spidermike007

I left America behind a long time ago, and never looked back. I do have a business there, and family, so I visit a couple of times a year. I enjoy the jazz, theatre, independent film, fine wine, and my friends and family. But, the quality of life was already declining significantly before Covid. After this, who knows what the place will look like, and how long it will take to recover from what I consider to be an insane economic shutdown. 

Sometimes I like to compare the cost of living here, to there. Some say it is not a fair comparison. But, I like to do it anyway. It is a reality.

I know people who pay 10,000 baht a month for newer 3 bedroom houses in nice towns. In major cities in the US? $2000-3800 a month. That is 120,000 baht! 

I had my motorbike seat recently redone on my scooter. 400 baht. A friend of mine had similar work done in the US. $275. 

I recently had a guy come over and insulate my ceiling. I bought the insulation and paid him 2000 baht for labor. In the US? $800 and up.

I recently had an electrician do some work on the house. Nearly a full day of work. Paid him 1000 baht. In the US? $800 and up.

An oil change for my scooter costs me 200 baht, with Castrol oil. In the US? $75.

When I travel here I stay in nice four star hotels in Bangkok. 1800-2000 baht. In the US? $130 for a crappy hotel. $200 and up for a nice room.

I eat well here. In a smaller town you can get a three course meal for 200-250 baht. In the US? 2000 baht and up, plus tax and a nearly mandatory 15% tip.

I visit the emergency room here to visit a specialist, and with x-rays I am out the door for 2000 baht, at a private hospital. In the US? $300-2000.

Friends of mine, who are single, enjoy the company of a young, beautiful woman for a couple of hours, for 2500 baht. In the US? In many areas it is $800 an hour now for a decent looking gal, with an attitude. 

I could go on and on, all day long. I live at a level here, that I would never be able to live at, in the US, in most of Europe, in Oz, or Canada. 

Yes, the higher baht is an annoyance. And yes things are more expensive than they used to be. But, it is very relative. Life here is good!

1 hour ago, Ireland32 said:

Big Deal, Can’t go without a drink , geezus 

That is your own issue. I am a very light drinker, but I do not tell other people what they should or should not do. Some like a drink more than others. So what? It is their life, their body and their free will.

I rejoice at this liberty regained. I just do not want big brother telling me what I can and cannot do. Thailand along with South Africa were the only two nations in the world to impose this insane ban. Thankfully that bit of repression is behind us. 

2 hours ago, owl sees all said:

You are absolutely correct spidermike007.

 

I've had a cleaver thrown at me. And a cat. She threw rocks at me while I was in a pond.

 

Confronted me over a hair she found in the bathroom. Accused me of having sex in a sugar field with a Lao lady. Scratched my face then tried to stop me walking around the village to show everyone. 

 

Right now she is planned to give me a heart attack.

 

I'm gonna take spidermike007's advice.

Best to pick up and leave, and make a new life elsewhere. She sounds utterly insane, with very little emotional development. That is why I always counsel my friends who ask for advice, to really take your time getting to know them. Figure out what you have, and what you are dealing with, before you get in too deep. I also advise trying to find the eldest amongst the siblings. I found that, and she is very mature and very together. The eldest is usually given responsibilities from a young age, and that can make quite a difference here. 

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Just get one from a Thai doctor and ask them to leave the date blank.

Wish it were that easy. Must be from the country of origin. And impossible to get in the US. Hopefully, things will simmer down in the US and Europe sometime soon, and Thailand will not require it in the near future. 

8 hours ago, ezzra said:

Poor choice of words, wouldn't people who are not "white" will take offence... i'm half Cherokee and i take offence already...

The whole world seems to take offense to the slightest perceived slight. Where is the thick skin of our "elders"? Nothing seemed to offend them, and certainly they did not fabricate things to be offended by, yet they had alot they could have been offended by.

Good thing Pattaya is re-opening. Maybe this could be a sort of roadmap for the rest of the areas that are too timid to let the people get back to work. The zombies are not coming! Let it go. Let us get on with our lives. For one reason or another we escaped the plague. Let us be thankful. Kudos to all who assisted in this, and made it happen. 

