BusyB

They're targeting wealthy Chinese not westerners ... whether or not that is successful is another matter, but the bar is that much lower and the Chinese middle classes are now incredibly rich and seem to like LOS. Obviously you're average wealthy westerner will only ever drop in for a vacation ...

A snowbird life is the best of all worlds ... been doing it since 2003, but want to stay long term for a few years when I retire next year ...

Quite possibly but the military mindset does tend to prioritize absolute obedience and control ... it's why they're no good at running countries.

Yeah, I'm inclined to think it's as much about control as it is about the money.

Dukkha ... 555

Wow, I'm amazed ... did my rescue Cert with them, thought they were good. That was 2008. Run by a guy who'd lived in Germany for some time as well ... sad ...

Nahh, I'm more interested in boat diving ... thanks - I was wondering ... There was a great place near the dinosaur park, run by a Thai called Sonny (Sunny?) .... Are top notch ops like that open? ... it would be one of the pulls if I decided to use sandbox HKT depending on conditions later in the year ...

Sounds idyllic - what about the dive bases?

The funniest thing about this is that people always complained about having 'no time' before the pandemic, and in the pandemic where time has become as sand on the beach, the complaints are about boredom and 'too much time'. Even allowing for the obvious downsides like distancing and household separations, I have been dismayed at how fast people want to return to the same old same old. I had naively hoped that people might enjoy the slower pace, and the quiet, and the fresh air in the city etc. and try and maintain at least some of it as lockdowns were eased, but no such luck.

OP, I've been double vaxxed and it is a great relief ... but I still stick to the basics as well. However I have returned to the gym since opening here, because you have to be 2x vaxxed, tested or validate recovery to get in and numbers are still restricted. But generally speaking it feels like being reborn ...

Exactly what I was wondering ... I've been around a few of the redshirt demos a while back ... but never 'took part' ... was observing and talking to people. But how would they view that? I can remember a couple of farangs who got arrested for going on stage at those demos back then ... can't remember if they were deported and blacklisted though ... maybe someone can?

The most damning of all references: He tried hard.

A real bunch of snowflakes.

But what does that have to do with jabbed foreign tourists?

I (mid-60s, M) had no reaction to either (no, it wasn't water, it was a work setting so trustworthy 555). My colleague (50, F) had a 'bad' reaction to the first - stiff arm, bit of swelling, bit of an ache. No reaction to the second. A reaction merely shows the body is gearing up to deal with the invader anyway - it's not a bad sign. Anaphylactic shock is obviously of a (potentially deadly) different order.

True, but nowhere near as good as FFP2s.

All except No. 5 lifted straight from cosmetic ads geared up to make them look 'western', therefore barely distinguishable from each other and with hardly any resemblance to 99.9999% of any of the indigenous populations.

Oh dear. 'Hypocrisy, authoritarian, inconsistent'. You could have made your 'points' without using insults but maybe that's beyond you, I don't know. The point is that our systems are geared up to deal with that stuff. They are not geared up to deal with mass epidemics of vax refuseniks. And a lot of those lifestyle losers are going without urgent treatment as well. My sympathies for them are also rather limited. But not being perfect, I don't crow about it or insult them. The latest German figures when broken down show vaccinees have an infection rate of about 20ish per 100k - refuseniks nearly 300.

Smokers may be anti-social, but they don't infect me. In fact none of those are infectious.

It may have flopped in terms of numbers (which were always unrealistic) but it has proven that vaccinated foreigners can safely enter and are not the problem ... and it allows people like me to get into the country long term without onerous and expensive 15 day ASQ in BKK.

I paid €11.30 for somtam this week - and it didn't even have any shrimps in it. (THB 437.48!)

There is no plan, really. There is just a global epidemic of an extremely infectious virus, which kills a lot of people and disables many others. And if I have to decide to follow then I'll follow the science and not the brownshirt and 'libertarian' neurotics.

And as the young woman said, it's not that simple. It is indeed very complex and nuanced which only the adults in the room will grasp.

To answer the question: whatever you can get, and when better turns up, get that.

They are also taking up beds for others in serious need of ICUs, which has resulted in massive delays of cancer OPs for instance. The problem with them is, whether or not they are deluded or clinically insane, they are very definitely immature - and therefore cannot understand that it's not about 'their' 'freedom'. It's about others.