LivinLOS

Seriously there was nothing of any special luxury in it.. No beef no lamb no heavy cheese.. The sum luxury of it might be a 400b tiny box of cherries for the wife. I do hate shopping and so if I go then I tend to bulk buy.. Thats was a couple of weeks worth.

The numbers are even worse.. The (drastically reduced at the last minute) numbers were 29, 50 and 50.. For July Aug Sept and >100k a month after.. They have got in total.. 28k in 2 months.. of which >14k came in July. July was the pent up demand of expats and returning Thais.. 4000 of those 28k are Thai nationals BTW hardly 'tourists' in any normal sense. In fact when you look the breakdown for the 28k arrivals.. 17,000 moved on to other provinces, 4000 are still on Phuket and 9000 have returned / left Thailand. So 2 months of this gained 9000 'tourists'. The rest were simply Thais and expats coming back into Thailand who wanted to avoid ASQ in bangkok, taking away bangkok trade and giving it to phuket (at huge cost in organisation, vaccines, admininstation, checkpoint manning, etc) for a net - net of what ?? To obtain that 9000 'tourists' over 2 months, +- 150 people a day, they sacrificed 100% of the domestic tourism market. Costing them what ?? Screaming success as I a sure the TAT will tell you.

Best line in the whole thread..

There were 3 recorded cases from 1995 to 2007.. Since then the pace of these has risen.. a further 12 in the same timeframe 2008 to 2015. All of the peak years have been in the 201X's as have all the deaths up to this one. While your technically right that 'they were not sighted' was too blanket a statement, they were not sighted with anything like the frequency.

When was the last time you went shopping in UK ?? A lot of people are basing this on things they remember from a decade ago. My UK tesco week generally runs me 60 - 80 GBP for a couple, without any big alcohol purchasing.. A weekly Makro / Big C is more like 5k here.. My last (bulk) Makro was 11k without wine alcohol etc.. Thats 250 GBP !! I would be getting much more groceries, much higher quality and diversity, even fruit, than I do here. Thats without even starting to consider what I drop in wine connection or on a good single malt etc.

Its not sneering.. Its pointing out that this 'Thailand is cheap' mantra is only true when the yardstick you are using is the lowest rung of expenditure. Then it can provide a liveable quality of life at very minimal outlay. But for a half decent middle class lifestyle, it isnt comparatively cheaper.. For anything into the wealthy / luxury lifestyle it WAY isnt.. Pretending it is, simply isnt factual. This is also why the 'quality tourists' desire falls so flat and Thailand attracts only minimal HNW retirees (and then mostly from ex Singapore, HK, type locations).. Thailand does not offer the kind of seamless joined up, consistent luxury that HNW and affluent tourists desire. Thailand is great for budget travel, lots of cheap eats, cheap excitement, some great experiences once you tolerate some rough around the edges, low safety, often mildly scammy kind of balance in the experience. Young backpackers sharing sang som buckets and having a ball in rough beach shacks on the cheap ?? One of the best in the world, but every part of that is appealing to the value sector.

Yeah I was actually looking to buy some and quickly realized it will need to be another one of those 70 kg flights of luggage again.. But this is entirely my point.. If your posting from the perspective of a sub 80k a month lifestyle.. I dont doubt that a simple life somewhere in the boonies is likely a good set of trade offs compared to a 2k GBP a month lifestyle in the UK (tho I would question if your savings are that meagre, where would you rather have a side hustle and earn ?? Making proper money is the west is easy) but then move up just a little 120k thb plus and suddenly that balance is in doubt.. Move up again 200 - 300k a month (which come on is 75k gbp a year is hardly minted) and now its looking far harder to achieve each small upgrade in lifestyle. Thailand wins when you stay minimalist and low end, it loses when you want luxury. Comparing retirement Thailand to other retirement destinations for Euros say algarve, costas, madeira, adriatic etc.. If your looking at a 25k a year outlay maybe thailand wins if your looking at a 75k a year outlay you get FAR more luxury for your money there. Good 'things' cost WAY more in Thailand, people who say how cheap it is are basically boasting they dont buy high end stuff.

