faranglaw

Oh don’t be ridiculous. The Democrats would be considered centre right in Australia They can’t even agree on voting rights, minimum wage, or universal healthcare. The socialist tag is absurd.

I am flying from Vancouver to bkk next week, too early for the new non-stop. But in February Dear Husband and I will return on the non-stop with some friends who live in Vancouver, a little gay party in Premium Economy. 🥳

These days hotel prices are so low that there seems little point in a short time hotel, as I discovered last night. I stayed at the Quarter on z909’s recommendation and thank you! It was perfect. Nice breakfast, no hassle bringing boys in (ahem, twice!—Hornet sure is busy around there!). $21 Cdn (about 500 baht) for the whole night. I’ll be back.

Thanks everyone! Great blog and helpful guys. I appreciate it. z909 you are right. Quarter is almost as cheap as a love hotel. About $20 Canadian. So I’ve booked there. I will let you know how it went.

Hello gentlemen, I realize I have been around this blog (this block) for awhile, but strangely enough, I don’t know of any nice, or nice enough, short time hotels in the Silom area (near Sala Daeng). Can anyone enlighten me? I am meeting a boy with a wide smile tomorrow evening. Thanks in advance! faranglaw

Thanks Reader for the info and encouragement. I fly out today. I think it will be fine.

Thanks everyone! So I have booked a flight tomorrow from Boston to Phuket, actually three flights, the second of which, NY to Singapore, is said to be the longest flight scheduled in the world, at 18 hours and 40 minutes. Economy Premium so it might be bearable as long as the pilots don’t nod off somewhere over the Arctic. The process turned out to be complicated and anxiety producing. For some reason both the hotel and the testing company would only take something called OTP which I think means One Time Password. They wanted me to have a local phone number to send passwords to, which I didn't have. Without that local contact, neither my American nor Canadian credit cards worked for payment. Aaargh! But Dear Husband is still in Bangkok, and he was able to go into the woods and shake fairy dust on the sleeping leprechaun, or whatever one does, and miraculously produce for me proof of my hotel stay and my COVID test schedule, both of which I need to board the plane. I don’t know how I would have navigated all this without a Thai contact within Thailand. But then, there’s a reason he is Dear Husband. So I leave on Monday and arrive on Wednesday. Hotel staff assure me that once the first test comes back negative, I am free to roam the island. Dear Husband arrives on Thursday with my summer wear and speedos. See you soon! It’s 4:11pm here, which means it’s 4:11am there.

It seems to me that the chatter about power mad politicians and bureaucrats is a bit too fearful in the opposite direction. There are so many variables with this disease and the decisions public health authorities must make are still life and death. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. I had some experience in my union being on the executive, and many decisions we had to make led to accusations of being overly controlling, power mad, etc. Not really true but some of our members let their emotions run away with them. Here’s an article on the current situation with Omicron, from the New Yorker. We can see that there are still many unanswered questions and it is not at all clear how and where and when countries and economies should open up. This leaves me with considerable empathy for the people making these decisions, and also a feeling of gratefulness that it’s not me making them. Omicron by the Numbers https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/24/do-the-omicron-numbers-mean-what-we-think-they-mean?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_011622&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_recirc&bxid=5be9c79a24c17c6adf38ceb9&cndid=49338263&hasha=d8197887bc61ba75b03a39936ec68ff0&hashb=b5c5ac9a21955ee3cb29f1de63c473536955a688&hashc=532810e5334f61be3659e870f74e0064f6d9b0376f350eed40fceecdd149fbfb&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&mbid=CRMNYR062419

Hi all, I entered Thailand along with Dear Husband on November 30th as part of Test and Go, planning to stay until February. Unfortunately, due to a death in the family, I had to fly to Boston, where I am now staying. I would like to return to Thailand for more time. Since Test and Go is now suspended, I was considering the Phuket Sandbox as I would be free to roam, rather than being compelled to stay cooped up in a hotel for the seven days. Has anyone here done the Sandbox? Any thoughts on good SHA hotels there? thx...

TUI-ch his own!

Oh, bite me!

I found this article from the NYT to be helpful: https://www.nytimes.com/article/omicron-coronavirus-variant.html

Any recommendations in Bangkok?

Lenin?! Aaaaaargh! Nooooooo! “Although this saying has been made popular by several political figures such as Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, its origins lie in Hillel the Elder, a Jewish leader, who stated, ''If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being for my own self, what am I? And if not now, when?''. This quote has been used over the years in slightly different verbiage by several different people.”

Poor Burboy, brokenhearted again. And the rest of us don’t get to read your wonderful trip reports. Also brokenhearted.

I will miss “Humpalong.”

Which apps are you using? I am also finding some interest as well but not for free as I’ve passed the point of no return at 71.

Hotel: Glo Hotel Sukhumvit 5 Plane landed 2230 on Nov 30 Tested next day at 0930 Result at 1930 Two people, Two tests, two results. Stayed the extra night at no cost. Food: Disgusting. Cost: $312 Canadian or about 8000 Baht via Agoda I think we could have done a lot better.

One time at Babylon someone broke into my locker and took money from my wallet. I was careful not to bring any credit cards with me, just money for the evening, so it didn’t amount to much, maybe 500-1000. They took what I had but very kindly left about 100 baht to make sure I could get home. A thoughtful thief. I was actually rather touched. Only in Thailand.

Oh THAT TM6 form! All OK now. Maybe this will be useful to others, or maybe I’m just my usual nervous dizzy self the day before traveling. See you there! “TM 6 immigration form is a form required to be filled by foreign nationals entering Thailand to be submitted to the Thai immigration checkpoint at the airport you arrived at in Thailand. The TM 6 form can only be obtained once you are inside the plane during all international flights to Thailand. It will be handed over by the airline crew or staff for you to fill it. If you have not received the TM 6 form while on the plane, you can obtain this at the table located before the Thai immigration checkpoint at the airport.”

Hmm we leave tomorrow and I wasn’t aware of the TM6. We certainly have everything else, including my 3 month visa, approved, and the Thai pass. I will look up the TM6. Confusing as always, as it seems from this site that the TM6 is included in the Thai pass. https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/posts/according-to-the-ease-of-travelling-policy-a-thailand-pass-system-will-be-adopte/4726655164024527/ Thanks for posting!

Dear Husband and I, here in a gloomy Vancouver November, got our Thailand Passes approved without much trouble; we just followed the directions. I also got my 3 month visa approved, again not much trouble. Four days start to finish for all of this. Yes, we will have to stay one night in a quarantine hotel, so we will see how that goes. But it is not a huge turnoff to me, just a bit of extra expense. So we arrive late on November 29th, and will let you all know how it goes. We are hoping to travel freely in LOS by the end of the day on the 30th. Very much looking forward to seeing his family and various acquaintances and friends we haven’t seen for two years.

Oh thank GOD for this forum!

Has anyone heard what the ten countries are? is Canada on the Angel List?