TallGuyJohninBKK

It varies some from year to year... And last year was better in general than the years before, perhaps in part because of lower activity of all sorts during the pandemic. But in general, for Thailand, the worst air season typically starts around November-December and then continues into the first couple months of the new year. Look at where the red and orange high PM2.5 pollution levels fall on the following historical chart for Bangkok, which breaks out the readings by month and year. https://aqicn.org/city/bangkok/

Here's a look at the Thailand wide picture as of today. Lots of red/bad air out there.... though the past couple days, the levels have been worse overnight and in the mornings, and then eased in the afternoons. https://aqicn.org/country/thailand/ The graphic below shows the hourly readings for Bangkok for yesterday and today: https://aqicn.org/snapshot/bangkok/20230124-12/ PS - The AQICN.org charts above use the U.S./international PM2.5 pollution scale and color codings.... not the more lenient Thai government ones.

More bad air today for BKK: https://aqicn.org/city/bangkok/ The other thing to note is that Thailand's above 50 micrograms threshold for PM2.5 pollution reaching the "unhealthy for sensitive people" is artificially high.... In the U.S. and elsewhere, for example, the threshold for unhealthy for sensitive people air pollution is 35.5 micrograms of PM2.5. It's the same as having a higher blood alcohol level before you declare someone guilty of DUI. By having a higher air pollution trigger threshold, Thailand avoids having to declare pollution alerts that would be declared elsewhere.

See below: https://www.crevelingandcreveling.com/blog/american-expats-dont-get-caught-us-tax-rules-foreign-investments American Expats: Don’t Get Caught by U.S. Tax Rules on Foreign Investments What Is a PFIC? This covers virtually all foreign mutual funds, money market funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, pension funds, and other investment products incorporated outside the United States and distributed by foreign financial institutions or sold by independent financial advisors (IFAs) or brokers. ... Unlike U.S.-incorporated mutual funds, where capital gains are deferred until realized and which are subject to preferential long-term capital gains rates, PFICs are subject to a particularly punitive taxation regime by default (unless you actively choose the “mark-to-market” accounting method outlined below). ... As a result, annualized tax rates on PFIC income can exceed 50% or more. ... most Americans who invest in PFICs are unaware of their different treatment and tend to report and pay tax on their foreign investments as they would an investment in a U.S. domestic fund, which could open them up to penalties, back taxes, and interest charges."

If you've been following the news, you'll notice that a couple of cities in Italy recently were COVID testing incoming Chinese arrivals at their airports, and anywhere from 25% to nearly 50% of them were testing positive for COVID upon arrival. Nearly a quarter of travelers flying out of China after ‘zero COVID’ lift were positive for the disease, new report reveals https://fortune.com/well/2023/01/17/nearly-a-quarter-travelers-from-china-covid-postive-lifting-zero-covid-cdc-who-omicron-italy-study-restrictions/ Nearly half of passengers from China to Milan have COVID: Italian officials https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3790837-nearly-half-of-passengers-from-china-to-milan-have-covid-italian-officials/ And then beyond that, lately after prodding and pressure from the WHO and others, the Chinese government recently altered their official cumulative count of Chinese COVID deaths since they dropped restrictions in early December. Their original official number of 37 COVID related deaths now suddenly has been revised upward to nearly 60,000 during a month-plus period of time. China says 60,000 people have died of Covid since early December (CNN) - Close to 60,000 people have died of Covid in China since the country abruptly abandoned its tight “zero-Covid” policy in early December, a medical official from the National Health Commission (NHC) told a press conference in Beijing on Saturday. Jiao Yahui, head of the NHC’s medical affairs department, said China recorded 59,938 Covid-related death between December 8 and January 12. Of those deaths 5,503 came from respiratory failure caused by Covid infections, and 54,435 were people infected with Covid as well as underlying diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. ... In the month after December 8, China reported only 37 deaths from local Covid cases, according to figures released on the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website – even as the outbreak has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums amid apparent Covid surges in multiple cities. (more) https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/14/china/china-covid-deaths-intl/index.html Welcome to Thailand, folks!

