spoon

This one wins my heart!

Nicole Johnston was watching COVID-19 cases climb toward a new high at home and wanted her son back in Thailand, where he had previously lived and attended university. Last month they began the process of booking what’s known as “Alternative State Quarantine” for his first two weeks of isolation upon arrival from South Africa. Her son, Thabo Thusi, completed a travel site’s online inquiry form and soon heard back via email from several hotels. He reached terms with one, but after paying THB35,000 (USD$1,170) to book the room, Thusi was surprised by an email from the hotel requesting another transfer of the same amount. “This caution fees came to stay as a result of some Guest can damage some of the hotel properties and they go, and some Joiner will visit friend on hotel might do some little damage, with this, our management have decided to implement caution fees,” the email said. Nicole Johnston was watching COVID-19 cases climb toward a new high at home and wanted her son back in Thailand, where he had previously lived and attended university. Last month they began the process of booking what’s known as “Alternative State Quarantine” for his first two weeks of isolation upon arrival from South Africa. Her son, Thabo Thusi, completed a travel site’s online inquiry form and soon heard back via email from several hotels. He reached terms with one, but after paying THB35,000 (USD$1,170) to book the room, Thusi was surprised by an email from the hotel requesting another transfer of the same amount. “This caution fees came to stay as a result of some Guest can damage some of the hotel properties and they go, and some Joiner will visit friend on hotel might do some little damage, with this, our management have decided to implement caution fees,” the email said. 30-day visa? Try 45 days, Thailand tempts eligible travelers Thusi and his mother rightly balked and refused to pay. As they scrambled to book another hotel in time for his Jan. 15 arrival date, came the horrifying realization that they – along with others, they would learn – had become victims of scammers preying on travelers during the pandemic. “I was devastated,” Johnston said yesterday. “When he phoned me and said they wanted another 35 grand, the hair on the back of my head stood up. I’m retired. I’m on a retirement visa. We spent a lot of money to do this. … The fact that this happened, I cried.” The hotel staff they were corresponding with in a vain attempt to obtain a refund were scammers. Hope Land, the real hotel chain whose Soi Sukhumvit 8 branch they were trying to book, told Coconuts that it was aware of the scam. Sithinun Phomthong from its IT department said Monday that they have been aware for a few weeks now and went to file a complaint at the Lumpini Police Station on Jan. 27. He said the scammers hadn’t hacked or intercepted their emails but rather had “imitated” the hotel. Sithinun said they had gone to the trouble of registering a similar domain name – a bogus hopelands8.com vs. the legitimate hopeland8.com – but there was nothing currently at the site this week, and none of the emails reviewed was sent from the domain. The scammers used a Gmail account – reservationhopelands@gmail.com to contact Thusi after he completed the online inquiry form at the Wander Thai site, one of many similar directories of quarantine hotels. The email came amid other responses from hotels indicating whether they were full or available, all of which included an in-line reply to his original message and probably headers and addressing information. Such a discrepancy appears now to have been a red flag in the clarity of hindsight. It still leaves open the question of how the scammers got Thusi’s email and responded as quickly as the other hotels. WanderThai.com, which appeared to forward his inquiry to multiple hotels in good faith, has since deactivated its Hope Land listing. And attempts to find similar scam versions of domain names for about 20 other listed ASQ hotels failed to locate any. After first speaking with Hope Land about the issue, we wanted to ask them if they suspected an inside job involving one of its current or former employees, but the hotel did not return further calls. Thusi found a Reddit thread posted Jan. 7 to the Thailand subreddit warning people of the scam and naming the same branch of Hope Land. The suspect hopelands8.com domain name was registered Dec. 13. Both Thusi and Johnston expressed frustration that the hotel had been aware of the issue for some time without any apparent effort to warn guests. “But it seems that they haven’t done anything to alert people about it, so more people could fall prey to this,” Thusi said in a message. They note that amid the complaints, the hotel scrubbed the email from its contact information. Later, on Jan. 28, Hope Land did post a warning about how to avoid scams on social media. A similar message has been added to its website’s contact page. Coconuts saw at least three other similar complaints and confirmed the details with a fourth. “To be honest I don’t understand how I fell into the trap. I thought I had contacted the hotel (hope land) through their email found on the website and brochures,” Sabina Perondini said in a message. “When I paid they asked me to pay a deposit and I knew something was wrong. I contacted the hotel via Facebook, they checked and realized it was a scam.” Perondini shared multiple emails nearly identical to those received by Thusi from the same Gmail account. Sithinun, from Hope Land’s IT office, said those who think they were scammed should file complaints at the Lumpini Police Station, though he noted hearing from a number of Thai guests who were scammed that were turned away by the police for some reason. A station representative who refused to give her name said the victims might have “misunderstood” what the officers told them. After several calls to the station over three days this week, officers as of Wednesday were unable to find a record of the hotel’s complaint. Pattharaphon Srisaard, a receptionist at Hope Land’s Soi Sukhumvit 8 branch, said payments should be made to the account of Nirun Nova Co., Ltd. only. She said once payment is received, guests will get a hotel confirmation and there will be no additional charges at all after that. The price, as advertised, already includes everything from airport pick-up to the room and health services. To avoid being scammed, travelers should either book directly with hotels or through officially authorized booking agencies such as Agoda, Locanation and Ascendtravel. Transactions conducted solely by email may not be secure. That’s too late for Jonhston, who has accepted that she’s unlikely to get her money back. Still, she wants to help other people from falling for the con. And she hopes the authorities will take action to protect others as well. “I cant believe Thailand would let this happen,” Johnston said. “Like Thabo, we love Thailand.” And she’s glad to have him around. Johnston just found out this week that four of her relatives died back home in Africa. Source

Inspired by PeterRS, below pics of hunky protestors.

