TallGuyJohninBKK

You'll note, my prior post and comments were limited to the efficacy of mRNA vaccines -- not the others -- in helping prevent infection. The Times article reinforces what I said above -- the mRNA vaccines have shown the best performance at preventing infections, with the results varying by time passed and which virus variant is involved, according to the various research results reported thus far. From The Times report: "But only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced by a booster, appear to have initial success at stopping [Omicron] infections..." "The other shots — including those from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and vaccines manufactured in China and Russia — do little to nothing to stop the spread of Omicron, early research shows." AND "The Pfizer and Moderna shots use the new mRNA technology, which has consistently offered the best protection against infection with every variant. All of the other vaccines are based on older methods of triggering an immune response. "The Chinese vaccines Sinopharm and Sinovac — which make up almost half of all shots delivered globally — offer almost zero protection from Omicron infection." Though again, it bears repeating that the other vaccines still do appear to continue to offer protection against serious illness and death from COVID. That's good for the individual recipients. But that's not going to stop or slow the spread of the pandemic.

The mRNA COVID vaccines do prevent infections to a certain extent, that starts out relatively strong, and then wanes/reduces with time. So, the science clearly shows, depending on the vaccine and the time since you last received it, they can prevent a certain proportion of the vaccinated from contracting the virus. In short, the mRNA vaccines prevent infections in some of the vaccinated, but not all. They're better, of course, at preventing serious illness and death.

fyi:

So your friend actually is serving out his quarantine in a hotel room, not a hospital room?

I don't have any direct personal knowledge on this to share. But, apart from the UK woman's episode and whatever's gone on with that, there are quite a few member posts in another running thread on this issue that seem to be suggesting the following for someone who tests positive right now: --if the person has medical insurance, they're referred to/sent to a hospital for quarantine. --if the person doesn't have medical insurance, they're referred to/sent to a hotel or "hospitel" to serve out quarantine at their own expense. It's really pretty hard to understand how the government's policies and practices on this kind of a fundamental issue can be so vague and opaque.

I had a dental cleaning appointment recently at a private hospital in BKK. What they wanted prior to the appointment was either: a. show them proof of full/two dose COVID vaccination, or b. do an ATK test the day of the appointment just prior, and have a negative result. I'm fully vaccinated and will receive my booster this week. But when I thought about it, the hospital's option regarding requiring proof of prior vaccination really doesn't make much sense as a means of preventing the spread of COVID. Because months prior vaccination (especially with the Chinese or AZ vaccines so common here) apparently aren't doing much these days in preventing infections that can be spread to others -- even though they do help in preventing serious illness and death.

In the case of your friends, do you know, once they were hospitalized, did they end up in private rooms or shared rooms/wards with other positive COVID cases?

In that case above, the woman who tested positive but asymptomatic upon arrival was required to do hotel quarantine -- but was not sent to a hospital. When it comes to asymptomatic positive tests here, the issue of simply being required to undergo extended hotel quarantine vs being sent to a hospital to serve out the same quarantine seems to be VERY unclear.

Then you'd have to include a lot of other countries, including the U.S., on your "complete failure" list, since the U.S. with 61% at present has a lower fully vaccinated rate (shown by the dark green bars below) than Thailand and its 64% rate. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

And not surprisingly, no social distancing occurring here, and hardly a mask to be seen..... Some folks have absolutely zero sense of social responsibility.

Well, I'd probably be a bit more measured in my criticism here... No one really knew earlier in the year that the various vaccines would, varying by the different types, have such relatively steep drop offs in preventing infections once people were 3, 4, 6 months out -- even though the mRNA vaccines still did better over time in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. It was interesting to see in the latest vax charts from the government that they actually are doing more 3rd dose shots per day right now than they are 2nd dose shots. Which kinda suggests they've run up against a segment of the population that simply don't want to get vaccinated with what's being offered for varying reasons. From the chart @anchadian posted above:

Looks like the government is going to miss their original self-stated goal of getting 70% of the population or 50 million people fully (two shots) vaccinated by the end of 2021. This is the latest chart update from the government posted today showing the fully vaccinated share at 46 million people / 64% (I added the red box highlighting those stats): https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106455480972785/475778407373822/?type=3 After a very slow start to their vaccinations campaign, I'll give them some credit for upping their game as the year progressed. Unfortunately, they ended up putting much of their early vaccine efforts into non-mRNA vaccines that simply didn't protect as well as the mRNA versions, which were very late to arrive in TH.

