BumGun

When I heard they were doing away with the PCR test I thought ok, makes sense, after all you need a test before you fly ... then I read that's the one they were getting rid of, the one in the start country, BEFORE you leave....  and I was like <deleted> ?    SO no, this doesn't make me change my mind.  Unfortunately I am in the middle of being about to buy a house, or I'd be in Siem Reap right now for a few months (I assume you can still get the standard/business or whatever visa its called these days) ?

11 minutes ago, mrfill said:

Refugees are not illegal immigrants.

This is true, turning up and claiming refugee status is completely legal... but .. I don't think Malaysia has singed up to the Geneva Convention on Refugees, in which case you'd need to arrive on another visa to be "legal" , if not you've overstayed your visa  ?  Australia and many other nations who have has singed up to said convention ... and ... just ignore it and treat refugees appallingly.

I am surprised they still issue them to anyone by Kiwi's ? Are any other countries still locking their own citizens out ? Australians have been able to get home since last December (except West Aus)

Like many of those laws here and in other countries, the enforcement I think it comes down to how annoyed the local cops are with you ? Technically it probably is illegal.  I had heard of an expat painting the wifes house and got done for it because he was outside doing it,  was spotted by some locals who were house painters who got the cops and ... but that was only scuttlebut... and where does one draw the line ? mowing the lawn ? painting the house ? building a shed ? working on your car ? building a house ? I do thing it's best to be circumspect so you don't end up being an outlier.  The neighbor who coincidentally runs a landscpaing and lawn mowing service for example might get annoyed you are taking potential work from him.

6 hours ago, Mad mick said:

lets not leave out Australia they probably surpassed Thailand just behind US

Australia records its worst ever score on anti-corruption index after decline to match Hungary’s

buttt it depends how you define corruption I suppose. As has been pointed out by developing nations many times, the west often sets the rules as to what corruption is, the terribly "corrupt" things they do are then not seen as corruption.   Id consider the City of London as one of the most corrupt places on the planet.  For example, they literally have people watching parliament to make sure nothing untoward takes away their ability to be "legally corrupt" and if someone attempt sot they step in.   eg exemption from freedom of information laws

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

ok so it's sellers\pushers fair enough, they've ruined enough lives, sickening when they target girls to get them hooked

this is the sort of attitude that sees this nonsense unfortunately  being continued.  The most destructive and dangerous drug on the planet is alcohol, it ruins far more lives then all other drugs combined...  so called illicit drugs should be legalized, taxed and sold in specialized shops, addicts should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue.

https://theweek.com/articles/445005/why-all-drugs-should-legal-yes-even-heroin

Quote

if the goal is to minimize harm — to people here and abroad — the right policy is to legalize all drugs, not just marijuana.

3 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

All the moneys gone on fast cars beer and girls is my guess ????

And the rest of it was wasted digging up the sidewalks ????

1 hour ago, Airalee said:

I can’t think of a better example (although avocado toast seems to be the new example back in the US).  When I first came here in early 2011, just about every Thai I met would drink Starbucks frappucinos multiple times a week and laugh at me for drinking 10 baht coffees.  When I was derisively asked why I didn’t drink Starbucks, I replied “Starbucks is for poor people trying to look rich…I’ll bet that most rich people probably make their coffee at home and buy Starbucks stock instead of drinking their coffee”.

Haha, this resonated, I own Apple stock and a cheap Android phone.

Well, I for one am on his side, he must surely lead the Baht on slide ????  but then I assumed that about the current muppet

On 12/21/2021 at 1:19 PM, Stargeezr said:

With the Omicron variant of COVID spiking cases all over the world, it is looking like

2023 may be the year that some recovery may happen

Until the next variant. This was all said about Delta as well.  We failed dismally to share vaccinations to the world, so it has to keep happening.

Doesn't really matter what we think, whats the opinion of actual voters expats have talked to ?

Well, we rode lots in Chang Mai years ago, I would not recommend it unless you are used the the stupidity that is cycling like Australia etal (at war with Cars). This was a decade ago, so maybe things have changed?

8 hours ago, tingtongfarang said:

By nature nomads should not want to own a condo

Well, I like one for a home base, currently this is how I use (before Covid, currently it's where I am living)  my condo in Australia, then rent it out when away.  The issue becomes Visas, short the Elite Visa there really isn't anything in Thailand. 

Assuming I then own place, it might be nice to gain actual residency so you have a right to return to said condo when you want. Even if I owned one in Thailand, there is no guarantee I could live in it.

So I am happy to rent in Thailand when I am there and arbitrage the ridiculous rent I can get on my place in Aus. rather then buy a place in Thailand I have no right to live in (but would own)

On 11/12/2021 at 10:00 AM, Jeffr2 said:

Via a company.  You need 3 shareholders.  My other 2 are my wife and her mother.

Okay, so you don't mean own, you buy, they own. 

I would never buy a place here in Australia in joint names (unless they go 1/2s of course) , let alone in another country where I have no property rights and can't own... but caveat emptor. As long as the OP is aware of the lack of property rights. I say go for it ????

On 11/12/2021 at 12:12 PM, Skytrain2hell said:

Goodbye PayPal. Hello Crypto.

While this is true, if they ban exchanges and there is no Baht offramp, then....

7 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

I drink 4 days a week, does that make me a part time alcoholic? 

