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Waltzing Along posted:Couldn't you say that about the country as a whole? Not the cesspool part. But the sex trade being a massive part of the GDP so the government just looks the other way. How big is it... really? Being honest, I thought it was just a tiny part of Country and all those lovely Asian GeoCities Sex Websites must have been fake. There's no way in hell they could possibly be real. Once I visited I was wrong. Very wrong. 
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May 11, 2021 19:06
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Wikipedia, (I know), says it could be up to 10 percent of Thailands GDP.
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May 11, 2021 19:23
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Waltzing Along posted:Wikipedia, (I know), says it could be up to 10 percent of Thailands GDP. Yea, but those calculations are including things like people staying at hotels and spending other money in order to be involved in that stuff. I think the contribution of these gray area travel elements is falling relative to other tourism, industry, internal business/consumerization processes. Frankly, there has been a large exodus of the kinds of expats who think themselves very important to Thailand's economic wellbeing simply for being a bogan sexpat to Cambodia and Vietnam. I feel like the kind of foreigners in Thailand has improved over even the last decade.
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May 12, 2021 17:08
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Things must be bad in Phuket. They've banned inviting people over to your home to drink and have threatened to deport foreigners who break the rule.
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May 13, 2021 02:20
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I'm thisclose to booking a flight. I'm sure things will be fine in 2 months, I just worry that something will blow up and it will get cancelled. Phuket is on schedule to get to 70% vaccinated or more. So it should be fine.
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May 13, 2021 03:04
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4887 cases today, but 2835 of those are in prisons, so not really part of the population at large. Still not great!
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May 13, 2021 03:17
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Atlas Hugged posted:4887 cases today, but 2835 of those are in prisons, so not really part of the population at large. Still not great! Why are cases continuing to "spike?" I mean, Thailand spike. Pretty sure the US has as many cases every 3 or 4 days that Thailand has had in total. It's still not good. I look at the cases and they had basically nothing up until December, had a brief spike, got it down again, then Song Kran and it hasn't dropped much since then. And it's been almost 2 weeks since the lock down. Is this all just the remnants of countrywide travel for new years? Based on those stats, I feel comfortable that in 2 months things will be okay. But yeah...
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May 13, 2021 03:28
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Waltzing Along posted:I'm thisclose to booking a flight. I'm sure things will be fine in 2 months, I just worry that something will blow up and it will get cancelled. On schedule..? Only 2% of the population is vaccinated so far. It might be a lot better in a few months, but the momentum isn't there yet. They haven't been able to buy enough vaccines.
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May 13, 2021 03:40
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Waltzing Along posted:Wikipedia, (I know), says it could be up to 10 percent of Thailands GDP. Given the amount of older drunk overweight British men chasing.... or wobbling around Thailand after whatever bar girl they fancy I wouldn't exactly be surprised if it was a few points.  Granted, I don't mean to discourage anyone and the OP describes the whole environment quite well. Live and let live. Waltzing Along posted:I'm thisclose to booking a flight. I'm sure things will be fine in 2 months, I just worry that something will blow up and it will get cancelled. Given what's happening in India I am still super hesitant with travel. Interestingly enough, ticket prices are still about average - $1200 round trip. My tentative goal is to spend Christmas around BKK. Gucci Loafers fucked around with this message at 03:45 on May 13, 2021 |
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May 13, 2021 03:42
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Fitzy Fitz posted:On schedule..? Only 2% of the population is vaccinated so far. It might be a lot better in a few months, but the momentum isn't there yet. They haven't been able to buy enough vaccines. Phuket is at 20% already. E: To clarify, I'd been watching with interest for a while. The Thai govt, in the last week, announced they are going ahead with opening on July 1st. They are around 20% vaccinated and have enough doses set aside to get the island up to 70% or higher by the opening date. Lots of news articles around about it. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-07/phuket-ready-for-foreign-tourism-in-july-despite-thai-covid-wave Waltzing Along fucked around with this message at 03:49 on May 13, 2021 |
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May 13, 2021 03:45
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Ok, yeah, I had no idea they were basically sending all the shots to Phuket. That's one way of doing it.
