Dirk Z

My office is CW. I have an account with Citibank, no book. Because statement and visa can not be done in one day I get my statement from the bank the day before. On the day itself I withdraw a small amount from an ATM (any) and keep the slip. This shows the balance. I attach it to the document from the bank (1 year!) and this has always been accepted.

I certainly have no idea, or do you mean exponential? Exponential means that after 28 doubles each person in Thailand is infected and after 30 everyone on this planet. Since it seems to double every 1-2 days... do the math.

Yes, and I go to a bar with live music. I had 2 jabs and a booster so did all I could. The question is not IF I will be infected with Covid but WHEN. If I want to avoid it I have to live in a cave or a deserted island, something I don't want. So I take reasonable precautions but else... let it be.

Usually Wise is quick but my last transfer (4000 euro to Krungsri Bank) took more than 2 days to process.

My educated guess is the opposite. Maybe Omikron will not overwhelm Thailand: 1. Already a large part of the population is vaccinated. True, some with less effective vaccines but still even they offer some protection. 2. Like in the first wave: Thailand has a young population, not much overweight, not that much smoking, at least among women almost 0% 3. I believe many Thai have been infected with Covid without having many symptoms or such light symptoms that they were not tested, scared to be put in a field hospital for two weeks. So they developed an immunity. 4. Corona viruses have been present in this part of the world for tens of thousands of years. There must be some adaptation in the immune system which makes it different from for instance Europeans. 5. Whatever you read here: Thai are very aware of infectious diseases, they have been around forever and they adapt their lifestyle to deal with it. So if news comes of an outbreak the frist thing most do is stay home, the best response.

I know that the medical center BeWell does boosters. If you are not a member it will cost you an extra 1000, but that's always cheaper than getting ill or even the price of a coffin.

Omicron spreads very fast and it is not a question of if it will come but when it will come. I think soon, seeing how fast it doubles elsewhere. Until now it is unclear whether the effects of the new variant are less serious or the same as the delta. The data from South Africa cannot simply be transposed, it is a totally different population and different circumstances. Data from UK and Denmark are more worrying. What worries me most is that, although vaccines protect, the present vaccines offer less protection against omicron, and Sinovac may even hardly protect at all. All the reason to get a booster and I want to encourage anyone to do so.

This is a cultural thing. Thais are generally polite, respectful and restrained but turn into some other being as soon as they take control of something with a throttle. Selfish and aggressive without respect for other participants in traffic and just thinking about the quickest way to get somewhere regardless. Unless there is a change of mentality I don't see anything happening in traffic safety. It begins with educating children, so it will take 2-3 generations if anything is to change.

During my professional life of 40 years I have worn masks most of the time. I also wear glasses and admit it is a struggle. Make sure you have good closure at the upper side (nose) of the mask. There are masks that have a foam strip there. Make sure there is a metal band that you can bend. As a last resort you can use some tape over the upper side.

There is a number on your vaccination certificate of you have it.

When it went wrong with the date I just pressed "confirm", got an error message (of course) but then the box for the date would be available again. It's fiddly.

It requires some perseverance, especially for the date, but after about 5 attempts I managed to get the confirmation.

Free thinking? Misinformed!

For now too little is known and it can go any way. Try this survey again when we have relevant information, for now too much speculation.

It's not about the arrivals, they seem completely safe. But the arrivals release a lot of activity in connection: taxi's, tuk-tuks, cleaners, peddlers, all coming from their villages and we don't really know what rusk that imposes. So I think we can be happy that this has not caused a real new wave.

It is highly unlikely that the back pain has anything to do with the vaccination. There is no conceivable mechanism and to me (MD) it seems just a coincidence, however unpleasant.

Vaccination is very effective. Look at Portugal. The countries with rising cases have too many non vaccinated. Too many experts who know it all.

Anyone have any idea about how many real antivaxxers there are in Thailand? I know there is opposition against Sinovac, but most seem to be wanting a vaccination as such. It seems different from Europe, but I have never seen any real data about this.

I was there 5 days ago. Had to show my vaccinated evidence but inspection was not very thorough.

Not True. There are now some reservation about Astra. I would go for Pfizer.

This is mainly about the money, but after my marriage I continued to extend my visa as before, as unmarried. A lot easier.

I also never understood. But lately I have seen Thais drinking. Genetically they don't tolerate alcohol well and women even less. They like to sit close in groups and get very loud. I do believe this helps spreading a virus. It is not like having a beer or a glass of wine with a meal. Unfortunately the latter group suffers from the behavior of the first.

I have Citibank, no bank book. I get the statement for the past twelve months the day before I go for the extension. On the day itself I withdraw a small amount from an ATM and attach the slip to the statement. This has always been accepted.

There are some high risk countries on this list like Romania. But since everyone entering needs to be vaccinated, have a negative test and a short quarantine, it did not really send to matter where they come from as they impose no threat. The threat is from everything that starts moving connected with tourism like cleaners, tuk tuk drivers etc. I wonder how many of them are vaccinated.

I would go to the appropriate Land Office and ask for the requirements. When I did this I also found out that they only work by appointment and the next one was in six weeks. The medical certificate has a validity of 4 weeks, so this helps for planning. You also have the latest version of requirements, things have a tendency of changing here sometimes.