ChC1

Pre-flight test is £20 for anti-gen and £50 for PCR. Slightly more expensive for same day result but less than £80 can be found. You can check the price from Express Test by Cignpost, they are based in Heathrow airport terminal so supposed to be expensive ones. Their price is very reasonable, and there are discount code available online to further reduce the cost.

I don't know why some readers get so upset or cheerful. This piece of news is from the CCP's mouthpiece to boost their own image. It is an informal or routine visit by Thai D. PM and no agreement has been signed. And no other things have been discussed or treaty being suggested even. The location is thousands kilometres away from Beijing (hence not official visit). I suspect this visit has something to do with the submarine without the German engines. Yet the Chinese state propaganda turned the story to focus on what Wang said about 'let us make friends and work together' thing [translate: I am sorry pal, I can't keep my promise, but let us keep our friendship. We can find common ground in other things like the useless trade group. Come on Pal, let us play sword fight to make up. You might feel better afterwards. ][*** if you don't know what is sword fight, ask your grandpa or great grandpa***]. Somehow some poster wet their pants (sorry if it causes offense but I did not really mean someone wet their pants, it is just English language thing, in case someone here not familiar with the impression and report my post) for whatever reason I can only guessing. Chill out everyone. Wait for Thailand's media to report this meeting. If Thai media kept quiet or not saying the same thing CCP was preaching, it would 100% about the submarine.

Both are accurate. Every time when TAT and Thailand have information that they anticipate changes in entry requirement, there would be a surge in searching hotels on Agoda. Also, Agoda buys ads on internet, so anyone who accidentally searched anything remoted connect to Thailand would/might/maybe be offered a deep link to Agoda to encourage internet users to search for hotels on Agoda. To Agoda, the interests are increasing. But the actual bookings? Well, this is where bookings dot com site is telling the truth. It is going nowhere. There is simply not enough tourists actually book anything. Agoda needs news like this to remain relevant. A vague terms that searching has increased. But when? and by how much? Any bookings? Conversion rate from search click to actual booking? No words on it. Because Agoda's intention is to get on the news and be relevant to make sure investors are happy that it is spending money on advertisement to stay relevant. It is called, errrr, marketing. For all we know, the increase in search traffic might be solely based on increasing marketing budget Agoda spends on search engines. So let us go back to the original question. I am afraid Thailand unfortunately have missed the opportunity. First, Thailand now has a bad taste left among tourists who would have returned. The entry requirement has too many obstacles. People have been waiting and waiting. It has been a year since many of Europeans and Americans got their vaccine and was waiting for Thailand to open up. But what Thailand had done is to tell them that Thailand does not want them. So many of them will discover some destinations they did not think of going: Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Egypt, UAE, Qatar, Maldives, the Caribbean, the cruise ships...Staycation becomes another fashionable thing among tourists. Second, now Thailand is unfortunately becoming a Covid hot spot. Remember how Thailand introduced the draconian entry requirement because Europe and American was a dirty place rampant with Covid? Now you try to convince the triple jabbed tourists from those country Thailand looked down at earlier when Thailand was the 'example' of clean Covid free place to pay a visit? Well, some might. But many will say no. The daily infection number will make some of the tourists staying away. Third, Thailand is not helping itself by position itself begging for Indians, Chinese and Russian tourists. Believe in it or not, many tourists do take moral seriously. Especially Europeans, with the Russian invasion, many Europeans would think twice about Thailand that publicly luring tourists from India (who buys oil from Russia which indirectly fund the war), China (the biggest Russia backer) and Russia itself. At this moment, there is no boycott of Thailand yet. But it could be a thing as war going longer and Russia's friends were further exposed. Fourth, economical condition in the world means less disposable income to spend in Thailand. High inflation, high energy price, rising interests rates...The longer Thailand wait, the more bleak the future for Thailand tourism is to be. The middle class is being squeezed really hard with high inflation and high oil price. And the worst is not here yet. If any forecast is to be taken, the traditional middle class that typically spend big in Thailand will suffer greatly by end of the year and next year. When interest rate in Europe and USA hit 2.5%, Thailand will find itself have at least 50% less tourist trips from USA and Europe. Fifth, did I mention airfares will become more expensive and Thailand hotels and restaurant will have to raise price to double of what it was soon? You guys are good at calculation. Thailand has to be totally open by May, if it missed the May deadline, one third of the business may fall. Not only that, if world economic condition continue worsen with 7% inflation quarter on quarter, and oil price stay above $120 for long time to come, the high season in October is not going to happen. The great squeeze of Middle Class in USA and Europe will kill off any remaining demand. People will take vacations closer to home. Finally, the political risks are increasing every day Thailand remain draconian on tourists entry hence deprive many livelihoods and job opportunities. Why do you suddenly see news about Thaksin? Think about it, the military government has been in power for quite a long time, the longer it is controlling, and the longer Covid is damaging the society, the more tension there is brewing within society. Yellow shirts, red shirts have never gone away. It is still coexisting in the society. When hardship hits, it will crumble. Old feud will be discussed. People with different political views will re-group. The longer the current situation going on, the more/higher pressure it will accumulate over a short period of time. Soon or later, some political miscalculation will cause a major break points. It might take few years, it might never happen in our life time. But Thailand's history is full of coup and political infighting that involve with the mass. And history tends to repeat itself. The current political cycle will find its ending pretty much sooner should one corner of the society is hard hit by the hardships. Can Thai hospitality sector survive 2022? Unfortunately Thailand has missed its chance, it will no longer be depended on the next policy chance of Thailand's Covid entry rules. Rather, in my opinion, if current situation is not improving soon worldwide, 2022 is a gone year for many working in Thailand tourism sector. For potential tourists, not only their smaller disposable income will stop them making big trips to Thailand with higher air fares and more expensive lodging and food expenditures, the increasingly unstable political outlook in Thailand will stop many coming visit even if the remaining restrictions are cancelled.

