DonaldBattles

On 6/24/2022 at 8:46 AM, pomchop said:

I wrote this about 7 years ago when I was living in Chiang Rai

 

 

 

Good Things About Chiang Rai:

 

walking along chiang rai beach on a cool December morning

watching the rice harvest in mid November from my deck

watching the morning "rush hour" with Thais bundled up on their motorcys like they are going to the artic

watching the afternoon market being set up

buying fruits and veggies at some of the lowest prices on earth from roadside pickup truck markets


watching the gem boat guys sifting through gravel in the mae kok


watching thai kids ride their bikes with their dog following along


watching the young monks doing their morning rounds

riding my motorbike along the mae kok with no traffic in sight

watching the total chaos of Saturday shopping at big C

eating fantastic food at give away prices at many CR restaurants


attending the annual chiang rai flower festival

planting a variety of plants/trees in my yard and being amazed at how fast they grow

watching the neighbors get all excited about killing and cooking a snake


walking around downtown chiang rai on a cool clear December morning


having a cold beer in the garden area of peace bar


taking visitors for a tour of the Red Rose Hotel


watching the light show at the clock tower


watching the hustle and bustle of the night market and the mix of thais and tourists


riding the "refugee bus" from chiang rai to mae sai and seeing what kind of characters show up



buying exotic plants at nurseries that would cost a fortune in the west for a few baht



watching the thai high schools students hanging out and goofing around after classes



having a pretty thai girl give me a big smile for no particular reason



having thai kids practice their limited "i am fine" english out on me



practicing my limited thai with thai kids and having them stare wide eyed at the farang before breaking into giggles



watching the beautiful orange blossoms appear through out chiang rai

hearing massage parlor girls ask "massage sir?" in a sing song voice



sitting on a bench at wat mengrai enjoying the solitude



climbing the steps to the top of wat doi kong khao



wading in the mae kok river on a hot day



getting a cup of water thrown on me by a giggling 6 year old girl during song kran



having the neighbors' dogs bark and growl until they realize it's just the farang coming home



having my laundry picked up, cleaned and delivered back to my home for 75 baht a week



having the water man deliver big jugs of water for 12 baht and refuse a tip



having security guards click their heels and salute me like I am someone important



watching female office workers drink whiskey with their lunch



knowing five of the dancing shrimp's sexy waitresses by name



having my motorbike oil changed for less than the cost of a cup of coffee



watching workers climb and trim my trees with no ladders and only a machete



having workers show up ready to work but without a tool to their name



never having to worry much about the cost of most any repair to anything



paying my electric and internet phone bill at 7/11 with no hassles



getting caught in the pedestrian traffic jam on Saturday night at the walking street market



parking at wang come hotel for 20 baht



visiting an ear doctor and having my total bill be 100 baht



trying to figure out what all goes on at the sperm club, the par club and the womb



buying eggs that haven't been refrigerated and not worrying about it



cooking up big pots of vegetable stew with many vegetables that i don't even recognize



having TOT guys show up to repair my internet and actually get it fixed and no charge



watching Thais collect red tree flowers and turn them into something tasty



watching the ice cream tuk tuks roaming all over chiang rai selling 10 baht ice creams



watching Thai ladies grubbing around in streams and lakes catching who knows what kind of critters



having a hill tribe girl in the afternoon market try to line me up with her friend



trying to walk for exercise along the river and having Thais try to give me a ride



watching the Thais build buildings with bamboo scaffolding and not a hard hat in sight



watching young Thais flirting and drinking whiskey at chiang rai beach



having a nice buffet at rim kok hotel for 140 baht



eating a tasty platter of chicken steak, french fries, salad and bread for 69 baht



eating a bowl of 10 baht noodle soup served by a ten year old kid



watching a bicycle tuktuk driver older than Methuselah peddle an even older lady around town



seeing how many Thais can fit on one motorbike



seeing how many Thais can fit into the back of a pickup truck



seeing how many different businesses can be built onto a Honda wave motorbike



pulling into a gas station and having 3 uniformed attendants gas my motorbike and clean my rear view mirrors and not expect a tip



