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Some people appear to be reading too much into the latest developments. The government announced an end to the internal lockdown. The opening up the government announced was the opening up of businesses within Thailand and internationally for only a very certain class of travelers - primarily business (work permit) travelers on a case-by-case basis with a need to travel to Thailand who follow a special process with the Thai Embassy (which is why the Embassy will be vetting the insurance policies). Thailand did not announce anything about tourists or opening up to tourists. Before people default into the usual crapping on Thailand or the Thai government, best thing to do is pause, relax, and make sure the facts are right. The Bangkok Posts is reasonably accurate but often imprecise. It's always best to check multiple sources before taking anything we read in the press as true. The same is true for most countries, I reckon. And check Richard Barrow. The Thai government gives very good English language press briefings Monday - Friday that are easy to find on-line, another excellent source that is direct from the water buffalo's mouth. If we take a cursory look at other countries in the region, opening up to tourists is but a glimmer in the eye of the local governments and Thailand seems to be the same. Indonesia has announced a planned opening of Bali to tourists in October. I don't think anyone outside or in the government knows what the final rules will be for tourist travel. I do think that unrestricted travel in the time of a pandemic is not a god-given right or even prudent; therefore, there will inevitably be some restrictions and those will be bothersome and maybe even make some people unable to travel. Spanish flu...second wave worst than the first...even Wuhan is nowhere near herd immunity....blah blah. A health insurance requirement would not surprise me at all. With luck the region will get together and have a uniform requirement so insurance companies can issue standard coverage certificates, as they do now when someone has to apply for a visa to a Shengen country. Or even better, the government can adopt the old proposal that there be a 300B tax on tourists to cover health insurance, and then people can complain about how that only covers government hospitals, 'cause we have to complain about something. Until an immunity passport becomes real, none of this will be easy.

....that I just needed something to make me smile. This video about a Filipino and his dog did it for me. At least they have each other. It also made me more aware that when I say I miss Thailand, what I'm really missing are moments of intimacy. And the older I get, that matters more than all the other reasons for wanting to return.

Maybe you should talk to your doctor for PrEP

What about the risk you expose your bottoms to?

slowly but surely sun starts shining again

Beaches scheduled to reopen tomorrow, June 1st. No doubt there will be spacing restrictions but still good news..

Yes, stijntje , that is the new restaurant in Jomtien. A friend and I tried it two nights ago. Very good food, ample portions, reasonable prices, great location and a nice restaurant with ample outdoor seating. The menu is quite varied, including Thai food and pizzas. And desserts. My friend had the lasagna which he said was the best and I had the beef burgundy which was an ample portion and both served with sourdough bread. Definitely will go back again and support them.

Unfortunately--for me--it's not available to those 70 and over. Perhaps a Thai insurer will offer a policy that satisfies immigration requirements. Just one more uncertainty that makes planning just about impossible at this stage.

being top does not mean there is no risk to get infected ...there is a risk ...

I bought a sound bar that is arriving tomorrow or Tuesday. I am trying not to watch TV or movies until then. THIS IS TOP OF MY LIST.

Which is essentially the same. Until the world has been vaccinated, all countries will be afraid of everyone else, do varying degrees depending on their virus suppression success. As long as that's the case, all those QR code check-in requirements will most likely remain on place. So they may not be afraid of you (or people coming here from your country) and let you in without quarantine and such, but will still require using the QR code. If you want to avoid that, that's why you may have to wait until world vaccination.

Gosh, I hope so! (I do have doubts though)

Trump did not create racism, but he has used it and exploited it for his political benefit. He has ignored it, belittled its consequences, and courted the support of racists. He has made plain his contempt for his predecessor, our nation’s first black president. When Obama was elected president, many commentators declared that America was finally a post-racial society. With a man of African descent in the presidency, with a racially integrated Cabinet, with a black man leading the Justice Department, the stain of racism would at last be abolished. The commentators were wrong. Racism is thriving. It will destroy our nation until we assure equal justice to every citizen, until we guarantee that everyone has the same rights and privileges, until we provide every man, woman, and child with decent health care, housing, education, and a decent standard of living. We can’t eliminate racism entirely, but we can remove its adherents from the seats of power, we can stigmatize it. We can choose leaders who fight for freedom, justice, and a decent standard of living for all people. Unless we do so, our tattered democracy will not survive. We can’t let that happen. We must be willing and able to pursue genuine change, a social democracy in which every one of us is protected equally by the law and has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I'm not waiting for the vaccine , I'm waiting for Thailand to stop being afraid of me. From tomorrow on I will work under new contract essentially meaning that till end of year I will be able to request time off at very short notice.

ah, maybe shouldn't use the word "forced", sounds too harsh. Could also be "feel compelled to use" or even "choose to use" to avail himself to the pleasures beyond the check-in point. I said "forced" more to highlight the contrast to your general unwillingness to use a phone here . That "forcing" would be entirely of your own choosing, and by the same token you may as well decide to stay away until the majority of the global population has been vaccinated. Sadly, that would "force" us here to wait for you so much longer

OOH... link? PS Ah! Found them.

