Oblomov

OK thanks - must have been something I read that never got past the 'something suggested by someone' phase.

Anyone clarify - how long is given on arrival by air from Oct 1st on? I read somewhere that it was 60 days. Flying in from Bali, not my home country.

'Thai basing' comments are daft - You (Reposed) make a sensible and accurate point that Thais will simply follow rules, even if totally daft such as outdoor mask wearing mandates, because they are raised to conform to the rules of the transparently corrupt regimes they either vote in or end up with by coup. I've lived near schools where valuable teaching time is wasted daily on singing anthems and waving flags. Viruses (especially flu type viruses) escape into populations (and always will) at the times it is simply impossible to isolate ourselves in crowded cities and towns so whether some engage in the theatre of masks outdoors for a few hours here and there or not, will have minimal impact on the control of an uncontrollable and widespread virus. Should we really be incinerating billions of tons of useless PPE at a time when parts of the world are literally on fire and further filling our dying oceans with billions of tons of our rubbish.

No masks outside. It's too stupid. They often don't wear a helmet doing 70kmh on a bike yet have their mask on. Terrified of a cough but ok with catastrophic head injury LOL. People wear a mask in a breezy park then take it off in a crowded restaurant or bar. Billions and billions of these useless things polluting oceans and rivers. Flu type viruses are forever and variants inevitable.

The problem with forcing anything into the cavity is it may push some solid but loose tile adhesive and then the tile will be prone to cracking as it will create a sharp impact point when subjected to the weight of walking on it. Tiles are often laid too close with the wrong grouts so that on expansion and contraction they have nowhere to go but to lift. If you can get the loosest tile up you'll then easily remove the other loose ones and then be able to clean the screed beneath and the tile and re-fix using flexible grouts and adhesives. We had a rogue tile removed by carefully cutting the grout out with a mini-grinder after wetting the grout to reduce dust, then fixing a plywood panel to the tile face using silicon (which can be cleaned off) then easing by using timber attached to the plywood. I wish developers would leave spare tiles on completion of units. Good luck and I feel your pain!

That's true - there are increasing and much graver consequences attributed to the reaction to this virus - In UK there is extremely disturbing data indicating of a huge number of missed early diagnoses of serious illnesses coupled with a huge backlog of missed treatments.

Very true, all my Thai friends for a start - There are also many westerners who've been around Asia for decades and also never got involved in the whole bar thing.

I live in Bali part of each year and from what I've been told by Indonesian friends there are no departure or arrival tests - Seems to be vaccination proof and an insurance and hopefully the latter will disappear at some point

Agree - The Great Game is superb - the 'great game' was a tremendously exciting episode of history and as you say, such incredible characters, it reads like fiction. Burns, Nicholson, Mackeson amongst others. Thanks for reminding me as I must read that again.

Just when you think these clowns have been as stupid or corrupt as humanly possible, they somehow come up with an even more absurd example of idiocy. Don't they read the news globally? Having just had 4 months around the beaches and coastal areas of Phuket and Koh Samui, barely saw a mask on a Westerner outdoors, so at least some have the sense not to shuffle along like sheep. The brain dead leading the brainwashed.

Perfectly summed up - Having recently got back to London after four months around Koh Samui and Phuket, certainly saw more masks and bits of PPE rubbish on the sea bed and on beaches than I saw marine life. As you say, time for those with sense to simply stop wearing wearing the things, to make the mandate unenforceable and the peer pressure, less prickly. For whatever reason some Asian 'governments' won't let this idiocy end, it's not for the good health of the poor and the regular citizen. Good luck Mike

Finally ! Bali too apparently, so good news for all of those that are out of work due to the excessive and ineffective restrictions and disincentives to travel. I know a lot of my Thai and Indonesian friends are very happy as visitor numbers and therefore income, increases. I'm sure those with complicated health conditions or unhealthy obesity levels can make their own personal decisions on precautions they see as essential to themselves. I'm sure we'll all enjoy the parks, the beaches and just being out and about a lot more.

There are sensible and effective ways of minimizing exposure and lessening impact for many health conditions - masks outdoors for these types of viruses is not one of them. Thankfully plenty of travel options now, so most will simply rule out the countries that still have these mask wearing mandates. It's not even law, so it says a lot about a population that blindly follow such 'leaders.'

Bali is very safe compared to almost anywhere else - these guys or LBs fly around on scooters at night looking for Westerners to pick off. Turned out ok as I got the fist digs in on the one with the big mouth and the others lost heart. I hear the LBs are a menace in some areas of Pattaya and a lot of those Thais did a lot of Kung <deleted> when kids, so wouldn't fancy my chances against a few of those. Thx for the message and yes ok thank you

LOL - Against three of them? But they gave up when it obviously wasn't going to be a pushover and I went for the one with the big mouth. Luckily it was on a main road so the disturbance attracted a lot of attention. Not the best way to end a fun night on Bali. : )