ศาลาชุมนุม

[Rodney, รอดนีย์]

Hi All,

I'm thinking of travelling to Bangkok early next month to get tattoo from temple. Is it safe to travel?

well, I'm Singaporean and recently got tan from phuket which makes me look darker. Most thai people think i'm thai.

Is it safe to travel to Bangkok during this period?

Anyone knows what's the actual difference between oil tattoo and ink tattoo?

Is it that oil tattoo are not visible? doesn't make sense to me if a tattoo is not visible.

[John]

Rodney,

I can't speak to the issue of a tattoo but have an opionion of travel in Thailand and especially BKK.

I was in Thailand last December immediately following the demonstrations that led to the closing of the airports. BKK is a large city and from my observations the incidents of unrest that have occurred have been in isolated areas and for the most part have not had much of an impact on the daily lives of most people in BKK.

I would have few concerns about traveling in Thailand but would make sure that I stayed away from the areas targeted by demonstrators.

Have fun!

John

[Gra-ding]

Hi Rodney, they say that an oil tattoo is more powerful spiritually than an ink one when applied by a famous monk. It's obviously not for showing off to your mates, the power comes from your belief. So unless you are profoundly Buddhist (or a masochist) you would be just wasting your money.

[David and Bui]

Rodney,

I can't speak to the issue of a tattoo but have an opionion of travel in Thailand and especially BKK.

I was in Thailand last December immediately following the demonstrations that led to the closing of the airports. BKK is a large city and from my observations the incidents of unrest that have occurred have been in isolated areas and for the most part have not had much of an impact on the daily lives of most people in BKK.

I would have few concerns about traveling in Thailand but would make sure that I stayed away from the areas targeted by demonstrators.

Have fun!

John

Bui and I are sitting here in O'hare airport awaiting our flight to Tokyo and onto Bangkok. I will let you know what the reception is like in Bangkok once we arrive. Note that the concern of the day is swine flu, not political unrest. All these rain heavy blows on the tourism industry.

[David and Bui]

Dear Friends,

Bui and I just arrived in Tokyo and are waiting for our flight to Bangkok. As we landed, the United personnel were notified of quarantine procedures imposed by the government of Japan on all incoming aircraft. The procedures had been imposed just an hour earlier.

After a wait of only 20 minutes, airport officials boarded the plane and passed out breathing masks, the kind we see Japanese people wearing all the time on news reports. Then they handed out small yellow forms to fill in asking for basic information and a list of flu symptoms. The officials collected the slips and we were allowed to deplane.

The original announcement from airplane personnel was that each passenger would have his or her temperature taken before being allowed off the aircraft. As it turns out, no temperatures were taken. I could be that thermometers would have followed any indicadtion of positive symptoms on the yellow form.

We are now waiting at gate 33 for the on-flight to Bangkok. We havge no idea if it will leave on-time.

I'll let you know what happens in Bangkok.

[David and Bui]

Our flight has been delayed one hour. The reason given is that all incoming passengers need to be screened for the flu. They did not announce what procedures the passengers underwent, but it seems to me that it took an inordinately long time from when the flight landed to when all the passengers deplaned. It looks like we were lucky in getting off the plane as quickly as we did.

I also suspect that the delay in departure is caused by transit passengers who are joining this flight and who were also delayed or detained uon their arrival here.

The Thai newspapers are reporting that foreign arriving passengers willl be screned by machine in Bangkok. Let's see how long the delay is therel.

Wish us luck!

[David and Bui]

We are now home in Phuket; we and our luggage arrived safely.

The Nation reported that Suvannaphumi airport would be using thermal scanners to pick out travelers with high fevers. We saw no evidence of any machines or, in fact, any health screening whatsoever. On the other hand, yesterday was the first day health measures were put into effect and it may take some time for all the people and machines to be effectively mobilized.

This morning, as we traveled through the domestic process to get from Bangkok to Phuket - we were on the first flight out - we saw no evidence of health screening. On the other hand, the object of the screening was the group of passengers arriving from the Western hemisphere.

The Ministry of Heath has been very swift to enter the fray on behalf of their countrymen and travelers. They now insist that the name "swine flu" be discontinued and the name "Mexican flu" substituted. They are concerned that people will stop eating pork and related meats because the good name of swine had been besmirched.

[Rick Bradford]

As I mentioned in another thread, the Daily News has stopped using the phrase 'โรคไข้หวัดหมู' in favour of 'โรคไข้หวัดใหญ่'.

BTW, on the Daily News front page yesterday, there was a big photo of some government hobbledehoy proudly showing off a temperature scanner at Suvanabhumi to a gaggle of press people.

EDIT: Just checked, it was Public Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai.

[Rodney, ร็อดนีย์]

i'll be in Bangkok in a few hours.

I understand that there are some political issues whereby supporters wear different colour clothing to show support.

what colour clothing should i avoid wearing to avoid getting into trouble?