thaibutty

2 hours ago, madmitch said:

Things do look bleak for Phuket. It's seen as one of the islands that foreign tourists will be allowed to come to but I've just read an article in the Bangkok Post and reading between the lines they are looking at groups only for the foreseeable future and we all know what that means. One Thai from Phuket was interviewed and he said he was happy for foreigners to return.....as long as they are quarantined for 14 days. No tourist will accept this. Returning Thais and expats will reluctantly put up with it. Of course the TAT put a positive spin on things - its their job - but most people have always doubted their statistics and projections. No exception here.

 

I'm away from Phuket for a few weeks. Hua Hin was very busy with domestic tourists last weekend but the owner of the place we stayed stated that it's only at weekends. Monday to Thursday is dead. But at least it's something. I'm currently in Chachoengsao, just east of Bangkok, and apart from QR check-ins, which I note more and more people ignoring, and mask-wearing in the town, it's business as usual; but this is a place that doesn't rely on tourism.

 

My overseas holiday has beeen replaced with a tour of Isaan, an area of Thailand I've never really visited. Not quite what I had in mind late last year but it will hopefully help some smaller busnesspeople around the country.

 

But as a domestic tourist, would I go to Phuket right now, knowing nearly all shops, bars, hotels and restaurants in the tourist resorts are closed or emply? The answer would have to be no.

I would also believe that most European tourists will stay closer to home for the foreseeable future. Who wants to spend a small fortune to travel to Thailand where they are much more restricted than in any of the European destinations. 

4 hours ago, ChipButty said:

As long as we can still move around in the tambon then no ploblem

I dont understand why you removed the None Alcoholic beers off the shelf

I also had trouble buying non alcoholic beer outside the usual alcohol selling times. I think they just don't understand the difference.

There are several other real estate sites for Phuket, such as 

phuket.net/property/

siamrealestate.com/

All offer some sort of filtering.

Price changes are usually given in price per sqm.

Problem, however, is that in Thailand square meters aren't usually based on actual usable space, but include all sorts of areas, including car ports, porches or the entire land plot. So it's really hard to make a comparison based on price per sqm.

5 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Take into account it has been announced that schools won't restart till July. So that means for international schools in September.

 

Personally I am more optimistic than you and think that it will pickup sooner than you expect, but who knows. I do know I don't have the money for a bad high season.

 

Regarding crime, people keep saying that, but I have been hearing this for years and years already, and have so far not experienced or seen crime rates increase. So for the moment I am not worried about that.

I hope it picks up earlier. Of course, it is also too early to make a prediction. I guess sometime before the start of the school year it will become more clear if we can expect a return to somewhat normal for the high season. 

1 hour ago, NightSky said:

Looks like Facebook rumors to me

Believe what you want. The sad fact here is that a Thai doctor published a long post detailing how a tourist who broke his neck in an accident is to blame for exposing the virus to 100+ staff of hospitals including doctors and nurses. The language used in the post is aggressive, derogatory and makes it very clear that farangs aren't wanted here.

The fact here is also that this has been shared 2000+ times and a lot of thais are calling to get rid of all the bloody farangs.
And there are numerous other posts and pages that promote hate and violence against farangs. It's quite revealing actually. Also discussed here.
 

More and more reports of people being threatened verbally, there are a lot of Thais taking pictures of any farang without masks, even if that is inside their own car. 

And of course there are some idiots still partying and driving around for fun, which doesn't help. But that current climate is definitely starting to get worrying for all of us.

Like I said above. We ain't getting more popular.

Judging from some of my Thai FB friends they are doing exactly the same. Catching tropical fish to feed their families and sell a few to neighbours. 

But it seems that in the current climate anything that a non Thai does is probably illegal.

3 hours ago, NightSky said:

That’s not what the report from the linked article says...

 

..it sounds like you’re believing Facebook rumours?

 

..where is your link to back up your version?

Like I wrote above:  the other version is shared by a Thai doctor working at the Vachira. 

Here it is. 

8 hours ago, robblok said:

I see thai running and walking in the park in front of my home too. Nothing wrong with it as long as you keep distance. 

you mean nothing wrong with it if you are Thai. But don´t you dare do the same as a farang...

The version of this story published by a doctor at the Vachira tells a different tale. 

He clearly stated that the guy died from the injuries sustained in the accident. 

But he also lamented about bad farangs coming to Thailand, not mentioning having been to a high risk country (Malaysia) or a high risk area (Bangla Road) and therefore putting doctors and nurses at risk of contracting the virus. 
I mean this guy broke his neck, even if he was still able to speak, Covid probably wasn`t very high on his list of priorities.

Anyway, story is currently going viral on the Thai Phuket FB pages and the overwhelming tenor is:
The doctors should have left the tourist to die in the first place. And now lets send all of these bloody farangs back to their own countries... Thailand for Thais...

We ain`t getting more popular here...

Going from house to house seems a fantastic way to really spread the virus all over the island.

Another solid idea by the great minds in charge!

5 minutes ago, Chalong circle said:

They go to test everyone ? Say 40 000 people ? In one day or two ?

