marc651

8 hours ago, keith101 said:

Might i suggest it has more to do with farmers burning rather than vehicle emissions although the amount of cars etc in Bangkok is horendous .

It has certainly to do with traffic. 

Have you seen the black smoke from the diesel pickups, trucks, busses?

One Thai dieselcar emits as much as a thousand Euro6 diesels.

The emission norms are part of the problem. The government could just implement the Euro6 norm for new engines, and for Euro6 fuel as well.  But this is planned for 2029 only. 

And thats for new cars only ... before the old ones get replaced you are looking at 2049 then.  Brace for another 30 years of smog.

Fully opening up for tourists or keeping the place hermetically closed wont make a difference.
Tourists wont be coming over either way. (at least not in the numbers needed to make break even or better)

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The reported new case is a Thai who returned home after completing the mandatory 14-day state quarantine and subsequently tested positive for the virus.

"Locally infected" is just a convenient assumption for which there is no evidence.

Not only that, it is also rather unlikely if you look at the specifics here.

As a returnee it is possible his infection was not detected, tested false negative (that does happen) OR he could be among the 1% where incubation is longer than 14 days.  Those are two potential scenarios much more likely than local infection.

If there were local infections many more people would show up sick, than just this returnee.

9 hours ago, anterian said:

I do wonder if Thai academics are really this stupid or is it the way the media reports their comments that make them seem so. 

Both.

If this "swimming pools are dangerous" rethoric would be based on reality, swimmers would have a statistically significant higher incidence of hepatitis A, enterovirus, adenovirus and norovirus. Which is not the case as there are zero epidemiologic reports confirming this. And there are plenty of swimming pools, plenty of people who do swim, and plenty who do not swim, so any correlation would be pretty obvious.

Every major pandemic comes in multiple waves. The second wave typically being more deadly as the first. Why would this pandemic be different? There is no reason to believe this pandemic will behave very different. Second, there is a clear seasonal aspect. Just like the flu and other corona virusses, they thrive in the winter. And so did Covid. And next winter it will thrive again, it is only logic.

My 5 cent: expect a second wave from around December. And expect it to be much worse as this one, as meanwhile the virus is widespread, latently present and ready to explode once winter conditions set in.

4 hours ago, Dogmatix said:

The numbers of new cases staying around the 100 mark seem suspiciously low. If they are suppressing much higher numbers, the truth will out in the end because hospitals, particularly in regions like Isaan that have pitiful numbers of beds and doctors per 10,000 population will be overwhelmed with pneumonia patients. 

Exactly!  The correct metric is not the number of positive tests (which higly depend on how much they test), but the number of occupied ICU beds. That is the strongest indicator of the scale of the epidemic.

But you have to keep in mind that those numbers display the situation 3 weeks ago. First there is the incubation period, then the part where people have mild symptoms, only later it gets critical. When they get moved to ICU, put on a ventialtor, they have been infected typically 2 to 3 weeks earlier.  But counting those cases give you the closest you can get to real numbers.

The Euro6 norm forces engines to spew out about 100x less PM2.5 compared to the current Euro4 norm (new cars) sold in Thailand.  The government has planned implementation of the Euro6 norm for 2029 (in Europe implemented 2016).

Many cars on the road are pre Euro1 : 1 single old diesel car will pollute as much as or more than 1000 new euro6 standard cars.

Al busses, trucks and cars should be phased out for new clean engines through a subsidy program. It's that simple.

This, combined with enforcing the ban on burning fields and garbage and the air will be fresh and healthy.

>I thought it is better to warn all westerners who are newbies in Thailand. 

I thought it is better to warn you that you have a huge grammar mistake in your title.

Everybody makes spelling mistakes, but at least in the title you could do a little effort to get that right, especially if you are writing a post where you pretend to be "Mr I know everything better". Thai culture are?

>1. Do not cross Zebra crossing when there is a car coming, they won't stop for you. Wait for cars to pass first before crossing.

Also a bit BS, there are definitely cars that stop, the ones that will not stop you can detect in advance, use common sense. Similar to in Europe (although in different numbers), some cars do not stop, I would not advise Thai tourists visiting western countries to "jump in front of a car at the crossing, they all stop".

>2. Do not disrespect the Buddha statues or the temples by wearing indecent clothing such as shorts or revealing dresses.

You mean: bow down to the ultra conservatives that totally exaggerate? There is nothing wrong with shorts in a temple, it is absolutely no disrespect and many of the Thai people think likewise. Obviously you dont have to go in bathing suit, again, use common sense. It's hot, shorts and flip flops are just fine. In 20 years never got any complaints. Just because there is a vocal group of medieval religious extremists does not mean we have to comply.  If you look at the facts, ironically the dress code these ultra conservative zealots try to push on you, is very unbuddhistic. In the old days women didn't even wear tops. The whole cover-up dress code thing is nothing more than a Victorian import, pure farang influence. It was introduced by the British, exported globally in colonial times, and adopted by wanna-be-developped nations all over.

>3. Don't write graffiti on public property. It will land you in trouble with the police.

Great tip... you can add a few like "do not put public property on fire"... do not pillage ...  do not steal... do not kill...

>4. Thailand is not the land of 'smiles' as painted in western media. The immigration and government can be quite strict and rude. Don't raise your voice with them like you do in western countries.