I will not visit countries like Singapore, Japan and Thailand for a while.

That is correct. India is one of the biggest customer for Russian produced arms and weaponries. So now we have China is buddy of Pakistan, Russia is buddy of India, India is the enemy of Pakistan, China is sleeping with Russia. India is fighting China and Pakistan for boarder disputes on and off. Thailand is flirting with all of them. What else can go wrong? Let us just hope and pray nothing does go wrong. And let us also hope the day that Thailand has to pick a side would never come.

I have a different vision about 'Crossroad'. I think Thailand is at a 'crossroad' between Prospect and Falling down from a Tourists Mecca. How so? And why I would have this worry? I think we can talk about Philippines and South Africa. Both country were very big in tourism. Both fell from its height due to safety concerns (kidnapping, robbery, killing of tourists in some cases). And the safety concerns was due to widespread poverty, drugs trade which in turn makes people violent, corruption and social structure failures. After 2 years in desperate situation, many Thais used to live on mass tourism and its benefits suddenly found themselves in a situation that no prospect of mass tourists return in a short period of time. What is worse, many of the tourism industry owners or workers took loans to expand or to enjoy a better life before the Pandemic as the booming seems to be endless at that time. 2 years on without work or steady income, many are close to bankruptcy or even have to borrow more. However, there is no US style bankruptcy laws in Asia in general, so many will carry the debts for ages to come. If you really analyse the situation, you can certainly see the worrying picture. Desperate people take desperate means. How long before some of the people decide to falling through the system and sees rob tourists or even kidnap tourists in order to pay the debt? How long before some of the people becoming street beggar or join gangs? If Thailand authority is not careful here and let the small problem becomes a big problems that eventually eats the whole foundation of the social structure, it will be non-containable. Contain a virus or pandemic is easier job compared to contain poverty driven crimes. I am sure my worry is unfounded and fictional to many people and Thais. And I am sure my worry is what it is, a worry. Yet, if one truly understand history, sociology and have any sense of how poverty can change the landscape of tourism, one should be deeply concerned. Thai elite/ruling class might have the resource to last forever in this highly restrictive environment. It is not same if you have lots of debts but little income, or lost the steady income that was fuelling your debt. Look at Atlantic City, look at Blackpool, look at Egypt after the attacks a decade back, look at Lebanon, and look at Sri Lanka. There are many examples of how a once tourists mecca can fall to desperation and forever downwards spiral. Thailand has no social safety net like those in developed country, or not enough safety net. 2 years of no tourists will leave scars and underline damage to its society that once relied on mass tourism. I personally believe Thailand is at a cross road. It must decide how long it can wait to abolish all entry requirements in order to contain the poverty and lost time/income for many of its grass root tourism employees. My not-so-scientific 'worry' is that if Thailand missed the time to be fully reopen, some part of the country might become a tourists no-go area, and that in turn tarnish the reputation of Thailand. When the first monetary aimed attack on tourists occurs, it could be a no-return for an once great tourist destination for decades to come.

