TallGuyJohninBKK

Interesting vaccinations update on Thursday: Last fall, at the peak of Thailand's COVID vaccine rollout, the country was doing more than 600,000 new vaccine doses per day. Yesterday's tally was less than one-third of that, at 181,854 new doses. And yet, more than 68% of the population (more than two-thirds) have yet to receive the third booster dose that health authorities say is needed to best combat the Omicron variant. And more than 28% of the population has yet to even receive the two regular doses of the vaccine. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/posts/523566522595010

Thailand's count of official new COVID cases rose again sharply on Thursday to 25,456, nearing the record high for the year, while new deaths (77) and serious cases in hospital (1,402) both set new record highs for the year. Thursday's update of new COVID cases came very close to Thailand's daily record high of new cases of 25,615 set on Feb. 26, and was nearly 2,500 cases higher than the 22,984 case count from one week ago. All in all, Thursday's update showed few signs that Thailand's current Omicron wave of COVID has peaked as yet or even begun to subside. The 77 new deaths reported Thursday surpassed the prior single-day yearly high of 74 set one week ago. Even with the 77 new COVID deaths, the country's tally of serious COVID cases in hospital rose by one from the prior day, while the number of hospitalized COVID patients requiring intubation to breathe declined by three to 504. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main For added context, during the peak of the Delta wave last fall, Thailand's daily COVID case count topped out at 23,418, but the numbers of serious hospital cases and intubated patients peaked above 5,600 and 1,100 respectively, and daily deaths topped 300 for a brief period.

Oh dear!!!! Hahahahaha!

No sign that they're having a going out of business sale??? ???? You know, like, "Get 'em while they're hot!" Or, in Carl's case, "while they're lukewarm..."

One thing that Thailand has never had, AFAIK, is a good version of the quintessential chili burger... Anyone from the Southern California region who grew up on the famous Tommy's chili burgers and their de rigueur pickled chili pepper accompaniments doesn't know just how good a burger can be!!! Ohhh... not to mention their chili fries made with the same chili... To die for!!! https://originaltommys.com/

BTW, odd that no one here thus far in five pages of posts has mentioned the Daniel Thaiger burgers operation in Bangkok, which I think at the outset helped lead to something of a hamburgers renaissance among local Thais, who madly posted their hamburger eating experiences and photos to their favorite social media back in the day...

The only new "facts" that I can imagine after all this time are -- some of the original litigants have probably DIED along the way!!! "Justice delayed is justice denied" is a legal maxim. It means that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injured party is available, but is not forthcoming in a timely fashion, it is effectively the same as having no remedy at all." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_delayed_is_justice_denied

Re the latest court ruling... WOW, there's a shocker! You mean, a Thai court doesn't want to have the Thai government have to pay a $26 billion baht debt owed to a foreign company??? Who could have imagined it???

Ya, I was going to mention them as well, but held off because they're pancakes instead of burgers... But both caught in the same lack of western tourists/lack of expats downturn during COVID, along with the prior restrictions on dine-in service. First they closed their TWO outlets in Siam Paragon, and some others I think. But last I heard (obviously out of date now) they still were operating at MEGA Bangna and supposedly had some delivery service-only kitchens somewhere in BKK. They are/were another Thai franchisee operation of an American chain -- in the case of IHOP TH, run by a very wealthy Thai family that has an affinity for U.S. foodservice ventures. One of the few, maybe the only, place(s) I know/knew of in Bangkok or even Thailand to get authentic American-style hash brown potatoes... (as opposed to the frozen, preformed potato triangles sold in the farang grocery stores).

Glad we could find common ground on at least that -- Prime Burgers and Carl's Jr. milkshakes, the latter soon to depart these hallowed grounds. ????

If nothing else, Carl's Jr. TH will always live in my memories for bringing jalapeno burgers to Thailand, which has to combine just about two of the best edible things you could pair together -- a beef hamburger patty along with sliced jalapenos!!! ????

I believe they must have changed that along the way somewhere, because I've had bottles of water from them in the past, in lieu of their unlimited re-fill soda fountains. Though at least at all their BKK branches I ever visited, they also always had a separate dispenser of unsweetened tea that was available to serve iced tea.