Until now I am really surprised with every point. Here again ... you pretend its normal to raise your voice to immigration and government in people's home country?  Its something you should not do anywhere.

>5. Don't point your feet at someone or touch someone's head.

Who on earth points feet to show things? Who does that? Do you feel the urge to go around pointing at things with your feet? Not only is it weird, it is also very unpractical.

We can add countless similar scenario's "do not point with your elbow". Do not point with your head. Do not touch people's ears, mouth. etc...

Sorry I just had to react as I found it the worst and most paternalistic stereotypical "good advice" posted in recent times.

It's not looking good.  With just slightly more than 50% having a level of "sympathy", that are low numbers.  The amount of people willing to mobilize, to actually go out and protest will be much much lower. Too low.  Actually,  the young generation was absent at the rally,  apart from curious passers-by. Those who came over were 30 and mostly 40 tear olds.

While Thannakorn targets the youth,  unfortunately fact is that the youth is largely indifferent. The Facebook generation will not come out to the streets as long as they can continue online shopping,  gaming and chatting. Their main concern is the amount of points saved on shoppee or lazada, visiting shopping malls,  and for the rest they don't care.  Speak to some 18 to 30 year olds and try to find the rare exception.... good luck!

So it's looking really good for the powers that be,  in my opinion the "resistance" will be by far too low to force regime change.   Only a serious economic crash (=e.g. let's just simply say when the youth can't afford shopping any more) would create enough critical mass (and even then,  the question would be who would capitalize on this, given the ever growing lack of critical thinking skills  - it could as well be the next dictator...).

Like with all drugs, it is the environment that drives people to a large extent. When you have many friends that smoke, as an adolescent, you tend to feel it is normalized and get curious, want to try it after a while.   Nobody decides on his/her own to start smoking.  Same goes for other drugs, from coffee to heroin - we usually copy people we look up to and that are close to us. You need to be very informed and mature to resist.

15 hours ago, SteveK said:

The problem I have now is that I can already speak quite a bit and read Thai also, I don't want to be lumped in with people who don't know their kaw kai from their gaw gai. If I travel down, get myself an apartment and turn up to this kind of class it will be a huge waste of money for me. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Just telling you my personal experience: I studied Thai at UTL language school, and was really satisfied. Tried a few other schools first, before I got to this one. They have many levels, and assess you when you enroll, put you in the level that is right for you.  Monday to Friday courses, you could pick morning or afternoon and per module (=level) it would take 1 month (20 lessons). When I went there many Koreans and Japanese students were enrolled, which was cool, got me some friends from that part of the world as well.  I studied there for 6 months, that got me fluid in Thai, including reading and writing.

I had tried private tuition before that - but that did not work for me. In a class is much better, you get challenged by your peers, it is not boring either unlike private tuition.

My five cents is that you should go try a free lesson in a handfull of language schools, and you will quickly see which one is best for you. Definetely worth taking courses, you learn so much in a short period when in the right class/school...

8 hours ago, jimgilly said:

it's starting to look like the areas for better quality air are getting smaller and smaller.

Indeed,  and the smog season is starting earlier, and gets more severe and longer.  The only Thai area with consistently good air quality is in the south,  starting below Chumpon. Beware that Hua hin, Prachuap and including Chumpon often get hit with Bangkok smog when the wind blows south. Same story there,  people think they are at the sea side and breathing in fresh air.  That very much depends on where the air is coming from.  The air visual map is ideal to see where the smog is going.  On the gulf coast, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla have clean air most of the time. 

I advise everybody to buy a pm2.5 meter (laser based) costs about 1500baht, so you know the actual and local situation is good or bad, and you can decide if its responsible to do sports yes or no,  or if you should wear a mask outside,  turn on your air purifier inside etc (and to check that it actually works)

Check out this real time pollution map

https://www.airvisual.com/earth

It has proven pretty accurate when comparing measured values

In Buriram i am measuring between 60 and 120 ug/m3 today and yesterday it was up to 230 at times (using a crosschecked sndway sw-825 pm2.5 meter).. so yes it is worse than in Bangkok right now,  but people don't realise it,  they think there is "fresh air in the countryside"

11 hours ago, rooster59 said:

many public buildings have committed to combating the pollution by installing and operating water sprinklers.

Window dressing. Proven useless.  But it looks like they are doing something.. towards the Thai public.  As said by many,  the cause is not addressed. 

The main cause are diesel and two stroke engines,  and agricultural + hobby burning (seems a favourite pass time of many Thai to put stuff on fire).  Eliminate the diesels and your problem is as good solved in Bangkok.  Needs courage and vision, so in Thailand we can forget about it ever happening. 

The schools better buy air purifiers to be used inside the buildings.  However, you need to change the filter after a while,  which would never happen, so it would just be effective for 3 months

3 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

His crimes of arson and vandalism were committed in Bahrain.

His crime was to speak out against the regime. The rest is made up. Opposing the government gets you convicted, typically on bogus charges, in Bahrain. That happens to political activists who go against the Bahraini government, and is well documented (check Amnesty International). This is exactly also why he was granted refugee status in Australia.

The O net test is important for the sheepy Thai crowds, products of Thai education. Would certainly not worry about missing it given the international education your kid is in.   In this case its even an advantage to not take the test since he can't read Thai well. Not taking it certainly beats failing the test!