somtumwrong

28 minutes ago, somtumwrong said:

I can confirm that. My wife got to state quarantine 2 weeks ago and did not have to pay anything. The food was lousy though.

Quoting myself, but I asked my wife if she wants to "upgrade" to ASQ hotels, but she said that makes no sense. She cannot use the facilities, in the end it's just another hotel room. Now that she has been to state quarantine for 2 weeks, I realize that when I choose the ASQ hotel, I will select a cheap one. It makes no sense to select an expensive one - the biggest benefit is to have their "softer pillows" etc. Not worth paying for, especially since she said they are not allowed out of their rooms. All I need is a fast internet to be able to work 15 days in a row. Plus I will spice up a bottle of coke so I can have a drink or two in the hotel on a few evenings ????

14 minutes ago, kingofthemountain said:

Let me correct you, it's exactly the opposite way

Thai people stay in state own facilities for free

if they have money and if they want pay for it, they can up grade

for a better accomodation in a private quarantine hotel.

The foreigners on the other hand have no choice, they pay for the private hotel.

I can confirm that. My wife got to state quarantine 2 weeks ago and did not have to pay anything. The food was lousy though.

55 minutes ago, Yme said:

This is the same as the situation flying to Cambodia. 

One news site called it a gamble and it is. But neither country care. The foreigners help ensure sufficient capacity for flights to keep operating and that means their citizens can come home. Foreigners pay for quarantining. It's now a profit centre. IMO anyone who gets on one of those flights needs to be prepared for a dose of virus. They're just flying petri dishes. There's not a good enough reason for me to get on one. 

 

Hmm yeah many here try to give suggestions how this whole process could be improved to make more "sense", but This Is Thailand, thus it makes no sense to make sense. Being involved with Thais for long enough, I stopped caring about sense or logic. Just comply and vote with your wallet.

I got my COE yesterday (or, the approval for it), but I'm a little reluctant to return now due to the hysteria. Trying to postpone the flight date by one month ???? Haven't been to Thailand since March, but returning feels something I don't want to do. Things closed, restricted, condo pool not fully open, racism ???? So much better in my country where we never had a big issue with Covid. And I prefer to live in my house with clean air (PM 2.5 = 0), everything just works, no stupidity anywhere. Freedom.

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 

Thus: Does anyone know first hand, any Thai’s (i.e. your Wife / close friend) who have returned on repatriation flights in JULY ? Was a pre-flight Covid-19 test a requirement before flight ??????

 

I think an accurate answer to that question will either confirm or disconfirm this rumour. 

My wife traveled back to Thailand via Germany two weeks ago. I was with her and our child at the doctor in my country in the Nordics. They only need the fit to fly certificate. Practically the doctor was shaking her head mumbling 'what a nonsense' and did not even examine them (this at an expensive private doctor), just wrote them the Fit To Fly certificates. No Covid tests.

I just got my COE but of course I will have to have both the FTF + COVID test.

11 hours ago, Ravi98008 said:

Is this the reason why the Bhat is losing its value since the past one week. From 31.00 Bhat per dollar to 31.78 Bhat today and maybe go up even higher

Yes please. I hope they keep pumping the hysteria some more to have the THB on its knees.

2 hours ago, Myran said:

Jesus Christ, you're delusional. The pandemic is in full force and the amount of deaths are increasing day by day, with fears that the virus will mutate to become even more deadly and contagious. You might as well take the amount of road deaths from a single day and say, "I don't care about 0.000032% of the world population dying from car accidents".

 

You can thank Thailand's response to the virus for allowing you the luxury of not being bothered by it. The 600,000 people who have died during just a few months (and the millions of people who have lost loved ones to it) would probably disagree. But hey, as long as it doesn't affect you, amiright?

You mentioned Sweden. Was there a couple of weeks ago, life is very normal, people don't speak much about the virus, it's being forgotten. It's the people in their 80's and 90's who are dying, and dominatly immigrants with weak health records. Compare the economic loss due to the shutdown against the Thai (or Australian) response which seem hysteric to anyone from Northern Europe. Life cannot be recovered etc, but there is a limit where economic realities hit as well. But every country can make their own choice, and the numbers can be compared (lifes, economy, unemployment) in a couple of years. For me the hysteric approach of Thailand is good in the long term as it makes living there cheaper and tourist locations less crowded.

