JonnyF

A few of my Thai friends have elderly parents that refuse to take the vaccine. Generally they are afraid of the side effects of the vaccine due to other health issues like Diabetes. One got very sick from the first one and now refuses to take it again despite being cajoled by their son and daughter. It's available, they just don't want it. Very unwise IMO, but ultimately their body their choice.

Mid April? An interesting choice of date. More ground work for cancelling Songkran unless we're good little comrades. Reminds me of my parents threatening Santa wouldn't come when I was misbehaving as a kid. This paternalistic attitude from a government that stole power down the barrel of a gun is really galling.

I hadn't really noticed. Farang food/drink has always been expensive here, I gave up comparing it to UK prices years ago. An extra 10 or 15 Baht here and there doesn't really register but I've found the longer I am here the less I crave farang food anyway, apart from my obligatory Sunday roast at the local Irish Pub washed down with a few draught pints I'm not that fussed. The only thing I noticed was the cost of filling up the car. For the first time a few weeks ago it was over 2000 Baht to fill it up but I'm fortunate in that I don't pay for that. If people are really struggling they could turn a negative into a positive and try not drinking for a few days every week and eating less. Or maybe eat local food that is still cheap here and also pretty healthy like Chicken, fish, eggs, bananas etc. Save money and improve your health at the same time.

The way they talk, it's like lockdown is the default position and if we work very hard we will be allowed Freedom. It's ridiculous. The only real cause for concern was that a lot of the early vaccines were Sinovac (thanks Anutin!) which appears to be less effective and protect for a shorter period of time so these people should get boosted with a proper vaccine and then we all learn to live with it like the rest of the civilized world. All these announcements make me think they're laying the foundations for cancelling Songkran.

Personally, yes I would test because if I had it then I would want to isolate but I wouldn't want to isolate for no reason. But if it was positive, no I would not report it for fear of being carted off to a hospitel at my own expense. If I was Thai, I'd be more likely to report it since I'd be less likely to be fleeced.

Wow. Weird how the number of rapid tests suddenly rocketed after hovering at around the 20k mark for a while. I wonder if more people are reporting them now since they can home isolate, or whether the government is now releasing the real figures to support upcoming restrictions? Because staying extremely consistent for 6 days and then doubling overnight seems unrealistic.

It's such a small boat, it's hard to imagine how someone could fall off it without everyone immediately realizing and turning the boat around to get them. You'd think they would all have the same story. But it seems the manager has one story and everyone else has another story. It can't be that complicated. A handful of people on a small boat. Why all the confusion and conflicting reports? I was thinking it was a simple case of a drunk girl falling off the side while having a wee but it's starting to look like something shady happened, possibly involving fragile egos and loss of face. We'll probably never know...

Somewhere as corrupt as Thailand is a dream come true for criminals with plenty of cash to bribe officials. All you have to do is make sure you don't commit a crime here that attracts media attention and you can stay under the radar for many years, paying bribes that are basically peanuts for any criminal who has made decent money.

I kept my house in the UK. In the 15 years I've been here I've received as much in rent as I paid for it in 2003. I intend to rent it for about 15 more years, then sell it if I still have no plans to return there. Even though I work here it's nice to have that steady income stream going into my UK account where the rent is paid. I also like knowing that if it all goes wrong here, I won't be homeless if I have to return. I strongly advise keeping a base outside Thailand if you can afford to.

Yeah, they did on 20th February when I last went on Highway 9. My friend said there were massive queues to pay with cash at 7pm but I went through at 10pm and there was no queue at all, just pay 30 Baht at the cash booth toll same as before. I can't see them removing the cash tolls any time soon. It would be chaos.

A nice way to make 100% profit on a flight. Take the money for the flight, cancel it and refuse to give a refund. Then "restructure" the debt and announce huge profits.

They should push the electric motorbikes harder IMO. Get the ball rolling with something easy. They are very practical here. They are easier to charge than cars and most Thais don't do really long daily commutes so they could charge them from their homes overnight in a lot of cases. I remember visiting Qingdao for business about 10 years ago and was amazed that so many of the motorbikes were electric. It really made for a nice, quiet, clean feeling to rush hour. Unfortunately here in Thailand they will probably make the laws surrounding them ambiguous, leading to lots of fines from the police, insurance companies not paying out, people wary of buying them etc.

They would be insane to consider another lockdown at this point. The majority are vaccinated and Omicron is a relatively mild strain. Unless of course, this isn't really about Covid. I suspect "Unless it is the only option remaining" is a euphemism for "unless the peasants start revolting again".

Very sad. Sounds like she had a few sherberts and decided to squat to pee off the boat and lost her balance. I'm sure most of us have done equally stupid things and got away with it. I know I have...

This is good news. Time to start living with it. Those who wish to stay at home triple masked, are free to do so.

Would be nice to know how many are Omicron as opposed to Delta or other variants.

So you can just use M Flow lanes without buying a card until the end of March? That's good to know, I'd been paying cash at the tolls. I'll get in the M Flow lane next time.

I can't remember which publications I'm allowed to link to but it's all over the Bangkok Post, The Nation, Phuket News as well as the Thai press. So my claim is in fact true. Same as we never see any international boxing news until Rungvisai won a title and then it was all over the place.

Welcome to the bubble. Wait until a Thai wins something, then you'll see it on every station and newspaper for about 2 weeks (until they get busted for PEDs).

Yep, plus the people that test positive and stay quiet about it due to fears of ending up on a cardboard bed in a warehouse or a 200,000 Baht stay at a "Hospitel". I certainly wouldn't be telling the authorities if I got a positive test. I'd self isolate and keep my mouth shut.

Relaxing rules for arrivals while simultaneously increasing the threat level to 4 and banning alcohol in restaurants in Khon Kaen and Buriram? An interesting strategy. It's almost like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Of course, such a thing is impossible under the brilliant, strong, co-ordinated leadership of Prayut, Anutin and Prawit.

Especially when it's not particularly cheap. Or fun.

Totally agree on the EU. They are total hypocrites. The West will sound off about Russia and then do pretty much nothing IMO. Maybe a few sanctions. The West has become weak and everyone knows it. China won't have failed to notice this mess either. Expect an invasion of Taiwan while our Parliamentarians are too busy arguing about what the definition of a woman is.

But that would involve actually providing something. As opposed to just talking about providing something that doesn't really exist. Thais are much better at the latter than the former.

No lockdown? Just like there would be no coup? Whenever these guys assure us something won't happen I always start to worry that it's just around the corner. Let's hope not.