General Reports

[Member #4673]

Visa run is not possible now as Thailand asking corona health certificate.

[Member #4698]

I lost close to $150 paid to one hotel in Bangkok. All the rest including airfare was refunded. Agoda would not even entertain discussion about refund from this hotel. They said it is impossible to get refund from them.

I had a reservation at the Sofitel that Agoda said I could not cancel without full penalty, but I contacted the hotel and they agreed to change my reservation to a later date.

Most disappointed are the girls waiting for me mostly for the remuneration money wise. One is a virgin she says. Not sure when I get the chance to pop her cherry if at all. Well, I still keep in contact on messenger with all the girls but will not shed a tear if they found somebody.

Have to go back to the drawing board whenever the next trip happens. Thought of quick trip Sosua to release my monger tensions but with this heightened problems of foreign travel in USA decided against it.

So far I have only told my top 3 favorite girls of my trip delay. They took it like champs. Each in their own way said: 1) miss you, 2) I am ok / take care of yourself, 3) see you in August, 4) miss you. I will get around to notifying my 2nd tier girls later.

I don't know much about virgins. I met a beautiful cherry girl in an AC bar many years back. We fooled around plenty in a booth so I was floored, as in devastated, when she told me she could not barfine and why. Your virgin will probably be a more experienced gal by the time you see her, ha ha, which is not a bad thing if you ask me.

As to alternative trips: I think this friggin' pandemic has gone too far for guys like us to think about taking a trip especially if it involves the airlines and airports. The whole world is in lock down mode except for some college kids enjoying their spring break here in sunny Florida. I don't blame them for not giving a fuck. They are young and immune more or less. I originally had Sao Paulo as my back up plan, but I think Sao Paulo is in a similar situation as BKK & MNL right now.

Hopefully this thing will pass in a couple of months or we are all fucked.

[BillionBill]

I lost close to $150 paid to one hotel in Bangkok. All the rest including airfare was refunded. Agoda would not even entertain discussion about refund from this hotel. They said it is impossible to get refund from them.

Philippine airlines was more than willing to refund in full my whole itenary although they have not cancelled any of the flights I booked.

Most disappointed are the girls waiting for me mostly for the remuneration money wise. One is a virgin she says. Not sure when I get the chance to pop her cherry if at all. Well, I still keep in contact on messenger with all the girls but will not shed a tear if they found somebody.

Have to go back to the drawing board whenever the next trip happens. Thought of quick trip Sosua to release my monger tensions but with this heightened problems of foreign travel in USA decided against it.

Relax bro, now the condition is getting serious.

[Sammon]

Next, I went to work on the 10 weeks of hotel reservations that I had made for my spring trip. Most of my hotels either allowed a straight change in dates or cancelation without any penalties. But I had a number of reservations involving hotel CC points and vouchers that required my time to reassign them with the help of a hotel agent. Again no real problems, getting through to the hotels by phone was easier and faster than arranging things with United. In fact a lot of my hotel choices are cheaper now so I will be saving money. Even the 2 or 3 hotels that I had a prepaid non cancelable booking allowed me to cancel and receive a full refund and/or reschedule. The only hotel that I am still having a problem with is the Mulia in Jakarta. I can cancel the reservation straight out without penalty, but the deal I have with them is so good that I really want to reschedule and keep the same price. But it can't be done over the internet so I have sent an email request to the hotel reservation department and I am waiting for their response.

So bottom line, all is well. My rescheduled trip is slightly better than the one I was planning to take in terms of it being overall a little cheaper and my new flight has less stops and a shorter duration. In addition, I decided to reward myself for all the corona BS by making my rescheduled trip 8 dalys longer. 555.

I lost close to $150 paid to one hotel in Bangkok. All the rest including airfare was refunded. Agoda would not even entertain discussion about refund from this hotel. They said it is impossible to get refund from them.

Philippine airlines was more than willing to refund in full my whole itenary although they have not cancelled any of the flights I booked.

Most disappointed are the girls waiting for me mostly for the remuneration money wise. One is a virgin she says. Not sure when I get the chance to pop her cherry if at all. Well, I still keep in contact on messenger with all the girls but will not shed a tear if they found somebody.

Have to go back to the drawing board whenever the next trip happens. Thought of quick trip Sosua to release my monger tensions but with this heightened problems of foreign travel in USA decided against it.

[Tcvve]

Hi.

Just read this article (see below) USA has now been put on the list to show Airlines 1) Health Certificate free of Convid-19 2) Health Insurance of 100,000.

Anybody from US traveling to Thailand in the next 2-3 weeks. Will you provide your airline with Health Certificate and insurance?

My flight is schedule for April 20th.

https://www.tatnews.org/2020/03/tat-...or-travellers/

[Franciscass]

Yesterday when heard that BKK bars & Go Go's are to be closed thanks to Wuhan I went ahead with my plan to postpone my April trip. It was not what I wanted, but you can't fight it when the odds are stacked up against you the way they are.