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May 13, 2021 04:01
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A betting man who wager that things are closed in 2 months rather than open. Unless all you want to do is sit on a beach in Phuket and not really visit many restaurants. I just don't see it as worth it.
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May 13, 2021 05:16
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Well, of course it's not worth it if everything is closed. The only reason I'm considering it is the Thai govt says everything will be open.
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May 13, 2021 05:40
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Waltzing Along posted:the Thai govt says everything will be open. Ha, haha.. hah...
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May 13, 2021 05:52
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Waltzing Along posted:The only reason I'm considering it is the Thai govt says everything will be open. Lol. Perhaps you aren’t aware of what happened last time they tried this: NO REFUNDS: GOV’T DELAYS ‘SPECIAL TOURIST VISAS’ 2 DAYS BEFORE LAUNCH
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May 13, 2021 06:19
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It seems wrong to me to fly all the way into BKK and not visit the city.
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May 13, 2021 06:19
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It also feels a bit cynical for me to take advantage of this profit driven vaccination strategy where the government's priority is ang mohs wanting to party on the beaches rather than any same approach protecting the whole country.
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May 13, 2021 07:18
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My gut tells me we're where we're at because things just weren't taken seriously enough in December/January when cases returned and that was compounded by Songkran. Maybe it'll get better in a couple of weeks, but lockdown here still means people are out and mingling, just in grocery stores and offices instead of in bars. If mask use isn't consistent, then the virus will still spread.
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May 13, 2021 16:20
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https://twitter.com/wongkohwei/status/1393158432010641410?s=19
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May 14, 2021 12:22
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I've been trying to get more info on the Phuket opening and one place I looked said it is only open to people who fly into Phuket directly, internationally. This seems counterproductive because most people would be flying into BKK first. I can see the problem with a transfer at BKK because it is a domestic flight to HKT so is a different terminal. But OTOH, if they are trying to attract tourists, this seems like something that would need to be made very clear. It would suck to fly into BKK first and then get told that you have to quarantine, anyway. But then again, that same source said that they may create a safe zone at BKK. Considering TAT has announced this to the world, I don't see them going back and changing things barring a catastrophe. It is still strange that even on the TAT website, there is no readily available information.
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May 15, 2021 21:14
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did not expect cambodia to be leading the pack tbh
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Jun 2, 2021 19:23
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cambodia leading the way in vaccines, indonesia leading the way in lack of testing https://twitter.com/tom_allard/status/1400399975020826634?s=20
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Jun 3, 2021 11:51
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Is there a super up to date source of info on reopening plans for SE Asian countries? Thailand and Indonesia in particular
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Jun 5, 2021 22:14
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Is there a super up to date source of info on reopening plans for SE Asian countries? Thailand and Indonesia in particular Thailand has this thing called the Phuket Sandbox. It is going to be "finalized" in the next week. It's turned into a joke, though. It's devolved into you can go to Phuket if: You are fully vaccinated You don't mind staying only in Phuket for 2 weeks. You don't mind paying for 3 covid tests while you are there. You don't mind that no business in its right mind is going to open when the Thai govt has created a situation where very few people are going to want to go.
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Jun 5, 2021 23:49
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Is there a super up to date source of info on reopening plans for SE Asian countries? Thailand and Indonesia in particular I don't think there's any specific info about Indonesia's re-opening plans yet. A while ago they stated that they wanted to re-open Bali to travellers starting from next month and they stated this again recently, but it's still somewhat uncertain if it will actually happen. I checked Indonesian news sites for info as well and didn't really get any different info from them. This story is from a couple of days ago - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-03/indonesia-to-reopen-to-international-visitors-from-next-month/100186838 quote:In a statement issued by Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, authorities announced the nation would look to partially re-open its borders to international visitors from July.
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Jun 6, 2021 01:54
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Waltzing Along posted:Thailand has this thing called the Phuket Sandbox. It is going to be "finalized" in the next week. It's turned into a joke, though. It's devolved into you can go to Phuket if: I dunno if anybody here is a diver, but there's liveaboard dive trips going on right now, from boats in Phuket so I guess that's happening somehow?
