TMax

They've done well, it looks really nice, just hoping it stays that way

Merry Christmas everyone

I'll put this one here rather than start a new thread, until further notice and or discussions no doubt. Sorry for those that were about to apply. BANGKOK — PM Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday afternoon said Thailand will no longer accept any further applications from international travelers for quarantine exemption until further notice, starting today. Prayut said he gave the order to suspend the “Test and Go” program during a meeting with the government’s coronavirus response center. Accordingly, the Thailand Pass system, which is required by travelers to forego quarantine provided that they test negative for COVID-19 on arrival, will stop accepting new applications. However, people who have already applied will still be allowed to come. Suspension of test n go applications

Just saw this posted by Richard Barrow on facebook, I put the link to the story underneath it but unfortunately it's in Thai, hopefully an english version appears soon. For those that went over with Test and Go well done as you may have beaten this one, I think it will be interesting to see if it does get discussed or not and if it does what outcomes they come up with. I believe it's the emergence of the omicron and that it's getting into Thailand that is fueling this train of thought, if it is it may well be a case of a little too late going by todays Thai news. BREAKING: According to Thai media, the Minister of Public Health said in an interview today that he will propose to the CCSA to cancel Test and Go and bring back quarantine for everyone. This is expected to be discussed soon. Thailand has found 63 Omicron cases & 20 more are pending results. Quarantine travel proposal khaosod English story

Thanks Billy 👍

Thank you for that, appreciate it very much

I had AIS on my last 2 trips and was very happy with it, previous trips I had something else (can't quite remember which) but I do remember getting sick of the garbage sms messages that were a constant annoyance. Will stay with AIS on my return, whenever that might be, have seen many complaints about True and its service on facebook that hasn't left a positive impression.

It would be interesting to see how the rest of that soi has faired? I know the bar / restaurant After Hours (Silom rd end) closed down but would be nice to know how all the others (The Prime massage, Mango Tree etc) there are going (or gone).

If it were me making a booking I would first get in touch wth the hotel to double check that it included limousine and test before making the booking. Then I would make sure I would leave comments when booking to include both along with the hotel room.

Lord only knows what will happen soon, not much of a story attached but it will be a wait and see if anything changes. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is calling on all tourism-related agencies to ensure the Thailand Pass system is efficient and makes travelling to the country easy, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Saturday. He also said Prayut has advised the agencies to pay heed to users’ comments to improve the system. The story here

My thoughts as well although I still think there were others involved in the assassination plot but Oswald pulled the trigger

Now that would make too much sense to do it then

There was a notice by Arena that they were reopening on October 1st when the lockdowns rules were relaxed and I believe they did reopen and that other massage places were able to as well.

Definitely the 2 for 1 short times in Bangkok 😅

Maybe just maybe, hope they do go down the path of the rapid test. The government is considering replacing the RT-PCR test with other screening methods for vaccinated tourists under the Test & Go scheme, and easing high-risk close contact (HRC) rules which force airplane passengers who had sat near Covid-19 patients to undergo mandatory quarantine. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn said these decisions would be up to the national communicable disease control committee, and would also require approval from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) meeting to be chaired by the prime minister on Friday. As the RT-PCR test requires at least six hours for the result, and inbound travellers must book and stay in a hotel room while awaiting the outcome, alternative methods, such as antigen test kits, are more convenient and help manage the flow of tourists better if the number of arrivals increases. Mr Yuthasak said the CCSA will also consider easing current HRC rules which force those who sit two rows in front of or two rows behind infected passengers on a plane to be relocated to quarantine facilities. Under the new proposal, only passengers who had sat next to a Covid-19 patient would be kept in quarantine, for a shorter period, meaning there would be a maximum of two travellers affected by the HRC rule. Meanwhile, those who test positive with mild or no symptoms don't have to be relocated to hospital to receive treatment, but can choose a hospitel or alternative quarantine instead with a shorter period of up to 10 days, from the current 14 days Maybe rapid testing

