ChC1

Welcome to Thailand, LoS. Just be glad that you are not the first one, nor the last one. Next time remember not to get anything free from a stranger!

Translate: If you don't want to come to Thailand, you do not need to get the damn Thailand Pass. Simples. The choice is so obvious.

You give these low level bureaucrats a taste of power and control, they will want more and more, longer and longer and eventually become corrupted with the precious ring of control. Covid brought the worst out from the people in government and agencies. Especially in some East and Southeast Asian countries where true democracy does not exist, the ring of power brought the most irrational and controlling bureaucratic behaviour of all. It is really disgusting to witness such addiction on power and control. I really suggest people do not visit Thailand at all if you can avoid. Feed on those bureaucrats' greed for more control and more power will cause long term damage to everyone who loves (or used to love) Thailand.

The worst problem is not fishery. Rather, it is when massive ocean water went upstream because there is less water went downstream from the dam or while building the dam, which can cause permanent damage to the soil in the Mekong Delta region. That could cause a range of problem like high salt content in soil (aka alkali soil) which can not grow anything to small patch of farm land becomes desert eventually. Thailand needs to think twice in kissing CCP's bum. CCP is robbing you left and right and some Thai still prefers CCP as their masters. Mind boggling.

First, China has to be a super power to make this statement valid. So is China a super power? Economically, its GDP is second the the world. Impressive, until you divided it by per capita. Then we should really squeeze water out of this GDP sponge. We all know China's numbers are hugely inflated, and China lives in debts to expand its GDP by investing in huge infrastructure project. If you take that out, China is no better than an average Eastern European country. Sure, cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai and even Wuhan is impressive. Yet, it is not what China is about. Never to mention the poverty widespread in middle and western provinces. There are large areas in China that is worse than Isan or Laos if you take away the shining government buildings, brand new highways that no cars ran or the railway that average person can not afford a ride on. Secondly, does number 2 in GDP means super power? We can count UK, Japan, Germany...etc. Those country once as number 2 in GDP terms. Would you call those country super power? Third, would size determine a country as super power? Brazil, Russia, Indonesia...would you call them super power? Fourth, would nuclear or military presence determine a country as super power. Look at Russia, massive nuclear reserves. After the blunder in Ukraine and its struggle, would you call Russia a super power today? North Korea throws missiles all the time, do you consider North Korea a super power? I can go on to list many aspects to question why China is not a super power. Most importantly. China could not survive should USA go all in on sanctions that seen on Russia recently. Without the access in SWIFT and World Bank/IMF loans, China is effectively another Venezuela on steroid. Sure, China is important on many aspects like natural resources and the sheer power of spending on a collective term. To make my point, 55 Vietnams combined together will be a super impressive country in GDP terms (and just bigger than China), but each individual Vietnam (sorry Loas and Vietnam) is still poor on average. Without controlling the world's actual economic power (SWIFT, Sanctions, Purchasing power...), China can never be a super power like USA or even UK that is heading the now (almost) defunct Commonwealth. The illusion that China is a super power is over blown. China is a respectful player in regional politics and it has an admirable military presence that its neighbours are only afraid of. NATO is a super power, G7 is a super power, Japan is a almost super power without a big military...Even Russia is still a smallish-super power over its influence over central Asia, and if Russia shuts its energy supply to China it would bankrupt China overnight (exaggerate here but the point is valid). The choice is very clear for Thailand. Do you want to be friend with the real superpower of the world, or follow the illusions in your head? And I hope sincerely that the Thai elite has better understanding on world order than this article quoted.

When you starve the tourist number to virtually zero. Any improvement is...err...huge improvement.

When you pad enough Thais, you will only be left with peanut granules.