Can't help you with the Bolsheviks of yore - but I just uploaded two vids which feature my ass....

I have always wanted to get a glimpse of his ass. Lenin’s too. Maybe if I could sneak into his public tomb after hours.

Found it. Club Friday. Episode 2 what a tear jerker.

You might want to look at World Nomads. [For U.S. residents - what they cover isn't the same for U.K residents or other countries - but feel free to check you non-US peeps] World Nomads does not have a pandemic/epidemic exclusion ("our plan does not exclude losses associated with pandemic or epidemic conditions; meaning that if you, your traveling companion or family member were to become sick (after you purchase the plan) as a result of the COVID-19 virus, you could still receive benefits for losses covered by the plan.") Also, there is no exclusion for travel during a State Department/CDC "essential travel only" period. There is a pretty decent set of FAQs. https://www.worldnomads.com/usa/help/insurance/recent-events/coronavirus-faqs The FAQs discuss the trip cancellation/interruption aspect of the policy as well as the health insurance aspect, which is what the Thai gov't is looking for. (Same for Vietnam and Cambodia, I think?) Given that right now the focus is on letting in only a select few work permit types (and similar), with each case reviewed by the embassy, I certainly have no clue how this requirement will play out for "regular" tourists. Also no guarantees that this won't change at any time......

Quotations from Chair B&C: ."being happily heterosexual myself," Some people have no problem being an ass.... I get into trouble for showing my ass! (You do know that I am a/k/a LeonTrotsky, right?

Good gosh! Here's hoping she won't suddenly pop up out of the tub one day.

it is my understanding that these religions do not proselytize and seek conversion - i know that is absolutely the case of Judaism... and believe it to be true for the other too.

The app thing is extremely easy. There is a QT code at the entrance of a participating establishment, you scan it with your phone (I just use the QR scanner in LINE which is readily available on the top of the list of chats), click on the link that pops up and there click on "check in upon entering and on "check out" upon leaving. Only the very first time using it do you have to manually enter your phone number into the system. So with the check in/out they can contact you by SMS if there was a person who subsequently tested positive for Coronavirus at the same time as you. Of course one could enter a fake number, but who really wants that? I'd rather be contacted if there was a virus-positive person there when I was. As for "participating establishment": massage shops, bars, saunas and such may or may not participate. At the moment this whole thing is mostly used by malls and department stores, and even there in an inconsistent way. I haven't seen it at any restaurants really, with one exception being today a restaurant in Kanchanaburi. So it is not everywhere, who participates and who doesn't (and who is actually required to in order to be allowed to open at all) is, needless to say, impossible to figure out. After all, TiT. I wouldn't worry about that at all. Besides, I couldn't care less if they know that I visited a sauna, for example. But then I don't have a wife I secretly cheat on with boys LOL EDIT: if gogo bars were to participate in the app, and it's use drags on well into 2021 even after tourism has reopened, then even @vinapu would be forced to get and use a smartphone in Thailand, or else be shut out of the bars. Alternative would be to stay away even longer. Your choice! But that's still guessing a bit too much about the future, so let's follow this year's overarching motto on this: wait and see. Just wanted to point out this rather shocking possibility!

From Coconuts Bangkok Automated people movers designed in Canada and built in China will soon arrive to whisk passengers between commercial developments on the Chao Phraya River. The first of several Bombardier Innovia APM300s will arrive next month to service the Gold Line which will connect the BTS Silom Line to waterfront properties – namely the Iconsiam shopping mall, a city management firm announced yesterday. Though marketed as a monorail, the Gold Line will more resemble another retro-futurist Disney ride: the PeopleMover. Its three people movers, with two cars each, ride on wheels which follow a rubber track. Each train will hold about 140 passengers. When it launches in October, Thailand’s first operator-free train will run at a maximum 80kph. Manit Techaapichok of City Hall project management firm Krungthep Thanakom Co., said work completion was at a very specific “88%.” The cabinet approved the line in 2016 and expected it to be completed two years ago in time for the mall’s opening. Though criticized as a gift to developer Siam Piwat’s Iconsiam shopping mall outside the city’s master transportation plan, the developer underwrote its estimated THB3.8 billion cost. It will connect the existing BTS Krung Thon Buri to three new stations at Thonburi, Charoen Nakhon and Khlong San. A future expansion will close the loop by linking it up to the Purple Line.

This is about to sound very self-righteous etc. which I despise, but is it not best just to dump those people out of your life, and move on?