seeing how many different kinds of motorized vehicles Thais can come up with



wandering around in various food markets and being offered free samples of many things i don't recognize



holding my nose to cover the smell of the seafood section at big C



trying to figure out when and where the baht buses at the afternoon market actually go



laughing at some of the prices for imported goods at big C



having a big C employee push my cart to an available cashier for me



getting treated like a VIP just for being a farang and showing up



having a waitress wai and thank me for a 5 baht tip



taking my big C register receipt to the premium counter and winning a can of coke



trying to figure out how they decide who wins what at the big C premium counter



not really caring how they decide who wins what at the big C premium counter



the boat trip down the mae kok from tha ton to chiang rai



standing in line at 7 11 and having a little lady jump the line on me and i don't even care



spending a night at the garden home bungalow in tha ton



sitting at the chiang rai bus station and trying to fathom who is going where and why



watching a new monk induction ceremony with all his family present and oh so proud



watching the sunset from my balcony with an ice cold beer chang



going to the public hospital and having poor Thai people insist that i go to the front of the line



seeing a doctor for less than the parking would cost in the west



chasing chickens out of my yard in Thai assuming they will understand me



having Thais constantly tell me how good my Thai is when i know it's not



stopping for directions and having a group of Thais gather around to see what the farang wants



breakfast at nice kitchen near wat jed yod watching the goings on



getting lost on my motorbike in the middle of nowhere and enjoying it





walking across the mae sai bridge and being back in Thailand with a new visa stamp in less than ten minutes



going to the CR post office and feeling like a local



buying an entire watermelon for 10 baht



having an entire wall at 7/ 11 featuring snacks for 20 baht or less



the first big rainstorm at the end of the cool dry season



watching a yellow Buddha flag flap in the breeze



visiting the 10 baht stores and being amazed at all the items available for 10 baht



watching the aerobics and exercisers at the old airport and wondering who is who



having the mail man show up at my house on a motorbike and wondering how he found me



eating a burger at Barrys at the golf course



watching the beer garden girls at big C strut their stuff



trying to figure out which girls are high school and which ones are college students



enjoying how tight a high school girl can have a white blouse without popping buttons



watching farang backpackers walk around with massive backpacks that defy all logic



being able to sometimes go for days and not hear another person speak English or hassle me



watching the frog giggers appear in the rice paddies at night after the first big rain



seeing a bright blue bird with long yellow feathers in the wild



seeing a nasty looking snake race across the road in front of my motorbike





watching hilltribe people float down the mae kok on hand made bamboo rafts



having to put an extra blanket on my bed because its freezing



being able to see my breath on a few extra cool mornings



flying in and out of CR airport without most of the usual airport hassles and BS

 

I have been living in Chiang Rai for 12 years at Doi Hang. I moved here from Phuket. I find living quality here very nice. The neighbours are kind and helpful. I have 5 Rai gated with two big fish ponds. Except for church and shopping I stay at home most of the time. The hot springs are nice. For the past two years I have not seen any air pollution. The language is difficult as it is a mixture of Esaan and Northern Thai. I studied central Thai for one year in Bangkok. People are kind enough to switch from the local dialect to Central Thai for me.

Sinovac does not work against the Delta Variant. I am told that Delta is the main virus now.

Some one needs to tell the Minister that Sinovac does not cover the Delta Variant. Is there a Chinese agent involved?

7 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

If his previous "seeing signs" are anything to go by, Thailand is still in for a torrid 6 months or more.

Surely, he would be better keeping his mouth shut, and using all his energy to obtain vaccines for the people.

He will continue to buy more Sinovac from China which does not  cover the Delta Variant.

If Sinovac does not cover the Delta variant why does the government keep on buying and giving to people. Seems like the Chinese are controlling the situation. Why not order from the USA? The US has already provided free 2.5 million doses but no one knows where it went to.

I am told that Sinovac does not cover the Delta Variant so it is a big waste of time and money.