The wife and I hadn't gone away from home in BKK for any travel since late 2019, shortly before COVID began... So we were getting a bit stir crazy... We made plans for our short year-end HH trip before Omicron really became a thing, and kept our plans despite its recent emergence. I was glad to be able to do a quick get-away now, for I fear the case numbers and related grief is only likely to get worse here in TH in the weeks and months ahead. We were both fully vaxed, wore good quality N95 masks throughout our trip except when in our room or out eating, stayed away from indoor settings as much as possible, and when we were eating, kept a good distance away from others as much a possible.

Here's the latest/current details for the Swampy-HH bus service: The bus does not stop along the way going either direction. And the only thing provided on the trip is a single bottle of water. Though the bus itself is VIP class, very comfortable, well air conditioned and has plenty of leg room and seats that can recline.

As mentioned above, the Swampy to HH bus service does offer a follow-on van service from the bus station direct to local hotels for a 100 or 150 baht extra fee. That van service can be booked online as part of the bus ticket, paid for direct at the Swampy bus counter, or paid for upon arrival at the HH bus station. However, a bit to our surprise, it turns out they DO NOT offer the same kind of van pickup service for return trips -- taking you from your HH area hotel to the HH airport bus station. That part, you'll have to arrange on your own, although the bus station staff did refer us to a van driver who provided us the return trip from our hotel back to the bus station.

Just an odds and ends note on the perils, big and small, of domestic travel in Thailand right now. Big - at the long-established, large hotel we stayed in Hua Hin this past week, out of an abundance of caution, I called the day before our arrival to double check just what exact documents they would want to see upon check-in. I was a bit worried they might mistakenly class me as some kind of international incoming tourist. They didn't, but they still had a big surprise nonetheless. Although there is no government policy to do this that I'm aware of, the hotel where we stayed required all incoming guests -- farang and Thai -- to show proof of COVID vaccination -- though there was absolutely no mention of this anywhere in the advance reservation process via Agoda. At first, I thought it might just apply to me. But no, they wanted the same proof for my Thai wife as well. Fortunately, both of us had previously been doubled vaxed by the government here, so we didn't get caught out. And it wasn't just us in some kind of oddball deal. As we were waiting to check out yesterday, I caught the front desk staff making the same vaccination proof demand of other couples who were trying to check in. Earlier during our stay, I was checking with a couple other hotels in HH where we might want to stay on some future visit, and none of them said they had that same kind of vaccination requirement for guests. But still, in today's times, for a domestic tourist, it probably pays to be on the safe side and check ahead of time to be safe. Small -- despite the government and tourist industry promises of lots of tourists coming, the hotel where we stayed -- and several others we checked with -- had cancelled their normal buffet breakfasts that can be part of the room rate, and instead replaced the buffets with paltry single set plate meals, due to a lack of guests. In our case, our hotel gave us a choice of Asian (a bowl of rice soup) or Western (2 eggs, 2 slices toast and 2 sausages), along with coffee/tea and juice.) Not exactly what we were expecting, and had we known in advance, never would have booked the room category that included "breakfast" for an extra charge.

Came thru Suvarnabhumi last night on a return from a domestic travel trip. Never seen it so dead as last night about 7:30 p.m., both on the arrivals and departures levels. Went down to the outbound taxi queue area on the ground floor, and literally there was not a single person waiting in the queue when we arrived there.

It depends on the particular bank. Some, such as BKKB, will just do a passbook only print update that they call a *balance forward" transaction wirhout any depisit or w/d that reflects that current day. In the case of my Krungsri account for Immigration, they wont do that kind of update either by their tellers or passbook update machines. So for Krugari, the day of, I w/d 100b from their ATM, then deposit it back via their CDM, and then print update my passbook, which keeps the resulting account balance unchanged.

