vaughn

With the way Thai bureaucracy works it could take a couple of months haha. I'm planning and booking for my next trip to be April, i figure that should be enough time to sort out how reopening will work and hopefully get bars back to operation.

That caught my attention as well. I am no expert on the elite visa and rights within Thailand, but my understanding was that if you wanted to own land previously you had to do it under a trust or company with a Thai citizen (lawyer or partner etc) as the majority holder. I know that there are ways to game this and keep the asset safe but it sounded tedious. If this allows a foreign individual to own land and property that would be a big incentive.

https://thepattayanews.com/2021/09/14/tourism-authority-of-thailand-plans-to-propose-no-quarantine-tourism-under-one-sop-one-system-scheme-for-fully-vaccinated-foreigners/ It is refreshing to see some small steps in the right direction and a proposal that looks to standardize the process rather than adding another level of complication. The article has a lot more detail, but nothing is set in stone yet and decisions are a few weeks away.

I think i have asked maybe once or twice with working boys, usually after poor performance haha. The type of guys i am attracted to are usually fairly obviously gay, my main question is usually 'Are you bottom?' and then usual 'get to know you' kind of vetting.

Australia's national carrier Qantas has said it's tentative plan is for direct Bangkok flights to resume in April 2022. So that's my realistic goal at the moment, although if the tide turns and things improve before then I will return sooner.

I had no idea importing 'pornographic material' was illegal in Thailand, does that include travelers bringing their own toys in their luggage or is it the sale of toys that is illegal? I'm guessing it's a law that is not exercised much? maybe there was an existing dispute with these two and the police or tea money was not paid on time.

I have no idea how you have come to this conclusion. Hotels have had to let go of a lot of their staff, close their kitchens, and in many cases completely close the doors. Bars aren't even allowed to serve drinks, so no one is 'surviving' as a bar. Bars have had to negotiate rent reductions from landlords just to hold on to their properties.

Always worth the risk. Congrats and good luck! it is good to read some happy news in these times.

It feels like a lifetime ago. I keep making new tentative plans in my schedule in the hope that we return to some semblance of normal, and can return to Thailand (or anywhere in SEA).. each time that dates comes and goes and i push it back another 3-6 months, forever in a blind optimistic hope that the return to normal can be as rapid as the disaster unfolded. Maybe 2022.

I am not sure, i believe we have been donating excess AZ supply to Papua New Guinea and some other pacific island nations but I can't be certain on numbers for that because we were already producing and sending AZ that way to help out. The health advice has been very confusing here, so the federal health advice at the moment is 'if you are under 40, you can still get AZ if you give informed consent and speak to your GP' but uptake has not been very high on that from my understanding. It seems like a lot of our population in that age group and some older age brackets are holding out for more Pfizer and Moderna supply. Even without the AZ changes we would likely be way behind in our vaccine rollout, our government has mismanaged the vaccination program from the start. source

I'd say you're spot on from what i've been reading. A similar thing happened in Australia with AZ when health advice emerged on not giving AZ to under 40s by our health agency (rightly or wrongly). We put a lot of our eggs in the AZ basket in Aus, then we didn't have the vaccine diversity to switch out to mRNA vaccines for under 40s to keep up with demand, resulting in a stunted and slow roll out. It seems to be a bit of a lesson in diversification for a lot of countries at the moment who put too much hope in a single supplier.

Yeah it's a bit of a mystery to me too. I have an appointment for my first pfizer shot this week, but it was also reported that QLD have low stock and may run out this week... so not really sure what will happen on my appointment day.

Some good news (or at least hope) coming out for us Australian's who have been sitting with complete uncertainty over our governments plan around reopening borders for outbound and inbound travel. No dates or details around the timeline yet, but at least it seems like some kind of plan is forming. Without getting into the politics of it for those who aren't aware, Australia has one of the lowest vaccination rates of the developed world, with supply shortages through mismanaged procurement, and a strategy that seemed to change frequently with no real direction. Now we have a four phase plan outlined below, it seems like the most optimistic news i've seen in recent months that travel is on the horizon.

I think i would rather stay in Phuket if i was going to do the sandbox thing. Koh Larn is nice for a visit, I enjoyed taking a boy over there with me as well. A week or two on that island alone.. i'll pass.