So after waiting on the phone for 90 minutes I finally got through to a travel representative from my CC rewards travel bureau. My United flight was purchased on points with a third party otherwise I could have just dealt with it online. The rep was very knowledgeable and professional, but it took him another 30 minutes to work out everything with United while I was puttering around in my backyard and watering my palm trees. But all is well now. I have a new round trip flight of less duration scheduled 6 months from now. I will receive a refund of approximately $150 representing the difference in the price United is assigning to the value of the flight even though I paid in points. So I am up $150 cash. In addition United is refunding the cost of my extended legroom seats that I paid for on the old flight, so I am free to purchase new extended legroom seats on the new flight. All good as far as United and I are concerned.

Next, I went to work on the 10 weeks of hotel reservations that I had made for my spring trip. Most of my hotels either allowed a straight change in dates or cancelation without any penalties. But I had a number of reservations involving hotel CC points and vouchers that required my time to reassign them with the help of a hotel agent. Again no real problems, getting through to the hotels by phone was easier and faster than arranging things with United. In fact a lot of my hotel choices are cheaper now so I will be saving money. Even the 2 or 3 hotels that I had a prepaid non cancelable booking allowed me to cancel and receive a full refund and/or reschedule..

Well Natty that is wonderful news. I was on tenterhooks hoping everything would work out for you. Hopefully this "corona bullshit' will miraculously disappear sometime soon but I worry it may just be a tad more serious than you think and your fall plans could be in disarray again. Hopefully not as I enjoy reading your chatty posts about how your universe is unfolding. Stay safe.

[Member #4698]

Yesterday when heard that BKK bars & Go Go's are to be closed thanks to Wuhan I went ahead with my plan to postpone my April trip. It was not what I wanted, but you can't fight it when the odds are stacked up against you the way they are.

So after waiting on the phone for 90 minutes I finally got through to a travel representative from my CC rewards travel bureau. My United flight was purchased on points with a third party otherwise I could have just dealt with it online. The rep was very knowledgeable and professional, but it took him another 30 minutes to work out everything with United while I was puttering around in my backyard and watering my palm trees. But all is well now. I have a new round trip flight of less duration scheduled 6 months from now. I will receive a refund of approximately $150 representing the difference in the price United is assigning to the value of the flight even though I paid in points. So I am up $150 cash. In addition United is refunding the cost of my extended legroom seats that I paid for on the old flight, so I am free to purchase new extended legroom seats on the new flight. All good as far as United and I are concerned.

Next, I went to work on the 10 weeks of hotel reservations that I had made for my spring trip. Most of my hotels either allowed a straight change in dates or cancelation without any penalties. But I had a number of reservations involving hotel CC points and vouchers that required my time to reassign them with the help of a hotel agent. Again no real problems, getting through to the hotels by phone was easier and faster than arranging things with United. In fact a lot of my hotel choices are cheaper now so I will be saving money. Even the 2 or 3 hotels that I had a prepaid non cancelable booking allowed me to cancel and receive a full refund and/or reschedule. The only hotel that I am still having a problem with is the Mulia in Jakarta. I can cancel the reservation straight out without penalty, but the deal I have with them is so good that I really want to reschedule and keep the same price. But it can't be done over the internet so I have sent an email request to the hotel reservation department and I am waiting for their response.

So bottom line, all is well. My rescheduled trip is slightly better than the one I was planning to take in terms of it being overall a little cheaper and my new flight has less stops and a shorter duration. In addition, I decided to reward myself for all the corona BS by making my rescheduled trip 8 dalys longer. 555.

[Franciscass]

I think this is closer to a normal flu than something like Ebola or other hemorrhagic type fever. Flu does have a low mortality rate compared to Covid 19, but I think a lot of people are catching Covid but are asymptomatic. If not, it's difficult to explain how some people are catcing it without any cotach with anyone with symptoms.

I don't know what the depth rate for flu is in China but 52% of men smoke vs 3% of women, and the death toll in China has been skewed towards men. Wuhan gets pretty cold over winter and most of the houses are not properly insulated or heated, I lived there until mid January.

Agree K. Its a respiratory illness which Ebola wasn't.

Death rate stats depend on the denominator used and asymptomatic infections are a big part of that. Agree as of now no doubt the common flu is more widespread and kills more people.

There is still a lot not known about then new virus but most experts believe it is more contagious and more lethal than the common flu. Ultimately total deaths depend on containment. Fortunately what we are living through will most probably limit the spread but an out of control contagion until the vaccine comes on line while I still believe is unlikely is nevertheless a scary proposition.

Stay well.

[Kerrstar]

I began feeling the virus was completely overblown as a threat and I'm still sanguine that its going to be contained and not pose a risk to the average Joe but I am no longer seeing it it as just another flu.

I think this is closer to a normal flu than something like Ebola or other hemorrhagic type fever. Flu does have a low mortality rate compared to Covid 19, but I think a lot of people are catching Covid but are asymptomatic. If not, it's difficult to explain how some people are catcing it without any cotach with anyone with symptoms.

I don't know what the depth rate for flu is in China but 52% of men smoke vs 3% of women, and the death toll in China has been skewed towards men. Wuhan gets pretty cold over winter and most of the houses are not properly insulated or heated, I lived there until mid January.

