connda

"Tourist bad. Bad tourist come to Thailand, not follow rules. Rules says: No Fun. Bad tourist go home." ???? Excellent. We're in agreement. I think tourists should steer clear of Thailand too. They are all 'bad tourists' who want to have "Fun." Best to go somewhere where you can take off your mask, and sit around with friends over some beer and wine. Heck - maybe even dance!

Here we go again. Bad Farangs!!! What about the Thai tourist in the background. You know, the maskless Thai behind the masked farang woman. Hey! Thailand. Where do I submit all the pictures I have of maskless Thais in public???

And I live right next to three families all raising grandchildren. Since Covid that parents have moved back to the village. It the economy picks up they probably leave again. These kids are brought up in caring families. There are sad stories about kids being raised in every condition imaginable. But the sad stories are the one-offs. And this is still a developing third-world country outside of the Big Mango. What you consider to be idealistic circumstances to raise a child is not necessarily a Thai or third-world standard. They make do with what they have. Most kids turn out fine; some don't. Same-same world-wide.

My best wishes. I hope they get better soon without any adverse problems. You and I are at the end of the road and embrace it. But a 23 and 40 year old have a whole lot of life left to enjoy.

My ex-wife and her husband in the US were fully vaccinated (Moderna) and contracted Covid at the beginning of October. They were sick for almost a month and neither of them feel well to date. Now, how inconvenient. They should have never gotten sick. But they got sick. So their symptoms should have been mild. They were not. No one is going to convince me that these vaccines are either effective, safe, or necessary. I don't listen to the MSM as it's pretty much pure propaganda and the so-called experts have conflicts of interests, and the regulatory agencies are a revolving door between Big Pharma executives who take stints as government bureaucrats - which is called regulatory capture. The only reason I'm taking a shot is to check off a check-mark that I'm sure will soon be imposed not just on foreign expats, but the entire Thai society. I fully expect the Thai government to follow in the steps of those governments who are now locking up the unvaccinated members of their societies. So yeah - I'll get the shot under duress - Sinopharm as I only care about safety and side-effect and from my own research Sinopharm ranks as having the fewest side-effects by a significant factor when compared to other vaccines and it is based on inactivated vaccine technology that has a long-term positive safety profile. That alone guides my choice. Novavax, when it finally hits the market will then become my first choice and for the same reasons. Inactivated virus and subunit vaccines have establish safety profiles. I won't trust any other of these mRNA or Androvirus-vector Covid vaccines that have no long-term safety profiles. 18 months of live trials is not "long-term." Maybe in 5 to 10 years??? But without long-term safety studies, I don't want them near me or my family. If others wish to take them - hey, it's your body. I'm not going to argue anybody's choice of what they are willing to inject into their arms. As far as I'm concerned the promoted efficacy of any of these vaccines does little but make the masses feel safe. I do my own analysis of current research and I'm not impressed by any of the efficacy claims. Safety, side-effects, and government coercion are the only factors driving my vaccine choices. And that's sad. So I'll check the check-boxes and wait for the long-term safety of these vaccines to reveal itself over time. If they are perfectly safe? Great. But why then do the vaccine manufactures need to have global governments provide them with a complete liability shield. They're completely safe? Right? But if hey are not? Then let the chips fall where they may.

Academics living above the strata and vulgarities of the normal Thai social classes need to conduct a poll in order to find out a fact that anyone who has lived in a Thai village can affirm as true. In fact, even a farang like me knows as I live in the heart of Thai-Land. The academics no doubt were raised by a live-in au-pair and then sent to an upscale boarding school and university in Farang-Land, so obviously they don't have a clue about their own culture.

#MeToo. And the fact that it is used world-wide by world leaders and corporate execs. Yes, very organic. Right up there with "safe and effective" and "build back better." Just coincidence. Now move along. Nothing to see here. Get that mask on, don't socialize, and get inside. It's new normal. Forever emergency.

Given the time lag - the victim was probably hit by a Ferrari.

I hand my wife the paperwork and stay quiet. Sign a stack of papers until my hand curls into a cramped ball of flesh, and then dig out ฿1900 out of my wallet with my teeth. However, I'm well aware that the Sword of Damocles sway gently over my head suspended by a single thread on which is embossed: "Thai Immigration". It will continue to sway over my head until the day it doesn't. As it does sway back and forth, it will probably hit my wife. I can't take the house, cars, or other capital that is not liquid. She'd get it all. But the money (we do have a prenup) goes with me as I'd have to - once again - rebuild my life from scratch. I wouldn't be supporting a Thai wife whose government is responsible for the breakup and destruction of my family. "Take your wife with you." She's Thai - she doesn't want to leave. I built her a little slice of middle-class heaven, that's where she want's to die. For that matter, so do I, but I do have a "Plan B" and I'm well aware that the single fiber holding that heavy sword over my head may well break before my life runs out. Thailand - No Country For Old Men. But there are others out their that welcome us.