BKK 1st May international arrivals according to Flightstats: MS507 CAI KQ881 CAN 6E77 CCU ***NH8507+LHA...OZ397+BR6077+FD6599... etc are cargo flights, not counted. Other flights like CZ5027 etc are not passenger carry or for sale on public, hence not counted neither. TG316 DEL TG971 ZRH TG935 BRU TG318 BOM TG931 CDG TG326 BLR TG911 LHR TG951 CPH TG338 MAA QR830 DOH WY817 MCT TG921 FRA UL402 CMB AF166 CDG 5J929 MNL EY402 AUH SQ706 SIN TR752 SIN TG332 DEL CI833 TPE 8M335 RGN TR624 SIN VN601 SGN SQ708 SIN BR211 TPE 6E 85 DEL PR730 MNL WE551 HCM WE587 PNH PG932 PNH TVJ721 PNH CI831 TPE EK384 DXB WE561 HAN VJC803 SGN KL803 AMS QR836 DOH ET618 ADD TG404 SIN LY81 TLV CX653 HKG VJC901 HAN LH772 MUC TG657 ICN UK121 DEL (possible Cargo flight) OS25 VIE SQ710 SIN TG601 HKG TG416 KUL CI835 TPE AY143 HEL TG466 MEL TG643 NRT QF23 SYD TR610 SIN UB17 RGN SV844 JED BG388 DAC TG322 DAC PG934 PNH SQ712 SIN TG669 CAN CX701 HKG CA621 PVG AI330 BOM QR832 DOH EK372 DXB SQ714 SIN BI519 BWN TG432 DPS WE581 PNH 3K512 SIN PG936 PNH TG665 PVG WE557 SGN ZG 51 NRT WE575 VTE TG625 MNL TG410 SIN WE565 HAN KL804 MNL JL707 NRT TG679 CAN OZ741 ICN NH805 NRT KE651 ICN EK385 HKG Total: possible 90*** passenger flights (some of the flights are very questionable, for example, it is yet not possible for Myanmar or Bangladesh has so many passengers to BKK, that is at least 65flights there alone. Also there are at least 6 flights from PNH and 3 flights from MNL, really? Also there are 9 flights from Vietnam, I assume some of those would be cargo only but no way to verify. Also I included TG's and CA's flights from China, but we know with the heavy restrictions these flights are likely to be cargo mostly) Conclusion: Yes there are about 120 international flights arriving in HKT and BKK on 1st May 2022. However, there are large numbers that going to Phnom Penh, Saigon, Hanoi etc. which I have my doubts on. All China flights and Japan flights are likely to add very little of passenger numbers. The majority of passenger arrives are likely from Singapore and India. Exactly how many flights are cargo flights operated by passenger jets are still unknown (I don't have the time to count). Hence, 120 flights are correct. The devil is in the details. From my rough calculation based on each country's condition, I would guess only two thirds of the flights are with high passenger load factor. Another one third I would put a question mark (like flights from DAC, RGN, HAN, PHN etc.)

To settle one of the dispute, I went on flightstats to count the actual arrived international flights on 1st May in HKT and BKK. The result is as below: HKT Arrivals on 1st May WE338 BOM (Cargo only) TG963 ARN G8 73 DEL QR842 DOH G8 21 BOM (G8 41 BLR and G8 71 CCU is indicated cancelled) SQ726 SIN KC563 ALA EY430 AUH MH786 KUL SQ728 SIN TR656 SIN 3K535 SIN EK378 DXB 6E1763 DEL AK824 KUL QR840 DOH FD377 SIN TG919 LHR TG478 SYD SQ736 SIN TR652 SIN SQ740 SIN QR843 KUL EK396 DXB JQ17 MEL QR841 SIN FD525 HKG Total: 26 possible passenger flights.

I just want to tell you some of my personal experience. All clothes I buy now in USA are made in Honduras, Bangladesh or Indonesia. The shoes I bought, were made in Vietnam of Malaysia. The latest TV I bought last year, Samsung 8KUHD TV, was made in Poland. Taiwanese PC/Electronic supply chain is slowly moving to Vietnam and Cambodia since 2019. Japanese companies are moving back to Japan/Taiwan and Thailand/Malaysia/India. So pretty much soon you can buy PC/electronic equipment that are made in Vietnam/Cambodia/India instead of China. Sure there are still a lot of stuff you buy is made in China (especially on Amazon). But more and more, I see things sold on the market/store are from other countries. It is a trend started from 6-8 years ago, I started to notice things I buy are slowly made in other countries. Even iPhones, it is expected in few years time they will be made in India. Also I understand now there is group of consumers are actively avoid things MiC. Manufactures and vendors will provide alternatives when the market is there.

Looks like Chinese operated Cambodia Call Centers are in need for Mandarin speaking scammers badly. Or are they the gamblers heading for the Chinese owned Casino by the port?

He learned nothing in the past 2 years. He watched too much CCTV/CGTV/Xinhua propaganda. I wait new headline of TAT begging for Chinese tourist for Chinese New Year 2023 by September...Of course there will be multiple cries for tourists from India, Saudi Arabia and Iran in between.

No, you should question which other bloody dog from which house nearby have been taking advantage of your infected one. Oh, the least you should also question your own dog's judgement in seeking pleasure from risky encounters.

Anyone here feel surprised by this should questioning why themselves thought otherwise.

First, there is no set numbers. But what I read from various sources (almost all immunology and virology articles) that 2/3 (67%) to 75% of population seems to be the magic threshold for 'herd immunity'. But that is not say 67% to 75% vaccination rate is enough. Because vaccination is only one of the many component to fight the pandemic. The ideal situation is that almost everyone should be vaccinated. However, another poster has pointed out, that vaccine quality and boosters matters. Thailand is lacking both. Your third point, please kindly point to the source of your claim if you can. One thing we must understand, herd immunity does not mean nobody will get infected. Herd immunity only means majority of the population has the antibody and their immune system can identify the infection and fight successfully on their own. And one part of the theory suggests hopefully with 3 generations of population developing antibodies, the virus can be weakened so much that it eventually could not kill anyone. So judging from what is happening in the US and EU, the virus has been significantly weakened. It does offer some HOPE that a version of herd immunity can be achieved (that majority of people have antibodies.).