BumGun

Just finished Civilised to Death by Christopher Ryan, a great read, albeit a sombre look at the madness that is civilisation.. Best book so far this year and I am a prodigious reader (3 or more books a week)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28596619-civilized-to-death

Tom Neale's account of when he lived alone on an Island is one of the few books I have read multiple times  "An Island to Oneself"

http://riverbendnelligen.com/tomneale/

John Gray's Straw Dogs is another great read from earlier this year

https://www.amazon.com.au/Straw-Dogs-Thoughts-Humans-Animals/dp/0374270937

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Two young Thai men made 9 million baht in three months

And why more will follow and try and not make the same mistake, an arrest of this sort is just a job opening for other entrepreneurial types.

19 hours ago, DUNROAMIN said:

I am retracting my comment about political stunt by Australian, now USA expats are being offered the same tomorrow, so now it is clear that this is a Thailand political stunt.

AZ isn't an approved vaccine in the USA yet, if you wanted to go back to the US, you will be considered "unvaccinated" if that's a concern ?

https://www.mediaite.com/news/heres-why-globally-successful-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-hasnt-been-approved-in-united-states/

As to the Aus Government vaccinations, I suspect it's a "stunt" with only a handful of shots, they are after all Thai supplied and Thailand don't have enough for the general population.  Thailand's vaccination rollout is going really well compared to Australia which is clusterfu%k that defines description.  I blame the voters who elected these fools but it's ever been thus, this quote from the iconic book The Lucky Country published in 1964 expands on that

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Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country

1 hour ago, Sydneydave said:

Yet here, I can buy a beautiful 4 bedroom house near the beach for $400,000 and work in a job that will pay at least $40,000 a year, which is enough to live on.

I can tell you haven't looked at house prices for a LOOOONG time ?  My sh!t box apartment on the Gold Coast is about AUD$800K then taxes on the top of course.   Even little sh!t boxes in Tasmania (not a  beautiful 4 bedroom house that you allude to) on a beach in the middle of no where are  >$600k, a nice place "near the beach" and you need closer to a $1 Million.

6 hours ago, BobinBKK said:

Is it just me, or does the expression on this puppets face look like it has a hand up its "derriere"?

I swore it was the Thai version of "Max Headroom" 

Phuket Taxi owners spending their new gotten gain from the sandbox taxi mafia takings ?

3 hours ago, smedly said:

4 ferries and Koh Larn is full - it's the size of a stamp

Maybe that's the plan ? All 500 international tourist who arrive in Thailand will stay there (where I am not sure, I have spent 1 day there, 2 would be enough for me), take a few photos to show how full it is ? ???? profit !!!

2 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

e.g. rapid charging stations

For most people charge at home, most of the time most peoples cars sit there doing nothing (i.e parked)

Charge @ home is what I do, one of the great things about e-vehicles (I also have an ebike and escooter). I have yet to need a charging station. Sure some might but I would suggest the vast majority don't. 

6 hours ago, Mickeymaus said:

What kind of people are these that need this kind of entertainment... I forgot - quality tourists that Pattaya needs and wants so much... 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/06/16/the-shady-secret-history-of-onlyfans-billionaire-owner/?sh=4e2ba3535c17

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Business at the adult content and porn site OnlyFans has boomed during the pandemic, making its majority owner a new billionaire

Let alone the 1000's of entertainers making bank at the site.

Then we have the hundreds of cam sites as well. Lots of people are paying apparently.

I am not sure what the issue is ?  people pay money to go see a movie, isn't that the same thing, people pay money to subscribe to Netflix or whatever VOD subscription that floats their boat. I see no difference between paying to watch Disney+ or  "Bang my t1ts Baby" volumes 1 through 3 ? or a live stream of something similar ?

1 hour ago, pacovl46 said:

Why no explanation on why it is unlikely?!

What ? They did ...

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“Some people link this phenomenon to Sri Lanka. However, we have checked the model for the tides and found that any oil spill [from the ‘X-Press Pearl’] should not affect the west coast of Thailand,” he said

U wot mate ?  ????

My (f) partner and I road our bikes around CM itself years ago (2011, how time flies) ... budda wept, what an experience ???? definitely a challenge.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

ownership of condos in buildings by foreigners would go up from 49% to 70% if the proposals are given the green light. 

So how would this translate to the building governance juristic person ? has that been discussed ? not that I am expecting more then this kite flying but I am kind of carious.

1 hour ago, bert bloggs said:

We lived in our detached house for many years

I think that point is there that YOU don't own it, its nice whatever arrangement you have is working for you but I would never feel comfortable unless my name is on the land title as the owner.

2 hours ago, crazykopite said:

I wish it were true I could sell my beachfront property and get the hell out of this country

Why are are you being stopped from selling it ?

The Australian Government refuses to publish vaccine supply data, so why would the Thai Government. This gives the an upside as it allows them to blame others.