7 hours ago, Milrem said:

Hey you brainwashed Americans,

1) Sinovac vaccine works very good and is a registered vaccine at WHO!

2) China gave them to Thaïland as well as in tens of other countries. They didn't sell them ! And they have not yet finished to vaccine all their people!

3) In the meantime, Pfizer has increased the price of its vaccines. Whether the buying country is rich or poor, they do not give a damn!

Thank God, the USA are going to fall down soon and will stop bullying the world?

China gives you something free it is not worth much. More Sinovac ordered from China. Is there a love affair or brown envelopes?

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

I do not believe it is the cheapest, AZ is being sold at cost. Might be more about availability.

Brown envelopes are a major reason for buying Sinovac.  I doubt that AZ is being manufactured for no profit. Why would they want to produce a quality vaccine in demand for no profit? For sure the AZ plant in Bangkok is not operating for cost only. They are selling to neighbor countries and not meeting the needs of Thailand. The PM has asked them to stop shipping overseas.

1 hour ago, Mickeymaus said:

Always be optimistic. According to your source it is like this below. I have to admit - that is better than nothing ????

 

"The Sinovac vaccine is recognised as valid proof of vaccination by these countries: Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden" 

Little do they know that Sinovac is very weak. For these countries cheap is best. Why would they order Sinovac?

Who ordered this garbage from China?

Where did the 2.5m doses of Pfizer vaccine  that was given by the USA go? They keep on ordering Sinovac which has a very low effectivity. Why not order from Europe or the USA?

2 hours ago, Mickeymaus said:

I am not sure. If you live here and you get SinoVac is this accepted in Europe or the USA as vaccination? 

Sinovac was tried extensively in Brazil and it failed. Europe and the USA do not need this trash. They have reliable vaccines. The villages in north Thailand are being offered Sinovac only for the first dose. God only knows what they will offer us for the second dose. The government has failed to protect the people. Too many brown envelopes. They have just placed another big order for Sinovac.

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Prayut has no control over the AZ production or contracted deliveries.

Prayut can call a state of emergency and do about anything he wants to. However, shipping overseas brings a lot of T money. I heard that an order went out that all first shots had to be Sinovac. More Chinese T money. Sinovac is like Chinese salt water. If you want to get vaccinated now only Sinovac is available for the the first jab. 

Is my only choice for vaccination Sinovac from China?

Be ware that the government wants to dump millions of doses of Chines Sinovac. I am told that Sinovac is less than 20% effective. I read in the Bangkok Post where 600 health care workers had taken 2 doses of Sinovac and came down with the virus. Yesterday I went to a large public gathering of Chiang Rai residents for public vaccination. When we arrived there we learned that the only thing the government had was Sinovac. The neighborhood clinic told us to go there to get Pfizer vaccine. I doubt that any Pfizer donated by the USA will ever leave Bangkok. We walked away.

1 hour ago, joloit said:

Maybe the donated vaccines will get more expensive for us now ????

Went to get the Pfizer vaccine today at the Chiang Rai OBJ. All they had was Sinovac. Most people do not realize that Sinovac does not cover the Delta Variant which is mostly in circulation now. Thailand has purchased millions of doses of Sinovac which is useless against the Delta Variant. It does cover the A Variant. Not sure but I think Thailand has already purchased 50 million doses of Sinovac which is worthless against the Delta Variant.  I have an appointment on August 23 at Mae Fah Luang University Hospital for the Astro Vaccine. It is effective against the Delta Variant. Guess I will have to wait.

Have you ever seen a more screwed up mess? It will take years to clear things and get Thailand vaccinated.  I am still waiting in Chiang Rai as they will not give vaccine to farangs until all Thais are vaccinated. I have a PR permit but it makes no difference.

5 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

The message from the regime is, if you want a vaccination you might be best served in your home country.

 

But "If you want a "registration" we're here to help you."

 

Some days they couch this message in easy to swallow words, like "we love everyone the same", or "foreigners will be treated equally, and given equal access to vaccines".