3 hours ago, Chiang Mai Bill said:

So what countries will issue a ''clean from covid'' certificate/letter?

 

Can you imagine going to a doctor in the West and asking for a ''I am clean'' certificate?  Dream on!

I was scheduled to go back to LA late March. As I was trying to decide whether or not to go, I was told by a friend of mine who is a pulmonologist at Cedars Sinai, one of the top hospitals in Los Angeles County, that even if he did the test and came up with a negative result, he could not write the letter, due to the potential incubation period of the virus, which would be undetectable at present. I guess he was saying the test could come back negative, yet I still had the virus in my system? He said the liability would be tremendous for such a letter, and it would be impossible to get one in the US, from anyone. I would not have been able to return this month, as scheduled, and would have had to stay in the epicenter until all of this is over. Very good decision to stay here! 

So, that means all American are locked out of Thailand for the forseeable future. How many other nations have similar policies? Between that letter, the possible health insurance the authorities may require, and the potential threat of quarantine, who will be traveling to Thailand in 2020? I tend to think very few. 

In response, Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) director-general Chula Sukmanop said the mandatory measure comes into effect only from May 1.

Why put them into effect now? After all they will be needed more later. Hello? Am I missing something here? Does the government policy always have to be incoherent and inconsistent? Can't they make an exception once in a while? 

Give it a bit of time. Covid is shaking up the economy in ways nobody could have predicted. I see a massive price correction in the near future. You never want to be in a position of paying historic highs for anything.

I have news for Taweesin. Banning alcohol accomplishes nothing. There is a reason why South Africa is the only other nation in the world that did it, besides Thailand. As long as people practice correct social distancing, whether they enjoy a beer together or not makes absolutely no difference. All it does is deny the masses a small pleasure, during stressful times, and the ban is light years beyond ignorant and unproductive. Most alcohol is consumed at home, and the restaurants being allowed to reopen, but not serve beer is beyond silly. And I am not much of a drinker. I am referring more to the social liberty aspect of this equation. Another example of the government over reaching in its authority.

16 hours ago, stevenl said:

Most doctors think about their patients.

Barely, when it comes to Covid, as they are nearly completely blinded by established influenza protocols, which are obviously not working. If I had Covid, the last nation on earth I would want to be receiving medical care right now is the US. 

This kind of thing happens constantly, often with commercial pilots flying planes with hundreds of people on board. The amount of human error when it comes to piloting would boggle your mind. Give the guy a break. Do you know how many flights a day Hawthorne Airport handles? It is a very small municipal airport with only one runway, and the chances of another plane being on that runway when he crossed it is ridiculously small. Harrison is a very skilled pilot. Yes, there was one other incident, but he owns seven planes, including a jet, and a helicopter. He flies alot, and rarely uses pilots to fly him around. 

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

All poop!

Hollywood has killed the world's movie industry.

I recently read that with China now being the largest market for Hollywood, all they are willing to release are big mega films, with virtually no content, that pass the Chinese censors. A rather substantial bit of cultural degradation. 

4 hours ago, stevenl said:

Again no proof but anecdotal reports. Also many anecdotal reports pointing the other way, plus research inconclusive at best, pointing at negative effects at worst.

 

You made a claim that can not be backed up, simply because the claim is incorrect.

 

The mature way is to back up claims.

 

Oh, and a film from 5 April with 7 April update is not new, not is it must watch. You simply copied that from his website.

Ok. I guess best to just give up, surrender and die, if infected and in a high risk group? After all. We can't ignore the established protocols. These great organizations and Big Pharma are always going to prioritize our welfare. Right?

4 hours ago, Russell17au said:

The massage shops were ordered to close by the Ministry of Public Health on 18th March. My wife has the documents that ordered her shop closed 18th March until 31st March and then it was extended to 15th April and then extended until further notice. My wife's shop has been closed since the 18th March with no income but she must still pay the rent as the landlord will not give any reduction as they must still pay the bank loan. If this forced closure goes much longer then this is one massage shop that will not re-open.

