Caldera

I'm still happy with my decision to stay in Thailand. I am not stranded here, however: I was offered a repatriation flight in early April and there are still commercial flights back home to this day. I simply preferred to stay in Thailand.

While I see the point that those who distrust the Thai numbers make, the fact remains, the Thai government would have been unable to conceal an outbreak of the scale of that in Italy. Overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums simply did not happen here.

These Chinese are clever. First they unleash a deadly virus that wrecked Thailand's economy, now they unscrupulously offer high interest loans to the victims of the economic fallout.

Has the useless UK government still not managed to organize repatriation flights for its citizens stranded abroad? Why provide handouts abroad instead of bringing them back?

8 hours ago, Canuck1966 said:

I think the kissing beforehand might be a more obvious way of transmission

Who funds this rubbish?

I agree. Considering how easily it spreads even between people who aren't intimate with each other, this additional vector is pretty much irrelevant.

They need longer trains anyway, when was that supposed to come?

Working from home should still be encouraged whenever possible, otherwise at least more flexible hours to better spread commuters.

They should open the border temporarily, let them cross into Laos and quarantine them there. That's hardly rocket science.

Great news for mall employees currently "on leave" and for mall dwelling creatures like myself alike.

OP, in case you genuinely want help instead of just getting it off your chest, you should tell us where you are.

For example, I'm in Bangkok and exchanging money wouldn't be a problem here. But I wouldn't use (try to use) a bank.

23 minutes ago, Nemises said:

A couple of baited pieces of meat and a snack for the pup, robbery continues....

True, but that requires quite a bit of planning. It's probably fair to say that most burglars and robbers go for the low hanging fruit.

RIP to the German guy, I hope this will be investigated properly.

That doesn't surprise me. I need to visit a bank branch once per five years per account, to replace my ATM cards. More often in case one breaks. If I would actually update my bank books, I would need to replace them more frequently, too.

Now imagine Thai banks get rid of bank books and mail your ATM cards to you. Once that happens, I would never have to visit them again. Okay, in some exceptional cases maybe.

Most of the people who clog the branches seem to make payments that they could actually make online. It boggles the mind.

1 hour ago, Emdog said:

Notice in the photos the common rather stupid habit of putting mask down around chin rather than taking it off.

The "big problem" when taking off the mask is where to put it. Unless you plan for this in advance (not a strong suit of most people here!), you don't really have good options.

I've seen people putting their masks on the table in coffee shops (when they were still open) - if that's the alternative, I prefer them to just lower it to the chin!

That's horrible and will only get worse once more people will need to commute to work again.

40 minutes ago, teacherclaire said:

Why didn't you ride on an elephant's back and enjoy your life? Isn't Buri Ram the elephant province of Thailand?

That's Surin, but very close.

I would do many things, but I wouldn't prepay any holiday in the distant future - too much has happened in the last two months, who knows what will happen until February 2021!

That's all very well, but I assume at some point there will be a race to reopen. Countries that will reopen sooner than their neighbors are bound to cash in. This will be interesting.

If they enforce quarantine on incoming tourists for the time being, this obviously means that only those tourists who plan (and who can afford) to stay longer will come. Cambodia's 30 day tourist visa is almost useless if you have to spend the first 14 days in quarantine, so they will need to think about extending that.

At my condo (in Central Bangkok), visitors are supposed to sign in and undergo temperature screening. This was enforced quite strictly from late March till early April, since then it has seemed to fizzle out. There has never been an outright ban on visitors.

Thank you, thaicoons. ????

I'm a bit baffled by the OP. I simply wouldn't stick around for 5 days of that kind of treatment.

So the question is kind of moot, as you're not exactly forced to sit it out. I would probably tolerate 2-3 days if I can make sense of the underlying reason. Less otherwise.

I wished he had remained dead.

OP, thanks for your report. I'm quite surprised that they've kept the MTT office open at all.

18 hours ago, MadMac said:

Works with old passport number if you used that for registration. If you can remember it of course...

Correct. Worked without a problem with the passport number I registered with. It's nice that they include foreigners this time.

45 minutes ago, timmu said:

In Pattaya there are some companies that help you to get your own account,

never open on the others name.

Have you used such a service and can recommend one? If so, which bank do they work with? I have bank accounts in Bangkok (opened years ago when it was much easier), but I'd like to open one in Pattaya without having to go through that onerous immigration or embassy certificate of residence routine.