From CNN How Vietnam managed to keep its coronavirus death toll at zero (CNN)When the world looked to Asia for successful examples in handling the novel coronavirus outbreak, much attention and plaudits were paid to South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But there's one overlooked success story -- Vietnam. The country of 97 million people has not reported a single coronavirus-related death and on Saturday had just 328 confirmed cases, despite its long border with China and the millions of Chinese visitors it receives each year. This is all the more remarkable considering Vietnam is a low-middle income country with a much less-advanced healthcare system than others in the region. It only has 8 doctors for every 10,000 people, a third of the ratio in South Korea, according to the World Bank. After a three-week nationwide lockdown, Vietnam lifted social distancing rules in late April. It hasn't reported any local infections for more than 40 days. Businesses and schools have reopened, and life is gradually returning to normal. To skeptics, Vietnam's official numbers may seem too good to be true. But Guy Thwaites, an infectious disease doctor who works in one of the main hospitals designated by the Vietnamese government to treat Covid-19 patients, said the numbers matched the reality on the ground. "I go to the wards every day, I know the cases, I know there has been no death," said Thwaites, who also heads the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City. "If you had unreported or uncontrolled community transmission, then we'll be seeing cases in our hospital, people coming in with chest infections perhaps not diagnosed -- that has never happened," he said. So how has Vietnam seemingly bucked the global trend and largely escaped the scourge of the coronavirus? The answer, according to public health experts, lies in a combination of factors, from the government's swift, early response to prevent its spread, to rigorous contact-tracing and quarantining and effective public communication. Vietnam started preparing for a coronavirus outbreak weeks before its first case was detected. At the time, the Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization had both maintained that there was no "clear evidence'' for human-to-human transmission. But Vietnam was not taking any chances. "We were not only waiting for guidelines from WHO. We used the data we gathered from outside and inside (the country to) decide to take action early," said Pham Quang Thai, deputy head of the Infection Control Department at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi. By early January, temperature screening was already in place for passengers arriving from Wuhan at Hanoi's international airport. Travelers found with a fever were isolated and closely monitored, the country's national broadcaster reported at the time. By mid-January, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam was ordering government agencies to take "drastic measures" to prevent the disease from spreading into Vietnam, strengthening medical quarantine at border gates, airports and seaports. On January 23, Vietnam confirmed its first two coronavirus cases -- a Chinese national living in Vietnam and his father, who had traveled from Wuhan to visit his son. The next day, Vietnam's aviation authorities canceled all flights to and from Wuhan. As the country celebrated the Lunar New Year holiday, its Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc declared war on the coronavirus. "Fighting this epidemic is like fighting the enemy," he said at an urgent Communist Party meeting on January 27. Three days later, he set up a national steering committee on controlling the outbreak -- the same day the WHO declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern. On February 1, Vietnam declared a national epidemic -- with just six confirmed cases recorded across the country. All flights between Vietnam and China were halted, followed by the suspension of visas to Chinese citizens the next day. Over the course of the month, the travel restrictions, arrival quarantines and visa suspensions expanded in scope as the coronavirus spread beyond China to countries like South Korea, Iran and Italy. Vietnam eventually suspended entry to all foreigners in late March. Vietnam was also quick to take proactive lockdown measures. On February 12, it locked down an entire rural community of 10,000 people north of Hanoi for 20 days over seven coronavirus cases -- the first large-scale lockdown known outside China. Schools and universities, which had been scheduled to reopen in February after the Lunar New Year holiday, were ordered to remain closed, and only reopened in May. Thwaites, the infectious disease expert in Ho Chi Minh City, said the speed of Vietnam's response was the main reason behind its success. "Their actions in late January and early February were very much in advance of many other countries. And that was enormously helpful ... for them to be able to retain control," he said. The decisive early actions effectively curbed community transmission and kept Vietnam's confirmed cases at just 16 by February 13. For three weeks, there were no new infections -- until the second wave hit in March, brought by Vietnamese returning from abroad. "We have a very strong system: 63 provincial CDCs (centers for disease control), more than 700 district-level CDCs, and more than 11,000 commune health centers. All of them attribute to contact tracing," said doctor Pham with the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. A confirmed coronavirus patient has to give health authorities an exhaustive list of all the people he or she has met in the past 14 days. Announcements are placed in newspapers and aired on television to inform the public of where and when a coronavirus patient has been, calling on people to go to health authorities for testing if they have also been there at the same time, Pham said. As of May 1, about 70,000 people had been quarantined in Vietnam's government facilities, while about 140,000 had undergone isolation at home or in hotels, the study said. The study also found that of the country's first 270 Covid-19 patients, 43 percent were asymptomatic cases -- which it said highlighted the value of strict contact-tracing and quarantine. If authorities had not proactively sought out people with infection risks, the virus could have quietly spread in communities days before being detected. "The country understands that these things need to be taken seriously and complies with guidance from the government on how to prevent the infection from spreading." Continues with video https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/asia/coronavirus-vietnam-intl-hnk/index.html

I have never been an Obama fan, bt I am missing him so much right now.

The Pope says to Trump, “Do you know that with one little wave of my hand I can make every person in this crowd go wild with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display, like that of your followers, but go deep into their hearts and for the rest of their lives whenever they speak of this day, they will rejoice!” Trump replies, “I seriously doubt that, with one wave of your hand? Show me!” So the Pope slapped him.