Trip Hop

Obviously massaging the figures thinking everyone is too thick to work out that both of them can’t be true? They have such a high opinion of their own people that never ceases to amaze me? ????

Possibly, possibly not?

And what shortcut is that? To the best of my knowledge, the type of strain of the virus can only be confirmed 100% by genomic sequencing i.e. examining the exact DNA of the virus? I’m open to correction though if you can substantiate your claims?

Typical selfish attitude with no concern for anyone else but yourself? Put your big boy’s pants on, man up and grow a pair!

The WHO are of the opinion that the incubation period for Omicron is more like 3-5 days. That is how it spreads so fast. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-omicron-incubation-period-days-b1982233.html%3famp

My exact thoughts exactly when reading the thread from a couple of days ago about the alleged cases that entered at the beginning of December but now only found to be Omicron? For some reason Thailand likes to portray that Omicron is a special strain of the virus that is hard to detect whilst other countries have no problems at all?

Nah, they’d run out of farangs to lay the blame on then! ????

Not quite. The CT value is basically the amount that the PCR test amplifies the sample. So a person with a high viral load and infectious will show positive with say a CT value of 20 or above as it requires less amplification to be detected? Someone with a lower viral load who is no longer infectious, won't show positive until the CT value or amplification is increased to say 30 or above? Most PCR tests in Europe use a CT threshold of 35, however Thailand uses 40? This is the issue, if a high enough CT threshold is used, minute amounts of the virus RNA left in the body from say an infection 2-3 months ago, will still generate a positive result? There is a big difference between someone having traces of the virus in their body and them being infectious and capable of transmitting the virus to others? Contrary to your beliefs, LFTs work better with higher viral loads with equivalent CT values of below 30 and whereby a CT value of <27/28, is widely considered to be the infectious range? There are questions regarding the accuracy of some but there are actually ones out there that are independently verified to be 100% accurate at a CT<27?

And you think that the previous behaviour of certain hospitals by point blank refusing 2nd PCR tests to rule out a possible false positive is acceptable do you? As you state, if you test positive in other countries you will have to go into isolation. However, it will not be in some hospital that will milk you for every penny that they can regardless of whether or not your insurance will pay and you will undoubtedly be given the chance for a 2nd PCR test to confirm. Judging by the way that I was incorrectly swabbed for my PCR at my test and go hotel (I know this because I’ve undergone several at home over the last 2 years), if it had come back positive, I would have undoubtedly challenged it and possibly followed a similar path as the Israeli and got an independent PCR test elsewhere? However I do have with me a supply of highly accurate LFTs which are CE marked and independently verified to be 100% accurate in the infectious zone of CT<27. The results obtained from these obviously influencing any decisions made should this situation have arose.

So do Pipat and TAT still think they’re going to get their 300k tourists in January if this happens? ???? Or is it all just a clever ploy to save face for everyone? There again, someone might actually be stupid enough to believe that because these people may have already paid for their flights, they will still come AND pay extra for the privilege of being locked up for a week or so? ????

Exactly and by comparison, in Barbados it is instilled into the younger generation by the family elders, that if they look after the tourists and not try to rip them off for every dollar they can, they will all have a reasonable living? Even the hire cars all have registration plates prefixed with a H to denote that they are tourists, so that the locals can be patient with their driving and the police know to leave them well alone?

Currently sat waiting in my SHAPlus+ hotel in Pattaya. Booked an early arriving flight hoping that I would be released in about 6 hours to travel to the G/F’s place about 30 minutes outside? Arrival at Swampy and transfer all ok. Checked into hotel at 11:15 and immediate PCR done. Lunch to the room was cold, the excuse for half a small baguette appeared stale and there was no cutlery. How they expect you to eat Thai beef without a knife is beyond me? At dinner/evening meal I was told that I could choose from their room service menu but declined stating that the food was mai aloi. Asked if someone would go to 7-11 for me to get some food and essentials as I had no mozzie spray etc and was told mai dai, despite me offering to pay for their trouble? Only when I told them that I was diabetic was I told that I could use Grab. Called the G/F instead and had her to bring me food along with some Bud Light. Was told that I could have the food but not the beer as I could order that from room service. Asked if they had Bud Light or any other low sugar/carb beer and was told no hab. Explained that the reason that I needed low carb beer was due to my diabetes but they didn’t want to know. Asked several times since 5pm about my PCR results but said they didn’t have them. Asked them to ring the hospital to ask if they could expedite them but received no call back. Only when I went to collect my food from the G/F at reception and pushed them for an answer, did they admit that I’d have to wait until the morning as the swabs hadn’t even gone off to the hospital or lab yet? Luckily I brought a bottle of Grey Goose in the case which I’m mixing with the Coke Zero that the G/F brought for me? Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that a PCR test might be a suitable request upon arrival to help protect the country despite me taking one less than 48 hours before I arrived? However, whilst in itself this will be enough to discourage your average “tourist’ per se, the attitude, total lack of service/understanding by certain hotels and their obvious personal desire to try every tactic to milk you for whatever they can, will definitely be the last nail in the coffin for tourism in the country? At the end of the day though, I’ve been coming here for years, this is the LOS and why should I expect any different?

Have you ever considered that the reason they leave their home towns is because there is not enough work paying decent money or is that beyond your intellect? Have you never travelled to such towns and experienced how a lot of these families actually live and survive? I guess not observing your apparent superiority complex? Jeez, I'd love to meet you in a bar and adjust your attitude?

In the last 10 and possibly 15 years I have yet to meet a farang bar owner that is making a fortune? Some maybe have been making a living but the majority have been propping up their bars with their previously earned wealth or pensions? Either that or they are fronts for other activities? With an attitude like that, if you do actually live in Thailand I am extremely curious as to why? Or is your life that sad that you have nothing to do except troll forums and bait people with comments as yours?