Depends.. My mum lives in uk.. Lovely 2 bedroom house with a garden, with a river flowing along the edge, in a leafy small town in Devon.. Paid for by the government. No council tax, electric gas etc all covered by her income support.. Her entire cost of living socially funded. Doctors surgery 200m from the house, attentive care (she had a stroke) with multiple visits from social workers, physios, etc etc. 3 supermarkets within 500m. If she leaves UK she no longer get any of it.. So to replicate her life, with carers home help, etc would be 60 - 75k a month at a minimum.. Then where do you do that 200m from an on call doctors ?? Then medical insurance for an elderly person with lots of issues ?? When we tried it in Thailand (when she was in her 50s) she was conned, tricked and scammed (thanks Phuket).. Caused her to lose confidence and have a breakdown. Climate in UK is not ideal but the support, free housing, socialised care funds.. Doctors.. Social workers.. etc etc.. Really no comparison.

Sure but you can just park money in thb or buy a forward Fx contract if your trying to speculate on the currency.. Its a totally different subject. I was also here when the baht went from under 40 to gbp to 90 in a year or two

But the biggest number you miss here is capital gains appreciation / depreciation.. Every western property I have owned I have made (often large) sums of money on. Yes the entry cost is higher but the complete picture, purchase, maintenance, sale.. No comparison.

Point is.. its not really hiso is it ?? A basic mid range german car is not some extreme example of wealth, I am not talking about lambos and Ferraris (40 million etc instead of 150k gbp), etc but just a basic quality car something thats way under a million baht in the west.. I think its a rare retired expat that doesnt afford something like a 5 series or an E class at home prior to retiring here. You want to talk about costs.. So let emulate a proper like for like. Always makes me laugh when someone trades a merc in the west, for a PCX in Thailand, and then says its cheaper here.. And cars are just one example.. Look at high end audio, electronics, etc etc etc.. As soon as you want any non cappy plastic junk type item, its a shock how much more than the west it costs. I just happened to catch how much Bowers and Wilkins want for a pair of 801 speakers.. 1.7 million baht ???? Thats +- 80% more than the western msrp.. Why ??

I did post day before yesterday was in the top 10 deaths since the pandemic.. Deaths and ICU are rising in lockstep with cases, not at the same ratio as the unvaccinated period but still in a steep rise. And your still not addressing the elephant in the room which is Thailands ability to cope with higher levels of infection.. You seem to think Thailand is more like Israel or singapore and less like say.. India !! Thailand has no hope of reaching Israel's level of vaccinations any time this year.. Walk in shots for everyone... 3rd booster shots for all at risk.. without that safety net Thailand opening up and letting whatever happens happen, is just insanity.. Theres a perfect script for the overwhelming of the hospital systems, for a much increased CFR because of that, and a genuine disaster which they have so far avoided through the painful steps of lockdowns. Once Thailand has reached the vaccine levels of Israel maybe Q1 next year, then maybe they can think about emulating the same kind of relaxations.