[Kerrstar]

It kind of reminded me of the old Monty Python sketches and early Saturday Night Live acts with Murray, Belushi, and Aykroyd when that show used to be wild & crazy and fun to watch.

I think the "Bring out your dead" part from Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the most appropriate sketch now.

[Franciscass]

I began feeling the virus was completely overblown as a threat and I'm still sanguine that its going to be contained and not pose a risk to the average Joe but I am no longer seeing it it as just another flu. The following shows it is not a normal flu and if it spreads to any sizable chunk of the population od a country its f**king serious shit.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and others have said, COVID-19 is deadlier than the flu. It's deadlier for young adults. It's deadlier for older adults. In China, early data shows that it was 10 times deadlier.

The flu kills less than 1% of infected people who are over age 65. By comparison, in China, COVID-19 killed 8% of those infected who were 70-79 and almost 15% of those infected who were age 80 or older. That's a staggering difference.

Even for younger people, the difference was striking. Flu killed. 02% of infected patients age 18-49. It's 10 times that for COVID-19.

In other countries, such as South Korea, the death rate has been far lower.

But if 1 in 12 people age 70-79 who get the virus and 1 in 7 people age 80 or older who get the virus die, and the virus spreads to 20%, 40% or 70% of the population, we're talking massive death tolls, the likes of which we have never seen before in our lives.

"I mean, people always say, well, the flu does this, the flu does that," Fauci said Wednesday during congressional testimony. "The flu has a mortality of 0. 1%. This has a mortality rate of 10 times that. That's the reason I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this. "

[Robert Long]

US citizen here. Just flew from Ho Chi Minh to BKK yesterday. It took all of 15 minutes to clear customs. Plane was 3/4 full but no line at customs. No one checked my temp. No one asked me where I've been. No forms or apps to download. No one even asked me a question. So must not be up and running yet? My luck I was seated next to an Italian couple on the plane. Not sure if they had a problem at customs.

I am feeling perfect but have decided to self quarantine for 72 hours just to be on the safe side. I'm in an apartment near Soi 13. May go back to Nha Trang Vietnam and wait all of this out. Paradise there and didn't want to leave but Visa expired. Just use common sense. BTW I don't wear a flimsy paper mask. Observed all the people wearing masks on the train from the airport and noticed all of them fiddling with their masks multiple times. And that's exactly what you don't want to do. Putting your hands near your mouth!

After departure for the plane and walking to immigration a lady ask me to remove my hat and carry it. She said the scanners need to check my temp. So we are being monitored.

When I arrived at Phuket the police were scanning each persons temp. Also from what I have heard the convin19 virus is very large and that presently all the masks are ok for use against passage.

Chinese are already healing from the convin19 flu and are going back to work. It's a bad flu but not a plague.

[Member #4698]

This video is a sketch from a comedy show. I saw it a week or so ago on a wechat group I'm in. If you can find a better quality video you'll see the writing behind the people is not English.

Of course it is a sketch. It is funny because there is an element of truth in the wild exaggeration. It kind of reminded me of the old Monty Python sketches and early Saturday Night Live acts with Murray, Belushi, and Aykroyd when that show used to be wild & crazy and fun to watch.

[Kerrstar]

In addition, watch this true life video. This happened today in New Rochelle, NY. Things are getting pretty crazy in the USA. 555.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LawuQG8Z81w

This video is a sketch from a comedy show. I saw it a week or so ago on a wechat group I'm in. If you can find a better quality video you'll see the writing behind the people is not English.

[Member #4698]

I am still 30 days away from my flight to LOS and it is getting harder to remain optimistic that my spring 2020 trip is going to happen. The 1st real bad piece of news came out of the PI a couple of days ago. The Philippine government is locking down Manila and closing all the bars. No foreign arrivals will be allowed to leave metro Manila to visit the rest of the country.

The 2nd really bad headline is from today: Cambodia is now closed!

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/...ernal_referral

"Cambodian authorities announced a series of measures on Saturday to halt the spread of the deadly Covid-19 disease after more cases were detected in the Kingdom.

Among the measures are an early vacation for schools in Siem Reap town and Phnom Penh, a 30-day entry ban on nationals from Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the US, and a ban on cruise ships and riverboats entering Cambodia. ".

So sadly, it is probably only a matter of a few days before the Thai Government issues a similar decree banning flights from the USA into BKK or shuts down the bars. A couple of weeks ago I thought my April trip was a slam dunk and it was going to be a blast to party in the spring of the corona. Now, I am really not sure it will happen. A couple of weeks ago I had Sao Paulo in mind as a backup plan in case United Airlines cancelled my flight to LOS. Now I think I will punt on Brazil and reschedule my Thai / Indonesian trip for late August thru November if it comes to that ie 1) my flight is cancelled, 2) Thailand restricts US citizens from entry, and / or 3) the bars are shut. You just can't fight the system. I now calculate the odds of my arrival in BKK in late April as 30%. But we shall see what we shall see.