15 minutes ago, rumak said:

you must not be very skilled at putting the words into sentences.

 

the more thai i learned........ the better I got along with the Thais  ( tourist areas excluded, as there

it doesn't matter one way or the other)

IMO  when you reach a fairly high level ( no, i am not at expert level !   but pretty darn good) ...

life here gets much more enjoyable and rewarding.  

I hope nobody thinks i'm bragging....... but I have never met any farang who speaks Thai well say any

different than what I just said.   especially outside of the tourist areas

I guess you are right, but when wife and son speak English with me, and I don't mingle with Thais much, and I spend half of the time in Europe, not so easy. Execuses excuses from me, but can you tell me how you learned the language? Did you go to language school?

21 hours ago, rabas said:

If you speak so well you should know that the term farang refers to Westerners and is more often not used in a derogatory sense. Just like using the word Asian in the West is not derogatory. Did you see Crazy Rich Asians?

 

I'll give you an example of 'farang'.  A friend involved in immigration work one day told me "Immigration prefers farang (Westerners) because their paperwork is meticulous and they don't cheat as much as Asians especially Koreans." Farang is often complementarity in discussions about Western things. Google translates 'Westerner' as farang.

 

Since you get along with Thai so well, as do I, be proud to be Farang, you will never be Thai!

Exactly. Mentioned to my wife (high education, high corporate position) about the negativity associated with the word farang some years ago, she was a little surprised, could not understand the negative association. On the contrary, she is proud to have a 'farang' husband.

4 hours ago, Mung said:

I left Thailand in February after a decade of living mainly in the Kingdom; I left with the notion that I would return asap but that thought has slowly declined, not because of it being unrealistic but because I don't want to. I would rather be living somewhere that is trying to maintain normality yet which has measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus. If more people lose their jobs and livelihoods in LOS, and things start to become more pricy due to inflation later down the line, things will get really ugly really fast. Not to mention the political unrest simmering under the surface 

I left in March, and lost my remaining feeling for Thailand since. Tired with the game, the system, the hysteria. But on the other hand, I notice the THB losing value, and if this hysteria continues, I think the forex reserves of Thailand will dwindle and there will be no tourists, hence the THB slide will accelerate together with the non-performing loans. Already my wife is pointing to 'cheap houses' in Bangkok (shudder), but if the THB really plummets for more, then perhaps we should stay there for some time. Nevertheless, we decided to sell both of our condos in Bkk. About the unrest you mention, yeah, that comes together with the inflation. Btw, I always admired your choice of women (avatar pic) ????

1 hour ago, MikeyIdea said:

UK flights are £708 but all full for July, long queue for next month's flight. KLM from Amsterdam is EUR800, also long queue. Repatriation flight prices. 

Where do you get the information on the queue length from? The embassy?

FRA => BKK economy 760 €, economy plus (Lufthansa) around 1000 €

Just a FYI if you are trying to get back to Thailand from the Nordics as a foreigner or Thai:

While staying in the Nordics, my wife needed to return to Thailand for family reasons. She applied for a repatriation flight last week Tuesday and got a confirmed return flight on the 15th of July. The embassy urged her to take the flight as they have no information of new repatriation flights during July (or August) (yet.) The price for her economy seat was 780€ and had to be paid to Lufthansa as Thailand had "chartered" a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Thailand for Thai returnees.

Unfortunately I have to return to Thailand then as well, and sent out the request to the embassy. They have no idea of the next flight, but they may come surprisingly soon (or late.) Thais take the priority, so if any seats are left, only then we get the ticket. Economy is for Thais, foreigners have to buy the Economy Extra seat (1000€ approx), unless Economy seats are available.

The Fit to Fly certificate was a joke. The young doctor said it was a waste of ink but issued it at a private hospital for 100 € and it took 15 minutes. She did not even bother to make a proper medical check. Can't wait for my own Fit to Fly certificate with the mandatory Covid test (approx 250 €.) Everything was done online with the embassy, and they were relatively helpful. I'm happy to hear the foreigner cases are no longer handled by MFA but by the local embassies. Or that was the rumor in another thread.

I have an insurance with full COVID coverage, but the insurance company does not issue a letter specifying it. So I had to buy a new insurance, and found the site insubuy.com, which proposed me an insurance for 1.5 months at a price of 78 USD. The coverage is 100 K and the insurance letter could be printed out right away with the text "Covid 19: Covered same as any other illness to the above mentioned Medical Maximum." The insurance was issued by Trawick International.