CW's policy is to accept bank deposit letters dated up to 1 week prior to yr visit. The letter does NOT have to be dated the same day of yr visit. BUT, what does have to be done the same day as yr visit is some update to yr bank account passbook, either by a balance update or some deposit or w/d and then printed bank book update done the day of yr visit.

CW's policy is to accept bank deposit letters dated up to 1 week prior to yr visit. The letter does NOT have to be dated the same day of yr visit. BUT, what does have to be done the same day as yr visit is some update to yr bank account passbook, either by a balance update or some deposit or w/d and then printed bank book update done the day of yr visit.

That's the same kind of thing I'm seeing \ experiencing being "on the ground" here right now. Visited two other HH hotels in the Market Village Mall area yesterday to scope out for potential future stays. Both said they had all kinds of room types available right now. Meanwhile, yesterday, our downtown hotel looked a bit busier after looking dead over Christmas weekend. A Thai group of some sort with everyone wearing the same color/ style T-shirts. So I asked the front desk last night, would they change to have a regular buffet breakfast avail in the morning instead of the crappy (and unadvertised) set plate western eggs and toast or Asian rice soup choices they been doing since our arrival last week (due to lack of guests...) Answer: they would be having a buffet breakfast finally just for today / Tues,, then back to set plate offerings again for Weds and Thurs... That pretty much tells the story.

The wife and I have been staying in downtown HH since before Christmas, including this past weekend. It's VERY quiet out and around, and our good sized hotel appears to be mostly empty,,, to the point they've cancelled their normal buffet breakfast and are serving set plates in a mostly empty dining room instead. Maybe upcoming NY will be different, but I didn't see any sign of it for the past Christmas weekend. And other local hotel prices I've been checking for just days ahead are showing big discounts on offer.

As best as I can tell, this long-time pair of American/TexMex style barbecue restaurants in Bangkok and Hua Hin appear to have disappeared sometime in past years. I didn't know they were gone, until I went looking just today and found zippo. Nothing much more recent than 5-6 years back. Don't see anything online in the news about their passing. Anyone know the story of what happened with these two restaurants, and when? Thanks!