I hadn't realized that BK went back that far, even farther than McDonald's by one year: "McDonald's and Burger King started in the franchise food business in 1955 and 1954, respectively.  McDonald's has always been the larger company, but each firm has unquestionably influenced the other throughout their six-decade-plus rivalry." An interesting article comparing the two: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/111015/mcdonalds-vs-burger-king-comparing-business-models.asp These days, when I eat McDonald's in Thailand, it's usually their breakfast items like pancakes or sausage and egg McMuffins, etc etc... Usually give their actual hamburgers a pass... Though BK's Whoppers in Thailand are at least edible, kinda... especially if you ask them to actually fresh cook your burger patty instead of taking it off the shelf (warmer tray), as I believe they would typically otherwise do.

We had a thread here a while back about why you DON'T want to eat farmed salmon, which is the vast majority of the product on the market, whether fresh or frozen. It's disgusting and unhealthy stuff, based on what they're fed and how they're raised. And they're focusing on the farmed salmon raised in Norway... So how do you think the Asian farm raised salmon is going to fare in comparison?

My wife eats the som tum in the family... And I eat the burgers.... Though being from Sakon Nakhon, every time I order beef burgers, she wants some of those too! ????

I don't usually think of relying on Amazon U.S. for direct shipments to TH, because my own U.S. reshipper almost always has better shipping rates and I almost never have to pay any customs duty... But in this case, because of the special issues relating to supplements, I thought, OK, I'll follow your suggestion and see if Amazon as the seller would ship my Centrum Silver direct to Thailand, and I got the answer! But, thanks to your other suggestion above, I did check Lazada for sellers of Kirkland products from the U.S., and did find several seemingly legit sellers at reasonable prices. So that may be a viable local option for me, depending on how my upcoming import effort goes...

So.... in the coming absence of Carl's Jr. from Thailand, what's your current, remaining FAVORITE hamburger/hamburger place in Thailand? Especially in BKK, there are A LOT to choose from! At moderate prices, I like Prime Burgers on Sukhumvit quite a bit.. And I know they're still open, having ordered delivery from them lately. I tried a burger via delivery from this relatively new place in BKK recently -- Little Market Burgers. The taste was OK, but the portion was pretty small relative to a pretty high price for a basic burger. The several Arno's Burgers branches are OK, though I like the taste of the beef from Prime Burgers better. At at the higher end, NY Steak and Burgers on Suk Soi 22 used to do quite good burgers, though I haven't been there in a long while. (Ooops! Google Maps says it's "permanently closed")... Another victim...

Tell that to your cardiologist, next time you see him/her.... ????

Last time I looked, there still was a Tony Roma's branch on one of the upper floors of the Terminal 21 shopping mall at Sukhumvit and Asoke. And an Outback Steakhouse branch in the Siam Discovery mall nextdoor to Siam Paragon.

My reference was to "independent" burger places, not the chains like Carl's and McD.... But regarding your comment, supposedly, pre-COVID, there used to be some Thai lady with a burger cart outside Nana at night that the local barflies seemed to like, or at least tolerate, in their drunken state. No idea what's become of that one in our current era.

Carl's Jr hamburgers are hardly what anyone would call "huge" portions... Though like all food of that class, they do contain a ton of saturated fat and salt, etc.

I have (had?) a couple of Carl's branches near my home in BKK in past years. I used to eat there semi-regularly before COVID came along, just for a treat now and again. I had some quite good burgers (for fast food) from those Carl's outlets. And, at other times, quite bad burgers from the same places. Lack of consistency seemed to be a big problem, probably at least in part to the staffing issues you mention above.

Some years back, there really weren't a lot of independent burger places here in Thailand that you'd actually want to eat at.... But these days, especially in Bangkok, there's a fair number of local operations, either run by Thais or expats, that produce pretty good burgers. And better than any of the chains, even Carl's, which was the best of the lot. Among the well-reputed places in BKK these days are Prime Burgers not far from The Emporium, Chunky Burgers on Asoke Road, AGE Burgers in the Ekkamai area, and quite a few others.

"The Department of Airports will open the Betong Airport on a 920-rai site 13 kilometres east of the city in January 2022, having been delayed from its original predicted opening date of September 2021.[5][6] It is projected to cost 1.9 billion baht. Designed to handle 300 arrivals per hour, it is projected to serve one million passengers per year, generating three billion baht for the district." AND "Tourism is the main driver of the economy of Betong, especially sex tourism. Academic Surang Artnarong has estimated that the town is home to 3,000 to 5,000 sex workers, who primarily service Malaysian tourists." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betong,_Thailand Upon first read of the OP article, being a Bangkok guy, I didn't know what/where Betong was/is.... But now I'm clued in! ???? A 2 BILLION baht airport... being used for what now???

Just what I needed for the day... another good laugh at reading the latest Thai government news.... ???? You couldn't make this stuff up any better, if you tried!