Guderian

Some years ago I was friendly with an English guy who owned a number of successful large Gogo bars in both Pattaya and Bangkok. He told me that he was renting a house off Thappraya Road while in Pattaya for business, and had noticed a young Thai guy snooping around the place a few times. Of course, as a bar owner he pays a large sum of money to the various local law enforcement forces, so he had a word with his number one cop mate who was a sergeant in the Pattaya Soi 9 station. I think he was told something like, “Don’t worry, leave it to me.” Sometime in the next day or two he was told by his sergeant mate that the young Thai guy had been shot dead, the problem (if there had ever really been one) was over. He was aghast, he’d only meant for the cops to scare the guy off, but instead they’d assassinated him. I guess the cops felt they were simply protecting a large source of income, and of course there was never an inquiry or hearing into the death. As always in Thailand, it seems, money rules.

I had to have one in the 1980's when I went to work in Nigeria, the government there demanded proof of vaccination against typhoid, cholera and yellow fever. I think even today that yellow fever is the main concern if you travel to Latin America or sub-Saharan Africa. https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/Knowledge/who-international-certificate-of-vaccination.html

Weird. The governor of, say, Phuket might find it a bit odd to be preparing for heavy rain that's falling 1,000 km away in Isaan, lol.

Please define "worsen" for us. As restrictions are lifted and people get out and socialise more the daily new case numbers are bound to rise quite significantly. Does that constitute "worsen"? How about the daily death toll attributed to Covid, only 84 deaths reported today, thankfully, but at what point is it regarded as having "worsened"? A woolly statement at best, providing an excuse for the politicians to do pretty much as they please.

It obviously doesn't hurt to have the yellow book, but I'm not sure how important it is now. The digital certificate from the Mor Prom app is a national proof-of-vaccination certificate, in both Thai and English, with your relevant personal details on it plus details of the vaccines. That's everything the UK has asked for, anyway, so along with the paper certificate from the hospital I'd treat the yellow book as a backup to Mor Prom, just in case.

I ordered the latest yellow vaccine book from Amazon, cost a fiver and it's got a page specifically for Covid-19 vaccinations. The hospital where I had the two AZ jabs done was happy to fill in the info for me, as well as giving me their official certificate. And then, of course, the digital certificate you get from the Mor Prom app has everything you need on it: it's a national proof-of-vaccination, has all your relevant personal info, details of the vaccines used, and it's all in English as well as Thai. So in total I've got three certificates to prove that I'm fully vaxxed, but what's the betting that some Border Force jobsworth in Heathrow would find something else that was needed, lol?

The problem here is that with so much building going on, once you buy your dream house with a lovely scenic view, somebody will come along and build a 30-storey condominium or hotel right in front of you. OK, so you buy something right by the beach, which will cost you not just an arm and a leg, but your firstborn too. Beautiful, until some budding entrepreneur decides to start up a 24-hour open-air karaoke bar on the beach in front of your house. Villages where your view is just the street outside your house are popular for many reasons, and one of them is that nobody will erect a giant hotel or condo in front of your house, or open a noisy business just across the road. Well, not as long as your village is properly managed, but nothing would surprise me here, lol.

Does it showcase the deputy PM's renowned collection of expensive wristwatches?

Ugh, no prizes for guessing who will be on that list! Anutin's billion-dollar construction business must have been hard hit by Covid so it will be due a wodge. Then I'm sure that Loong Prayut must have a small restaurant somwhere that's been hurt and is in desperate need of 100 million Baht or so. Pipat's entire job is about tourism, the poor soul must be traumatised and is surely deserving of a few tens of millions. [Fill in your worthy contenders for the prize money here, lol]

As that judge in Hua Hin said when throwing out the double-pricing case, all of us rich farangs can easily afford to pay more than Thai people (who mostly don't drink wine anyway), and it's good for the country, so bad luck. Maybe they'll use the proceeds to reduce the duty on top-line Mercedes as a way of benefiting all the "poor" Thais in this country, while we rich farangs drive around in our Toyota Yaris's, or on our Honda Clicks, lol.