The point is, if 3,000 baht is too much, did it occur to the OP that he really needs to bury the dog, so to renegotiate to somewhere both party can agree? No. He did not. Every farang in Thailand knows sometimes you have to haggle. Could the OP offer 1,000 baht instead to get things done? Not according to the OP. Did the OP ask his wife to communicate and to haggle? If not, why? Maybe if you ask this question you would realise how far stretched the story OP is telling. Or how immature the whole episode is if the OP is telling the true story.

For those who think the OP did a correct thing. Here is USA CDC advice on stray animals: Fact Sheet: Protection from Animal and Insect Hazards | Natural Disasters and Severe Weather (cdc.gov) Highlight: General Avoid wild or stray animals. Call local authorities to handle animals. Secure all food sources and remove any animal carcasses. Get rid of dead animals, according to guidelines from your local animal control authority, as soon as you can. See Animal Disposal for answers to frequently asked questions. And this is the advice from Northern Ireland government on how to deal with stray dogs: Lost and stray dogs | nidirect highlight: If you wish you may keep a stray dog temporarily in your home while trying to contact the owner or the dog warden service (which you must do). Enough said.

It is also morally and ethically wrong to expect someone doing it for free for you just because you impose your own moral high ground on the rest of society. You are also hypocritic. If you cared about animal welfare, why would not pay a small fee to bury the animal in time? Do you really care? No. You try to paint the picture you care about her so much, yet you are too busy to blame other people for not doing it for free. In the end, you failed to remove the body at the first opportunity. It is absolutely your own fault.

I will go direct to the point: You are the one to blame. It is entirely your fault. 1, When in Rome, do the Roman way. The same goes to say that Thai has different social value and etiquette compare to western societies. If you decide to settle in a Thai village, respect the people there and their way of life. Here is the question you should ask yourself, if your wife is living with you in your own country, would you expect your wife to bring her Thai village attitude towards stray dogs in your country? 2, You are totally wrong in dealing with stray dogs Here in US, and some part of Europe, the correct way dealing with stray dogs is to call the animal control, they pick up the dogs, check for diseases, then it will either be exterminated or send to an animal welfare shelter where it may find a new owner. What you have done is absolutely dangerous to the society and people living around you. If you have concern, pay the local vet to take her in and check her up first. You may think you have done a wonderful thing, but from a public safety point of view, you are bring potential danger to your own family. There are correct way to deal with stray dogs. Thailand can not do the western way to have animal welfare teams. Then if you want to deal with it on your own, you have to take the financial burden yourself. And you need to get professional help, by paying yourself. If you can't or don't want, you should have not get involved. 3, Asking family or friend to take the risk of infection to bury a dead dog without compensation is cruel for your own family and friend. So here is the thing, you want your family and friend to voluntarily help you remove the dead dog, which could be infested with diseases or parasites. Yet you don't want to spend $100 as compensation for your family and friends to take the risks and time to help you. And then you blame them for being selfish. Right, the real selfish one if YOU. The dog died in your property, you are the one responsible for the mess. Your family and friends are not your employees, they have no obligation to help you. And to remove a dead body, even animal, is a dangerous job. It has nothing to do with animal welfare nor being nice or non-selfish. It is a process with risk. You are rather selfish to expect people should do it for free, 'for the greater good' as you implies. But again it is in your private property, it is your responsibility like your wife had warned you. 4, You are the culprit yet you blame Thai culture for your own failure You ignored your wife's warning and take the responsibility. Then someone is not charitable enough in your expectation you start to blame the Thai culture and society for the attitude on 'animal welfare'. But, the reality is you did not really thought it through. Western government has its rules and procedure in dealing with situation like this. If that failed there is animal welfare charity. But in all situation, all government's advice is you should never deal with stray animals yourself. You should not feed any animals that is not your pet or get close to a stray animal. Show me any laws or regulations from any western country says otherwise and I will eat my own words. The reality is that you did something wrong and you could not admit it because you thought you were doing a good thing. You are not. Like I said, you brought danger to the village and your own wife. You might have break the law of certain countries. Stop thinking yourself being the victim. If you really care, join a animal welfare charity or start one in Thailand. Don't blame others or the society for your own failure or something failed your unreasonable expectations. I don't think you are ignorance nor stupid. I do believe, however, you lack understandings of doing things correctly and you failed to see that your wife is actually more sensible and clever than you.

