TallGuyJohninBKK

Not when you don't know who's actually doing the trolling because, apparently, the use of the various emoticons will now be anonymous to the poster being commented on, and all other regular members of the forum. And, I think it's pretty clear in the past that most of the time, when emoticon trolling/stalking issues arose, it was because targeted member could see and know it was the same member doing it repeatedly to their posts....and thus could report it. But now... invisible except to the mods, who don't spend their days seeking out such things.

1. Being indoors with AC doesn't do anything to help with/reduce the issues of air pollution when it's bad. 2. if your child's school is a private one, then they're free to set their own health policies including regarding mask wearing, regardless of those set for government schools. Have you asked the school why they're requiring the kids to wear masks while at school?

Is anyone here actually surprised that a Thai national, in the aftermath of a serious traffic accident, ends up leaving the scene. Happens here all the time, based on the local news reports we are regaled with.

Such as, if you're living abroad like in Thailand, but are earning income from rental property back in the U.S. from a state with state income tax. Merely being expat living abroad by no means gives anyone an all-purpose pass on state tax liability.

So they actually managed to arrest THREE of the 17 fraudsters they supposedly were looking for... and the other 14 had managed to vanish! Wonder what the odds are that some of those got tipped off prior to the crackdown, perhaps by the same kinds of folks who were issuing them pay-off illegal visas in the first place. If Immigration was a professional baseball player, with a batting average like that, they'd be sitting on the bench!

Around my neighborhood in BKK, most Thais still are wearing face masks when close around other people, especially in indoors venues... And a lot of expats as well.... From what I'm seeing, it's the western tourists who are the most conspicuous in not wearing face masks these days, even in places like the BTS, where they're specifically being asked to wear them.

In all likelihood, the school kids were being told/asked to wear face masks because of the recent/current spate of very bad air pollution, which is a standard thing for schools when the air gets bad. It would be madness not to try to protect kids from air here lately that in many areas has ranged from unhealthy to hazardous.

Some of us were wearing N95 masks here in Thailand, seasonally, long before COVID came along because of PM2.5 air pollution. And will have reason to continue wearing them no matter what happens with COVID, at least until/unless the unlikely event of the Thai government getting serious about PM2.5 air pollution occurs.

As I said above, it's JD.com that's closing its Thailand business, not Shopee... See the following: China’s JD.com to officially exit Indonesia, Thailand 30 Jan 2023 "Chinese ecommerce major JD.com is officially closing shop in Thailand and Indonesia by March 3 and March 31, respectively. Both platforms will stop receiving orders by February 15. As such, JD.com urged its customers to use up or transfer the balance in their accounts and pay off any loans before the closing dates." https://www.techinasia.com/jdcom-exits-indonesia-thailand

I believe it's JD.com that's leaving Thailand, not Shopee....

Bangkok should consider itself lucky that the mess up north hasn't moved further southward as yet.... Note the areas of RED (unhealthy) and PURPLE (hazardous) air quality. https://aqicn.org/country/thailand/

In reading the full report, it's full of a lot of caveats and hypotheses... It's also a non-peer reviewed preprint study from 2020. But it would be interesting to know if the authors ever did the follow-up work they were discussing.

Air pollution is bad in China, and people with impaired respiratory systems due to chronic air pollution are likely at greater risk of negative COVID outcomes. But I'm not following your quoted comment above. I don't think air pollution levels themselves drive COVID particles to become more airborne than they otherwise would. And, AFAIK, "old people" who might never leave home tend to catch COVID from family members who bring the virus home from outside and then infect their relatives.

The virus particles from COVID don't float around in the air by themselves. They are expelled by breathing / coughing / talking and become part of larger mucosal particles -- the sizes of which are very readily captured by N95 masks.

For everyone posting here, keep in mind... When Thailand puts out weekly COVID case reports these days, the ONLY thing they're counting are COVID hospitalizations (and deaths)... not just positive COVID test results. So in short, AFAIK, ever since last fall, no one really knows the numbers or rates of COVID cases (positive tests) here in Thailand and whether they're rising or falling. Because the Thai government stopped counting and reporting them as of October 2022.

Being careless/stupid in one area isn't a justification or excuse for being careless/stupid regarding something else.

Reuters a week or so ago had a recap of the various countries requiring COVID testing and/or proof of vaccination for incoming Chinese tourists... Thailand isn't/wasn't among them: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/countries-mandate-covid-tests-china-travellers-2023-01-12/ The Reuters recap for Thailand in their Jan. 30 report: "THAILAND Thailand rescinded on Monday measures announced by its aviation regulator a day prior requiring international travellers to show proof of full COVID vaccination or letter certifying recovery from the virus before flying into the country."

