JomtienExile

The resort where I am doing quarantine is close to full, but none of the residents I have spoken to are tourists. They are all people like me, with property, family, romantic or business reasons to want to be in Thailand. Like me, they have all spent a lot of time, effort and money meeting all the requirements to get here. I don't think anyone just wanting a beach holiday is going to be willing to do that. If Thailand wants tourists to come back, they will have to open their borders much more widely. And they would be very unwise to do that until the vaccine rollout has started to take effect. For Thailand 2021 will nearly as bad economically as 2020 has been. Next winter is the earliest they can realistically expect tourism to recover. (Last day in quarantine tomorrow!)

23 minutes ago, murraynz said:

Ive lived in pattaya 4 yrs..

Have never noticed a dislike for foreigners...

Thais in tourist towns of course have a vested interest in being nice to foreigners. But I can only say that if they really dislike foreigners they are very good actors. I think if you show interest in their lives and don't just treat them as servants or sex-objects, they will respond accordingly. 

5 minutes ago, Haveasay said:

Things I may have missed is that it's been obvious as I walk beach regularly and in time hopefully Jomtein gets a wider beach as well, that's the towards Rayong end. But the Thais in their numbers have been able to utilize their country with a lot less non Thais about. Good on them. There's been loads, especially along beach road of food stalls, a weekend fireworks and music festival and more, to brighten Thai faces. To watch Thais enjoying what's there's unhindered, in couples or groups, whether seated or on mats, with their children playing, alleviates their no doubt poorer predicament. However on a sad note as motorbike bike taxis have more freedom as a result of less presence of, leave it at that, but there's an equal quantity of various food delivery drivers, with scant skills, zooming or zig zagging, everywhere. So, in the event you didn't notice other nationalities, who previously occupied the sois and byways, there's a new pest if you own transport. Apart from that the roads are generally quieter in the morning, and adjust at times to not seeing many drivers at all. Here that's definitely not normal, as the absence apart from weekends of the previous plethora of buses, squeezing in and along sois.

Yes, I'm sure many Thais welcome having the beaches to themselves for a while. On the other hand, places like Jomtien really only exist because of tourism, and most of the Thais who live there earn their living from tourists. So in the long run they need tourism for economic life to revive. Some of my friends have had to go home to Isan or the North, or back to Lao and Cambodia, and now have no money, although at least at home they get fed.

I bought my place here three years ago and no longer class myself as a tourist. I try to be courteous and respectful, and tip generously, and I now know some Thais well enough to hear their side of the tourism story. Some love the opportunities which tourism gives them to make more money, go to university, learn languages and to travel. On the other hand many tourists behave very badly and treat all Thais as either whores or servants, which of course they resent. They despise tourist behaviour which cuts against Thai values, such as public drunkenness and crude sexual behaviour in public. They also have a definite hierarchy of which tourists they like and dislike. Fortunately for me Australians are close to the top.

10 minutes ago, BKKBike09 said:

Thanks for the response about the letter.

 

My sympathy for the government is diluted by the fact that they do not require a pre-flight Covid test for Thai nationals. For that reason alone I would try to avoid a repatriation flight because the more untested people on a flight, the greater the risk of catching it. Not that I'm particularly worried about catching Covid: my concern would be more that after all the hassle and expense of return, even an asymptomatic positive test in ASQ after 12 days or whatever would translate into another lengthy period of quarantine in a hospital = yet more expense and potentially long-term implications for health insurance eg "you were hospitalised for 2 weeks with Covid ergo we will not cover you in future for X / Y / Z" - even if it was asymptomatic admission (and particularly if hospital notes record any form of treatment).

 

As an aside I find it astonishing that your supposedly progressive and democratic government can forbid a law-abiding citizen from leaving his or her country without 'permission'. What on earth has that got to do with the government? But I digress.

Yes, those are valid points. I was certainly apprehensive about the flight itself. I don't know what the requirements were for Thai nationals - everyone was temperature tested on check-in, on boarding and on disembarkation. I was seated between two other Australians so that helped a bit. The cabin crew were all in full PPI. 

On Australia, our government may be democratic but it's far from progressive. The idea was to stop people skipping off to Bali for the weekend and coming back with COVID. But the restrictions are excessive and have gone on too long.