I'd suggest they simply adapt the ruling by that judge in Hua Hin a day or two back over double-pricing, and go with something along the lines of: Thailand - higher prices charged to foreigners who can pay more are good for the nation Snappy and honest, lol! Here's the story in case you missed it:

After the ruling, the judge was driven to his large country home in his chauffered Mercedes-Benz E-350, while Mr. Buse returned to his condo in his 2010 model Honda Jazz. All is well in the state of Thailand.

Lol, that just doesn't come across right, it makes it sound as if the rules are so relaxed that anyone can just hop, skip and jump into the country without a thought or a care! I assume what the writer really means is that the entry rules have been relaxed slightly, from their former draconian level to merely punitive. And do they really expect the Indians to be a lot happier about the wretched CoE, multiple expensive PCR tests, as well as $100K Covid medical insurance, than Western tourists are?

Blimey, sounds like I was lucky getting there around 10:50. I was in and out in an hour.

Most of the Japanese in this area live in Sri Racha, and I can't say I've noticed things being much better up there.

I remember a while back that somebody in one of the main UK newspapers had been covering a NATO exercise in one of the Baltic countries. The German military had been involved and they had not distinguished themselves, quite the opposite in fact. After it was over, he’d met with a senior German politician and pointed out that the German troops and their equipment were dysfunctional, and asked him what they planned on doing to improve matters? The reply was that the German army was exactly the way that the government wanted it to be, and it would stay that way. I think the mayor’s reply should be seen in a similar way (though with a different context, obviously). He’s strong enough to fix the flooding if he wanted to, but it actually suits him quite well this way, and so this way it will stay.

Good point, but maybe he's a British accountant or taxman, in which case his year would end on April 5th, 2022.

I just returned from having the second AZ jab at Phyathai2 hospital in Bangkok. As before, it was all quick and easy, though as mentioned already here the location has changed. Just go to the Starbucks at the hospital main entrance and there are some people there who will give you a number and ask you to sit down. After a short wait you're taken off in groups of 20 with someone to show you where to go and what to do every step of the way, so no need to worry. Even better, they've dispensed with the blood pressure check! After the 30 minute post-vaccination observation period (which was actually closer to 20 minutes), you're given the official Thai certificate of Covid-19 vaccination. I had my yeloow international vaccine passport with me too, and they filled it in and stamped it without any problem, though I was the only person who seemed to be bothering with that. Don't worry about the time of your appointment, as with the first dose it's a case of first come, first served. For obvious reasons, they don't want lots of people hanging around waiting for their allotted time. All in all, I'm quite content with the result. It was also nice to see the area there around the Victory Monument coming back to life, it was like a graveyard two months ago, very sad to witness. Now many of the small shops and eateries are open again, along with some street vendors and even a busker on a saxophone just outside the hospital. Far more traffic around, too, it's starting to feel like we're going somewhere now, and aren't just stuck in Covid limbo any more.

At what stage do you suppose Immigration and other offices open to the public will drop the mask wearing requirement? My guess is never. Enough Thai people were wearing these things long before anyone had ever heard of Covid that I think they have become a necessary part of life in most of East and South-east Asia forever more, even when SARS-COV2 has become little more than another variation on the common cold. A lot has changed over the last 18 months, and sadly some of it is going to become part of our new normal lives.

It's just a plan to convert Thailand into an open prison instead of one with locked doors!

This time next year you'll be free to buy the vaccine of your choice at most private hospitals. It's just a case of staying safe and navigating the choppy waters between now and then. Good luck with the voyage!

Showboating. According to Bloomberg, the number of vaccinations on Saturday was back down to 480,000. Now if they could keep on delivering a million jabs a day for a few weeks, that would be something to shout about.

The safest way to lodge a complaint is via your local Consumer Protection Department. If they accept the case then they know how to handle these matters, though you personally might not get much satisfaction. If they say that you're just making a fuss over nothing then at least you know where you stand in this culture, regardless of our "Western" standards of truth and fairness. In Pattaya, the Consumer Protection Dept is at City Hall, and I've seen stories of a few people who've had positive outcomes there.

The Thais squeezing 12 doses of AZ out of a 10-dose vial, and now injecting smaller quantities subcutaneously, probably don't help Thailand's case. There may be some science behind both moves, but it's far from conclusive and needs a lot more research.

Just order a few million more doses of Sinovac, the secret behind Thailand's Covid miracle, lol.