VBF

That joke's "Supreme" - well done 😎😂 (Let's see how many people that confuses! 🙄)

In the words of the 1920s novelty song: "I scream, you scream, we all cream for Ice Cream" 😆

And what's more, we didn't have the "help" of the ****ing Health and Safety Executive!!!! 🤬

Correct assuming you are from one of the (many) countries eligible for visa exempt entry. I am - UK Thank you Sheryl 👍

Pardon? I've been to the Bamboo many times - the women in there are all freelancers so the Bamboo has no say in what happens - no lady drinks or bar fines. What the Bamboo does do is take payment for drinks as you go i.e., no bar tabs. Is that what you meant?

I did ask this elsewhere but no replies, As the ETA is not yet up and running, may I presume that if I fly to Thailand with a return ticket within 60 days, that's all I need? No other advance paperwork?? Any news of airlines causing problems at check-in?

Perhaps if you weren't too lazy to copy it into Google (or whichever search engine you favour), you'd see it's popularised by and often attributed to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt You can thank me later 😆 And, getting back on topic, the restaurant owner needs to be seen to physically throw a couple of these beggars out, or have a friend do it....IF they enter the restaurant. The pic in the OP though, dhows one standing OUTSIDE and looking in to beg. This has been happening in Pattaya for as long as I can remember.

Agreed....and we all fell for it 😆 The OP says "Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat, a supporter of NIT, has indicated that formal implementation might be several years away" In other words, several governments away. 🙄 And, just to be serious for a moment, such a scheme could / should provide assistance / benefits for needy Thai people. Most Western countries have such schemes which are used by many and abused by some!

I regards that as encouraging prostitution, Me too - great isn't it 👍😎 But actually, encouraging the ladies to work for drinks is not prostitution - what may happen later is between consenting adults. Let's be honest here, legal or not, that is what most bars in Pattaya are all about and always have been.

May I correct you....... Pedestrian crossings on Phuket in Thailand are simply strange patterns painted across some roads. Better? 😎🙄

Not at all old chap....see my reply to @mstevens 😆😆

Precisely.... Meagre is the King's English, not some colonial attempt 🙄😆 Joking aside, the spellchecker on here agreed with me as I said - of course my computer is set as English (UK)...quite right and proper, doncha know ☺

It's meagre, not meager - even the spell check agrees! 😎 And if you care to read my post, I was referring to a salesman in my example.

Part of the business model is that they get a basic wage and work for the rest. The girls know that when they take the job. Bit like a salesman getting a meagre salary and earning commission on his sales to make it reasonable.

You had hope to begin with? Seriously, the GBD was useful and appropriate as a workaround in the absence of vaccines Then when vaccines arrived we had a true scientific route to follow. But I don't expect you to agree, my evidence is that everyone I know personally has had vaccines and boosters and is thriving. Lies, dammed lies and statistics on all sides - I'm taking the empirical view. So far it's serving me well.

As I recall, the GBD was issued before we had a working vaccine and I did believe in it to some extent at the time because it seemed the most pragmatic route to follow. However once we got the vaccines, then I chose to take them anyway, so relinquished my belief in the GBD.

Well.... ......... mRNA vaccines can be harmful: If that's your feeling, choose not to take them The lab leak theory: Much in the news again recently and still not proven so both sides of that one remain conspiracies IMO. I tend to believe in that one but without proof it remains a theory and I still doubt we'll ever have absolute proof. Merely observing your posts leads me to my thought because you are so against anything that appears on MSM, I agree that much of it can be misleading but you do seem to denigrate it all almost as if you make up your mind in advance.

For goodness sake!! Harmful in a very small number of cases compared to those who benefitted from them. Just look up the number of people who have suffered from the vaxes compared to the number who've benefitted. I really cannot be bothered to do that again. By the way, vaccines are not designed to prevent you from catching a virus / stopping transmission - what they do is to reduce the severity of it if you do catch it. That was the conspirators taking a fact and twisting it to serve their agenda! IE...I've now had a total of 6 Covid vaccines / boosters. Last year, I had what I thought was a cold and found out that I had Covid - I only knew because I tested before going to visit a friend who has other health issues, thus postponed the visit for a week for his sake. For me, my cold / Covid went away after the usual 5-6 days, and that was that. Now I have no idea if the Covid would have been more serious had I not been vaccinated, but neither do you. @dinsdale you are clearly a believer in conspiracy theories - many of your posts bear this out...but just let me say....that is your choice which I accept (but with which I heartily disagree) but you might be advised to take your blinkers off. Not everything on TV/legacy media is biased even though I agree that much is.

I disagree entirely! Watch the video I sent (rather longer than yours I'm afraid). Of course there was a risk but there usually is SOME risk with new drugs even when they're allegedly tested for longer. Dare I mention Thalidomide? I get your comments about "Hobson's choice" but then I "chose" to accept the small risk and get back to Life. I really don't understand your comment "it's not looking so good for those who "moved at the speed of science". How so? Everyone I know who was vaccinated and had boosters shares my thoughts.

You are correct, except of course that when (if?) the ETA is introduced, you will have to pay for it. The TM6 was free and for those of us with just a little bit of common sense, took about 5 minutes to fill in on the aircraft, and then placed inside the passport. As @madmitch said, it's the way the world is going. For us in UK, since Brexit, we're going to have to do something similar to visit Europe and of course the USA requires an ESTA

I'm pleased you said "choose" I actually did "follow the science" and decided that, for me, it was the best path back to normalcy. Ignoring the conspiracy opinions, I watched and listened to the scientists and doctors working for the major research organisations. There was a TV programme about the Oxford research labs explaining how and why the testing was expedited (Panorama The Race for a Vaccine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6MUey5lD4c ) Yes...my choice could have been seen as a gamble, and might have killed me but I would truly rather be dead than kept under lockdown and restricted for ever more. Other people may scoff and call me an idiot, but to them I say "you make your choices and I'll make mine." I've parted company with a couple of long-term friends over this very issue, unfortunately. And...I've said this several times now...no regrets.

There I do agree. I was and remain anti-lockdown. IMO, lockdowns should have been advisory for vulnerable people with the rest of us able to make an adult choice. But then would the health services have coped? (Rhetorical question, obviously) No my point was, without the vaccines, the rates of Covid infections would probably have continued rising, and the governments of the world would have kept us in enforced lockdown, and all the other restrictions with which we are familiar. And yes, I chose to be vaccinated (nobody forced me) and as I said above do NOT regret that choice.

I wasn't forced to take the vaccines - I chose to! And 3 years later I do NOT regret my choice.

Would they be non-binary?

Many a true word.................. 😆