BusyB

And I think I read recently that a court had ruled dual pricing in hospitals entirely legit.

Exactly what I was thinking ...

Plausible, but I also think they want to cash in on all the digital nomad income taxes ...

That sounds fine. But I can't think of a country anywhere that does that. Maybe you know a couple? Why should Thailand set up a 'Ministry for Foreigner Health Insurance' just to serve spoiled first world brats who can't be bothered to look after themselves, who are ostensibly fleeing 'the nanny state' yet want their travels to be nannied? People who travel should be responsible enough to ensure they have the necessary cover. My vote's with RocketDog.

True, but that's what it says on the label so no point complaining - you either buy it or go elsewhere. I don't have a problem buying it because I know what I'm getting. No illusions.

Only read the headline but surely this is what we've been saying all along - just open up to fully vaxxed with a PCR -72hrs and be done with it. Maybe a tracker for 10 days. Please end these bureaucratic App nightmares that are purely there to salve timid military and bureaucrats' nerves at the expense of an entire people and industry.

I wasn't doubting your sincerity, merely pointing out the fact. I don't know where you are but I can't imagine it being much different from that which I set out. The states have pretty much synchronized by now. If it is, so be it - I wasn't looking for a mudbattle, I was trying to clarify for anyone reading it. My gym has branches all over D. Perhaps I should have said 'that's only half the story'. Cheers.

Snowbirding has been an unbeatable lifestyle for me for almost 2 decades ....

Glad it worked out for you. I'm hoping it'll be the same for me I'm pretty savvy with these kinda things - but I haven't heard whether or not it functions with MacOS or with any other email than Google ... We'll see ..

My farang friends have told me that there has been a considerable uptick in xenophobia. That is also a consideration, but it's something I'd be more inclined to check out for myself ...

This is very true. Despite my despair about entry procedures (Thailand Ass) and considering not going through all the bother of retiring in LOS, the truth is I fell in love with the country 18 years ago. And I mean the country not the bar girls. I've had enough girlfriends in my life anyway and TBH I find that whole scene extremely boring. I did actually have a pleasant thing going with a cute and lovable gogo girl, but she overplayed her hand and started to get manipulative. She was absolutely stunned when I finished with her - she wasn't used to farangs doing that. I had warned her however that I wasn't her usual customer 555. I've been back many many times, for months at a time, really snowbirded it for nearly two decades till the pandemic arrived. Went back for things like people, food, beaches, scenery, yes - the temples, people, food, beaches, weather ... and so on and on. So many lovely times. But when I first went there it was a young democracy going through the throes of change and learning how to be a democracy. Learning how to remove a PM who had done much good yet tore the corruption ring even by Thai standards. The establishment put a stop to that and have shown time and again they don't want change or democracy and are willing to kill as many as need be to prevent it. A kind of prosperous Burma Lite. Now I'm asking myself - in particular looking at this shambolic Thailand Ass hoop set - whether or not I really want to spend my retirement in a place that lives under that kind of a shadow. In particular when it manifests the way it has during the pandemic. At this moment in time I try to look at the good things. I have dear friends there after all this time, and miss them deeply. I hope I'll be out there early next year after two cancelled trips over the last 18 months. But it's no longer set in stone I have to say. There really are alternatives for me, and I want above all tranquility and stability over the next few months, as I transition from 50 years of work to a place where I know what I want to do with the rest of my time on this pebble in the sky.

That seems like a pretty complicated and convoluted way of simply finding a girlfriend ;D

That last! They're hoping for millions of tourists even without China. The whole system is a joke. I'm watching calmly having intended a long stay on retirement this winter. But watching this unfold I'm starting to think what's the point? I may just go diving to Egypt instead. PCR test, Vax cert, quick visa on arrival and after a few weeks go somewhere warm in Europe. We'll see how it pans out but I am not hopeful. This whole mess is utterly pathetic. It's a prime example of what happens when your family of birth or the money your family has decides what job you get. From the lowliest cop to the highest government minister. And when change seems imminent the military steps in and they have no problem massacring their own citizens in order to perpetuate the whole shabby mess. In the meantime my friends in Thailand get NO support from their 'government' and are destitute. Like millions of others. And no-one, no-one at all in officialdom seems to give the slightest damn - evident with their vaccine 'rollout'. The latest in that saga being Thamassat's 1.5m donated doses being lost. After all who cares about another 750,000 fully vaxxed people? - they're only the peasants after all. The ones that count have all been jabbed.

Just like the high ranking BIB 'rushing' to their crime scenes 555

Yeah, that was my first thought when I saw the headline - that maybe HH (NO foreign hotel bookings so far) is about to emerge from the ashes ...

New Amazing: dinner with a happy ending ...

I wonder what he actually does in his office all day, when he's not on foto-opps. Seriously.

And much lower transmission as well. And much less time transmissible.

That's a pretty shrewd comparison ...

You're only telling half the truth here. In my gym at least you have to be either vaxxed, recovered or tested just to get in. You also have to book ahead for a 2 hour session. There is a max limit to the number allowed in at any one time. Masks are mandatory everywhere except the training floor. I stopped going long before the government locked down because there were no precautions. But now I'm vaxxed and they are very strict, I go again. And wear a mask everywhere except the training floor - I tried doing cardio with a mask once and spent 30 minutes in slightly euphoric hypoxia - decided not to repeat the experiment ;D

Oh it's not perfect, but it does have more and less bloody self correctives than any other system I can think of. This is why it pays to be suspicious of those who try to do away with the correctives ... like the UK, US, Poland, Hungary, OK it's quite a list ... beware the beginnings ... It took hundreds of years and many wars and deaths to set up modern democracies. Once you've let go of democracy 'they' will never give it back to you - why should they?

"Satish Sehgal, chairman of the India-Thai businessmen association, said Indians should be included in the 'low risk' list as Indian tourists are amongst the top 5 spenders in Thailand, ..." Can anyone tell me what spending has to do with risk? Bit blatant eh? Sheesh ...

Democracy has its problems yes. I deliberately held back from citing Trump in my line-up because a) I couldn't be bothered with the faecalstorm even if it wouldn't bother me - I didn't want to give the twerps ammunition, and b) because democracy generally has ways of sorting out these scumbags without massacring their own populations. It is a preferable system to me anyway. And in this era of polarization too many forget just how much good Thaksin did for the general Thai population. I knew a woman who worked the fields for decades with a bad knee and was in constant pain because they couldn't afford treatment ... the 30 baht program was a godsend for her. Just as one minuscule example. And you missed Johnson, Rees-Mogg et al in your line-up ;D As an afterthought, I would point out that systems where people are elected into power on a minority of the vote can hardly be called democratic can they? That applies to the UK and the US and is why both countries are deteriorating so badly. In their own ways, their systems are as rigged as Thailand's. And with exactly the same aim in mind.

Well actually yes. Would you prefer Lukashenko? Putin? Xi?

It's really catching on ... they're all at it now ????