koratkarlos

The only item I can add is that when I returned last December from the US, then went into Chiang Mai to get my Non-O visa, I was 4 days late for TM30 reporting and they fined me 1900 THB. I returned home to my wife at our house. What I did not understand is why they did not have this form at the airport when I re-entered Thailand.

The real issue here in Thailand is YABA, not weed. I hope they pay attention to the YABA problem also.

After spending the last few days driving round-trip between Chiang Mai and Korat I did see more police checks but no change in driving behavior. In a few weeks this will go away and become forgotten. Driver education is needed in Thailand.

Like spidermike I am also working in the US now. It is so expensive. Everything. And the country is quite polarized. I look at my return ticket purchase daily. Can't wait to get back. The food, people, culture, peacefullness, scenery, etc. are preferable to me than the mall stricken stressed good ole U S of A.

As most of us do not pay taxes in Thailand, I feel the dual pricing for parks is OK. I don't mind. The parks are very nice. But on the street for food or buying other things it makes me angry when a Thai raises his price as he think foreigners have more money. I just don't buy from these people. It does not take long to learn the "Thai" prices.

I go back to the USA today. Waiting for the COVID tests results are nerve racking. I will miss Thailand. I would like to thank all forum members for the useful advice, interesting reading and humor. I am coming back for a full retirement sometime over the next two years.

What does water splashing have to do with COVID spread when there already a zillion people crammed into a Songkran event. The priorities established by this government are mostly wrong, not based on science, not based on what is good for the Thai common man and based on restrictive political and economic biases. Time to get a real plan for the future of Thailand. The current vision is a random sky of air pollution and storm clouds.

No doubt COVID will increase after Songkran. But nobody will ever know how much due to lack of sufficient testing. So this has just become a political game, a game which should never be played.

Many cars and people celebrating Songkran on the Ping River, Mae Taeng. And it looks like a lot of fun. But I am not going. Too much COVID here in the North. Our electrician has it now. I just feel there is not enough testing to report accurate numbers. And the word on the street is COVID mak. And I believe the street more than the official numbers.

I don't think we will see incoming tourism "taking off" any time soon. There are still many restrictions. And a war. And many people do not have so much money after a long battle with this virus. The Chinese are locked down. The Russians busy invading Ukraine. The Europeans have other places to go. So the main tourism markets will certainly be muted. I have seen more local tourism this week and this is a good sign. But it will be some time before tourism takes off and I do not think it will reach 2019 levels for many years. Wishful thinking is not reality.

The 50,000/day COVID number implies a 100% positivity rate per my thinking, as they only do 50,000 tests per day. Accordingly, any elevation of the reported numbers is politically motivated as they will have to increase the testing. None of this really matters. COVID is here and will find its way, even in lockdown China. We only hope our bodies can withstand this dreadful disease.

Just read that Chiang Mai Province is cancelling water splashing and alchohol this Songkran. I had already decided not to go although I want to. I see people setting up tents and restaurants along the Ping River. It looks like up in the country there will be a celebration anyway.

His statement relates to the Thai tendency to always blame something when bad things happen. So he will blame alchohol. He already blamed farangs. What a great excuse he can use when the numbers spike, although I doubt they will be accurately recorded. Maybe a few thousand bump up after Songkran to make it look like they are doing their jobs by testing. He will always blame something instead of doing his job to make sure everybody gets vaccinated and testing is done to identify clusters. It is far easier to sit back and restrict our society then actually do something that makes a difference.

I believe the reported numbers are accurate according to the self-imposed government rules, namely; 1) only count the really sick people with positive PCR results in the hospital, 2) limit PCR testing to 50,000/day, 3) never count antigen positive results, 4) double test, count and publicize every farang with any trace of COVID, even if a false positive from sample contamination, 5) don't work too hard on the weekends, 6) never proactively randomly test for COVID to determine clusters, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY REMEMBER Anutin has everything under control.

Many businesses have closed in our village as all the local people talk about the spread of COVID in the neighborhood. Certainly these cases are not reported. For me the problem with COVID is that it is not predictable, short or long term. So we continue to basically remain at home. Contractors are working at our house and they were all tested prior to starting work. This was encouraging. Good luck to everyone. I hope all the forum members and their families that have caught COVID get better real soon.