JonnyF

It was only a matter of time. Many of us had predicted such a scenario. Like someone else said, worth the risk if returning to family or work but why anyone would take this risk for a couple of weeks holiday in Thailand while most things are closed is beyond me. 12 hours sitting on a plane in a mask waiting for a stick to be shoved up your nose to see if you're going to be locked up for 2 weeks. I can think of better ways to relax.

I think you misunderstood. I am saying that none of them like wearing a mask and the ones that I know well have complained that it is uncomfortable and causing them skin problems. That doesn't mean they would stop doing it given the choice, they would still do it because they have been indoctrinated to think that not doing so means likely death even though they are all double vaxed. If Thai's were so fine with wearing masks, you wouldn't see so many of them wearing them as chin straps. I think there are some benefits to masks, for example if someone in an outdoor restaurant sneezes the mask will catch most of the spray. However, if you're sat next to someone who has Covid in an unventilated office for 9 hours a day for a few days, I don't believe a mask will do much good since they are not sealed, people remove them to drink water etc. The virus will be present in the atmosphere, and eventually some of it will get past the mask unless it is absolutely airtight, which it isn't. Covid isn't going anywhere, like Flu. To suggest people need to wear masks for the rest of their lives is unrealistic IMO.

A lot of the Thai women where I work are extremely irritated by wearing masks, some of them having to get specialist treatment for skin problems that have developed by having to wear them in the office 9 hours a day. Just because they don't complain as much, doesn't mean they're OK with it. As for the OP, when I want advice on how to live my life from some hospital director I'll ask for it. Until then, he should keep busy working out more ways to overcharge foreigners for medical treatment and keep his advise to himself.

The problem with domestic tourism is that it simply means money being spent in a different location. If I go to Rayong for the weekend, I'll generally spend a similar amount to if I stayed in Bangkok. Plus international tourism brings in foreign currency so has a much larger effect on the economy than domestic tourism. Domestic tourism also means people mostly paying domestic prices. Much less double pricing and scams available for the local service providers. But with the current state of Thailand pass, I guess they have to hang their hat somewhere.

I fear it is too late for any continued meaningful relationship between Thailand and the US. Thailand has disappeared way too far up China's jacksy for that to be possible, never to return. Of course Thailand will offer lip service when required but the relationship if it continues, will be completely one sided.

Thai Airways. A manufactured image, personified by pretty attendants and promoted with wonderful advertising. All of which hides a dark belly of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism. A microcosm of Thailand itself. No other airline could represent Thailand more accurately.

Yep, except in my case my local Mom n Pop shop guessed too high when beer went up about 3 years ago and they charged me 47 Baht for a small can of Chang of old stock before the details were announced. Turns out the price only went up about 2 or 3 Baht. That annoyed me so much I never went in there again so I go to the one 2 shops further up, and I used to spend about 1000 Baht a week in there so that attempt to screw me out of 10 Baht probably cost them about 160,000 Baht of revenue so far. Win some, lose some. ????

I guess it was time for a Jewish Stocktake.

Good idea. Time to continue opening up. These silly restrictions are played. Soooo played.

The whole thing is a joke. Leaders taking private jets thousands of miles to get into huge gas guzzling motorcades to make virtue signalling speeches about making the little people make sacrifices to meet their targets by 2070 or whatever. I'd love to see the carbon footprint of this silly conference, it's beyond parody. Frankly, I'm sick of the hypocrisy. The doomsday cultists can do one as well.

Why would they want it to be profitable? Currently the well connected bleed it dry with free first class flights, well paid positions for retired Generals that do nothing and have absolutely no experience running an airline, backhanders from ridiculously overpriced purchasing contracts etc. and then every few years the tax payer pays off the massive debts that have accumulated from such malpractice. It's a vehicle to transfer money from the tax payer into the pockets of the well connected. It's serving it's purpose the way it is. As long as they can continue to repackage the tax payer funded bailouts as bankruptcy protected "restructuring" then they're good to go for a few more years.

It's definitely not what it was. But where is? Australia was always my plan B but that appears to be a complete police state now with nutters like Daniel Andrews interfering with everyone's lives. It's also not what it was when I lived there in the mid 90's. If I returned to the UK I'd enjoy it for a few months but I couldn't stay there long term. So I'll probably stick it out here and hope that somehow the Junta that is destroying the country will leave or be removed.

Most people arriving now will be Thais and expats who have been waiting to get back into the country. This will last a couple of weeks, maybe a month until most of them are back in. By that time, pictures of deserted entertainment areas, stories of being refused a beer because the restaurant isn't SHA approved etc. will have hit social media. If they're unlucky, someone will go to the press after being put into 2 weeks quarantine because they sat next to someone positive on the plane over. Covid really is the perfect storm for Thai tourism. So many Westerners came here for the relaxed entertainment venues and the flesh trade. Both are impossible with social distancing. Take those things away and you're really just left with average beaches, soi dogs, dangerous roads, overpriced goods, silly laws and double pricing/scams. Then you've got the Chinese tourists who aren't even allowed to leave China. At least immigration can stop having to quiz people "why you come Thailand too much?".

