"treated to a Chinese banquet while both local and foreign tourists looked on"
it does resemble those photos of the chinese tourist group enjoying the breakfast buffet.......
but you forgot to mention Thailand ( choose your favorite coup), DPRK, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos PDR, North Vietnam, Afghanistan (oops), PRC/Taiwan, ......
Maybe all the world cup coverage should be suspended until the various court cases are sorted out. I hear the courts will be ready to decide in January 2023 after the Xmas break....
"Flights on B757s and B767s carrying 238 and 336 passengers respectively will be arriving from eleven destinations in Russia from now until March."
and will they be reporting on the load factor for the return flights from Thailand to Russia? or are the aircraft staying here as well??