connda

Pre-Smart-Phone there may have been a few Thais who read books. Nowadays everyone, Thais and Farang included, have their snouts embedded in their 'smart phone' devices. Personally I hate the things. I used to like to spend time in a pub or cafe reading a paperback or one of the English language newspapers. Now virtually all the used books stores are gone in Chiang Mai, finding a English language newspaper is close to impossible, and the pubs and cafe I use to frequent are out of business. So I stay at home and read ebooks on my computer.

See you in 2028... at My Khe Beach, Vietnam.

And no charges filed against the parents who beat the kid to death? TIT I guess.

Buddha smiles down on billionaire Health Ministers and blesses them - <bell ring> "You've Got - Karma!" <harp strum>

It didn't start at 28,000 cases a day the week after Songkran. It started the week after Songkran and built up from there. So this is the first week after the New Years super spreader event. Give it a couple of months and report back again!

A good start would be to start impounding the vehicles of the 80% of the speeders who get automatic speeding tickets they refuse to pay. Double the fine for non-payment and collect the impound fees.

A year ago 'experts' would have called that explanation conspiracy and the mutations would become more and more deadly, and would have said that the only way out is through vaccine herd immunity. One year later were back to normal virology regarding the nature of viral mutations and natural herd immunity. Even the great Dr Yong is now admitting virological norms - over time viruses become more infectious and less dangerous until they burn out. That your left with a seasonal flu or a seasonal cold - or nothing at all.

The Great Yong speaks at last!

How ironic <laughs>

Not as long as I can. They'll destroy the Thai economy and when the economy goes 'civil' society goes with it. We'll sit it out in the sticks and watch. Some of us get to that age where we can be happy without having to be entertained.

No, the expectation is that you need to suit up in PPE in order to enjoy a day in the open air on a wind-blown beach.

Just close it permanently. Make it into an regular road and open your arms to the New Normal Thailand - a country killing its previous cultural attraction in order to make itself a cheap version of a sterile Singapore with none of Singapore's first-class infrastructure. "Ahhh-Choo" Close it!!! Why not - it will take decades for the majority of the highly washed masses to get over the Mysophobia that they have collectively embraced in the last two years.

It's way too early to do that. Masks (double masks even better), proper social distancing, frequent hand washing and alcohol sanitation as well as closure of risky venues like night entertainment, massage, pubs, clubs, temples and other place where large numbers of people congregate - malls too. And lockdowns - especially with the highly, highly transmissible Omicron variant laying siege to the country soon. It's coming! Researchers found that Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infects and multiplies 70 times faster than the Delta variant and original SARS-CoV-2 in human bronchus. (https://www.med.hku.hk/en/news/press/20211215-omicron-sars-cov-2-infection). Honestly - the borders should be shut as well as all highways interconnecting provinces and big cities should be locked down before this pandemic takes a tragic human toll on the good citizens of Thailand who 'do the right thing' by getting shots, boosters, and just staying home to keep the rest of us safe!

They all should be thrown in prison and be made examples of. These are all very bad people who have no respect for the proletariat and the collective common health safety of citizens who obey their superiors and 'do the right thing!'

Me too. I believe that Thailand should become a completely dry country and outlaw all alcohol and night-entertainment forever. Then make sure that only tourists with a minimum of $100,000 USD or equivalent in their home bank account be allowed entrance to The Kingdom. It's time for a New Normal morality to envelope Thailand. Then it will be nice and quiet. I sort of like Chiang Mai now that the city center is empty. Serene. And given all the completely nutso driving I've seen on the couple of times I ventured out to the highway, getting all the drunks off the road is a good idea. Nice, quiet, and New Normal in a really really Old Normal sort of way. Quaint.

I have no idea why the BIB needs to be involved in a matter that is strictly a matter for the Sangha to handle. They will all be disrobed. It's one of those major offenses.

They should have remained in Sweden. They would have never had to shut their doors.

Great. I'll bookmark it and give it a shot next month.

Nice catch. But little more than lipstick on a pig.

It's deader than a box of railroad spikes now - and it will never recover. That goose has been cooked, eaten, and the bones thrown to the soi dogs. It ain't coming back - ever. Next in line: Pai and Koh Phangan. That's Ok. Eventually places like Vietnam and Mexico will fill that vacuum.

Today? This is the Thai government's New Normal vision of "Fun!"

The Thai government has successfully killed the geese that laid the golden eggs. By 2025 Thailand - culturally - will be simply look like an upscale shopping mall surrounded by crumbling sidewalks. Cui bono? Vietnam.

A lot would be solved if they would stop holding foreigners to a different standard of care than they do Thais. Thais pop positive and go to a Covid quarantine facility if asymptomatic or may even be allowed to quarantine at home. A foreigner if forced into an expensive private hospital. Period. You don't have to be Einstein to understand the greed driving the government to force asymptomatic foreign cases into their 'friend's' expensive hospitals. Nobody I know is coming here and I had a lot of US friends who came here annually and stayed upwards of a month. I'll keep those friends apprised of the current 'insurance fiasco' and forced hospital incarceration. They already know about the latter. None of my friends want to deal with this nonsense. The difference between schemes and scams now are blurred beyond recognition.

Everyone who has an financial stake in Big Pharma wants the asymptomatic Covid positive narrative pushed to "11" on the volume dial. Then - comes the insurance companies who are collectively holding the bag on liability. Take a guess at what will eventually break the narrative that people without symptoms are "sick" - Insurance companies who will refuse to pay policies unless a Covid positive 'case' is symptomatic and actually sick. This should be entertaining.