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. : )

LOL - exactly - they're blokes. I have had full on fist fights with these guys, once during an attempted mugging whilst walking home at 3am on Bali where I live a few months a year. Apart from those shrill voices they affect, they are blokes. The ones on Bali mince around when picking up (or trying to pick up) customers, but when that is unsuccessful, they're on their scooters around Bali late at night trying to hustle or mug Westerners. Never met or heard off one bona fide female who does that! Stepdaughter! LOL

Never sure why they're even in the 'LGB' demographic. If you're a guy who likes another guy or gal who is into other gals, it seems pretty simple. They always seem to be very loud and intent on making a scene, either by over the top clothing (or lack of it) and often involved in overtly illegal activity. On Bali, aggressive gangs of them ride around on scooters after midnight trying to pick off those returning to hotels from nights out. Had to employ extremely violent defensive moves to fight off three of them one night myself. I know that's a minority but way too many of them working the bars and apps for customers or otherwise irregular ways at getting money. It's a whole other area and I'd guess only those that go down that route, one way or another, reallyy know what impels them.

Well said - outdoor mask wearing is totally ridiculous - we'll all be eating these things when billions of them get into the oceans then the food chain - the environment was polluted enough without billions and billions of items of PPE getting added to all of our rubbish - I was diving around Koh Samui recently and certainly more masks than marine life

Wish the guy well for of course. He's obviously super fit and takes care of his body so that will help. Didn't read any info in the story as to whether he was insured or not or with the right policy conditions or not, or who may have caused the accident or if there was any negligence by either him or the truck driver. Maybe just that moment of carelessness that on any road, can be disastrous. Thailand does need to do more to ensure all on Thai roads are better schooled, so take fewer risks that harm themselves and others using the roads, just as the Muay Thai 'industry' needs stricter rules and awareness to stop the tragedy of youngsters severely impacting their lives with early onset brain damage. I was island hopping recently with Thai friends ; in one friend's extended household was a teenage boy with his leg amputated below the knee after a motorcycle accident and a mid 20s Thai almost in a trance like state, apparently the 'fall guy' in hundreds of brutal Muay Thai knockout shows. Simple solutions to reduce the frequency of these tragedies - helmets, teach youngsters to operate the machines they use. Strict control of Muay Thai especially involving children. Mandatory road insurance...

Personally I'd have had the 'tiler' mitre the tiles on a diamond cutter and not had the trim but if the trim is preferred, then a darker steel trim but obviously mitred correctly. It seems to be on some boxed in pipes so assuming the tiles are fixed very solidly. it wouldn't be too much trouble to cloak the messy tiles with correctly but and mitred tiles. This is only advisable if it is boxing and if the tiles are rigidly fixed with the correct adhesive. There are squared off steel finish trims that are much easier to cut into mitred exterior angles. If the lengths are cut longer initially, then the mitres cut and once a tight joint is achieved they can be cut down to fit into the wall or end point. Hopefully you haven't paid yet and I wish you luck as that finish is extremely poor.

Finally - it will happen because after all of the hot air about resetting the Thai economy so that tourism is no longer this behemoth within the Thai economy, the insanity of these uneven restrictions has elucidated on the clear truth. The travel sector is extraordinarily important to Thailand as well as the many other auxiliary industries connected to it. Not just the industry, that can be evaluated by collated data, but all of the informal streams of income into Thailand through other transactions. I think many of us that post here have been generous one way or another whilst living in or visiting Asia. If any country does want to diversify an economy it begins with the diverse and innovative education of the young and that takes time and political will. Maybe younger Thais, Indonesians and others will look at different skills now that tourism has shown itself fragile when governments act irrationally. Lets hope lessons have been learned and that sustainable tourism replaces the greedy exploitation of fragile islands and beaches. Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore seem to be resolute in a similar approach and hopefully Indonesia and for me, Bali, follow. The time to do this was in the past but better late than never and no turning back. Manage new crises (as they will arise) without resort to panic and the creation of worse crises.

As someone that spends more months per year on Bali than Thailand, and regardless of the less than fully 'open' status of Thailand, I wish Bali was in step with Thailand. Destroying vital economic sectors such as the international travel sector has ruined the livelihoods and even lives of so many, that this step to full reopening must not be altered, so I hope this time, Thailand shows resolve, as this tremendous uncertainty severely affects confidence and the travel sector relies on confidence. Having just had four months on deserted islands in southern Thailand, I somewhat selfishly enjoyed the deserted beaches of Koh Samui and Koh Phan Ngan and quieter beaches around Phuket but I'd rather my Thai and Indonesian friends had their jobs back, in Thailand and Bali. 'No Going back' has been said before so lets hope it means something this time.

Dead right there RandiRona - before so many started believing that this ... virus was the only thing that may get us on our travels, most of us managed to cover ourselves or have the means to cover expenses incurred without a single illness insurance for one health condition on top and with somewhat vague levels of cover.

Similar to MP Cyril Smith who got to the end of his life, without prosecution or any sort of justice for his victims, most of whom were vulnerable boys in the care of Rochdale social services. Many MPs knew, such as fellow Liberal MP David Steele but he shamefully, kept quiet as did many others. Clegg even gave a eulogy at the fat old paedophile's funeral astonishingly.

In the week that Sri Lanka is seeking to default on international debt (mostly owed to China as always and also as always for grandiose infrastructure that may never be cost effective or even useful) and what was the Chinese response to debt cancellation - sorry you cannot default but you can borrow more to keep paying the debt. So now Thailand mimics a failed model by borrowing more to 'manage its debt.' In old language, that simply means kicking the can down the road.. Let's hope they don't collapse into the panic of recent years when something crops up down that road. All nations (mostly poorer nations) should stop getting tangled up with predatory China. I'm sure China has got some very unpleasant motives for shackling poor countries to it by huge amounts of unpayable debt - on what do they secure this largesse? Not goodwill that's for sure.