3 hours ago, Leaver said:

I agree with your assessment.

 

Thailand's tourism industry has bounced back from many things in the past. Eg. tsunami, swine flu, bird flu etc, and it will bounce back from this. 

 

However, it will will not be a quick recovery, and Pattaya 12 to 18 months from now will look vastly different to the Pattaya of pre virus that we all knew. 

Short of bulldozing the city, it'll "look" the same but I imagine most of the bar scene will be absent. Any girls with sense will be on the internet by then.

Anyway, Patong had the opportunity to rebuild itself from scratch after the tsunami, and turned it into a <deleted><deleted>. On Phi Phi, they rebuilt the same <deleted><deleted> it was before the tsunami, and carried on ruining it even more.

13 hours ago, bartender100 said:

260 died yesterday in the UK, one of those i knew personally, and she dies in complete agony France had even more deaths

 

And some clowns think this is not serious

Why did she die in agony? Have the hospitals run out of morphine?

On 3/20/2020 at 4:23 PM, Moonlover said:

Long before the days of the internet I did a lot of jig saw puzzles when I was working in Saudi Arabia. They are so calming and therapeutic. 

The WASGIJ jigsaws are great for keeping an active mind even when not in lockdown.

On 3/26/2020 at 11:40 AM, Vigilante said:

how do you handle staying home

 

I don't stay at home.

Go out most mornings and early evenings...mostly stay on the motorbike though

Riding thru villages ..countryside keeps me calm...stop at the odd wat or two

Some shopping along the way..keep away from crowds

I take advantage of every day before the curfews kick in

Then, I will post again on the subject. ????

Can't do that in NZ, and this isn't just happening in LOS.

Only those with valid IDs and working in essential occupations allowed to travel further than the supermarket/ pharmacy. Can go for walks for exercise and that's about it.

On 3/20/2020 at 1:26 AM, bkk6060 said:

If people are not careful, they can get fat.

Staying in, stress eating, ordering food delivery.

I did visit a German friend age 77 who has held up in his room for 2 weeks.

He has gained about 4 kilos.

I bet it is a pretty common result of all this.

 

I'm going to try eating only once a day to stop getting fat, and it'll spin the available food out.

Otherwise my life is almost the same, except I can't go out to the country where I do some work on a farm on weekends as I'm not employed as such and only employed people with ID allowed to travel.

I saw this coming and stocked up on DVDs and books etc. I don't depend on the internet as it may go down, but God save us all if the power goes off.

2 hours ago, Chazar said:

nonsense,  they  are  "more  likely " to  die  doesnt  mean  others wont

Yes others will die, but probably not the fit and those with good immune systems, which would be most, surely?

15 minutes ago, tropo said:

Surely any thinking person would conclude that the measures taken (in Australia) to shut down the entire country's economy and guarantee a depression is absurd in the extreme.

Can't be worse than in NZ.

Apparently tourism is one of the country's biggest overseas income earners. IMO that's gone, for a long time at least.

2 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Its waay to political, the important stuff gets buried in seas of stupid noise. Cant wait till its over. 

It's never going to be over, IMO. After this one will be more.

Bankrupcy, unemployment, domestic violence- what will be left to pick up when the lockdown is over, and if the second, third waves come will they lockdown again and again  and again, till there is literally nothing left for society?

The NZ lockdown happened very quickly without much notice. I feel for those that were living in cars off takeaways- no takeaways now, so are they eating cold food out of cans in their carpark of lockdown? Many public toilets closed- great news for truck drivers, not. Highways are going to be polluted end to end at this rate. Seems to me the government has not thought this through, but most politicians probably never had a real job, and no idea what it's like to be poor.

36 minutes ago, Leaver said:

There was a recent armed robbery of a 7/11, but that is no evidence of a higher level of crime. 

 

There was also a news thread showing police with long arms patrolling Pattaya, but that is also no evidence of a higher level of crime, but does tend to show the police are aware that during harsher economy times, crime does rise, and so make a photo op' to deter criminals and reassure tourists / residents.