4 hours ago, tgw said:

 

the thing is - if you invest at least 10 million, you also get a visa, that is the current law.

 

so foreigners can right now invest 10 million in a condo and live in Thailand, that is not a problem.

SO if I buy a Condo that I own for B10 Mil, I am entitled to a visa ? or do I need to spend extra per annum to hold said visa, can I come and go with it ? What's this visa called ? How long does it last for ? What hoops are there to go through ? does it include my parter or just me ?

Isn't this what ASEAN is supposed to be for ? negotiate trade deals and facilitate less friction in trade between the member nations etc

20 hours ago, phetphet said:

Imagine those people that haver to travel a long, long way for their appointment, only to be told "Not today. No have. Come back next time."

 I guess they will have a taste of what it's like being a foreigner in Thailand ????

On 6/7/2021 at 3:12 PM, Excel said:

Think you must be confused, I know no one or have heard of anyone dying from any make of vaccine, nor would I wish that on anyone. You been drinking ?

While you might know of no one, people have died from the AZ jab, its extremely rare though.   Also the J&J version.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=astrazeneca+covid+deaths&t=ffab&atb=v228-1&ia=web

Anywhere in say View Talay 6 going for a reasonable price (not the Hliton side) and up high ???? or something similar

20 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

For a dissenting opinion, in the days when travel was possible, I would have spent well over a hundred hours in the water of Jomtien beach during many visits to Thailand in the winter high season, mostly at the Dongtan end, without experiencing any health problems whatsoever. Just use common sense after heavy rain, I’ve seen a sign advising against that even at Australia’s famous Manly beach. However, on my summer visits I used to mostly use my condo’s pool as I was concerned about jellyfish.

Same here, for a little exercise, we used to walk from about Soi 11 up Beach Rd , up the hill with the big Buddah, down the back of the hill to the main road, flag down a h a Baht Bus to the beach, swim at Dongtan Beach , have Breakfast at a Cafe there, then Baht Bus back home. Never had an issue, did that about twice a week and enjoyed it.  This was about 2 or 3 years ago though when there were tourists everywhere.

On 5/5/2021 at 11:41 PM, covidiot said:

pandemic will end 

No it wont; the only disease ever eradicated via vaccination is Small Pox and that took over a century. We will have to decide at some stage how many deaths we will live with, just like we do with every other disease we haven't eradicated via vaccination eg Influenza. 

On a side note, I see that in the Australian state of NSW, the number of hospitalisations for Influenze dropped to 32 from the average of 4800, mostly because of the same reasons Covid was contained, (social distancing, hand washing, masks and no one, including Australians, allowed into the country).  So far the Australian Government (and NZ I believe as well) has committed to zero deaths which means we can never open the nation up to travel even after vaccination, some people will still die... or ...they will have to walk back from that. I suspect with a Federal Election looming in Australia, it won't be until at least after that, as it was shocking to see the results in QLD and WA showing that lock everyone up and keep them locked up was super poplar with the jailers Australians are descended from.

On 5/25/2021 at 6:59 PM, Pilotman said:

Okay, so what are these people who term themselves 'influencers'. 

Super large followings on various social media apps

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Are they just self obsessed, untalented morons, 'influencing' equally moronic, socially deficient, intellectually challenged members of the social media world

or as the rest of the world calls them, business people.

You do know why Nike etc pays big money to people yeah ? To influence what they buy ? Same here, how they manipulate people to stay on their channels is my interest eg deliberate spelling mistakes and slips of language to get heated debate going etc but how is that any different to paying a few suffragettes way back in the day to smoke cigarettes to get them to influence other women to smoke, as it was frowned upon for women to smoke way back then.

On 5/26/2021 at 1:36 PM, bluebird729 said:

I have no idea if this is a new form of verification,

Yes it is new. I had WeChat installed a couple years ago, uninstalled and then tried to install again recently and ran into the issue .. I approached it the same way I normally do, and gave up ????

1 hour ago, BestB said:

I am confused, how do you begin mass vaccination without the vaccine on hand?

Southpark had this covered, it's the "Underpants Gnome" business model

1. Announce you will begin mass vaccinations

2. ??

3. Success

I  just want to say thanks to everyone for commenting in these threads. I am looking at what to do post Covid (2023 ?) As an Aussie I have only spent years off and on in SE Asia (Cambo, Thailand, Philippines) and NZ, mainly because its easy. Just fly north ???? Sunny Beach in Bulgaria seems interesting, Portugal and Georgia does as well.  There are two of us, my Aussie (f) parter and myself. She's a little crazier then me (she loves Pattaya).  I also want to spend more time in Laos and take it slow, I liked Myanmar but that''s out for who knows how long.

I think living from a suitcase can still suit us for a time (54 me /52 she, I quit work 15 years ago) and spending months in places. so maybe one day our border will open a little more and we can saddle up. Now I have a list thanks to you guys  ????