And there are hundreds of thousands of businesses nationwide, that are in a similar position. Nobody is offering any solutions. Only brain dead ministers, who are worth a fortune, and have no concept of what it is to work for a living, and are creating these insane timelines.

33 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I've lost interest in the Cinema, the new films don't hold my attention.

In the US, there is a vast selection of foreign and independent films in the cinema. Here, there are a very limited number of choices, and they tend to be the big films. I think either the booking agents here are very lazy, or the public here is only interested in the silly franchise type films. Either way, it leaves many of us with few choices, and I cannot count the number of times I have wanted to see a film in the cinema here, and there was absolutely nothing of interest. 

4 hours ago, stevenl said:

Yes, forum rules require you to back up claims. Next time you make this claim without proof I'll report. I hope you do provide the proof, working medication would be excellent, but ATM it is not there yet.

OK, here you go. And just a heads up. It has been since the seventh grade, that someone has threatened to report me. I would try another approach. Surely in this day and age there are more mature ways to deal with issues.

In this new must watch video, Dr. Zelenko went on to explain that hydroxychloroquine helps zinc penetrate the cell (zinc decelerates viral replication in the cell). He stated that azithromycin combats secondary infections. Dr. Zelenko is surprised that many other doctors operate with a “peace time mentality.” Instead, he calls for bravery and mindset adjustment.

https://techstartups.com/2020/04/05/new-updates-dr-vladimir-zelenko-cocktail-hydroxychloroquine-zinc-sulfate-azithromycin-showing-phenomenon-results-900-coronavirus-patients-treated-must-watch-video/

Last week, the American Society of  Thoracic Surgeons issued guidelines for doctors to use the anti-malarial if they are in the advanced stages of the coronavirus, but some physicians say that it needs to be administered long before that.

“In a pandemic, we need to be using presumptive diagnoses,” said Marvin Lerner, a retired Manhattan-based physician and infectious diseases expert.

https://nypost.com/2020/04/11/doctors-pols-urge-use-of-miracle-coronavirus-drug-cocktail/

By day 6 of the study, 70% of treated patients no longer harbored virus as determined by RT-PCR, compared with 12.5% of controls. The combination of hydroxychloroquine plus azithromycin was more effective at clearing virus than hydroxychloroquine alone.

https://www.virology.ws/2020/03/19/hydroxychloroquine-reduces-viral-load-and-symptoms-in-covid-19-patients/

I could go on all day long. None of these are clinical studies, and none are absolutely conclusive. But, I ask once again, when faced with death as an alternative, how conclusive does the medication have to be?

Many of us still love the cinema experience. However, it would be more enjoyable if they did not blast the AC to near Arctic temps, here in Thailand. Why they are so hellbent on spending that extra 25,000 baht every month on AC is beyond me. Things might change now. I would guess ticket sales will be way, way down for the next few years. You wean someone of a habit, and it is hard to say if things will just go back to normal. You shut down an economy deliberately, and the consequences of that insanity is totally unforeseen. 

Just now, stevenl said:

That is not proof, indications at best, with real research so far showing no benefit at all, possibly even pointing to being detrimental.

 

Your claim is not correct. You make the claim, you back it up in stead of telling others to do the research themselves.

Big Pharma is doing a great job of pushing back against these drugs, as most are generic, and there is no big payday in it for them. They seem to prefer to wait, for a massive vaccine payday, and let the chips fall where they may. Look, we all believe what we want to believe. Some are more open minded to alternatives, than others. If I were seriously ill with Covid, I would opt to try the drug cocktail, rather than endure the worst side effect possible, which is death.

I made the claim. I do not need to back it up. There is plenty of information out there for those willing to learn.

You may have enough cash, but you have not been doing a very impressive job of sharing it with those in greatest need. The last paltry 5,000 baht was met with over an 80% rejection rate. Proud of yourselves? The only proof that should be required is a Thai ID card, if you guys were serious, and if you really cared about your people as much as you claim to. Put your money where your mouth is please. There are tens of millions in need right now.

My wife and her friends set up a kitchen at a local temple yesterday, and the locals lined up for hours, to get a free meal. Get a life guys. You can do alot better than you are doing, to assist your people.