 

There have been many studies on the relationship between economy and crime rates.  You can Google for some information. 

 

What is different about Pattaya / Thailand is a lot of the Thai's here worked in the cash economy, supported solely by tourism.  Also, Thailand doesn't really have a welfare system.

 

I am also of the opinion crime will rise.  The only question will be by how much, and the level of violence used.  

Crime went up significantly in Pattaya after Purachai almost destroyed the farang night scene. Hundreds if not thousands of Thais lost income over that.

No internet forum back then but reported in the Pattaya Mail.

9 hours ago, Susco said:

Maybe you should inform yourself better before posting Thai bashing drivel

No Thai bashing in that post. Only Hilton bashing, and they can bash that establishment all they like. I'll never forgive them for ruining Hua Hin with their monstrocity right in the middle of the old town- cultural vandals.

8 minutes ago, amykat said:

Well I would love to list it all for you tropo, but since I just recently got laid off from my healthcare related job, I am too busy right now packing for my new assignment with Doctors Without Borders, so I will leave that for another time!!

I hope they are providing hazmat suits for you to use!

6 hours ago, URMySunshine said:

Boris. Did.It We were warned. Trump's gonna be furious so please don't tell him. 

 

Joking aside though that's your spin on the NYT report and doesn't quite explain why ER's are overwhelmed with multiple additional deaths when the virus reaches a critical mass in its host countries.Time and time again. It's like the Y2K bug if it all goes well then folk will say was it worth it. If it is ultimately inconsequential as you suggest then a world rest may turn out to be a healthy way to start the world and countries on a different trajectory. A system reboot that cleans out a load of accumulated <deleted> that was taking us nowhere. The bubble to end all bubbles had to pop in the end and the world needs to move to more domestic production and a more equitable way of organising society. This changes have already begun.

 

If Trump wants to go that way then up to him here in the Uk we will wait it out for a couple of months,  get enhanced healthcare facilities in place and support our population - because that's what we do. And in Thailand a great reckoning is long overdue - bring it on. And of course the US is basically a rogue English colony - it's in your DNA. Korea,Vietnam,Cambodia,Laos,Iraq to name but a few if we are in the business of cataloging clusterf&cks - it's what Empires do after all. 

I read that twice and still have little idea of what you are saying. Perhaps you could re write it more simply, please.

On 3/28/2020 at 1:29 AM, Muzzique said:

I agree. Its very complex piece of equipment. If it was just a case of 'Sucking' and 'Blowing' then you could use bar girls to do the job.  You might not live very long but you'd die happy. ????

Indeed. Has the government recruited 10,000 nurses to operate the new machines, or undertaken an accelerated training program for operators? Even with one nurse for two machines, that one nurse can't work 24/7.

On 3/28/2020 at 2:00 AM, BritManToo said:

Survivors TV series 1975 is the first I can remember to predict the end of the world through Pandemic.

Were there any before that?

That was a great series. Really good intro.

I thought Quatermass with John Mills was older , but it came out in '79.

Walking Dead is a great series, but only till season 8. Season 9 Rick leaves and the writers went full PC and it has become a pathetic stupid show, IMO.

11 hours ago, owl sees all said:

I had a Vititar (have I spelt that right) digital camera some years ago. Best camera I ever had. Small and compact. It just slipped into my pocket. As I had it with me virtually every time I went out I could get those 'special' shots.

 

Dropped it in Laos and it landed right on the corner where the battery hinge was. Never used it again. Don't even know what country it's buried in. My present camera - a 20 year old Minolta Dimage - is far to bulky and by present day standards is not even a good picture taker. The best thing about it is its x40 zoom. When I cut the euka trees and get a bit of dosh I'll invest in a more compact one; like the Vititar.

Reminds me of the half frame camera I had in the 80s. Super compact and brilliant for those spur of the moment shots. My partner of the time left it in a taxi in Sydney. I was not well pleased. I have a small Sony happy snappy now which produces excellent photos for it's size. I filled up the card, and I'm slowly deleting all the Thai photos on it to take new. Seems that I'm slowly losing my connection to LOS as I do ( and yes, I have saved them to my computer ).