Not testing for the virus. They'll check temperature...

37 minutes ago, Sundown said:

I may have to correct you as in Italy there is fit and healthy people in their 40's -50's dying for covid. Latest example is the bodyguard of the prime minister who just died last week and was absolutely fit. Moreover, in the city of Bergamo military trucks are used to bring the corpses to other cities because there is not enough room to stock them. 

And talking to friends in Southern Germany, there are a young and healthy people less than 40 years of age on ventilators right now. These are people personally known to them. So not just hearsay. 

Obviously, the sick and elderly are more at risk of dying, but that doesn't mean that younger people couldn't end up in ICU for 2 weeks.

23 minutes ago, christophe75 said:

The Phuket governor is on a mission.

 

He is a combo :

-Jesus

-Leonidas 1er ("spaaaaaaaarta !")

-general Patton

-Julio Eglesias (for the glamour and the songs)

 

One day = one order !

 

Whatever crazy this order can be... It doesn't matter.

 

The people, the whole planet is waiting for his daily order. 

 

Yesterday the 7/11 and convenience stores ?

 

Today the hotels ?

 

Tomorrow : ban on Som Tam. Ban on beer. Ban on sex. Ban on ban, etc.

 

Rince repeat.

 

Where this will lead us ? Impossible to say... Afterall, this is Thailand ("spaaaaaaaarta"). Everything is possible.

 

But one thing is sure : people are going to die. For real. Because of all those "orders".

 

And perhaps more compared to the virus casualties...

 

(Thailand = 1978 cases of the terrible virus. And 19 deads).

Most Thais seem to agree with these measures. And many ask for a complete nationwide lockdown. The fear is big.

And they mostly blame farangs.

Reading some of the comments in Thai social media is actually quite revealing and shocking. 

Few more weeks of curfew and no tourism and things might get ugly here. Even after things start to get back to normal

But who as a tourist is still staying here anyway? Hopefully all tourists have left by now. They have been given ample warning by embassies and officials. It really was just a matter of time before they would close hotels. Not only by order from above but also because owners have to cut costs.

Of course there are people who spent the entire winter here. But they are usually not staying in hotels. And looking around there is no shortage of empty houses and condos, so whoever is still staying in a hotel has a lot of choices to quickly find a new place to stay.

Don't see that as a problem for those staying in the hotels.

Much more so for the business owners and employees.

35 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

this has the potential to become a humanitarian crisis - hotels aren't charities, once the profit is gone they will close and with new guests outlawed any tourist forced out will be de-facto homeless during a curfew.

 

provisions need to be made now

 

 

 

Hopefully all tourist have left by now. Anyone who hasn't really doesn't have my sympathy. Embassies and officials have urged them to leave for quite some time already.

As for the hotels, from what i heard speaking to several hotel owners and staff, many had plans to close anyway. Most staff have been released already so they can receive 6 month unemployment payments. 
Which isn't all that much. 

Problem will be that even if they allow hotels to reopen in 4 weeks, even if the island returns to somewhat normal life, we are at the beginning of low season and many other countries are in lockdown too. International travel and tourism will be one of the last things to return back to normal. 

Question is which airlines will survive, which travel operators. With less competition prices will go up. 

A major global recession is imminent. In my opinion the likelihood of a return to business as usual in Phuket with the next high season is very low. I hope I am wrong as my business depends on tourism too, but I am not very optimistic about it.

But in any case this is going to be a huge problem for much longer than just the current lockdown. 

Not many businesses will survive this low season and with the average household debt in Thailand and the many who already live hand to mouth things are about to get ugly here.

12 hours ago, cheapcanuck said:

Good to see the wildlife return to the area.

To be honest whaleshark sightings are relatively common in that area and where also prior to the closure of Maya Bay. So I'd say the closure has nothing to do with this sighting. On the other hand the return of juvenile black reef sharks into Maya Bay is very likely due to the area being protected. One would hope they'd close more areas of Phi Phi and limit the number of tours going there. It's still very, very busy everywhere except Maya Bay.

Bangwad Dam has improved quite a bit but compared to previous years the water level now is how it usually was in March. 

Chalong Dam is quite full although also not as full as last year.

Manik Dam is still almost bone dry. 

Looks like all that water that could have filled the Manik Dam is now in the big lagoon at Bluetree...

On 8/20/2019 at 5:10 PM, CharlieH said:

As usual you will get varying answers to this as there is no (little) consistency by province etc.

 

Proof of residency

To get an Id Card

Register a vehicle

open a bank account

Register for paying Elec on line

Register for TM30 online

 

Just few off the top of my head.

 

 

 

Several of you have now mentioned the pink ID card. When I got my yellow tabien baan in Phuket we asked the officer at the amphur about the steps to take in order to get a pink ID card. The answer was there is no ID card for farang. I told him that there must be, because I read about it online and various websites and even showed him a report of how to obtain it, which included pictures of a British guys pink ID card. But the officer insisted that there was none for farang, only an ID card for migrant workers from Burma. 
Both me and the wife asked a few other people at the Amphur but no one had any idea. 

So how does one actually get the ID card and where to apply?