vinapu

our hopes , if any, don't depend much of what we read here on the forums as we all know it all will be political decision. It may or may not even be related to the virus. Powers will or may even be forced to consider other factors, mainly economy but also population impatience. Mood may change fast - see what's happening in Belarus - all of the sudden population shed fear of authorities There are countries which closed and locked everybody when they had, say 200-300 cases a day and now are re-opening when number of cases is 600-800 a day. This is not to argue as your arguments are right and logical but to point out that all may be quite different , up or down in quite a short time. 5 months ago all of the sudden we were locked down everywhere, at one point we will find ourselves unlocked the same way. Dream , yes but very realistic one, the same like on cold winter day we dream about summer heat, stupid but almost sure thing at the same time .

did you check which year? but it looks that sun starts shining soon

If we need to wait until 2021 hopefully by " sometime " you mean January, not December of 2021

somebody needs to tell Bangkok Post and other than real change always involves 'crossing the line", be it abolition of slavery, introducing 8 hours work day and welfare state not to mention gay rights or even relatively trivial changes from imperial to metric or direction of traffic from left to the right like Sweden did in 60-ties , first for trucks and few months later for all other traffic

if you were of their age and had only their schooling , chances are you would not. Many of them did not have a chance to see much money, even less to learn how to manage it and only bank they know is mattress and only broker account they encounter is debt ledger in local grocery store. But some of then to their credit are learning fast. Some guys I hired over years showed me proudly houses they built and pick up trucks they bought and rented out for a good use.

not sure even it's a good news as Binden , decent man he is , seems to start giving it to an age. I'm glad I'm not an American and I don't face their dilemmas on Nov 3rd you hit the nail here, on another hand person successful in science, business, arts, you name it, not necessarily must be good in politics. Many brilliant soccer players turned poor coaches and other way around

all depends of how deep one's pockets are, no doubt it will be those who say 160 000 USD or even GBP is not a bad price for privilege

that's encouraging but all that is missing an answer to one urgent question : "When we will be able to get out passport stamped at Swampy ? "

I can imagine that cost of living may go down a bit too as landlords and fool stalls are equally desperate for an income but still I feel sorry for all

short or long term ?

gloomy picture from Suriwong repeats world over in all places depending on foreign tourists but also on drawing crowds ( stadiums, fairs , parades ) but what we can expect if even funeral home owner I happen to know is barely making ends , yes people are dying but elaborate funerals and wakes seem to be in sharp decline

some people have all luck in the world, sigh... and sigh again...

all 4 countries named above have leaders they freely voted for so one can say they have what they asked for. It looks NZ chosen wiser and is reaping benefits. Positive effect of covid may be to sweep aside wave of irrationality in world's politics in recent years.

no, she decimated 1/4 of affected population, by grace of God we are very , very far from such a calamity with that weakling Covid-19

this would be sarcasm of fate if we allowed to go to Thailand but were reluctant to because political upheaval

I'm for girls frequenting bars exactly for the same reasons reader listed but this is utilitarian approval , not open armed one. One few occasions though, in ToyBoys, Jupiter and BBB I wished gender discrimination was introduced. I must say I never met annoying girls in neither Tawan nor Moonlight though .

and so do we !

this brings us to age old question : do we really, deep in our hearts, welcome wholesome invasion of straight girls into boy bars ?

still hundreds of millions are alive and feeling well in both countries

that's my experience too, I did not sent money that way to Thailand but use if often to settle between me and friends and family members. There's an additional small fee of 50 cents to transfer money from my pay pal account to my bank account but this may vary from country to country I guess

it's bad , I know. In a week it will be exactly 10 months since my return from my brief Oct 2019 trip

Happy ? , no. Forgiving and understanding my place in line , yes. It's likely happening now and always was as common wisdom I heard repeated many times is that most of Thai sex industry is invisible for foreigners. Our straight brothers have taste of it in soi Thaniya -try to enter one of those girly clubs for Japanese only. But yes , I agree that growing and more vocal xenophobia is a danger and for both sides at that.

I don't see any problem if just Thai nationals or Thai residents are permitted to compete but using race ticket is not only racist but also unforceable idiocy. What about somebody with three Thai grandparents but one being black or white American ? Would such a person qualify under ' new normal race" ? It seems Covid is attacking not only lungs but brains too

they better start learning how other countries like France or Russia or even next door Cambodia went about shedding their feudalistic history

smile, that's less than 5 months away