billyhouston

Slightly off topic but Soi Than Tawan and nearby Sois at 2100 on Tuesday evening:

Thai Smile required 'fully vaccinated' when I flew with them on 21 October. There was a very thorough check even though I had, only that morning, been released from quaratine and had a certificate to prove it.

That is my experience also and what enabled me to book flights with confidence. I'm about to change my return, date having converted my Tourist visa (60 days) to a Non-Immigrant type O, enabling a much longer stay. Although hardly relevant now, I chose my ASQ hotel on the basis of free cancellation up to the day before arrival. Given the change from 14 to 7 days, that proved worthwhile.

Myanmar's Chinese Chamber of Commerce (MCCoC) is startng to sell Sinopharm vaccinations at 50,000kyats per person, at designated hospitals. Not great but an improvement on Sinovac.

As the number of cases there increases, Phuket is closing down more and more places, making it even less attractive as a Sandbox. There are Thai companies which provide 'incoming' travel insurance. As you say, Google is your friend.

US Government puts Thailand on Level 4: Do not travel. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/thailand-travel-advisory.html I imagine that the UK will follow shortly.

Don't worry, the MoHS (Ministry of Health and Sports) has been seeing around 100 Covid-19 deaths per day since 13 July. Meanwhile the funeral societies are reporting seeing between 1500 and 2000 dead per day, in Yangon alone. The military have just announced the construction of 10 new crematoriums in Yangon! Obviously they haven't checked with the MoHS.

Bangkok Post 23 July https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2153275/govt-must-take-vaccine-responsibility

The situation in Myanmar is far worse. As an example the Junta recorded the number of deaths from COVID in Kale township, Sagaing Division, in the first week of July to be 6. The correct figure is reported (reliably) to be 207. Doctors who went on strike, in support of the protesters, are unable to return to their hopitals because there are arrest warrants out for them. Min Aung Hlaing and his cronies have killed about 900 people since February and arrested 6000. Hospitals in Yangon and Mandalay have no empty beds and probably insufficient medicl staff. Meanwhile, Thailand abstains at the UN and now say they want to work with ASEAN, who are totally useless. Next time you are in Mae Hong Son, look carefully at the design of the Wats and ask yourself why they are as they are?

Reuters reports that: "Thailand's Siam Bioscience last year signed a technology transfer agreement with AstraZeneca to produce 200 million doses per year, with 61 million doses going to Thailand this year and the rest to other Southeast Asian countries." The terms of the contract may require in the case of delays, that the vaccines are shared pro rata, but the article does not give detailed terms.

"Other questions that still need answering include how and why Sinovac became the main Thai vaccine. If it has to be Chinese, then why not Sinopharm? That a Thai conglomerate is a business partner and investor in Sinovac makes the outcome smell fishy." Bangkok Post 2 July

I live with and amongst migrants (legal and illegal) from Myanmar. Most are from Shan, but there are a few Karen. They work in Thailand to be able to support their parents back in Shan/Kayah so, sadly, there's no possiblity for them to buy vaccines for their parents back in Myanmar. The border is closed and most of the 'informal' crossing points on the Northern Thai border are now patrolled by the Thai army. Under normal, non-COVID, circumstances the Thai army does not uually impede the use of these crossings.

If he is Thai, it's free and there should be no problem, but he's lkely to get Sinovac. The private hospitals have agreed a price of Bht 3400 for two shots of Moderna, but it's not certain when this wil become available.

"As for the effectiveness percentage, it is impossible to compare between the two vaccines because the studies were conducted in different test conditions under different circumstances.” That comment is there due to the (less than 50%) effectiveness of this vaccine. The problems this causes have been seen in both Chile and Indonesia.

This is for UK citizens living overseas. In Canada, a Commonwealth country, UK pensioners do not receive indexation of their NI pension, yet in the USA they do. I chose the locations simply to illustrate the absurdity of the situation.

The list of countries where UK retirees enjoy indexation of their NI pension is: Barbados, Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, EEA, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Israel, Jamaica, Jersey, Kosovo, Mauritius, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the Philippines, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, USA. These are countries which have 'bilateral agreements', with the UK, in place. Not all countries with whom the UK has' bilateral agreements' are on the list so these agreements are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for indexation. Five of them are, fo course, the former Yugoslavia and the other 'outliers' are Israel, Philippines, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA. In my 24 years of retirement, so far, I have witnessed huge variations in the £-Bht exchange rate and that is always going to be a concern for people who have expenses in one country and income elsewhere. Having worked all my life in the privatre sector I do, nevertheless, enjoy the benefits of a government sponsored DB pension scheme. In spite of that it's useful to hedge any currency fluctuations by investing in SE Asia. I'm sure that many people here have a well diversified portfolio of mutual funds.