Part time ? No, it makes you an alcoholic (only replying because you asked the question).  Someone uses Cocaine 4 days a week ? or Heroine 4 days a week ? or Meth 4 days a week ? not addicts either ?  doesn't mean you can't be functional, just means you're not self aware.

5 hours ago, Tramboy said:

I'd hate to be one of the first.

This is going to be a calamity.

I am waiting for others to be the guinea pigs and report back on any issues. I guess if you are coming for months, an extra hour or three is a pain but you can live with it, if you are coming for a weeks holiday.... you''ll be salty if it takes as long as predicted in here.

What ever thought's I had at 8 were probably not worth remembering :)  When I got my first actual job, at 17 (am now 54), I had just started my first real job (part time jobs before that as a kid from 15) I realised I didn't want to do that for next 50 years. I dreamed of retiring at 30 !!! So I worked my ass off and invested and started my own business because I was lazy and didn't want to keep working.  Took me until about 38 before I could quit work and have been retired ever since. I was super focused until then then saving, investing and working . 

Lucky for me I think the greatest joy in the world is sitting on my condo balcony high in the sky and reading a book, letting my mind travel the universe.

Like many I assumed I would never even make it to the year 2000 and here i am ....

Sorry to thread jack but I see here

https://canberra.thaiembassy.org/non-immigrant-visa-category-o-a-for-retirement-long-stay-valid-for-1-year/

§ a deposit account of at least THB 800,000, or

I assume this is in an Aussie bank account ? As you are applying for this IN Australia.

7 hours ago, sirineou said:

 

You beat me to the punch 

as I was typing "As far as I know Tetanus is not contagious from person to person. "

I noticed your post.????

Which is not what he was suggesting, he WAS suggesting that LIKE Covid, herd immunity is not conferred with Tetanus.  If everyone else is getting a Tetanus vaccination. and you aren't vaccinated,  you can still get Tetanus, like Covid i.e no herd immunity.  He was using it  as an allegory, for the many who live amongst us who are perhaps a little slow of mind and unable to grok the concept.

It's interesting news to me and him using the tetanus allegory made perfect sense to understand the concept.. I am trusting but will verify from another source at some date.

On 10/1/2021 at 3:07 PM, fondue zoo said:

So if an Australian has had two Pfizer jabs in Thailand can they return home with a 7 day home quarantine?

Yes and no, I think what is happening first is you have to return to Aus. , 14 day hotel quarantine, then take your paperwork to your Doctor.  If they approve it, they will enter it into your Medicare records and you will have an Aus vaccine certificate and be good to go. I am not sure how that works with other foreign nationals... and I am not sure if that will change as I read that off a news site a couple weeks ago and who knows.

An example of why they might be hesitant, I have a friend in Poland for example who said it was free to get the Pfizer Jab or PLN500 and you get the paperwork to say you have been jabbed but don't have get jabbed, the paperwork is genuine as it happens at the vaccination cliincs. He didn't know anyone who got jabbed, just lots who paid the money to get the certificate to say they had been so they could travel. 

On 10/1/2021 at 3:13 PM, 2 is 1 said:

Only country in hole planet which not allowed own citizen to get back home! Crazy sht! Start from inmate now not even let them in! Ok sarcasm.....

Not quite so, New Zealand  as well BUT Australia was worse.  Intra national movements were banned e.ga citizen of say NSW could not go to Qld AND if you were a local you could often not return eg walk 5 metres across the border into NSW you could not return back to Queensland but you could drive your car 3000km to the north from Coolongatta visiting all and sundry.  We ended up like a bunch of school kids bickering in a sandpit after drawing up squares and saying "na na nah you can't cross this line."

There is also super limited ability to travel, there are only a handful of destinations but of course once you get there eg Singapore you can travel further you also have the issue of the states not agreeing to this, as far as I know the only state who has committed is NSW. So how exactly a Queenslander or a citizen of SA, Tasmania, WA, NT, ACT etc might go about it I am unsure. 

I don't really blame the politicians on this at all, the stupider they went, the more the voters supported it. For me this was a national shame and voters should be embarrassed by their repugnant actions, some 90% support this.  This has finally tipped me into wanting to leave the country for a looooong time.  I don't know of ANYONE personally who is not broadly supportive of the policies that were brought it

I have had one shot of Spikevax

Prayut has a cunning plan , part of the "sell foreigners land" deal, restrict it to BKK, sell off much of it, and the locals use that Baht to move elsewhere :) PROFIT ! :)

Gives me the same feeling as when I thought about Trump, Johnson in the UK, or Scott Morrison in Aus. for that matter... I think Nelson, from The Simpsons said it best ? HA HA!

6 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

So let me understand this, I have lost my job, spent all my savings, and now I am going to up the limit on my credit card. What could go wrong.

 

 

Except you don't control your own currency nor do you control the interest rate on the "loan".  they do. As long as the debt is Baht denominated, and inflation is not to bad, they can issue as much as they want.  One just has to look to Japan, their public debt to GDP ratio is 270%, If the Thai central bank issues a loan to the Thai treasury with no payment date and zero % is that really a loan ?

IMO as long as they are on top of inflation, public debt is irrelevant, private debt is the main issue, that usually goes awry when you have stupid property prices. eg in Australia is up around 210%

The issue becomes inflation, once politicians start being profligate on stupid projects that add nothing to the economy eg Submarines, they mostly become unwilling to stop spending eg Zimbabwe had that issue