nearly nobody there (a few dozen overall) in a huge arena that could easily hold a thousand or so. No queues, no waiting....piece of cake! Then the mandatory 30mins waiting time...the "waiting over" period written on the form so no cheating on this. Finally handed in the Vax certificate to be stamped for release, and was told MorProm would be updated in a day or so. I requested an updated paper hard copy showing all 4 vaccinations (for International travel)and was shown to another desk, 4 metres away, where a nice young person put everything into his/her computer (hard to determine their sex) and not only printed me out a paper hard copy of all 4 vax but also instantly updated the MorProm app. Same nice young person also guided me to the exit door where daughter was waiting. Really excellent service, and free. Thoroughly recommend if you are in the oldies age group and want a Booster