Insurance for my 'storage' 5 series BMW in uk is +- 300 gbp a year fully comp.. This is a list which may be acccurate in what it looks at but its clearly designed to prove a point.. Cover a nice western middle class lifestyle.. his and hers german cars (nothing crazy Merc E class, Beemer 5.. Maybe a baby range or a SLK for the wife).. Add that to the Thai bill and what has it done to the balance.. Thats not talking major higher level sports cars or classics, in the uk I would likely keep a 911 or lotus or something like that for my weekend toy.. Here ?? I could buy a UK house and park one there just for the cost of it here. How much does the UK home you own appreciate ?? Versus how much a Thai home depreciates ?? Everyone talks about how 'cheap it is' to get a Thai home.. My western property has made me 100s of 1000s over a lifetime, my Thai clifftop villa collapsed (due to badly built retaining walls) half of it ended ended up 25 meters below the cliff and was front page of the phuket gazette.. Almost every 'thing' I buy is cheaper in the west.. Especially as there is nearly always enthusiast groups and active second hand trading in high end / high quality things.. Here they want 90% of new price on some decade old heavily used item.. High end audio, home theater, espresso machines, electronics, grooming products, purfumes, all costs multiples of what they cost in the west. Add in a lack of honest long term warrantys and a failure rate thats insanely worse than the west, that all adds up. Hell even clothes, shoes, supermarket shopping is cheaper in the uk for me than here. Whats cheap here is unskilled labour.. I have cheap gardeners, cheap pool cleaners, cheap laundry and cheap basic food preparation which leads to cheap eating out. Low skilled or no skilled things are abundant.. If you live in a 10,000 baht a month rental house with a honda city and consume no luxury goods grumbling about the price of box wine and are talking about lifestyle upgrades, then we are not having the same conversation. Go replicate a decent standard of living, a well made desirable high quality home, multiple high end cars, etc etc and tell me its cheaper. Theres a reason I am coming back this way business class with 60 - 80 kg of things each trip and going that way with an empty suitcase !! Its not because those things are cheaper here. Luckily I am not here because of its price, I am here for climate, lack of revenue oversight, weak enforcement of rules, etc.. But when everything of luxury costs 3x 5x etc the western cost saying its cheap is basically saying you dont buy luxury things.

There were usually ways of getting VAT free rolex's.. I used to have a good way.. Hell I think I have the card of the rolex shop in T5 heathrow which would be worth a try for next trip.

had a bottle or 2 of soda water to wash them down.. They are bitter but not as awful as my wife and her family made out..

Just so we are clear.. This is what you think Thailand should copy ?? The worlds highest per capita infection rate !!! And yes, before you say it.. Hospitalisations, ICU and deaths all up also.. And you believe Thailands medical systems would be able to cope like Israels ?? Given that Isreal is almost 80% double jabbed and Thailand is ?? 10% ?? Given Israel has one of the worlds best medical systems, the best researchers, most genomic sequencing and monitoring etc etc.. Thailand is in any way comparable to that is it ??

And the baht has got a lot stronger in the last 5 days ?!?!

Have to say.. I really dont notice any effect.. None.. Wife said 1 - 2 leaves.. Chewed a couple nothing.. Was busy and didnt keep trying.. This morning must have chewed 8 or 10 leaves.. Nothing I could detect as a stimulant buzz at all.. Possibly a little bit of a flush out (bowel) like most stimulants bring on but that was the sum total of anything. Compared to the 10 or more espressos I drink each morning (another reason I thought this might help.. Cut back on that) not a damn thing.

No there were 10s of sellers.. Including saplings and seeds... now none.. They cant all be sold out.

Because Box jellys are a rising issue with warming waters.. They were not sighted a couple of decades back, very very rare a decade back, and hence its a rising problem.

I just looked and yeah, lazada may have purged it all.. Strange now its legal and had it before..

Facebook lazada.. I looked the day when it became legal and it was obvious that it was already listed in Thai before.. Leaves, teas, and trees.

3 weeks after a 1st shot of sinovac..

As is typical of a clan based society where you are culturally ingrained to always forgive your clans transgressions.. Salim / Yellow / royalist can see no wrong doing, or at least only justifiable actions needed to maintain decency and control.. And Saam geeb / Red / Youth can see no justifiable actions or rights at all.. Its the same cases of blind loyalty and tribalism that seems to constantly come up in societies that function and clan based structures and mentalities. There seems very little introspection, or changes of heart. Theres only power and who wields it.

The perfect example just had its record high cases today !! It also had near record high deaths in the top 10 days ever since the start. How is that the perfect example of how to handle it ?? This idea that because they are vaccinated people are not dying is simply not borne out by the facts.