Just like to share my recent experience with the Thailand Pass application to possibly help any people who may be thinking about making the effort to go to Thailand in the forthcoming weeks? After reading several stories from posters here and having a bit of a trial run with the TP website, I realised that getting your information prepared was the key. I already had a fairly high definition pdf of the information page of my passport so this was not a problem. If you or a friend have access to a photocopier that will scan to pdf or jpeg, I would advise this rather than trying to take photos. They are only interested in the main info page, so if you have scanned the opposite page at the same time, I would advise cropping the scan just to show the main page using basic photo editing software that should be found on any computer. Despite already having an annual travel insurance policy with £15m cover including Covid, I made the decision to pay the extra to get the Thai insurance to save any of the hassle that some of my friends were experiencing when trying to use their international policies for TP. I went for the minimum $50000 cover with TuneProtect, it cost me about £60 for 30 days and I received the TP acceptable confirmation of cover letter almost immediately. Whilst I was thinking of waiting a bit before booking the Test and Go hotel, in case the rules changed to my favour at the end of the month, I found a SHA Plus+ hotel on Agoda which offered free cancellation, so I opted to book this. I made the booking last night and awoke this morning to find an email from them asking for a copy of my passport and my flight details? I emailed them this and with 20 minutes I had the required confirmation letter and QR code. I then started to prepare my information and despite the TP system allegedly now accepting PDFs, I chose to go with the original jpeg format. I already had some free PDF tools on my laptop as part of the free PDFill software and I would advise downloading this if you don’t already have suitable software, in order to save using online PDF converters. The confirmation of both my vaccine shots were contained on one letter from the NHS in the UK, so I converted this to a jpeg and also then cropped and renamed this twice to have jpegs of the QR codes for each of the vaccine confirmations as recommended by a previous poster. I then converted all remaining information to jpeg format. I then worked my way through the TP application online, adding all the information at the requested point and remembering to click the box to add the QR codes for each vaccination. This took about 10-15 minutes and almost immediately upon clicking the submit button, I received a confirmation email that they had received my application. 8 minutes later I received another email stating that my application had been approved and enclosing the required QR code for entry. So to summarise, all in all including preparing the information, submitting it and waiting for the confirmation it took less than an hour. Admittedly I’m fairly tech savvy but if you pay attention to preparing all the information, it appears a lot less stressful. Hope this helps?

Do you mind me asking what hotel you used in Pattaya? Cheers

Logo on the one that I'm looking at is actually SHA Plus+, so not sure if this translates to the SHA++ you state? Just checked the list referred to in that link you supplied and it's on there, so no problem. It's just rather disturbing that instead of checking out how good the hotel reviews are, I'm spending more time checking out escape routes in case they try to scam me? ????

I've been checking them out on Agoda myself this morning as it looks like I'm going to have to book a 1 night package, unless something changes rapidly? The ones that clearly state that the required PCR test, transport etc, all start at about £100. However, there are some starting at about £58 that whilst they clearly state that they are SHA+ and display the logo, make no reference to the requisites? I presume these are typical of the ones being described and whilst I would possibly expect it from a hotel link from some dodgy independent website, I would have expected a bit more from Agoda?

It depends on the manufacturer? There is one British made LFT out there that has an overall sensitivity of 98% and specificity of 99%, whilst in the infectious range of CT<27, it’s almost 100% accurate? The problem with PCR is that it is generally run with a CT of 40, which means it will pick up infection long after you are infectious and possibly even weeks after you have recovered?

Let’s be honest here, does anyone seriously think that he’s going to pay the $700 per course for your average Somchai when initially he wasn’t willing to pay $15 or less per shot for a decent vaccine? He’ll buy some for himself and his cronies to keep them happy and that will be it!

At about $700 a course compared to a $10-15 vaccine, it’s not easy to guess which will be the preferred option though?

Believe it or not but there’s not the abundance of flight choices out there that you would expect, mostly due to all the airlines running reduced schedules. They’re not really that cheap either? Be careful with your flight times too as you want to try to avoid landing too late in the day or you you’ll end up paying for a 2nd night in AQ which won’t make your flight that cheap after all? I can recommend Skyscanner.

Oh about 8% up against the euro over the last 10 months? Our inflation rate is about a quarter less as well?

The UK has consistently averaged around 700,000 tests per day for the last 6 months. Admittedly some of these may be pro-active screening tests for healthcare workers et al, so let's say 500,000 is general testing. This is still 10x the amount that Thailand is currently doing and you don't have to be Heinz Wolff to understand the simple laws of statistics in that if Thailand was to increase its testing 10x, it would most probably find near 8-10x the amount of positive cases? The UK, US, EU or any other similar countries aren't stupid and cannot be fooled on this one due to their experience of the extensive testing that they have carried out. They are simply not going to risk their economy, the health of their people and possible civil unrest due to further lockdowns, on the word of any official from any country that they feel is not doing enough to control and monitor the pandemic. The sooner Thailand learns this and acts accordingly, the sooner they will be off that red list.

It’s costly IMHO but I’d say far from extortionate when you take into account that a Travelodge/Premier Inn will normally cost you close to £100/night in most UK cities or close to any UK airport. Add in 3 meals/day (where breakfast alone is about £15 in the above) and all the extra hygiene procedures/testing etc plus transfers and it soon adds up? I have to pay these rates when I have to travel with work so what makes you think that people who have traveled for leisure should be subsidised? It’s inconvenient but quite simple, don’t travel to a country that’s either already on the red list or has a good chance of making it to the red list unless you’re willing to pay these costs?