More than 13.2 BILLION COVID vaccine doses have been given thus far since the start of the pandemic. And those doses have resulted in more than 5 BILLION people worldwide being "fully vaccinated," based on the particular vaccine/vaccines they were given. Those are pretty good sized pools for knowing just what the current COVID vaccines are about. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL

To the best of my knowledge, the general pattern with vaccines historically is that any resulting side effects have tended to occur in the relatively near term after vaccination.... And that history really doesn't support the notion or fear that some totally unknown and unidentified vaccine side effect is suddenly going to surface years later. See the following, as just one example of the medical community's knowledge on this: "Unlike many medications, which are taken daily, vaccines are generally one-and-done. Medicines you take every day can cause side effects that reveal themselves over time, including long-term problems as levels of the drug build up in the body over months and years. “Vaccines are just designed to deliver a payload and then are quickly eliminated by the body,” Goepfert said. “This is particularly true of the mRNA vaccines. mRNA degrades incredibly rapidly. You wouldn’t expect any of these vaccines to have any long-term side effects.” --Paul Goepfert, M.D., director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/12143-three-things-to-know-about-the-long-term-side-effects-of-covid-vaccines

Seems like she was pretty well respected on the international scene, despite some of the dinosaur opinions expressed above: "In March 2019, in the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings, Ardern reacted by rapidly introducing strict gun laws, winning her wide recognition.[14]" Points for that. "Throughout 2020 she led New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for which she won praise for New Zealand being one of the few Western nations to successfully contain the virus.[15]" Points for that. "She led the Labour Party to a landslide victory, gaining an overall majority of 65 seats in Parliament, the first time a majority government had been formed since the introduction of a proportional representation system in 1996.[17][18][19]" Points for that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinda_Ardern

Not only that, but in the past, Lazada reps have told me that they simply don't do international shipping for orders originating from their various SE Asia online stores. So in other words, Lazada Thailand orders only can be shipped to Thailand addresses. Lazada Malaysia orders only can be shipped to Malaysian addresses. Etc etc etc. And yes, IME, the availability of various items and items stocked does vary some among the various different Lazada country-based operations.

The chart you're citing from Worldometers appears to be OLD 2020 era data just from China, which in and of itself is notoriously unreliable... All in all, it means nothing. Here's the broader look at the chart info you excerpted above: And, not surprisingly, there is actual real and more current data on that subject that you could have cited, but didn't. According to the US CDC, for example, there have been since the start of the pandemic in the U.S. alone 637 COVID deaths of children ages 0 - 4, and 986 COVID deaths among youngsters ages 5 to 18. So anyone suggesting children are somehow immune from serious health impacts from COVID is simply wrong. And these CDC numbers below only deal with youngster COVID deaths, and not the far larger numbers of COVID hospitalizations and COVID illnesses. https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Deaths-by-Sex-Ages-0-18-years/xa4b-4pzv

