TMax

I think at the moment the apps would be the best bet for some fun times in Phuket, it's been a fair time since I was there last but back then there appeared to be a bit of a downturn in the gay scene (bars etc). One of my happy memories happened in Phuket, my very first m2m sexual experience and how it opened the door for me, so it's a little sad to see the scene there in decline (if it indeed is).

Latest on that insurance companies plans. SMK lashed over Covid termination Insurance regulator to block termination of contracts with lump-sump payments Thailand's regulator warned Syn Mun Kong Insurance (SMK) on Friday that it cannot arbitrarily terminate Covid-19 insurance contracts with lump-sum payments, threatening legal action or fines if the insurer moves forward with its plan. The Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) said it will block the terminations if SMK fails to strictly adhere to all conditions stated in the contracts, according to OIC secretary-general Suthiphon Thaveechaiyagarn. "We are in discussions with SMK and if it does not change its decision, we can exercise the registrar authority to require the company to honour the condition of the original insurance contracts," Mr Suthiphon said. "The company may be charged fines as well." SMK warned over contracts When Covid first struck Thailand last year, insurance companies started to offer non-life Covid-19 insurance policies. Customers could buy 200,000 baht to 2 million baht of coverage for only 450 baht to 1,200 baht a year. Now insurance companies find themselves not only covering claims by people legitimately suffering from the virus, but also from economically desperate people who purposely got infected to collect insurance money.

I'm not too sure on the current prices but these are from 2019, from memory all the times I went there over the years the price stayed much the same. As reader said, those that stayed at Tarntawan could get a discount day pass but not too sure if that's still available. I used to go to Bangkok for 4 weeks at a time and would take out a months membership, every day it would be an early workout in the gym followed by a good swim in the salt water pool.

Agree on that, now it comes back to bite them.

I can see a lockdown for certain areas won't be too far away, Bangkok would be the prime place for lockdown. Looks like that idea is starting to float around in some peoples heads already. Of course if they start talking about it and it gets reported in the media (lol see below) there will be a mass exodus out of Bangkok and good luck trying to stop that. Lockdown in sight

I think it will be interesting to see which way they go after astra and they start looking at the booster shots, for those of us getting the astra will it be one of the mrna vaccines or will it be the Novavax? I believe there are some countries that may have started mixing the vaccines and there is a study being done by Com-Cov and Oxford University on mixing which showed promising results so far. Curious times ahead by the look of things. Com-Cov Oxford study news

It was good to see they came up with a plan, now we just have to wait.

Sad news for those in Bali mut in my view the Indonesian govt hasn't been very good in fighting covid and also the vaccination roll out. Their daily virus count now above 20k and according to some over there is actually greatly under reported, I can't see Bali opening this year and even into next year. The previous attempt for reopening Bali came unstuck with domestic tourism, too much virus floating around Indonesia and as to be expected some brought it back into Bali which had to be closed down again. I agree with Singapore being fully opened first, yes Phuket sandbox is under way but will need a little time to see if it's going to be successful or not, if yes then that model could be used elswhere. My worry with Thailand is that they haven't got sufficient control over the current outbreak to give much confidence of fully opening up this year. An interesting link on Singapores vaccine tracker Singapore interactive vaccination tracker I also think Vietnam could be opened up sooner than most of the other countries in that list.

I voted for Asia, Thailand hopefully, I have a lot of lost fun times to make up for and dreaming that we can start traveling soon as possible

You should swallow that, it's good for you

I do believe this is the new restaurant, looks quite nice. Kin Kao restaurant and cafe 168/2 Pracha Uthit 90 Samut Prakan, Thailand 10290

That is so very true, I loved that little restaurant, always had good food there and the owner and staff were always very friendly.

My last 2 trips I packed light and bought clothes in Bangkok, usually I check out the stalls upstairs in MBK or at Chatuchak markets and generally find the shorts and shirts I want there.

Just recently had my first Astrazeneca jab with no side effects so far, what a great pity it wasnt a jab by a fully errect Thai hunk, still 11 weeks away to the second jab. Still hoping the Thais can get on top of the current wave of the virus, so that I can then get some Thais on top of me, one day maybe so I'll keep wishing

I love Singapore and if I could afford it I would love to live there, I have friends working for big multi national companies there and they love it.

Looks like the wait for expats to get the jab in Thailand will take a little longer, due to the amount of vaccine in the country.

CSL in Melbourne Victoria are producing the Astrazeneca vaccine and have hit their target production of 1mil doses a week, unfortunately the slowness of vaccinations is being put down to the federal government running the vaccination program rather than having the states run it like they do with other vaccines. And every batch must be quality tested before it can be released and that process takes about 4 weeks to complete (see below). Originally the federal government wasn't in a rush due to the low infection rates here and because they decided to wait a little bit longer they could see if there were any issues arising from the various vaccines used elsewhere in the world. Vaccination rates are now increasing in Australia as the states have now set up mass vaccination centres and the supply of the vaccine is increasing. Once CSL have completed the Astrazeneca production contract (I think 50mil doses) they will start to produce the Novavax vaccine which is another 50mil doses, CSL only has the capacity to produce one type of vaccine at a time and they are our main vaccine manufacturer. We are also donating vaccines to other countries as part of their Covax agreement.

It's been almost 2 years since my last trip to Thailand, I was planning a trip when everything went pear shaped with this horrid virus.

There is a big workers camp at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory (just out of Darwin) that has been turned into a quarantine facility, I read this week that the federal government are looking at increasing the capacity of it by about one third (current capacity is about 850 I think) and may look at housing returnees from India there. It is a far better option all round than relying on hotels for quarantine, it's a good camp and is much more fit for purpose. One of the problems is that people are still leaving Australia for whatever reason (compassionate, essential circumstances, work, medical etc) and then put their names on the list to come home. I read an article the other day, it was written in January (link below) that shows the number of people heading out of Australia outnumbers those coming back, I imagine some are foreign nationals heading off. I thought the numbers quoted during the first year of the pandemic were a bit rubbery, at the start of the pandemic they said about 40,000 world wide were on the list wanting to come home, 6 months into it and there was still 40,000 on the list and just last week they said there was still about 40,000 on the list. The arcticle may shed some light as to why that number hasn't changed much. News article leaving/returning comparison

Until they pass two negatives, if a person tests positive prior to the flight they will have to wait until they are clear of the virus. Personally I would think it crazy allowing known positive people to board a flight that will be carrying over 100 others of which the majority would have tested negative. There are approximately 900 that are classed as vulnerable and high risk and they are the first that will be returned on the repatriation flights.

As above, they have also added an extra negative test before the flight as well

Well it is starting to look like my hoped for trip to Thailand in 2022 may have just been shot down in flames, I was so looking forward to some raunchy times with some hot Thai guys too. "Australians hoping international travel will return to normal next year have been dealt a blow, as the Federal Government warns borders are unlikely to reopen until the end of 2022 at least." Bad news for Australians

I can gurantee if and when I can get back to Thailand there will be an orgy at some stage of the trip, or more likely a gangbang with me at the receiving end

From what I have been reading paulsf has it right, the attached pic was copied from elsewhere and was a letter delivered to a hotel quarantine guest. For 14 days you can't do squat and the third test has also been thrown in. After 14 days trapped with these new quarantine rules a person would sure like to be able to get out and about a bit more freely than what is currently possible.

Could of used some of that with the last guy I was with at Arena, the way he was banging away I thought I could smell burning rubber