Bluetongue: I have a non-O retirement visa which I obtained in March just before I left. I also have a re-entry permit valid until mid 2021. The Embassy advised me that the visa is now activated again but not the re-entry permit, so I had to obtain a new Certificate of Entry. The compulsory health insurance is a new thing as far as I know. This will be a problem for older exiles if they have health issues. Fortunately I'm a fit and healthy 67yo and passed the medical exam with no problems. I bought from Blue Cross because I can afford a more comprehensive policy but I know there are cheaper alternatives. My approach was to do exactly what the Thai Embassy told me, no matter what the cost. Now that I'm not paying rent in Melbourne I will recoup the full cost of getting back here if I stay for six months.

This by the way is the form that your COVID test must follow or it won't be accepted. 

I love the smell of Bangkok in the morning. ????

I have every sympathy with Thailand in the current situation. They badly need the tourists to come back, but they don't want to expose the country to COVID. Sadly they can't have it both ways. They can't expect many tourists while this entry regime is in place. But I think they are correct to stick to a restrictive policy. They will have to accept the economic pain for a while longer, although obviously this is feeding into the current political discontent. Maybe the vaccine will change the outlook for the better in the coming year.

After nearly nine months in exile, I arrived in Bangkok yesterday afternoon on the Thai Airways repatriation flight from Sydney. 

I returned to Australia in March and endured a winter of hard lockdown and curfews in Melbourne.  In retrospect of course I should have stayed, but it was impossible then to know what would happen in Thailand with COVID.
In September I applied for the new Special Tourist Visa. I got a pro forma response but nothing ever came of this application. Don't bother with this is my advice.
In November I learned, at this forum, that my non-O Retirement Visa would again be honoured. The Thai Embassy in Canberra confirmed this by email.

I then bought the required health insurance from Pacific Cross. Since I am over 65 I had to have a full medical exam to qualify. Their Bangkok office was very helpful, but this still took two weeks to process.
I then tried to fill in the online application form for the Certificate of Entry, but was unable to make it work. It took many phone calls, with long waits, and many emails, to get the Canberra Embassy to fix this and allow me to submit the CoE form. The staff tried to be helpful but no-one seemed to be responsible for fixing the problem.

My travel agent was unable to find a direct flight. The best she could do was via Singapore with a ten-hour stopover. The Embassy then told me I could take the weekly repatriation flight out of Sydney. The 7 December flight was full but I got on the 14 December flight. I booked and paid for this direct with Thai.

I then booked and paid for a repatriation hotel. I rang through the list of eligible hotels until I found one that had a room with a balcony so I would not have to endure 14 days of hotel air-conditioning, which always makes me sick. This place is expensive by Thai standards but the room is very nice.

Then I had to wait for the CoE to arrive, which it did only on the Friday before the flight. The CoE seems to take two weeks to process even if approved, so the flight must be timed accordingly.

Once I had the CoE I could apply to the Home Affairs Department for an exit permit. I told them I would be away for at least three months. I showed them the title deed to my condo in Jomtien and the one-way air ticket. They accepted this and issued the permit without fuss. Others have not been so lucky.

Then I had to get a COVID test and a fit-to-fly letter within 72 hours of the flight. Since the flight was in on a Monday morning, this posed a problem. My GP is not available on weekends, and most public COVID test sites won't test people who don't have symptoms, and don't issue results in writing. So I had to pretend to have symptoms to get tested on Saturday morning, wait 24 hours to get the result by text message, then find a doctor available on Sunday to issue the letter. Beware that the letter must conform exactly to the wording required by the Embassy or it won't be accepted.

So I then fronted at Sydney Airport a full three hours before the flight, and this was necessary because the check-in process was slow and complicated. I had to show passport, visa, CoE, exit permit, health insurance, hotel booking, fit-to-fly and COVID test to at least five people. All were polite and helpful, but the queue was long and slow.
At Bangkok Airport we were greeted by what looked like half the Thai workforce in full barrier nursing costumes, and went through all the paperwork several times again. We were then dispatched to our quarantine hotels in sealed vans (really) and did the paperwork again on arrival. Again, everyone was polite and helpful but the process is slow. Patience is  required. The Thais are naturally edgy and anyone making a fuss will not be well received.
Nevertheless, here I am on a beautiful Bangkok winter evening, very happy to be back. I will be in quarantine for Xmas but be back home in Jomtien for New Year.
So it can be done. The process is slow, complex and expensive, and requires patience and persistence. I don't think many actual tourists will be willing to jump through all these hoops. 

Anyone who is willing to put 3 million baht in a Thai bank has rocks in their head.