Apparently only the healthy Chinese tourists come to Thailand... But the unhealthy ones obviously are heading for places like Italy and South Korea where they actually require testing, unlike Thailand. Milan reports 50% of passengers on China flights have Covid Posted on December 29, 2022 https://thainewsroom.com/2022/12/29/milan-reports-50-of-passengers-on-china-flights-have-covid/ AND 'South Korea, which began testing travellers from China on Monday, said more than a fifth of the test results were positive." https://thainewsroom.com/2023/01/05/official-stats-not-reflecting-true-impact-of-covid-19-wave-in-china-who/

And many thousands of people are still dying from COVID every month, including almost 500 per day in the U.S. alone. Per the WHO, for the past month period Jan. 9 to Feb. 5:: "The highest numbers of new 28-day deaths were reported from China (40,812 new deaths; -11%), the United States of America (15,294 new deaths; +40%), Japan (9874 new deaths; +28%), the United Kingdom (2671 new deaths; -32%), and Brazil (2566 new deaths; -37%)." https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20230208_weekly_epi_update_129.pdf?sfvrsn=d2a3077b_4&download=true

Anyone who thinks COVID isn't still taking a toll in the world obviously hasn't been paying attention, even though the key trends have been declining. Per the WHO: Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 8 February 2023 "Globally, nearly 10.5 million new cases and over 90 000 deaths were reported in the last 28 days (9 January to 5 February 2023), a decrease of 89% and 8%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days (Figure 1, Table 1). Epidemiologic trends in the previous 28 days have been dominated by a large wave of cases and deaths in the Western Pacific Region, notably in China. As of 5 February 2023, over 754 million confirmed cases and over 6.8 million deaths have been reported globally." https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20230208_weekly_epi_update_129.pdf?sfvrsn=d2a3077b_4&download=true The WHO report above also noted that their numbers are likely UNDER-estimates, because of reduced COVID testing and reporting in many countries. Kind of like the new era of "don't ask, don't tell" in public health reporting.

Not sure why the OP report is citing data from mid January, when the Thai MoPH has already released their weekly report for early February: The prior report: And the latest report: https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/posts/pfbid02GtwS7534XSnbvtLYNkoXcVeZzrPc9CbyCyhzk2vQKJ5fY8Aw37zeLWFwt9UFK7vNl

I guess you missed the prominent mention in the OP report:

FWIW, yesterday, I also did a routine bankbook update of my Bangkok Bank savings account at one of their bankbook update machines... but had no transaction activity for the day in the account. The same as Krungsri, the last line entry the BKK Bank machine put on my book was the balance and date of the last prior transaction in the account some days prior, and nothing relating to yesterday. The difference, though, is that I believe the BKK Bank tellers/reps on their machines can print a current day balance forward entry in your bankbook upon request. But I don't believe the accountholder can trigger that themselves just using the bankbook update machines.

Indian cooking I know uses red or kidney beans in some recipies. But I can't recall ever coming across pinto beans being used in Indian cooking...

It's interesting how different Thai banks' systems operate differently.... Perhaps the reason I expressed the bank book update the way I did above is the following: My 800K is in a Krungsri savings account with bankbook. When I took my bankbook out today to update it for just general purposes, the last date their system prints is the date of the last transaction and balance then -- and NOT the balance or date of TODAY. So at least with Krungsri, the only way I know to get an update for today is to actually do a transaction today... which in my case when I'm at BKK CW, usually involves withdrawing 100b from their ATM and then re-depositing the 100b back into the account -- just so I can keep my account balance the same as my previously issued bank letter (even though Immigration supposedly won't fuss over a different balance amount, as long as all remain above the 800K requirement). I've never kept my 800K with any other Thai bank, so I can't speak to what's required in their systems in order to accomplish a bankbook balance update as of TODAY. Though as I recall @Pib has previously reported that BKK Bank's system will do a printed "balance forward" entry without involving any actual transaction. I don't think BKK CW cares if I withdraw and deposit any money from my account and have that reflected in my bankbook. But I believe what they do want is to see my bankbook show an update with the account's current balance as of the day you're appearing at Immigration. As noted above, I avoid that wrinkle by doing a 100b w/d followed by a matching 100b deposit, thus keeping the ending account balance unchanged from prior. But, apart from that, I've always understood that BKK CK doesn't mind if your bank letter balance and day-of-visit update balance are somewhat different, especially considering that the bank letter can be dated up to 7 days prior to one's Immigration visit.