That is correct. Only 25% of GDP, but tourism is a big employer in Thailand. The hotel/tour business employees a lot of higher education graduate, as well as the restaurant/bars/massage parlours provide a lot of job opportunities to less educated Thai general public. Not only that, the booming tourism also provide a lot of fringe business opportunities for street vendors, market sellers, agriculture business opportunities to provide food and flowers...etc. The whole chain of tourism related business provides mass employee opportunities that no other industry can match. If you look at cities like Bangkok, Phuket, Hua Hin, Pattaya...all important Thai cities are largely built based on tourists. The other 75% of the GDP can not fill the hole of tourisms in terms of job opportunities. When the tourists disappear, so does the hotel/tour company business, then the bar/restaurant business, and eventually trickle down to the street vendors and farmers. It is a huge structural problem any reasonable sociology and economic scientist/bureaucrats would get really worried. Build factories, high speed rails and huge infrastructure project cost a boat load of money and make GDP looks impressive, but those project provide little opportunities for ordinary people in absolute numbers and its sphere of influence in broader economy is actually small when we count the employment opportunities in total numbers. sure, 25% of GDP, but to loose this part of business, it will paralyse a large part of the Thai society, which should be a bigger concern. Unfortunately, I doubt the Thai hi-so leaders can see through it. And so far I have not seen any responsible academia or technocrats facing the reality and challenge the ruling class to make sure they realise what damage it has done to the society as a whole by putting so many obstacles to attract tourists. The longer current situation last, the more irreversible damage it could've done.

It is so true. They only see those actually arrived for whatever reason. Yet they dare to even think there is a possibility that millions could have been here if they did not have so many obstacles. Each obstacle stops hundreds thousands if not millions tourists from coming. And TAT can not see it. T T A When you consider the A looks like a nose, the T and T looks like two weeping eyes. Very accurate of TAT in distress call as not enough tourists are coming.

I don't do massages nor motorbikes in Thailand, why would I do that in Maldives? And why would budget relevant when I off to Maldives?

2 tests more than what I am willing to do. Sorry but no. Maldives here I come.

in LOS? Never. You will get only one version of 'TRUTH'. The real version of 'TRUTH' is always disguised as rumour, unfounded or foreign interference/accusations.

Meanwhile, the quarantine free and more relaxed rules on entry, tourisms hyper dependent Maldives has GDP growth rate of 18% in 2021, and projected to grow 15% in 2022. Maldives: Economy | Asian Development Bank (adb.org) Thailand's GDP growth forecasted in 2021 would be the bottom of ASEAN countries and had to thank Myanmar for taking the last spot. And the current account balance forecast for 2021 is negative. Thailand: Economy | Asian Development Bank (adb.org) If Thailand wants to see meaningful rebound in GDP, it has to learn from Maldives, fully recharge tourism and abolish all Covid excessive restrictions on foreign tourists.

garbage in, garbage out. day in and day out.

No it is A-nut-in

I want to smoke whatever this guy smoked.

Sure. But have you thought about the day when you need to withdrawn the $1 million investment? Good luck with that.

For USD$250,000 plus plus you can buy an EU passport from countries like Cyprus, Malta, Hungary or Portugal. In some countries, you get a house in return. For USD$250,000 you can buy an universally recognised passport and residence right from Caribbean countries like St. Kitts or Dominica. And, the money you spent is not disappearing, it is actually an investment fund (normally state run sugar development fund) to those countries so you would receive some back. For less than USD$1 million you can buy a residence right in UAE or Qatar with a big house and room for maids and drivers. For over USD$1 million you buy nothing in Thailand but right to work. Tell me the options: what work Thailand can offer for a millionaire? I am waiting. Thailand obviously has a lot of bridges for sale. I wonder which Russian, Iranian, North Korean or Chinese would like to buy.