I do not recommend anything but just to let anyone know if you are looking for an insurance letter with Covid-19 mentioned specifically. For me the contents of the insurance are meaningless as I have my 'permanent' travel insurance anyway.

1 hour ago, Berti said:

I really wonder why they do not allow some regular flights. They could have the same procedure with COE but the embassies would not have to organize the flights.

 

To me it is something like: "Dear Thai people, see what the government is doing for you. We even organize a flight to get you back home."

One reason is that they need to control the daily quota of incoming travelers, hence they do the organizing. Unfortunately their ticket prices are +40% from the previous normal.

I have an insurance company that has full, unlimited COVID coverage - unfortunately they have no certificate for that. And cannot produce such. So I need to get an extra covid insurance for throwaway purposes ???? Any suggestions of insurance companies issuing such certificates are welcome. Or perhaps worth a new thread.

30 minutes ago, sambum said:

"The international heroine courier."?

 

Sorry, not being pedantic, or Grammar Police, but it made me chuckle!:-

her·o·ine

a woman admired or idealized for her courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

1. "she was the heroine of a materialist generation"

 

 

Hah! Thanks, always good to get some feedback on stupid non-native English speaker mistakes like this one. Yeah well, cough, I meant that the Thai government is like a woman admired or idealized for her courage blah blah, you get the point. Under no circumstances was I referring to a drug

2 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Now but where is the drug dealer in that picture? The international heroine courier. Fake pic I guess. Maybe busy handing out bananas..

38 minutes ago, Paul DS said:

Ok, I will offer my answer....I have a few Chinese friends who told me they are coming to Thailand for 7 days in October, so I asked them how much etc.

 

3000 Yuan is the price which includes flights, hotels, 3 meals daily and free excursions, so I hardly think they are going to pay 115,000 Yuan for a Visa!! 

(And that's repayable over 3 tyears!)

 

Okay, they are not the "Elite" Chinese, just middle class...but I have never seen the real rich Chinese in Thailand! Maybe I'm wrong, but even they know of other countries with modern facilities!

Yes, you are right. You do not mingle with wealthy people. You do now know any wealthy Chinese. Since you don't know any, you have no idea if they can afford an Elite visa.

Well wow, opening borders. Italy did the same some time ago. Their problem? Covid? Nope.. missing tourists. Only a few Europeans are traveling to Italy.

How about Thailand? The Thais are afraid of the hordes of tourists, but I think there will be a short spike of us returning to our families to Thailand. Then it will be quiet. I guess.

Days of paperwork to get a permit to fly to your family via the Thai embassy, 10-11 hour flight to Thailand, then 2 weeks in quarantine.

Nope. It's 30 degrees here in Northern Europe, and things are quiet and safe.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Geezus. Glad I'm not stuck out..

Feel bad for guys stuck outside.

 

Oh. Glad I'm not stuck in. Feel bad for anyone stuck in a foreign country ????

Was easy to convince my wife to come to Europe instead as there is no way I will fly to Thailand until the borders are opened again. Perhaps September, perhaps not.. Maybe next year better :)

21 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

You still on Thai forums though 

Yeah, imagine. Every time I travel to Thailand with my family I totally abandon the forums of my home country. And when I travel to my home country I totally abandon the Thai forums. That is the way is has to be.. sound logic ????

3 hours ago, herwin1234 said:

another quality farang integrating in Thailand...

Oh at my condo a Thai guy stated filling meat balls with Gofen and threw them over the fence to a pack of dogs. Since then it has been quiet. He was caught on security camera but never got problems with the police, apparently the other residents are happy now that the nightly barking is over.

On 5/17/2020 at 4:26 AM, ubonjoe said:

Same as before. There are no restrictions.

Had to come back to this old topic and just comment that you were correct as my family arrived from Thailand yesterday. The only weird thing was that the KLM check-in staff was surprised she had been given a Schengen C -visa (tourist I think they mean), and hence asked for the marriage certificate. She had it with her. Facepalm. I told her that she does not need the marriage certificate, but I guess Thai people know the madness logic of the Thais far better than me. Apparently no entry for people with tourist visas from outside the EU. But that is another topic than the original question ????