BusyB

And then of course there is the fact that so many of those with whom it ended badly only came to LOS because it always ended badly back home as well. Thought they could buy a servile little Asian to do their incel bidding.

Basically you are of course right. But relationships weather and change over time. Not always for the better.

Especially since they now serve no useful purpose if indeed they ever did. It was understandable early on in the pandemic, with a lack of data and a sensible desire to play it safe. But the truth is out - these restrictions only restrict tourism not the virus, which is rife already in country.

They check visas, it's no extra burden to check a vaccination certificate - especially in the EU with standardized readers.

Yup, that's an acceptable level for me too ...

I know someone with long covid - it's compromising her ability to work in a country which has no sick pay and no unemployment benefit system. As a single mother it could see her on the streets if she can no longer pay the rent. She's worked hard all her life. It's real, it ain't funny, and it's not the flu. And it's a lot smarter than some posters on these threads.

Yeah I had a difficult time in VT and I'm fairly well travelled, in SEA as well. I'm gonna try and head south-north next time to give myself a bit more time to acclimatize to the place, which is exceptionally lovely and does rival LOS. I left half way through the trip because I was fed up with the place.

I'd rather retire to a fisher hut on the Tonle Sap ...

Yeah, especially when the ambulance crews are at it ...

Sounds like a new must see tourist attraction ... where is it?

There's also frequently no logical flow to a story, no story 'arc'. Makes the punter have to dig for the info. Can be quite frustrating sometimes ...

Well, it's what most of them do. But nothing stops anyone from calling up websites like the CDC or Johns Hopkins to get a better overview.

WSI Walking Street International

Perhaps they want to protect us from the population?????

That's the whole point - it's not just their lives they're 'playing' with.

I've never come across this in LOS, but it was widespread in (northern at least) Vietnam in 2007/8 when I was there. In one restaurant they refused to serve us what the locals were eating at another table even though we asked for it specifically. It looked great, but was not even on the menu they gave us. That was presumably the 'tourist menu' which was a list of stir fries with different ingredients - which was of diabolical presentation and taste when it came. Several incidents like that (the last one in Hoi An where I'd progressed to from Hanoi) were why I left early and returned to LOS. Even getting correct change back was a constant hassle and in the end it wasn't worth it. That was a trip I'd looked forward to very much. I'll give it another crack next year and try and roll it up from the south ... It was far far worse than anything I've ever experienced in Thailand, where you have to have your wits about you but most people and places are OK. My experience in VT was exactly the other way round, much to the sadness of my charming Vietnamese colleague back home.

Jesus wept!

I'd bet money that if asked they'd want an end to ALL conscription.

Well there is that, and also that a 14 year old who arranges to have her mother killed clearly has mental health problems. I know that retarded liberal attitude won't fly far on this forum, but it's pretty plain for those who don't simply want to dump their resentments into their keyboards.

Totally baffled. Why not pay a pucker-gen full fare confirmed res ticket out with a respectable airline and cancel it once in country for the refund? Why mess around with all that other tosh? Can anyone clue me in?

It's long been acknowledged that GDP is a pretty bad way of judging economic progress. And it's no surprise that the powers that be don't want to take the logical action based on that fact. A huge chunk of GDP in many countries is just bits and bytes on financial computers whose only effect is to make the poor poorer. But as long as the numbers get bigger, hey! GDP's up! A good friend of mine works 13 days out of 14, 10 hours a day, for 13000 baht a month. No sick pay. No holiday beyond a minimum after she's been employed for 2 or 3 years. Got no pay when she had her baby because she hadn't worked there long enough. She was back at work a couple of weeks after a caesarian. Tens of millions live like that in Thailand.

Christ!

That's all true. But Germany and others are working very hard to ensure we don't have to buy any more Russian gas by end of 2024. Oil and coal even earlier. There are things underway which will hit hard. And most here are willing to tighten belts as well. We know what's at stake. Eventually after the war I have no doubt some gas will be bought. We couldn't and shouldn't isolate it completely. Don't forget Versailles. But Russia is up the creek now. It is, as Barack Obama said, a mid-sized regional power. GDP is slightly larger than Italy's and about 2/3 of Germany's. 40% of that comes from raw materials sales, primarily via Gazprom. They're just proving that their military leadership and rank and file isn't up to much at all. Putin won't risk a sideways glance at a NATO country after this debacle. And China won't let him I'm sure. Putin has just turned his 'great' country into a Chinese vassal. A deal which the Chinese are quietly closing on. Very much like Mussolini became Hitler's poodle after his unforced errors. The only reason Russia is considered a 'superpower' is because it has the largest stock of nuclear bombs in the world. And as an afterthought: there is no way Russia can divert enough gas to China to make up for the loss in EU sales. The infrastructure simply isn't there. The last I looked they had one smallish gauge pipeline which had barely crossed the border towards Beijing. That was about 2-3 years ago. The sad thing is that wars are won in the end by the side with the largest GDP (not great battles as you might think) - and while Russia has some $1.8tn, Ukraine has $153bn GDP/p.a..

A Terminator!

My first thought as well ...