I've a box full of old film cameras, most that died for some reason. I never thought I'd convert to digital, but several thousand digital photos later I wouldn't go back. All those photo albums take up so much space. Only thing that worries me is that all my digital photos might just "vanish" into pixel heaven one day, so have invested much in backups, but hoping that technology will not render them as dead as film too.

With film, I might have taken one or two pics but with digital I'll take dozens. I've had to upgrade my storage from 500 Gb to 2 Tb. Good luck to any customs official that tries to check my photos, as has happened in the past.

10 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

.you might notice that there is a bit of a tilt to the left in some photos....ha..ha!

It you are using Windows 10 it has a facility to edit photos including correcting tilt.

I do appreciate the photos on this thread. I'm quite envious of anyone that can make it work living in rural Thailand.

On 3/28/2020 at 1:09 AM, owl sees all said:

Continuing with M's lessons. Two weeks now and everything seems to be going very well, although we had quite words yesterday over a section of the lesson that she didn't understand, and we wasted half-an-hour 'cause I thought she was following, and she wasn't. I asked her how many times at school, a kiddie would put up his/her hand and say, "Please Miss, could you cover that again, I didn't grasp it." She said "never." Have to tread carefully, the teaching here is so different. 

Sounds like the teaching I had. Mind you we didn't like school and did everything we could to get out of it. Teachers that disliked children and caned too much, and subjects like Latin. No wonder I learned nothing at school, and had to learn everything afterwards.

On 3/22/2020 at 10:35 AM, Cryingdick said:

The other thing is buffalo are terrible for the environment.

Humans are more terrible for the environment. They destroy everything, not just some island. If your solution does not also apply to humans, than let the buffalo be. Without buffaloes ( and horses ) humans would never have developed civilization. Show some gratitude to them.

On 3/21/2020 at 5:28 AM, chickenslegs said:

What is the value of raising buffalo?

Look on it as preserving a remnant of a past life, just like some in the west raise Clydesdale horses. Tractors have rendered them irrelevant, but it's good to see a few survive.

Besides, once the world economy collapses and society is really in the poo, it'll be good to have a breeding stock to repopulate farms with working animals, as machinery will be too expensive.

When I was in Saudi, they had a saying- my grandfather rode a camel, I drive a car, but my grandson will ride a camel. Bit hard to ride a camel if they are all dead.

PS. Before I'm accused of being too negative without proposing a solution, my solution would be to isolate the infected and everyone else carry on as "normal". By all means practice social distancing and avoid large gatherings; wear masks and eye covers, if they can develop a mask that is practical, affordable and actually stops viruses.

The infected would be isolated in special facilities, NOT hospitals, so hospitals can carry on doing what they do.

With locking everyone down, what happens when the lockdown is over and the second wave ( third wave etc ) starts? Keep having lockdowns? That'd really stuff the economy.

This too will pass, and life will resume, but the question is, what sort of life will be possible?

13 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

Ask God if he created that new virus as well

I doubt God decided to create a specific virus, but God created the means by which a virus could be created.

If anything created the virus, IMO it's Gaia trying to rid the planet of destructive humans that are trashing a once lovely habitat.

13 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:

Do other animals with brains have thoughts?  Are their thoughts implanted by God?  I don't know what is the limit of what is considered a brain.  Do only conscious thoughts count as thoughts, or do the nconscious brain activities that keep us breathing etc. count as thoughts?

 

To what extent are you just ascribing to God something that we do not yet understand the nature of, like lightning and earthquakes in days of yore?

 

 

IMO ALL life is from God, but humans have bigger brain than beasts.

Some animals have thoughts as can communicate with other animals. Does an amoeba have thoughts- how would I know?

I ascribe everything in the universe to God, from the largest sun to the smallest atomic component.

2 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Students prostate for a parent, mainly fathers at "Father's Day", in a bi-lingual (English Program) Thai school.

I was in Thailand long enough ago to remember that bargirls used to get on their knees and pray for their farang ATM. That ended about the same time the smile vanished from LOS.