Wells Fargo had serious problems few years back before Covid. It is alleged that Wells Fargo branch managers opened lots of bogus accounts using customer's information without informing them. The reason is the bank award branch employee with new account opening, and also have a minimum requirements for new account opening to evaluate bonus etc. They were found out and fined big time. I think that is the reason why they are very stingy in taking out accounts that do not fit in 'normal' pattern. And as a Clean Up requirement by FED, Wells Fargo has to 'act' upon 'advices' to clear out 'accounts with red flags' that is not 'legitimate'. You should have switched bank back in 2016 or earlier to any international bank that has operation in US except HSBC or Wells Fargo (both were in big legislation trouble over accounts). Should you have done so you would not have the trouble you had today.

Southeast Asia is a step stone to many Chinese students. That includes Thailand and Malaysia. The reason is for anyone who wants to study in US/UK/Australia, one has to pass English test or US high school test for overseas students (not sure all the names now maybe some posters here can help me out). The problem is that some of the tests are very limited in Greater China region. So pupil with resource would take the tests in Thailand and Malaysia instead. Some students, that do not have the resource, but wants to prepare for a post graduate degree in Anglo-Saxon countries, choose the route of undergraduate degrees or even diploma degrees in countries like Thailand and Malaysia. Often, with less academic ability they can get into better universities in countries like Thailand and Malaysia, still way ahead of the Chinese universities they can get into with their Chinese high school exam scores. You have to remember there are millions high school students graduate every year. There are only top 112 universities that great students can go (known as 211 project in China). That is about 400,000 fresh students. For students that ranked 400,000 and outside, or even outside 100,000 that wants to attend a world top 200 university, or have a slight chance to be accepted by great US/British universities, their only chance is to get into a better ranked university overseas. (here I used a simple example, but there are more complicated one depends which province the student is based. For example, the top university Peking University may only wants 30 students from Henan province so if you are in the fringe of being top 30, your dream of Peking University is dead for sure just because you are not from Peking) Then we go back to the English test earlier. So these middle tier students, that may fail their entry exam to a top 100 universities in China, while have the ambition to study in Anglo-Saxon world with a better quality university, Thailand and Malaysia are the best choice. First is the low cost. Studying in Thailand for 4 years undergraduate is cheaper than one year in UK. Second the is the opportunity to practice English where it is difficult to do in China. Third is the almost unlimited opportunities to take the English exam. Fail once? Try again within a short period. Unlike in China, you fail once, the next available slot might be 3 years later. To say it simply, it is complicated for Chinese students. It is tough for them too. You have millions fellow students to beat in order to get into a 2-1-1 university, and even if you can afford to go overseas, there are many obstacles to go through. Hence there are many British and Australian university set up camps in Malaysia to meet this market.

Of course it is possible. But what is the chance (percentage) and how long it takes (3 months? one year? 10 years?)? Sadly the Dr. Obvious did not have an answer.

None of the countries should be in normal retirees' mind unless you are ready to form a family locally. For single retirees there are much better place to live, Florida, Spain or Malta. For family retirees, the world is your oyster, while many would favour closer to grandchildren. Thailand is a special case, we can debate for years but everyone here love Thailand for special reasons, that including the shameful word and more ordinarily, family ties. Any ordinary western retirees (***definition: does not have family ties to Asia and not prepared to have relationship with locals and does not like Asian culture and/or food, and not adventurous enough to move to a different culture***) who wants to retire in Asia needs their heads examined. So, other Asian countries can not simply copy Thailand's offering. And many people who would accept Thailand's offering are unlikely to choose other countries. It is really not a choice for many people. It is either Thailand or closer to home. For me, the choice is either USA or Australia. I can not live without Costco, good coffee shops and English speaking environment (so to make like minded friends easily and to communicate in equal terms). Thailand is a good place to relax for fortnight, but it gets boring and repetitious easily. I value safety, simplicity, privacy, communication and avoid stupidity. For anyone who have never lived in Asia before, or do not have or intend to have family ties, and have little tolerance for stupidity, stay out.