It's good to see things getting easier with Singapore, hoping the Thai government take notice of this and can maybe do something similar. SINGAPORE - As of 11.59pm on Thursday (Nov 11), most travellers can take an antigen rapid test (ART) performed by a trained professional overseas before flying into Singapore. This applies to those returning via the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) and from countries in Categories II and III, which include Australia, Britain and the United States. Previously, all travellers, except those aged two and below, had to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to return and test negative within 48 hours before departure. Travellers now have a longer window to take the tests as a pre-departure test taken any time on Nov 12, for instance, can be valid until 11.59pm on Nov 14. Here is what you need to know about the new measures and how to book an ART overseas. Full story on this link

I get a bit of a laugh sometimes, if we currently had flights from Perth to Bangkok (like the direct Thai airways flight we had before all this started) we would be more at risk of catching covid either in Thailand or on the return journey than we would going over. Just as a clarification, in Western Australia we currently have no active covid cases.

Apparently it happened with the Phuket sandbox (from memory more than the one time), when someone tested positive with the arrival test that person and those sitting near them on the plane were taken from their hotel and put into ASQ hotel quarantine at their own expense (I think it was the usual 14 day quarantine period). The hotels they were booked in were supposed to give a refund.

Seeing the hassles people are reporting on the Thai Pass I'm real happy to be waiting a bit longer before trying (that sort of hassle drives me crazy). Never know, by the time I'm ready things might be a bit easier or at the very least the bugs with Thai Pass will have been sorted

Good to see and hope they continue it on with other klongs, it's going to look fantastic when finished

I'm prepared to wait, been patiently waiting this long so a bit longer won't bother me too much. Plan A is mid year June / July depending on airlines, the situation in Bangkok and any quarantine requirements back here upon return (if any). Plan B is October / November and once again just depends on how things are or have been going there and here and again the airlines. Really hoping we get direct flights again and things have settled down a lot so that I can enjoy some hot times with some Thai hunks.

Yeah that's why I'm patiently waiting, just don't fancy having a trip to Thailand or Singapore and having to then quarantine for 2 weeks. Happy being in WA and not having to go through what those in the east have, still waiting that bit longer gives us a chance to see how it plays out at the start. Also need the airlines to get back those Perth to Bangkok direct flights again.

Well we're almost there, the only issue is which state you fly back into as per quarantine rules (and the airlines of course) but we are slowly seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. I will still be waiting until things get back to some form of normality or at least to the new nomal. Travel exemptions to leave Australia officially scrapped for fully vaccinated travellers from November 1 The federal government has removed the need for fully vaccinated Australians to ask for permission to leave the country from Monday, but those who are unvaccinated will still have to ask for an exemption if they want to leave. When the government closed the international border in March last year it also barred Australians from leaving the country unless they had an exemption. It was able to make the rules under the Human Biosecurity Determination — a law created to protect the population from people bringing COVID to Australia from overseas. Last night, Health Minister Greg Hunt changed the Determination so that from November 1, anyone who was fully vaccinated could leave as they pleased. "Australian citizens and permanent residents who want to travel overseas will need to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated with a [Therapeutic Goods Administration]-approved or recognised vaccine, with the second dose occurring at least seven days prior to travel," he said. Australians almost there

Yeah they were the sort of stupid prices I noticed when searching fares, I looked for April and Singapore airlines had them at a more reasonable $1644 in economy with a short transit at Changi both ways. Closer to my travel plans but I'm hoping better fares become available if things settle down more by mid 2022.

Sara Duterte is a mystery really, she has so far turned down all attemps of her fathers party to join them and run for president, she is a member of an opposing party. She has also nominated and confirmed that she is running for a 3rd term as mayor of Davao and has said several times she is running for mayor, she even apologized to some people that she couldn't turn her back on the people of Davao by withdrawing and running for president. It's going to be very interesting time up until November 15th (deadline for replacement candidates), there will be a lot of pressure put on her to run for president and to come in as a replacement for one of the current candidates, most likely the joke candidate Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa. He's the one that had a massive dummy spit when the US refused him a visa and entry (last year from memory), went crawling to his mate Duterte to take action against the US over it.