For those who are not from the UK it is, perhaps, worth pointing out that our retirement arrangements differ significantly from those in, say, the US. The basic National Insurance (Social Security) pension is not sufficent for a reasonable existence. It does, however, get worse and those two gentlemen, if when they retired in 1998 they were 65 years of age, would have been able to draw this very modest pension. In the UK its amount is indexed, at present, at the highest of CPI, wage inflation rate or 2.5%. Living outside of the UK is very different and while in some countries the indexation continues, in the majority it remains at the rate payable when the person moved overseas. If you happen to live in Detroit, Michigan, you receive indexation but if you live a mile or so away in Windsor, Ontario, there is no indexation. There is neither rhyme nor reason to these countries and successive governments have refused to remove the anomaly. They can get away with it as there are no votes in it for them. Thailand is not an indexation country so those two guys would be receiving the same pension that they received in 1998. Clearly this was not the sole cause of their problems but it would contribute. If and when they return to the UK, they would receive the updated amount. The rate in 1998, for someone who had the necessary contributions, was £3365 per annum and the indexed amount in 2021 is £7155 per annum. There have been various attempts over the years to add to an earning related component to this provision but none has been successful and all have been dropped. The first was 'Graduated Pension' which was followed by SERPS (State Earnings Related Pension Scheme) which morphed into 'Second State Pension' which has been abandoned. We did have a very good system in both the public and private sectors based on 'Defined Benefit' schemes but, in the private sector these have been destroyed over the last 20 years by a combination of increasing longevity, low interest rates and Gordon Brown. There are now few open DB schemes except in the public sector. Vitually all public sector schemes are, to quote Barbara Castle, 'funded on a pay as you go basis', an oxymoron if ever there was one.

Anybody who thinks that this is about China taking care of its citizens is delusional.

Oddly enough, in my experience, members of the Thai Army, not the top brass, are more sympathetic to those rebel armies fighting the Burmese Army than they are to the Burmese Army. Not only do they not interfere with the activities, in Thailand, of the EAOs but do, on occasion, actively support them. (The leader of one of the biggest EAOs is actually a Thai citizen.) I don't think the top brass would approve. On the other hand the BIB choose to make life difficult for anyone in Thailand who supports an EAO.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 717,000 AstraZeneca doses were dispatched in late February and March from the company's British operations - also during a period when the EU was demanding the vaccine from the UK. This followed the EU's refusal to allow the export of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from Italy to Australia. The UK helps its friends.

Apparently not: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2108871/famed-chon-buri-zoo-not-shutting-down

Bangkok Post 15 September: The cabinet on Tuesday agreed to allow in foreign tourists who agree to 14-day quarantine and stay for at least 90 days, to help the flagging economy. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said after the cabinet meeting that the government would issue special tourist visas for long-stay visitors. The most important condition would be a 14-day quarantine. "Visitors can arrive for tourism or health services, and they can stay at alternative state quarantine facilities, specific areas or at hospitals that function as quarantine facilities," he said. "Our public health system is amongst the best in the world and people can have confidence in it." The prime minister said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration would later elaborate on the matter. Deputy government spokeswoman Traisulee Traisaranakul said long-stay visitors would have to present proof of payment for their long stay in the country. This could be payment for a hotel reservation, or the lease of a condominium room. "The target is to welcome 100-300 visitors a week, or up to 1,200 people a month, and generate income of about 1 billion baht a month," she said. The 90-day special tourist visa could be extended twice, for 90 days each time. Long-stay visitors could begin arriving next month, Ms Traisulee said. Prasong Poontaneat, finance permanent secretary, said the country needed to generate income from visitors, especially those from the countries where coronavirus disease had not been spreading in past months - such as China, Taiwan and some counries in Europe. Twenty Chinese provinces were free of Covid-19 and had a combined population of around 800 million. If only one percent of them, about 8 million people, visited Thailand they could support the tourism sector, he said.

I certainly wouldn't regard the thugs on Koh Tao as hi-so, far from it.

Bangkok Hospital, Chiang Mai, want Bht 17,000 for a colonoscopy under moderate sedation. The Sripat Centre (Private Wing of CMU Medical School at Suan Dok) want a little less, but I don't have the exact figure to hand. Much cheaper than having it done privately in the UK.

Google flagged this up: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/29/revealed-nhs-plans-to-ration-34-unnecessary-tests-and-treatments .