We are but a Baht Sign ฿฿฿ preferably with a one (1), a whole bunch of trailing zeros (0) and delineated with four, five or more commas. Individual Thais may welcome you here. My wife did - I changed her life. But the government? No. I fully expect that there will come a time when we are economically pushed out, then you can go back to your own country (USA) and live in a solidly Thai economic and social enclave (like North Hollywood) and watch your own government extend jobs, social benefits, residency, and citizenship to the sons, daughters, and families of the exact Thai officials who quite literally hate us and consider us nothing but foreign cash inflows to harvest until the geese laying the golden eggs are exterminated. If that means ruining your Thai family's life - that's of no consequence if you are a foreign man married to a Thai woman. These same people hate the Thai poor and those of lower status, especially low-caste Thai women. Unless of course you are a Thai man married to a foreign woman. Then all is flowers, sunshine, and familial harmony and the foreign Mrs is extended Thai citizenship 3 years after marriage (1 year if she had a Thai child), and then the foreign Mrs is extended jobs, social benefits, residency, and citizenship as the family of a Thai male is sacrosanct. And unlike the families of a Thai woman married to a foreign man, the government isn't bent on destroying that particular family unit (Thai Man/Foreign Woman). If you haven't noticed, these people are sexist too. Retiree? You're not really welcome unless you're wealthy. Foreign man married to a Thai woman? You're tolerated until you are not. Thai man married to a Foreign woman? That's a true Thai family and a family to be protected.

Having lost my only daughter, I can identify. I'm happy that you did not have to suffer that particular Hell. No parent should.

But Thailand will not use it any more. What do you do after you paint yourself into a corner?

The new Fail The Test And Spend Your Vacation Locked In An Expensive Hospital will put the brakes on that.

I know a bunch of US friends who came here for 1 month every February. I wrote the them with the current update on all thing New Normal. Although these guys are all independent business owners and are pretty da*med well off - they're not the "Well Heeled" snotty-rich types that Thailand is courting. They're just good-old boys who want to have fun. They ain't coming this year for sure. Not until New Normal becomes Old Normal.

Build a raised garden.

I can't wait!!! Foreign Man married to Thai Woman: 40K/Mo or 400K in Bank - no avenue to citizenship based on marriage. Foreign Women married to Thai Man: No financial requirement - citizenship after 3 years of marriage or 1 year if the mother of a Thai child based on marriage. Now the fun!!! Foreign Man married to Thai Man: ??????? Foreign Woman married to Thai Women: ??????? I can't wait!

Ha ha ha ha ha. They can't keep the story straight.

Why? Insurance companies are essentially government condoned book-makers and betting pools. So the insurance companies make a bet, then can't cover their bets without losing money, and then plead for the government to allow them to renege their bets which don't show a profit. Insurance companies need to eat there bad bets, quit whinging, or get out of the business.

It was magical. When I lived in Chiang Mai we used to sit on the balcony of our apartment and watch is wonder and awe. Now? One more cultural icon that has had its heart cut-out and burnt to ashes on the alter of The New Normal. Immensely sad.

Yeah Nancy, we only had one of our dogs get a little twitchy. He's the one the most afraid of fireworks. The other 6 dogs took it like business as usual as there were just so little noise. The cat didn't care. The bird slept though it all. By 10PM even the sporadic fireworks had completely stopped and it was just crickets and night-noises until I hit the hay around 1AM. Our dogs in the past have just been a mess during Loi Krathong. This year? Barely bothered at all. I noticed that most villagers lit candles and placed them on their fences. Floating lanterns where in "dry dock" this year. The local temple was silent. I've never seen anything like this since I moved here. New Normal? Probably. Sad.

To paraphrase Carl Sandburg's poem, "Loi Kratong comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over river and village on silent haunches and then moves on." That was pretty much the extent of this major Thai holiday in my rural neck of Northeast Lamphun Province. Had I not known it was a holiday, it would have come and gone in silent anonymity. A few interspersed fireworks here and there, no Kom-Fai lanterns that the government have been wanting to ban for year. Congratulations Thai government: No alcohol, no kom-fai, no tourists. Ya'll have successfully killed the geese laying golden eggs

This signals the end of Thai culture and heritage.

There is definitely a global push toward collectivism. And the end of the road of collectivism is Communism. So - see where we're heading?

What. The plant that nobody but special connected people can grow?

Nope. Not even close.