[Rabid Russian assaults police team in Phuket after going berserk at a city centre hotel]

Here’s video. Looks like it starts out with the drunk Russian causing an altercation in the lobby and several farang attempt to subdue him. 
 

https://youtu.be/wzbDJzfRB9M?feature=shared
 

 

[Thai Embassy in New Zealand increases visa fee 600%]

Don't worry about a drop in tourism . Those cheaper lao khao prices will more than offset these fees.

[Canadian man claims fear of criminal gang forced him to open plane door]

12 hours ago, Korat Kiwi said:

  It was in a Chiang Mai News forum also :  https://www.fox5dc.com/news/crazed-thai-smile-passenger-rips-planes-emergency-exit-door-open-before-takeoff

Your Fox News article regarding WE161 is dated 8 November 2019

[Canadian man claims fear of criminal gang forced him to open plane door]

31 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Yeah I noticed that.

 

Thaiger reports it was a Thai Air Flight TG121 due to depart CNX at 9.05pm

Fox reports it was a Thai Smile flight WE161 due to depart CNX at 3.40pm.

 

Was there two separate incidents both involving a Canadian ?

Duplicate 

[Canadian man claims fear of criminal gang forced him to open plane door]

Thai media are now reporting that he was beating his head bloody against the wall in jail so the authorities have moved him to Suan Prung psychiatric hospital. 
 

Just a thought…even if he eventually gets released, what airline is going to allow him to board a flight back to Canada unless he’s in a straight jacket?

[Border run to Mai Sai CLOSED]

On 7/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, Sticky Rice Balls said:

there was a thread here about an alternate border close by mae sai if u can find it

 

something about a boat across a small river in that region

Regarding the border run to Laos across the Mekong (not a small river) from Sop Ruak (not close by to Mae Sai), I posted this back in February and presumably it is still accurate.

 

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

 

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

 

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. There is a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall just after you enter with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

 

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. 

 

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

 

All together this will cost you 1750 baht which is more than the Mae Sai crossing would cost you, but it’s there if you need it while Mae Sai remains closed. 

[Airport capacity at Suvarnabhumi to increase with new terminal and tech upgrades]

So will these additional 15 million passengers annually arriving at the 28 new gates be dumped into the same immigration arrival area as the already overflowing one?

[Mae Sai border open, how many days do you get?]

I do not know what the cost of a Lao visa on arrival is today, but at the Sop Ruak crossing it was definitely 1500 Thai baht for American nationals in the middle of last month. 

[Mae Sai border open, how many days do you get?]

Just up the road at Sop Ruak (“Golden Triangle”), crossing the Mekong to Laos is an option and you get 45 days. I posted this in another thread. 
 

 

Here's how it worked:

 

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

 

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

 

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. There is a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall just after you enter with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

 

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. 

 

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

 

All together this will cost you 1750 baht which is more than the Mae Sai crossing would cost you, but it’s there if you need it while Mae Sai remains closed. 

 

[Any border run services currently operating from Chiang Mai?]

On 1/10/2023 at 4:58 PM, bubba said:

You can also do a border run from Sop Ruak ("Golden Triangle") by boat across the river to Laos. Friend of mine confirmed this with Chiang Saen immigration and will be doing that next week. There is immigration there for your exit/entry stamps and you can buy a Lao visit on the other side. 

An update on that if anyone is interested...

 

Here's how it worked:

 

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

 

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

 

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. 

 

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. BTW, there is also a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

 

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

 

Seems easy to me if you need to do a border run and maybe faster than going through Chiang Kong and across the bridge there, at least until Tachilek reopens, which of course is faster and cheaper.

 

 

 

[Any border run services currently operating from Chiang Mai?]

You can also do a border run from Sop Ruak ("Golden Triangle") by boat across the river to Laos. Friend of mine confirmed this with Chiang Saen immigration and will be doing that next week. There is immigration there for your exit/entry stamps and you can buy a Lao visit on the other side. 

[Buriram: Many victims bitten by "mad" Thai street dog "foaming at the mouth" - rabies fears]

4 hours ago, Dcheech said:

That rabies vaccine is gnarly too. Given the wussified world we live in, wonder how many will refuse to get vaccinated. As always up2U   ????

It's not gnarly. Post exposure rabies vaccine protocol specifies one injection in your arm every two weeks for a total of four. You should also receive human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) immediately to provide antibodies that will protect you until you begin to generate your own antibodies from the vaccine. HRIG is injected into and around the bite site and is not particularly painful.

 

I know. I've been there and thankfully lived.

 

One thing my physician told me - an older gentleman who had done his residency in rural Isaan decades ago when there was more rabies:  go to a sink, put your watch next to it and commence washing the wound with soap and water for a full 20 minutes. He said 20 minutes will seem like a long time and it is, but that alone can be be >95% efficacious in washing the virus out and preventing infection, unless it is a deep puncture wound. 

 

And then go get HRIG and vaccines.

 

 

[Marijuana latest: PM says everyone concerned - Anutin exasperated over "overdose" reports amid recreational use]

Anutin: 

Quote

You can overdose on anything if it is misused, even paracetamol

Clarification: there are no confirmed reports of marijuana overdose; however, there are many cases of paracetamol overdose and casual overuse, particularly with alcohol, is very likely to cause substantial and permanent liver damage. 

