"We don't know if we will survive" say Thai Sex Workers in Chonburi

[christianpfc]

dodger....do u think the gogos live under a rock....???...they all have access to TV/internet/MTV...they know how we live in the west/japan/korea....etc...they are fully aware that bht1000 is the price of a mains in an average restaurant back home...u must still think that the natives are all stooopid and uneducated

They watch Western/Korean/Japanese TV, but that doesn't mean they know how we live.
Anecdote from friends who spent some time in Africa, retold from memory:

African: I want to go to Europe.
German: Why do you want to go to Europe?
African: Because everyone in Europe has a house and a garden and a car.
German: That's not true. Many people don't have a house and garden or a car.
African: You are lying. I saw it on TV, with my own eyes!

Or a recent example of a Westerner in Cambodia whose wife thought that money comes out of an ATM, i.e. by some kind of sorcery he has that card that can get money out of ATM, and she can't because she is not privy to that sorcery.

[francois]

Or a recent example of a Westerner in Cambodia whose wife thought that money comes out of an ATM, i.e. by some kind of sorcery he has that card that can get money out of ATM, and she can't because she is not privy to that sorcery.

All the boys I know think the same, farang's money comes out of an ATM, without limit.

[Oliver2]

True enough but there are also misapprehensions on the part of the Thais. They see how much we spend on air travel and usually on hotels and these expenses, to them, are so enormous compared to how their parents live that they assume we have unlimited wealth. Few of us do, and this is particularly true of some expats.

I spent a lot of time trying to get through to P that my income, totally dependent on pensions, is more than adequate for what I do in Thailand and for supporting him but is not unlimited. I think- and hope- that he understands this but I still use certain manoeuvres to hammer it home. For example, if he wants large amount- most recently for a new motor cycle, the cost of which was way beyond his resources- I told him he must wait a few weeks until I had money in my account.

One of his friends visited his falang in London a few years ago. It was not a success. The falang lived in a small apartment in the suburbs. Not an interesting area by any description. The Thai was left alone while the falang worked and he was bored, there was little for them to do, the falang couldn't spend money like he did on his annual holiday, was too tired in the evening anyway....and so on. But most of all, the living standards weren't what he expected. A cramped flat in a tower block surprised and disappointed him after experiencing 4* hotels in Pattaya.

[Old git]

So.. when WILL Thailand get back to tourist normal?

Vaccination seems really good at reducing severity, but if it was good at stopping spread, the UK would be post-Covid by now. In the UK, a snapshot survey of people around the country suggested that most won't know if they've got it because they won't bother to test if they only have mild symptoms, and more telling, most said that if they tested positive, they wouldn't formally become a statistic and put people through the grief being pinged. There's a strong indication that the reported 200k cases per week is probably a million or more.

With around 96% showing antibodies, that has to be a lot of people with antibodies getting infected now - but so far, people getting the bug more than once is very rare, so there's hope that once the great majority have had an encounter with the real McCoy, as opposed to the vaccine, cases will subside.

What is the real number in Thailand? is 150k recorded cases per week really one million? Maybe two million..?

In Europe, Covid fatigue is setting in - people are getting resigned to living with it, and getting their lives back.

- When will Thailand buy the same narrative, and open the tourist flood gates again?

Are they ready to lose another high season - or not..?

[goji]

So.. when WILL Thailand get back to tourist normal?

Vaccination seems really good at reducing severity, but if it was good at stopping spread, the UK would be post-Covid by now. In the UK, a snapshot survey of people around the country suggested that most won't know if they've got it because they won't bother to test if they only have mild symptoms, and more telling, most said that if they tested positive, they wouldn't formally become a statistic and put people through the grief being pinged. There's a strong indication that the reported 200k cases per week is probably a million or more.

With around 96% showing antibodies, that has to be a lot of people with antibodies getting infected now

"when will Thailand get back to normal" ought to be a separate topic and is worthy of that.

I went into London on the train recently. For the first time since March 2020, the train was nearly full and perhaps less than 10% were wearing masks. Now they have the vaccine, most do not expect to get severe infections and want to get on with their lives as normal. There is so little fear they don't even want to wear a mask. (I wore an FFP2 mask).

I suspect that if Thailand sustains over 0.4m vaccines per day for the rest of the year, they will also be looking to get back to normal later in the year.

Incidentally, the UK antibody stats are for over 18s only. The antibody incidence rate in under 18s is likely to be far lower.

[Old git]

Incidentally, the UK antibody stats are for over 18s only.

UK serovalence data is derived from blood donations, which is not a perfect demographic, by any means. However, given the evident incautious interraction of schoolkids out of school in my area ever since the schools returned, I would surmise that if it was going to take off amongst that cohort, it would have done so some time ago. It's a pity they have not been formally surveyed.


Another finding from the snapshot survey was that two thirds of people know someone in their immediate circle of friends and family who have been both double vaxxed and subsequently infected.

[arsenal]

Christian and Francois seem to be mixing with boys from the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. If anyone thinks that money simply comes out of an atm then it's Christian.

The boys I know have a very good idea of how much money they need every month for rent, food, motorbike payments etc. They know the going rate for their services be it short time, long time or fun in the bar. In short, they know the value of money and what it takes to get it. Only a very few fresh off the Isaan Sexpress think a farang knight on a white steed is going to whisk them away to paradise.

[Dodger]

It doesn't matter how much money a person has, or how they obtained their money. The "Quality" of a person can be seen by how much compassion and generosity they show others who are less fortunate. IMHO...the rest is just bullshit.

The majority of working boys look for these characteristics in all of us, and react to us as appropriate. If you're judged as being jai dee, (translated as someone who is behaving in a way that shows you care about other people) then the world's your oyster, but if you think your money can buy you this level of respect with a Thai you're in for a huge disappointment.

[goji]

It doesn't matter how much money a person has, or how they obtained their money. The "Quality" of a person can be seen by how much compassion and generosity they show others who are less fortunate. IMHO...the rest is just bullshit.

The quality of a person has nothing to do with money, but it's money that puts food on the table, pays for accommodation & other expenses. Which is what I think the tread is about.

[Dodger]

The quality of a person has nothing to do with money, but it's money that puts food on the table, pays for accommodation & other expenses. Which is what I think the tread is about.

I could be wrong, but I think we're saying the same thing.