Jupiter said on their fb that they will open 1st of March

I didnt know you are into S&M lol

Duplicate

There is mike hotel, shopping arcade near boyz town, but dont recall this white building mike lol

Hope our friends over there are doing ok. Myanmar woke to the news on Monday that the military was seizing control of the country. "I guess I'll be live tweeting a coup now," former Reuters journalist Aye Min Thant wrote on Twitter shortly before 07:00 local time (00:30 GMT). "Things are still pretty quiet for now, though people are awake and scared. I've been fielding calls since 6am from friends and relatives. The internet is in and out and my sim card no longer works." The takeover was announced in a statement aired on a military-owned television station . It said the top army commander was in charge and a one-year state of emergency had been declared. The country's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, had been detained, along with other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Link

On the other hand, New Zealand says they wont open border until majority of their citizen is vaccinated, which i believed the more realistic way to view it.

I came upon this book titled "Thai for gay tourist" and wondering if anyone have read it.

My take on bar closure is due to 1) most people would not wear masks since u need your mouth to drink, same with restaurants, thus high risk of exposure. 2) Alcohol impared judgment, which mihht led to not following rule/SOP social distancing etc. Agreed that some bars or some restaurant that serves alcohol can have similar effect but as anddy pointed out, to control the mass, blanket restriction on the bar which have higher risks is easier for the gov to do. Plus, it also play well with their religion too, where alcohol prohibition is a norm.

Thailand to warmly welcome inoculated travellers Foreigners who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 will be welcomed with open arms by Thailand through a new campaign set to launch in 3Q2021. Titled Welcome Back to Thailand Again, the campaign is the country’s bid to reclaim lost international arrivals throughout the pandemic. According to Chamnan Srisawat, president of Tourism Council of Thailand, Thai travel operators have started talks with agencies in potential markets, such as China, to restart destination marketing and prepare for future trips. More than one billion people across the world are expected to be vaccinated by the end of June 2021, which could bring about a return in travel demand. If the campaign proves successful, it could save up to 400,000 hotel jobs and 400,000 in related businesses across Thailand. In 2020, 6.9 million foreigners travelled to Thailand, down from 40 million in 2019. It is predicted that Thailand will only see 10 million footfalls this year. Source

Is that a backdoor?

Im having a hard time to imagine how two person able to cycle it with that chair. There is a reason why the bicycle have "butt-hurting" small seats.

Back home, im a creature of habit. I usually stick with few regulars and only venture a diff guy when my regulars not around, with few exception if i saw some hottie suddenly came here. When in thailand, i usually will repeat one or two, while the rest usually a diff guy. I almost never took same guy two night in a row, with clear exception for those who travel with me. Back to my regulars, thailand or back home, i usually gave guys i like a second time even if the first time was not up to expectation, and almost always the second time was better. But there are one or two in the past that is not the case. One guy, both times was terrible, so no repeat after, and another, first time was actually great but second time (after quite a long period) wasnt as good. But in general, i find that guys appreciate repeat customers.

I assume the 150k includes lodging for the whole month?

Biden signed dozens of executive orders mainly reversing trumps orders. Highlight were paris climate accord, WHO, mask mandate. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/20/politics/executive-actions-biden/index.html

Always horny

As much as i want all this to be true for the better future of americans, i do believe he will not go down easily. His millions follower will have to be dealt with too. His last few days leading up to inauguration day will be interesting to watch and see what will happened.

I had compromised once only by paying half the amount asked and the other half after the deeds is over, when asked to pay upfront before. Of course we were both already in the room. Turns out boys also had been duped before, where client didnt pay, or didnt have money or enough money with them, hence the request. Luckily it turns out great and we met few more times after, of course without the need to pay upfront. Ill never pay upfront before meeting though. Thats a telltale scam.

One way to start seeing this is if countries with high daily cases started to see the daily cases going down after enough people got vaccinated. That wont be anytime soon though. A quicker indicator is probably lower new cases amongs frontline workers. Whether thai gov want to use this as evidence, who knows.

As long as boys are still working on the app, i see the closure a non issue especially when we all face similar thing back home. However, over here, some of my regular masseur stopped working when the case are high. Of course these are the ones that are lucky enough to be able to afford not working for a period of time. Others cant afford to, so they are still working, and i really hope they will stay healthy. The regular massage center here still open, with strict regulations and SOP being observed like masks in communal area, masseurs have to wear mask, face cover and gloves, and of course the app and temperature check. The illegal ones operate with closed door, and are at risk of police raid. But there are not travel restriction here, not anymore anyway, as our gov decided we cannot afford to do that anymore.

Do i need baby oil to go with the kleenex?

From huge borders thai have amongst their neighbour to the lax of enforcement for border control of both thai and neighboring countries, to corrupt immigration officers taking tea money to allow border crossing illegally, it does seems impossible. My selfish self wish malaysia wouldve been as bad so that my favorite boys can come here to work (vietnamese, indonesian, thai) but nope, none have come nor brave enough to try. Malaysia thai border are also complicated with lots of jungle in between, though in recent news, illegals crossing both ways are mainly caught at sea. But yeah, border control has been complicated issues here as well, and our third wave which is still on going is believed due to illegals from indonesia and philippines came to the borneo state of Sabah by means of sea travel. When lockdown happened and legal way to enter has been blocked, it only make way to more people taking risk to cross illegally, especially during difficult time like now. Sadly, other neighboring countries arent doing so well either.

Great trip report! That hotel price near christmas and new year is unbelievable. The new hotel near prime definitely intrigued me, since i like my previous stay at nantra silom location but not fancy their cleanliness, and glass windows into the bathroom seals the deal for me lol. Never stayed in tarntawan myself but at 700+ baht, i wont hesitate to try too.