When the bivalent vaccines were first launched in the West, there were very mixed signals about just how effective they were, and whether they really were an improvement over the original versions. Some initial reports and analysis said they were not. However, subsequent and expanded research and studies on the bivalent vaccines after they've been in use in various countries for months seems to have turned the tide and the latest and more recent research seems to in fact show them as more effective against serious illness, hospitalization and death than their predecessors. However, in looking today, I found one Thai media source earlier this month that claimed the Thai MoPH ended up canceling their plans to acquire the bivalent vaccines based on the early and ultimately countermanded research findings about about the newer vaccines, which if true would be a bad move on Thailand's part. Here's that Thai media report, not sure how credible or authoritative it is: Thai bivalent strains of the COVID-2 vaccine do not have to be imported. Health Underwood World 6 days ago ... "Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health, said he had received information on medical and academic advice. covid vaccineThe original and the new. 2 strains of COVID vaccine The effect of using a needle to stimulate the immune system is similar. Therefore, it is not necessary to consider importing it to be used as a stimulant needle in Thailand at this time. will definitely not be stuck at him. Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong The Director-General of the Department of Disease Control (Kor.) gave information that there was no need to order at this time." (more) https://thailand.postsen.com/health/100791/Thai-bivalent-strains-of-the-COVID-2-vaccine-do-not-have-to-be-imported.html Unfortunately for Thailand, more recent research and reports as the newer bivalent vaccines have been in use in the U.S. and elsewhere say they DO have protection advantages over the original versions..... and no different safety profile. "our vaccines have continued to be protective against severe disease as the virus mutates, including the bivalent boosters currently available that were modeled after the BA.4/BA.5 subvariants. Lab studies have found that new boosters neutralize XBB.1.5 as well as BA.5, according to Topol's report, and that XBB.1.5's and BA.5's spike proteins have more in common." https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/vaccine-effectiveness-available-covid-treatments-what-to-know-about-xbb-1-5/ Bivalent COVID-19 boosters may cut risk of severe disease by more than half Updated bivalent (two-strain) mRNA booster shots, which target the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 sublineages of COVID-19 and the original strain, cut the risk of contracting severe COVID-19 by up to 57%, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report today, but most Americans have yet to get the shot since they were made available on Sep 1. A second study today in the same journal shows the bivalent boosters are particularly effective at preventing hospitalizations in elderly Americans. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/bivalent-covid-19-boosters-may-cut-risk-severe-disease-more-half The above article cites the following recent study from the U.S. CDC: Early Estimates of Bivalent mRNA Vaccine Effectiveness in Preventing COVID-19–Associated Emergency Department or Urgent Care Encounters and Hospitalizations Among Immunocompetent Adults — VISION Network, Nine States, September–November 2022 What is added by this report? "Bivalent booster doses provided additional protection against COVID-19–associated emergency department/urgent care encounters and hospitalizations in persons who previously received 2, 3, or 4 monovalent vaccine doses. Because of waning of monovalent vaccine-conferred immunity, relative effectiveness of bivalent vaccines was higher with increased time since the previous monovalent dose. What are the implications for public health practice? All persons should stay up to date with recommended COVID-19 vaccinations, including receiving a bivalent booster dose if eligible." This is how the CDC report said the newer vaccines helped improve people's odds of avoiding COVID hospitalization, compared to being unvaccinated and compared to having prior original vaccinations at various timeframes: "VE [vaccine effectiveness] of a bivalent booster dose (after 2, 3, or 4 monovalent doses) against COVID-19–associated hospitalizations was 57% compared with no vaccination, 38% compared with monovalent vaccination only with last dose 5–7 months earlier, and 45% compared with monovalent vaccination only with last dose ≥11 months earlier. (more) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm715152e1.htm

Those reports later rescinded as a probable false alarm: Does Pfizer’s COVID-19 booster increase stroke risk? ‘Very unlikely,’ agencies say The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that one of their databases warned of the possibility that the Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 booster could be linked to an increased risk of stroke in people aged 65 and older. The agencies investigated that warning and did not find evidence to confirm the risk. "The CDC and FDA announced their investigation in a Jan. 13 press release. The agencies said a "preliminary safety signal" was identified for people 65 and older, but their investigation found "it is very unlikely that the signal … represents a true clinical risk." (more) https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/jan/18/does-pfizers-covid-19-booster-increase-stroke-risk/

You're dating yourself! I go back a long ways here... but that name even predates my arrival! I believe the original name of the current mall, that opened in 1990, was the ill-named (based on later U.S. events) World Trade Center.

I remember that announcement. But I also seem to remember subsequent to that, it was clarified that Thailand still was going to be acquiring the newer vaccines, if not by the MoPH directly, then by the GPO and/or private hospitals. But, until we hear something more recent and authoritative on the issue, who knows!

And meanwhile, over in Thailand's Chinese "gray" market world, Immigration for years, supposedly in exchange for kickbacks, has been handing out improper student visas to scores / hundreds? of Chinese business people (gangsters?) masquerading as Thai language students, and Thais are illegally fronting as nominees for illegal Chinese owned/operated businesses involved in drugs, gambling and who knows what else. And the Chinese guy who's supposedly in charge of the whole empire is married to a Thai police colonel and somehow managed to get Thai citizenship out of the deal! Immigration is bugging us about slivers, while huge logs of corruption are merrily floating downstream right under their noses.