 

[Sinet is currently experiencing a city-wide internet outage]

Our Sinet internet went down abruptly a couple of hours ago. Just tried calling their support line and all I get is a recording, saying:

 

"Now the internet system in Chiang Mai is down. The internet service will be temporarily disrupted. Apologise for the inconvenience"

 

It's impossible to reach a live officer for any advice. 

 

Does anyone have any information regarding what's going on? Are they still in business and operational or has someone pulled the plug on them?

 

 

[Mae Hong Son Loop Recommendations]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:25 AM, HaoleBoy said:

Do stop in Ban Rak Thai - just before Mae Hong Son ... beautiful area with the tea growing on the hillsides.

 

 

Ban Rak Thai is not quite just before Mae Hong Son. The village is actually nearly an hour's drive off of the main highway (1095) and includes some fairly steep climbs. But yes, it is indeed a beautiful little Chinese KMT village, albeit a bit touristy.

[Paperwork for internal flights]

Flew BKK-CNX week last week on Thai Smile and the checkin counter agent asked for either a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test (but not both).

[What booster should I get?]

According to recently published research, "Mix and Match" boosters generate the best immune response.

 

This graphic nicely sums up the various combinations and resulting antibody response. An initial two Pfizer vaccinations followed by a Moderna booster was best.

 

https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1455980142149443590?s=20

[Thailand detects first case of Omicron variant]

51 minutes ago, tonysilly said:

Because I'm america we have freedom.  Does not say if he was living in Spain or not!! Don't know if They have real freedom in Spain.  Im sure you will be social distancing in Boys town tonight in pattaya. 

The 35-year old man has lived in Spain for about a year and left for Dubai on November 29th, where he stopped over for nine hours before flying to Thailand the following day.

During the stopover in Dubai, he wore a face mask all the time and did not talk with anyone. After arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport at about midnight, he was driven to a hospital, where he was given a swab test, and he then proceeded to his hotel under the “Test and Go” program.

 

Dr. Apart said the test result on December 1st showed a COVID-19 infection and samples were sent to the Medical Sciences Department for additional tests, which were positive for the Omicron variant when the results were retuned two days later.

He also said that the American has not been infected by COVID-19 before and has not been in close contact with any other passengers.

 

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-first-omicron-case-in-hospital-for-observation-no-symptoms-yet/

[Thailand detects first case of Omicron variant]

5 minutes ago, poohy said:

There is  positive information that new "omi whatever" virus is not  is not as deadly and most people teste for it dont know they have it

Check Dr John Campbell you tube

Nurse John Campbell does indeed produce some informative and entertaining YouTube videos; however, I would not place him in the category of epidemiology experts who are qualified to draw any conclusions regarding the fate of Omicron at this early stage. I don't think anybody will be able to do that for at least two or three weeks time.

[Thailand detects first case of Omicron variant]

4 minutes ago, morocco said:

I wouldn't say far from it. There have been studies showing a virus with many mutations tend to kill itself off.

Viruses don't "kill themselves off". Like everything else in biology, they work on selective advantage. A virus that mutates to become more transmissible and less lethal will have an advantage over viruses that are less transmissible and cause their hosts to become very ill and die, because that is when they can no longer make make copies and infect other hosts.

 

That is why this virus may have a significant selective advantage over Delta. It seems to have a much higher rate of transmission (R0) while causing only mild symptoms so that it can make more copies while the host continues to move around and shed viruses which infect others.

 

This could permit Omicron to outcompete Delta and become the dominant strain – a strain with which we may be able to live with. But the drawback there is that with hundred of millions or billions of people walking around infected with mild or no symptoms, another mutation could occur which results in a variant that is lethal, transmissible and refractive to any natural immunity that we have. 

 

 

[Thailand detects first case of Omicron variant]

36 minutes ago, grain said:

Go on YT and watch Dr. Campbell's latest report with figures from SA. This Omicron variant may well mean the pandemic is coming to an end. 

Dr. Fauci made a similarly positive observation today:

 

Though it’s too early to really make any definitive statements about it, thus far it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said.

 

“Thus far, the signals are a bit encouraging. But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe, or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to Delta.

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/5/encouraging-early-feedback-on-omicron-severity-fauci

[Thailand detects first case of Omicron variant]

42 minutes ago, Macrohistory said:

Since he's an American, you have to seriously wonder whether he's been wearing masks and social-distancing.  I fear not.

 

He is American who traveled to Thailand from Spain, where he had been living for the past year.

 

From my limited understanding of virology, I believe viruses do not discriminate based on a potential host's nationality.

[PCR test 24 hours before boarding]

Note that as with the previous negative PCR test 3 days before departure requirement, the new requirement is within one day before departure, not within 24 hours. The prior rule from the U.S State Department specifically stated and clarified this. Accordingly, you will need to have a test any time the day before departure. That could be > 24 hours if your flight leaves in the evening and you get your swab the morning before and this is would be acceptable..

 

 

[Flown International Recently]

The TG lounge looks dark and deserted and has beer, juice and sodas. There is also a rather grim selection of packaged snacks. As spidermike said above, it does indeed like like that of a bankrupted airline.

[Arrival Docs - Phone or Paper?]

Agree with all above.

 

It's much easier if you print it all out. First, when you check in, the airline agent will go through each of the required documents page by page and read them carefully. That just wouldn't be easy on a phone. When you arrive, it's the same thing again with various people checking each of the require documents. When I entered under the old COE system, they kept some of the documents, although I am not sure that is a requirement.