Went to BKK CW Immigration last week for my annual retirement extension re-issuance, which went as smoothly as I've ever had, although there were several changes/clarifications from the same process I experienced there last year. Some of the notable items included: BANK DEPOSIT LETTER --The IO handling my extension via Thai bank deposit confirmed that the Thai bank deposit confirmation letter of your 800,000+ baht deposit can be dated up to SEVEN days prior to your application, at least at BKK CW. Can't speak for other Immigration offices. And, the same SEVEN day period was also confirmed to forum member @Pib who went for a marriage extension a few days later. [However, you still need to update the printed balance in the physical Thai bank book you're using earlier on the same day of your Immigration application.] 90 DAY REPORTING --Unlike past years, BKK CW Immigration is now allowing retirement and marriage extension applicants to complete their upcoming 90-day reporting obligations while there at BKK CW doing your extension. You just need to bring along or complete while there the standard TM47 90-day reporting form. Upon request, the IO handling your extension should handle that for you and give you a new slip for your future 90-day report right there in their cubicle, without having to go anywhere else or deal with any other IOs. In my case, since I had a completed TM47 in hand, that whole part of the process took about two minutes. In my case, my future reporting date was about 3 weeks into the future--no problem. In Pib's case, his future date was almost 6 weeks into the future--no problem. ADVANCE APPLICATION PERIOD The short-lived recent rule Immigration announced a few months back that, supposedly, you could only show up for your new extension no more than THREE days prior to your current extension expiring because of COVID is now GONE. And, the BKK CW Immigration office appears to be back to their prior, long-time rule of allowing extension applications up to 45 days prior to your expiration date. [Also, if you got a new/different Sept. 26 expiry date last year from BKK CW because of COVID, they're sticking with that time frame this year, so my new extension for the year ahead carries forward the same new Sept. 26 expiration date they gave me last year.] FOURTH MISC FORM TO FILL OUT & SIGN --For a long time, BKK CW Immigration has had three misc. single-page forms that they want retirement extension applicants to fill out, sign and submit, in addition to the TM 7 extension form and various photocopies. There now is a FOURTH single-page form, which is a copy of the actual Police Order rules for retirement extensions. Unlike past years, all four of the misc paper forms now seem to be readily available upon request from the Immigration info counter on the way into the main queue ticket counter inside. However, for convenience, I'm attaching here PDF files of the four single-page forms (I like to have them completed and signed ahead of time): 2 Ret Exten Reqs from Imm 2020 version.pdf 2 Ret Exten Overstay Penalties Form.pdf 2 Ret Exten Statement 2.pdf 2 Ret Exten Statement 3.pdf INCLUSION OF 90 DAY REPORT SLIP, TM30 RECEIPT & HOME MAP --This was I think my first ever retirement extension application visit where the IO had absolutely nothing to request of me or complain about. She was satisfied with my package exactly as I submitted it. And while your mileage may vary, that included a package with copies of: --my latest 90-day reporting update slip --my most recent TM30 residency confirmation receipt --an annotated Google Map printout that I enhanced on the computer to more clearly show the route to (and location of) my home. All of the above were accepted by my IO and kept by her to use in my packet. None of those forms were returned to me. Likewise last year, the IO handling my retirement extension then specifically requested copies of the 90-day report receipt and TM30 receipt, which I had in my possession, but hadn't initially included in my paperwork submission then. COVID RESTRICTIONS / WAITING AREA ACCESS --Compared to last year this same time, there was a different COVID restrictions process in place. This year, once you got your queue ticket number from the main counter, there was an IO staff member standing at the entrance to the L Section (extensions area) entrance, and at least on the day of my visit, she would not let you into that area to sit and wait until your queue number was close to being called. My number was about 15 down upon arrival, so I had to sit outside the main interior entrance where they've set up a socially distanced seating area for people who already have their queue tickets. The queue ticket Immigration gives you also has a QR code on it, which if you have a mobile phone that can read QR codes, gives you access to a live webpage version of the Immigration queue system and shows you how many people are ahead of you for your queue. Though I believe you have to periodically refresh the webpage in order for the changes to get reflected on the screen you're seeing. The IO staff member finally let me into the L Section waiting area by the time I was only 4 or 5 people down in the queue for extensions. Here's the full list and details of what went into my retirement extension paperwork package this year for Immigration: -- Completed TM7 form printed on a single sheet front and back. Your color photo pasted on the back side, and your mobile phone number hand written at the top of the back side. -- Official Thai bank letter confirming you have a qualified Thai bank account with at least the 800K required current deposit, with the letter dated no more than SEVEN days prior to your Immigration visit. -- Thai bank book for that account print updated earlier on the day of your Immigration visit, showing the required deposit and signed regular photocopies of your bank book pages showing account activity during the prior 12 month period. The current rules at BKK CW require a retirement extension applicant to show the 800K deposit for at least two months prior to the application, and then three months after, while the remainder of the year must have a balance of no less than 400,000 baht. -- the four misc. single page forms listed listed above and included as PDF files. -- Hand-signed portrait-orientation photocopies of the following: (they want photocopies, they don't seem to like printed scans): -- Passport face page -- if you've obtained a new passport any time after your most recent actual visa, the front two pages of that where Immigration has copied over the visa and stamps info from your prior passport. -- Most recent visa or extension stamp page -- Most recent arrival/entry stamp page -- Airport departure card front and back -- Hand-drawn or printed map showing the location & address of your home. -- Latest 90-Day Report receipt -- Latest TM30 receipt Ahh, and let's not forget the money -- 1900 baht fee for the annual retirement extension, and 1000 baht fee for a single-use re-entry permit. Lastly, this year, I took the new SRT Red Line for my trip to and from BKK CW, which was an interesting experience. And although the new Red Line has a Laksi station at the corner of Chaengwattana Road, my conclusion was that taking the BTS Light Green/Sukhumvit Line to Mochit Station and then a regular meter taxi onward to BKK CW is still the quicker, easier and simpler way to travel. I did a separate thread on all the details of that, as follows: Comments and personal experiences about all of the above at BKK CW welcome!