 

Other days, they launch the forty-third iteration of an app, website or hospital.

 

 

The doctor in Chiang Rai said foreigner would not receive vaccinations until all of the Thais have been vaccinated. Also, none available in private hospitals. My wife went to a mass vaccination today and for people under 60 all they had was Chinese Sinovac. She told them no thank you as it does not cover variant G. I have an appointment at the university hospital for August 23. The waiting time is 2 months. God only knows if they will have the vaccine. Time for Sinovac to be stopped. 600 people in Bangkok had both doses and still contacted the virus. Really sucks! The government needs to stop buying Sinovac!

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

In a sense Thailand controls it's borders very nicely.... always has and always will.

From companies wanting cheap labour, plenty of mules making a quick baht for transportation, border controls earning a monthly bonus.

labourers wanting to escape homelands for whatever reason.

 

The border with Burma is 2000 miles long. How can Thailand control the border this long? The Laos border is 1146 miles. How many border patrol would it take to control a total of 3146 miles?

16 hours ago, IamNoone88 said:

There is only one reason; A totally ineffective vaccine program.

Doctor in Chiang Rai says there will be not vaccine for farangs until all of the Thais are vaccinated. He failed to mention that the vaccine came from the USA.

If the government continues to sell the output of the vaccine to neighbor countries there will never be enough to vaccine local people. I have tried to get vaccinated and I am told that until all the Thais are finished we don't have anything for farangs.  Sinovac has proven to be almost worthless but they keep buying from China. What is wrong with the good stuff from Europe and the USA?

In Chiang Rai Province there is no vaccine. The Mae Fah Luang Hospital has given me an appointment on August 23. This assumes that they will have vaccine then. Unless Thailand stops shipping the vaccine to neighbor countries thee will never be enough for the local residents. Why the government wants to ship it out is beyond me. I Chiang Rai Province there is not one dose of the vaccine available. The 1.5 million doses provided by the USA will never get past Bangkok. The USA gift specified that 20% must go to foreigners.

6 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Thailand set a record single-day high for new COVID cases for the fifth consecutive day with the 9,539 cases reported on Sunday, while also adding 86 new COVID deaths, the country’s second highest tally of the pandemic.

 

Sunday’s results, with the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading throughout Thailand, brought the country ever closer to predictions that it will soon surpass 10,000 new COVID cases and 100 COVID deaths per day.

 

The newly reported COVID cases – 9,436 among the general population and 103 among prisoners – came the day before the Thai government’s imposition Monday of a nightly curfew and the closure of some businesses in Bangkok and nine other provinces with high COVID case tolls.

 

Sunday’s new case count also means Thailand’s tally of daily COVID cases has more than doubled during the past two weeks from levels in the mid 4,000s in late June. Just in the past five days, the country set new COVID case records daily with tallies of starting July 7 of 6,519, 7,058, 9,276, 9,326 and finally today’s 9,539 new cases.

 

The 86 new COVID deaths reported Sunday was exceeded only by the 91 new COVID deaths the day before. Since the start of the pandemic, Thailand has now recorded 336,371 total COVID cases and 2,711 deaths, although some Thai doctors say the real figures, especially for cases, are likely much higher.

 

Because of the rapid rise in new COVID cases in Thailand, the country as of Saturday was already reporting record levels of COVID cases hospitalized (80,289), the share of those in critical condition (2,738), and the share of those requiring ventilators to breathe (717). Those numbers are likely to go even higher when updated later today.

The government refuses to supply vaccine for the people. There is no end to this problem as long as there is no vaccine for people up country except the useless Chinese Sinovac. The USA 1.5 million doses is consumed by Bangkok. In Chiang Rai there is not one dose available. Sinovac is reported not to be effective against the Delta variant.  What will they do with the 25 million doses ordered from China?

What about us poor devils up country? The US sen 1.5 doses free specifying that 20% are for foreigners. I am assuming that Bangkok will get it all. 

In Chiang Rai there is not one dose of vaccine. Maybe it was sold to another country.