Sounds like it. Good news. Just to be sure, I will avoid Thai Airways and then I can be sure that all passengers will face the same checks upon boarding irrespective of nationality. Actually, that's one of about 10 reasons I will avoid Thai Airways. Nepotism, corruption, pricing etc.

Great news. The puritans and the virtue signallers will no doubt be wringing their hands and hiding under the bed sheets but let's face it, nobody takes them seriously anyway ????. This weekend will be my last weekend drinking bottled beer from a cheap mug. Hallelujah!!!

Lip service. Anyone who has seen the public buses, TukTuks, cement trucks etc. knows that nobody in authority here cares about emissions (except the police who use it to extort the driver for 200 Baht before sending them on their way).

It will still exist, but on a much smaller scale. It was starting already, with the likes of Oasis opening up on Cowboy, a normal style pub amongst the bars. Queens Park Plaza gone. Patpong not thriving etc. The trouble is, those in charge don't realize why so many people visit. It's for the nightlife, not to watch traditional Thai dancing or do cooking classes. They also don't see how many Issan families are indirectly supported by punters after they have left the country. As others have said, the nightlife was the only thing that Thailand really excelled at. The beaches, infrastructure, trekking etc. are all pretty average at best. Plus it's not cheap any more. Lots of alcohol free days, too many rules about smoking/drinking on the beach, the usual scams, not so many smiles. I've never been a 'final nail in the coffin' guy. But this time, I really think Thailand has jumped the shark.

Thainess. Announce first. Think later.

I'm SO glad I don't have any plans to travel in the next 6 months. I hated all the jumped up little Nazis in uniform at the airports before Covid, I can only imagine the treatment of the 'infected' now. Officials armed with their nasal swabs to ram especially hard 3 inches up the nose of anyone they don't like the look of. I wonder if they can be bothered to employ extra staff to manage all this, or will it be like the old days when there were only 2 immigration booths open (and the scowling officers manning them were in no rush) with queues all the way back to the moving walkways. Happy holidays everyone! It will all be worth it when you sit down for your first ice cold beer at your favourite restaurant.... oh wait a minute.. ????????

Interesting to see this has hit the international media. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/26/businesses-in-thailand-urge-government-to-reverse-alcohol-ban A great advert for Thai tourism ????. They really haven't got a clue.

You can put a bottle of Sangsom in a brown paper bag and drink it on a park bench for all I care. I like to have a decent, cold draught beer or a chilled glass of white wine with my meal, as do most tourists. Hiding Vodka in a bottle of mineral water and looking over my shoulder for corrupt cops before necking it on the beach is not my idea of a great holiday, even if it saves me a few quid.

Exactly. No kickbacks on a donation so the government views processing this as unpaid work. The more they get for free, the less they have to buy and hence the less money they can cream off the top of the various purchasing contracts with the likes of the CCP. Of course it would save the lives of some Thai people but nobody in government really cares about that.

Regardless of his motivation/reasoning, the conclusion he has reached is the correct one. The ban on alcohol sales in hotels/restaurants is going to heap even more pain on the tourism and hospitality sectors and those that work in it. It's time for a more nuanced approach. Being treated like a child by a tin pot third world Junta is not desirable for the "quality tourists" that Thailand wants to replace the CCP hordes. It was bad enough ordering an overpriced glass of white wine and having it arrive at the table lukewarm with a couple of ice cubes in it. Or a bottle of red that's only a couple of degrees away from being frozen solid. Being refused that bottle of wine altogether is not something that people enjoy while on holiday. Thailand needs to raise it's game, not ban everything.

Good to see OGS still in charge, I thought he'd be gone by now but maybe today is the day, they often wait until the Tuesday after a bad result to sack the manager. Let's hope not - this is too funny. ???? 3 years of Ole and they still look like a bunch of expensive players hastily thrown together and told to go out on the pitch and wing it. No style of play, no identity, no leadership. They're lucky Liverpool backed off in the second half or it could have been approaching double figures. A tough run of games coming up now, let's hope OGS can do his normal trick of pulling one or two results out of the bag just when he needs them, I'd hate to see him replaced with someone competent like Conte. Why anyone thought that someone who relegated Cardiff and only had limited success with Molde was capable of managing one of the biggest sides in the world against the likes of Klopp, Guardiola. Tuchel etc. is beyond me. Totally out of his depth.

That sounds like a sensible approach to get things moving. It's time to acknowledge that not everyone who enjoys a beer or a glass of wine with their meal ends up acting like a beligerent, arrogant fool spraying saliva over anyone within 5 metres. Far too sensible an approach for the clowns in charge no doubt.