Bluetongue

Yes an ordinary double vaccinated Australian can. However you have to apply for the pass. In that application if you declare you've been overseas in the last 14 days they wont let you in. They are saying this requirement will relax on Qld hitting 90% in January but I don't trust the Qld Premier.

Further to the above, the website has a banner which states an No 4, the inflight entertainment is not avaikable on any 777 200ER flight. My flight to Sydney is apparently a 777 300ER. The ticket states 2 meals.

From what I could see on the latest update from them, they are supplying inflight meals, beverages may be limited and the inflight entertainment is not mentioned. I guess I'll find out

I had a credit with them for a return flight to Brisbane, which has been useless for best part of 2 years. Because of Sydney's no quarantine, I decided to change it to there. After much looking at the website, I determined that most of the flights were being routed through BKK/HKT/SYD. Anyway I phoned them and they've put me on a direct flight to Sydney, at a slightly increased price. Hopefully I'll be able to get from Sydney to Brisbane, worst case scenario two weeks at a friends place in Sydney.

If you are on Singapore Airlines or Scoot, their website has all the specific details. I've been through Changi twice in the pandemic. All the documents you require (for both transit and entry to Australia) you have to show at checkin. It would be the 72hr prior PCR test, the double vaccination, and the Australian Border Force entry document (sorry I forget the name). Also each state may have a document as well, I know Qld does. You should carry them in hard copies and on your phone if possible. However when I was physically at Changi I never had to show anything, other than passport/boarding pass, merely follow them around as instructed.

Very interesting, thanks. On WHO figures there was a 728% increase in SA infections week ending 28 Nov, after they roughly doubled the week before. The death rate also roughly doubled last week. So hospitalisations increased by 400% over the month, both figures are in the same ball park, given that it must take time from becoming infected to being ill enough to go to Hospital. So next weeks figures will be much awaited. While I was there I looked at Botswana figures which look a bit rubbery but you can get the trend. They spiked massively a month ago but have gone down since.

Sorry I don't understand social media jargon speech. Please translate if you can.

The local "black" gold mining entrepreneurs were the polluters. I have seen this with my own eyes. The campaign against the legitimate non cyanide using company was run by those individuals who got some locals on board. Water table testing did reveal some pollution and this is supposedly why the junta shut it down. Kingsgate share price collapsed and there was an attempt by an English based consortium of spivs, backed by Thai's no doubt to buy the company for a song. This failed. Kingsgate's insurance against this sort of action, with a Swiss firm paid out 80 million US. A concurrent action through the WTO was held in Singapore and the outcome will not be revealed as negotiations around reopening the mine continue. It will not be in the Thai Government's favor. As far as I know the 3 most senior positions in the actual mining operation were expats. Most of the thousands of locals who derived a good income from either working there or supporting it would be better off it it reopened.

Sorry I was not clear. Merely speculating lower figures due to most of these tests being physically carried out on Sunday, reported on Tuesday.

Just how many times can we do this topic? Yawn.

I reckon these are really mostly the Sunday numbers. It'll tick back up tomorrow

Fairly big push on out here in the sticks recently. Many people got their first AZ here today. Anecdotal evidence, sure.

So what the senior ANalysts make of the hospitalisation rate. It seems to me that the case, death, ICU and ventilator rate have been coming down. However the hospitalisation rate seems to be taking ages to go down. For example two months ago there were about 1000 on ventilators, now less than half that, whereas the overall number had been stuck in high 40ks until recently. I note that one of the other platforms is advising hospital numbers circa 43k, whereas today here it is 40k. Perhaps I've been mixing the two up. Or is it a reflection of the authorities preference to place people in hospital here, even when perhaps not necessary.

As a courtesy I will fup post

I almost wish I hadn't started the topic. What was a very upsetting time has actually been made worse by the fact that no-one responded for a week and then you all came in 3 days after the dog died. Everything that happened is on my conscience but to be honest I knew the answer to mu own question anyway. The vet I go to saved a number of my dogs from Parvo, and I have a reasonable opinion of him, but since then he often palms me off on to the young female vet. She butchered my male dog's ear and I guess I was dubious that the good vet would do the operation as he obviously makes more money off his Thai clients with their poodles and toy dogs.

As indicated above the dog has passed three days ago.

I've got to do a 90 day report at Chantaburi on Monday. Every time I've tried to do it online it gives me an error that says I have to attend in person. Anyway was double vaxxed in Aus and have the digital certificate and a paper one. The whole app thing here has passed me by, I wasn't taking any notice. Then I heard someone say Immi wont let you in without Mor Prom showing vaccine status. I go in and have a look for it and it comes up in Thai, when I click GET it says Chon Buri Hospital app. Below this is Mor Chana which I had heard of but never downloaded. Is any of this going to matter?

Flip flop, back to the General, next story...

Yes well I did love the dog and I still have the sister. The growth was larger than a grapefruit. If it was on me it would have been the same shape, but larger than a rugby ball. In between the last time I looked at this post when I only had one response and now, she has passed, late on the 16th. Her leg was wasting, she refused all food for a couple of days, after throwing up what she did eat for a couple of days also. She had internal bleeding already and the whole thing was distressing, because she was a very headstrong alpha female, but at the end so weak and helpless. Yes you are probably right about having it operated but the time to do that had passed. Thanks for the replies anyway.

My niece informs me that the various hospitals in Chantaburi province have Pfizer available for free this week and next, now if I can just get the wife on board. I don't need it, although I am coming up to my 6 months.

I read it. There is not much in there that hasn't already been well and truly discussed on this board. What will happen is another easing of entry restrictions at some time, whether tomorrow, next month or next year. You can bet there will still be some bizarre requirement still in there somewhere. In particular as I've said before the insurance. Also the continuing closure of entertainment is a can that's just been kicked down the road some more. In the meantime there will only be a trickle of tourists. Short haul destinations that are freely open to people from Europe and the US will do better. Depending on how the next phase of the panendemic unfolds, we might be discussing a better high season this time next year. Of more concern really is the junta's continuing disregard of the Thai people, whom they do not have to support because they don't face genuine elections. There was a huge opportunity to revamp a lot of things, instead of them taking it, it would appear that nothing much will change for the better as far as people like us are concerned. Much thought rattling around in this head refining plan B. I too do not want to be jumping through bureaucratic hoops into my 70s.

I guess the title says it. I have an 11 year old dog with what appears to be a very large tumour on her lower abdomen. It is restricting her mobility. I was away so I don't know how long its been there, at least 3 months. Until just a day or two ago, she still had her appetite and was managing OK. Now her food consumption is less than half and I thing she might be masking pain. I wouldn't put her through surgery as she is old and it would be too destructive. The most reasonable vet I have come across is a 2 hour drive. Does anyone have any experience of this?

She was in the cockpit for the entire flight. Like I said the door opened briefly during which few seconds I saw her step from one seat to the other, ie feet not on floor. That's what I saw, any thing else would be an assumption, but pretty easy to make.

I must admit that if I've heard of it, I've forgotten. I usually have some Thai and Aussie cash on me but not 20k worth. In 31 years probably entered 70 times, never asked. A bridge I will cross should I ever come to it.

It was Thai Air Asia to DM/KL and then the Malaysian variant to COO. I flew it once. The chaos at DM was enough to convince me not to do so again. However on the flight to KL one of the very pretty flight attendants entered the cockpit on take-off and did not reemerge. At one stage the door opened and one of the pilots stepped out. From the front row aisle I could see her step from one seat to another. The pilot went to the toilet, then stood drinking coffee and chatting up one of the other flight attendants for about half an hour in total before reentering the cockpit.