It is a terrible thing that those with power or wealth are able to remove themselves from blatant wrongdoing so easily, but definitely not anything you won't also frequently see in western democracies or any other nation i can think of. The 'behind closed door' deals with district attorneys offices in the US, and dropping/reduction of charges across most other jurisdictions happens all too frequently, where political protection is used for donations and favor. The gun violence seen to be used across SEA by some of these corrupt Hi-So people is unique though, i remember reading some stories about Cambodia's elite and charges that seem to vanish for them after broad daylight murders over minor disagreements.. it is all pretty alarming.

I try to pack light to leave plenty of room for shopping when i travel, no better place to shop for the climate of your destination than when you're there. That said, I live in a hot humid climate already so my casual clothes don't really change too much between home and holiday. Shorts and tee during the day, shorts or jeans and a short sleeve button down shirt at night.

There are still likely to be a few who have not been able to return, I read somewhere that some of the people stuck in India have been waiting to return for months. The international arrivals cap is determined by each state based on what they can handle in their quarantine hotel capacity. At present i think the overall allowance is about 2500-3000 passengers per week australia-wide, but it was a lot lower for most of last year. We have also had interstate hotel quarantine requirements, which is where i got stuck because i was working in another state when there was a hotspot declared so i had to sit in hotel quarantine for 2 weeks (at my employers cost) just coming home from another city within australia.

There isn't much chance of that, in Aus the police meet the plane at the gate and all passengers are taken to mandatory hotel quarantine for 2 weeks with security guards at the hotel. 14 days and 2 negative tests before you can be released, if you leave your room you are locked out and can't get back in (no key) and you will be charged by the police. I had to do this late last year and the process was pretty locked down to prevent people skipping out of quarantine. We've had a few leaks from the hotel quarantine but that has mostly been from hotel staff, guards or nurses contracting the virus.

End of 2022.... that is really disheartening news to hear, but with how poorly our vaccine rollout is being handled i am not surprised that is the expectation. Yeah the flights are starting in the next few days, if they haven't already. The government coped a lot of negative media coverage and did a 180 on their rhetoric.

My current plan (hope) is to spend the full month of December or alternatively January. This really depends entirely on whether Australia will get vaccines in arms, quarantine both on the Thai end and returning home is reduced to a few days or dropped entirely. I plan to spend my first week or two in Pattaya regardless of the quarantine measures, so if the Pattaya Mail news is what reality looks like at that time i'm fine with that. I'm also curious about how many of the bars will be open with boys back from the neighbouring countries, so trip reports from people with feet on the ground will help sway my decision.

My favourite restaurant from my very limited time in Pattaya is Pupen Seafood South of Jomtien, it has a really big menu with thai, chinese and other styles of seafood. It is on the expensive side but everything i had there was great. https://g.page/pupenseafood?share (google maps link).

I'm probably 95% into guys, and 5% into women. I generally prefer guys who are slim-toned and on the twink-ish side, but i have never been with a ladyboy. I have been considering exploring nana plaza and soi cowboy when i return to bangkok just to test the waters, but it will be hard to pull me away from the allure of the boy bars.. maybe i will find a forum member who is around at the same time to get some backup on that mission haha

I think there is some contractual issues with AstraZeneca that France and Italy are using to keep the vaccines that were destined for Australia, i'm not really sure of the specifics to be honest. Australia are going to be locally producing the Astra vaccine at our own production facilities so i don't think it will significantly impact us, but it might add some delays to our vaccine roll out.

Life in Asutralia is mostly back to normal, with the exception of no intl' travel. Bars are open, and large gatherings and events are starting again. Mardi Gras in Sydney this weekend went ahead, but in a more limited format and a little less of a party vibe. We had a few outbreaks in 2020 where we went into lockdown with travel restricted between states/regions, people mostly followed the rules, and with quarantine for inbound travelers we managed to avoid widespread issues that a lot of other countries had. Our issue is now that countries supplying the vaccine are withholding our supply because we are not in as dire a need, kind of understandable but still a bit frustrating to be penalized for doing things right.

I dream of the day i can complete option 1, but i'll settle for 3 haha. Thanks for the info