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Jun 6, 2021 02:28
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I heard the penalties for boat tours and guides letting people go out of the quarantine zone is.. uh, steep.
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Jun 6, 2021 02:40
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Is there a super up to date source of info on reopening plans for SE Asian countries? Thailand and Indonesia in particular Bangkok is dealing with a huge outbreak that they're blaming on a couple of wealthy person nightclubs so that might slam the brakes on the whole place.
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Jun 8, 2021 05:49
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Huge? I thought it was only a couple thousand a day.
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Jun 8, 2021 06:12
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Sheng-Ji Yang posted:did not expect cambodia to be leading the pack tbh Late reply, but whether through sheer luck or not Cambodia did an insanely good job of keeping the virus under control. Of course, it just took a couple of people breaking out of quarantine in February to mess it all up  As someone who has been vaccinated here, the vaccinations were also surprisingly well organised. Also, hello thread, it's been a while
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Jun 17, 2021 09:18
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Indonesia is currently experiencing record covid case numbers, a little over 20,000 today with a swab positive rate around 45%, and they seemingly still want to open Bali up for tourists in July. https://en.tempo.co/read/1476137/bali-to-welcome-tourists-soon-as-covid-19-vaccination-rate-hits-70#.YNSJgAdGwkw.twitter quote:TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said that his office had made various preparations together with tourism and creative economy players ahead of the reopening of tourism in Bali this July. The province is ready to welcome tourists as the Covid-19 vaccination rate has reached 70 percent. The 70 percent vaccination number is also misleading, because it seems like it's supposed to mean 70 percent of target groups, which is the elderly, government workers and health workers. In reality, only around 700,000 people out of 4+ mil on Bali have had second doses. There was also some more info in a WHO situational report I read that said they were looking at 5 day quarantine for international arrivals, and that travellers will be "encouraged" to be vaccinated before arrival. The scant details there are make it seem like a terrible idea, it's just extra terrible to be considering it in a worsening situation.
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Jun 24, 2021 19:14
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I'm planning on heading to Thailand next year for an extended period of time over the summer. I'd like to bring my dog, has anyone had any experience bringing their pets into Thailand? It seems pretty straight forward based on what I've seen on the Thai Consulate website but, does anyone have some tips from firsthand experience?
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Jun 27, 2021 02:22
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Not first hand, but my neighbor brought his dog from Taiwan to Thailand and he said it was his first real "adult" moment just because it was such a headache to organize. I think the biggest issue is just timing everything to be valid at the same time, but it's really just about having the right documents. If you have a specific question I can ask him. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Jul 5, 2021 |
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Jun 27, 2021 05:44
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Heading to the beach. Our home was just a little too close to the fire from the plastic factory.
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Jul 5, 2021 11:43
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So it sounds like Thailand might be about to go through what Indonesia is currently going through covid wise?
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Jul 8, 2021 06:21
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Centusin posted:So it sounds like Thailand might be about to go through what Indonesia is currently going through covid wise? I've been in Cambodia since the whole thing began and at the start things here were way better than back in Canada. But in the last few weeks I've had to really consider heading back home just to get a vaccine. The time, cost, and hassle to do that is just infuriating though. I've got basically nothing back in Canada to go to and I'd be there for months before I'd be able to get vaccinated and return here. It's either that or move to some secluded house by myself and go into personal lockdown until vaccines are generally available. It's definitely starting to stress me out. :/
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Jul 8, 2021 09:12
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If the same thing does happen, that's loving catastrophic. I don't see Thailand re-opening later this year if things get that bad. See ya in 2023 BKK.
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Jul 8, 2021 21:51
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a wing of BKK is currently being converted into a hospital, so..
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Jul 8, 2021 22:08
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lol my wife was talking about going back home to Thailand for her dad's 60th birthday next year.
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Jul 8, 2021 22:38
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A few months back, it honestly seemed some parts of Asia legitimately had COVID-19 under control. The more I think about it, for a Country like Thailand I hope it doesn't take more than a year to recover but I could see it happening if it gets as bad as India or Brazil.
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Jul 8, 2021 23:08
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