The accuracy and validity/legitimacy of that article and its methods has been challenged by credible sources, such as the review article below in Science-Based Medicine: Peer review fail: Vaccine publishes antivax propaganda disguised as “reanalyses” of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial data "In order portray COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous, Peter Doshi has now managed to get poorly designed and performed “reanalyses” of the clinical trial data used by the FDA to grant emergency use approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines published in two reputable journals, The BMJ and Vaccine? What happened?" "Now that the paper, whose flaws and misleading nature were discussed in great detail by many scientists (which I will discuss in a moment), as well as by our very own Dr. Jonathan Howard and Dr. Harriet Hall, has somehow inexplicably gone from preprint to peer-reviewed publication in Vaccine, the onslaught started again." https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/peer-review-fail-vaccine-publishes-antivax-propaganda/ As for the creds of Science-Based Medicine: "Overall, we rate Science-Based Medicine Pro-Science based on the use of scientific sources and support for the consensus of science. We also rate them Very-High for factual reporting due to scientific sourcing and a clean fact check record." https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/science-based-medicine/ In short, for reasons explained in the Science-Based Medicine review article above, even the 1 in 1,000 claim from the anti-vax journal article you cited isn't legitimate or based in any reality.

A bunch of non-credible anti-vax rubbish and unsourced claims, as usual. OP, thanks for posting the vax offer info. I'm assuming the offer is for the original Pfizer vaccines, as I've heard nothing publicly from the MoPH about what they originally said were their plans to acquire the bivalent vaccines for use in 2023. https://thainewsroom.com/2022/09/06/ministry-moving-to-purchase-updated-covid-vaccines/

In my case, and they knew it at the time, I had to be back there ONE WEEK later to the L section to do my new annual extension renewal, and had to repeat the whole bank book update and bank book photocopies process all over again. But at least for the extension renewal process, I knew that it was going to be required, as it long has been.

I'm fine to comply with their rules, if they (Immigration) actually post or publicize or inform the retirement extension holder community of them in some way.... which they typically don't do, and didn't do in the case of demanding the applicant's Thai bank book when doing a new passport stamps transfer. So instead, we get these kinds of new demands that just pop up out of nowhere because some Immigration general or colonel decides they need to make sure us foreigners aren't trying to pull any fast ones with the 400K/800K deposits mid-cycle.

Needless to say, Jomtien does not necessarily follow the same policies and procedures as they do at BKK CW. PS -- The issue with the policy that BKK CW enforced, at least last fall, was that no one would necessarily be expecting to need to bring their Thai bank book holding their extension deposit with them for purposes of transferring stamps. That had never been required there in the past. On my particular visit, I just happened to have brought the bank book with me... so I was able to meet their demand. But bringing your retirement extension deposit bank book, at least then, wasn't anywhere on their own list of required documents for completing the transfer of stamps process. If I hadn't have brought the bank book with me out of an abundance of caution, I would have wasted a day and trip out to BKK CW, and would have had to return back there the next day with bank book in hand.

I see we had an exchange of comments/posts previously on this very issue in the thread below after I came back last September from the BKK CW encounter and detailed their bank passbook demands:

My experience with that at BKK CW, as recited above, occurred Sept. of 2022. At the time, the IO and supervisor I challenged on the issue told me it was a new policy of theirs.

When I transferred my retirement extension to a new passport at BKK CW Immigration some months back, that's exactly what they required of me -- to my surprise! The IO and then the supervisor I spoke with both said that their (at least BKK CW's) newish policy for people with retirement extensions is that anytime you go to the L section there for any type of transaction, they're going to demand new proof at that time of compliance with the 800K/400K deposit requirements.

I should have clarified above, meant to say, living overseas AND giving/using a foreign address with their brokerage account. If you're living abroad and using a U.S. address of record on your U.S. brokerage account, then the mutual funds issue should not arise.

AFAIK, if an American is living overseas, all purchases of U.S. mutual funds are not allowed, whether it's via an IRA account or any other brokerage account. AFAIK, that restriction on U.S citizens living abroad only applies to mutual fund purchases and not other kinds of U.S. investment holdings.