vinapu

+1 absolutely ! Pattaya without bars and night entertainment is very ordinary destination and even in best times with all that eye candy on streets one finds challenging to occupy himself during daytime after initial day or two. Converting it to a family destination is possible but not without years of construction, infrastructure upgrade and cleaning beaches. And even then it may be attractive only to Russians from Siberia and northern Chinese as closest affordable, clean and safe and tropical destination

mistakenly I took three Viagras

last guy has strangely shaped smartphone in his front pocket

now when Trump left perhaps it is ? On serious note probably those surprised like you are legion or three but that's the 'beauty ' of all those rankings. My social circle with well travelled strongly over represented still laughs at memory of mid-90ties ranking of US travel destinations by one of travel magazines for well -heeled (Conde Nast?, not sure ) when Palms Springs came on top

perfect, now time to upgrade airports , trains and subways. I'm not USA basher at all and it's a while since I was there other than passing by the airports but such rich and sophisticated nation should do better when come to infrastructure IMHO

you not alone, #me too although 'lady ' seems overstatement

not necessarily, I found having a break on those 13+ hrs flights is quite welcomed of course of they let you leave aircraft to stretch.

very few people would consider sandbox model viable to bring mass tourism, by millions I meant literally millions not few thousands. article you linked us to actually points all ills of such model and it's truly worth reading , not only for us but for decision makers in the first place. Hope they will do instead of dreaming nonsensical rules will work. I like that quote : "“Some big and powerful businesses and resorts may get some benefits from the sandbox, but not us. "

My problem is actually in reverse, I'm still nursing my last years ticket which I re-booked to mid-Oct along with making some hotel reservations just to take advantage of incredibly low price offers. I cancelled that reservation but still have an option to exercise it with no expiry date ( so a far). Going somewhere else instead but keeping my eyes opened. Hotel bookings will be cancelled as well this week or rebooked for later date if they will allow it. No doubt Thailand must be desperate and even more Thai people employed in tourist dependent sectors which are not only what we typically think of like hotels , restaurants , bars , massages etc but those millions arrivals eat, buy t-shits and fridge magnets and use millions of kilometers of toilet paper etc. I think governments everywhere are realizing only now extend of economical devastation covid and related politics* brought. It's why , among other things , USA is considering vaccine mandates, France lost its patience few months ago etc. * talking about politics I'm not criticizing as obviously nobody knew what to do for reason you noticed somewhere else while ago - there are no real experts as world never had pandemic while being so mobile and interdependent. So powers were and are prone to make wrong decisions and the same is with us , ordinary folks. We have still covid deniers and anti-vaxers, some people are acting like it's all over , others are still so scared they avoid any contact with outside world as much as possible and everything in between.

next re-valuation in October, month from now so just enough time to start packing

actually I do in the same breath I agree with your prediction that nobody ion power will be brave enough. But at the same point they need to be and again , I think it will be at some point next month.

who you are talking about? it surely can't be me

they isolated/ DPRK still does / their population from sinister influences of foreign arrivals, pandemic or not plus whatever z909 said above - who is higher danger to average dweller of soi 9, trok 3, you or me already fully vaccinated or their neighbor still waiting for the first dose ?

how did you get my picture ? we never met !

7 project episode 3 kind of refreshing. We use to see guys kissing and pull off their shirts in moments of passion , now it's turn to see our sisters in similar action. And a finish still quite surprising. Watch part 4 of that episode till very end as usual payroll list appears about 7 minutes before end and plot still continues

You have a good heart !!! it would be even nicer if all of us could meet together at the same time !!!

...... considering that more than half locals are still waiting to get first jab

North Korea and at some point in the past also Albania and China answered that question long ago

I recall Salt and Pepper with smile too. Once I was supposed to have dinner there with one of our members , their regular . I arrived early , took a seat and immediately I was nicely asked if I can move because this table is taken by somebody who is about to arrive in a second and is regular there. I moved with no fuss and who was that regular ? Guy I was supposed to dine with. We all have good laugh. Their Chicken with cashew nuts is the best in Pattaya Word of warning - they were used to close one weekday so make sure you know which day it is. Otherwise you may be forced to look for another venue, not there's shortage of those in vicinity. This happened to Christian PFC , biguyby and me, we arrived to find it shuttered all of the sudden even if night before it was opened and busy. Upon moving to place across the soi we had good time constructing conspiracy theories as of what could happen only to find truth next day while passing by .

if only powers found it that easy, sigh. I agree with your assessment but I think governments almost everywhere are paralyzed by fear " what if ?" and grossly overcautious as result while almost nowhere opening gates to incoming tourism resulted in noticeable surges. They think tourists are suicidal while we are perfectly capable to assess our own risk. This pandemic is disaster for many but for autocrats and paternalists is fair weather.

person with such assets probably finds easily another avenue to get in

count me in but to Thailand I can fly even on barn's door

It happened to me twice to get a caught by such downpour turning stets to lakes but no complains from me. Once I was visiting Super a with ChristianPFC when it started so we had nice company to wait it over. Another time I was with boy I took from Pattaya to Bangkok and we got stuck in carport with 7/11 on the corner. What surprised me on both occasions it was how fast streets went back to normal. And lets be honest getting soaked in +30 is still much more bearable then the same in +3

I and I'm sure many of us would be happy to have an opportunity see that with our very own eyes instead of just YouTube option but day of shine will come

...or started another, more permanent career. Specially older guys with shorter shelf life would do themselves a favor by not wasting that closure time and using it to look for another options.