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Every now and again I will be reading out in the Press about things having to do with Thailand, Thai Immigration and something just tickles me every once in a while. I will read something, especially lately frankly I think the overall Immigration situation with regard to Thailand is a bit absurd at the moment frankly. I don't mean to say that negatively. It just is what it is. I think we are in a kind of a weird little wrinkle right here in January of 2022. I am optimistic, I think 2022 we are seriously going to see Thailand start to really seriously reopen. Now I have said that before some months and even years ago but I am optimistic overall about 2022 especially in light of the fact recent events, this recent strain, whatever you want to call it is not nearly as lethal and I think overall this kind of may be humanity’s ticket to kind of putting this past is.

Leaving that aside, I found this article, I found it in the Wall Street Journal, wsja.com, the article is titled: Want to Quarantine on a Beach? Go to Thailand. Quoting directly: "Thailand, one of the few Asian countries currently open to American tourists, (and that is a good point - just as a side note here. I have talked about this and if you watch our channel, I think I can be viewed as a little bit more cynical than I really actually am when I look at the grander scheme of things. I am proud of Thailand for staying open and for trying to create avenues for tourists to come here and for foreign nationals generally to get in and out of Thailand. There are a lot of foreign nationals in Thailand in Non-Immigrant status, as expats, even Immigrants, Permanent Residents, folks that are coming; they are living here primarily and they need to get in and out. Other places, Vietnam for example and even Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar; Malaysia was pretty locked down for a fairly prolonged period of time, I am not overly familiar with Indonesia but Philippines, it is my understanding most of these places, not easy to get into if possible at all. Thailand has been much more accommodating or receptive than virtually any jurisdiction I can think of, especially on the Southeast Asian land mass.) Quoting further: "Thailand, one of the few Asian countries open to American tourists has an unusual entry protocol. (you can say that again) The name itself conjures fun and sun, "Phuket Sandbox". Quoting further: "Fully vaccinated visitors are allowed into the country once a few administrative hurdles are cleared but must first fly to Phuket, Thailand's largest island or as of January 11th, to one of 3 other seaside provinces and stay at one of several designated hotels, including luxury resorts. Those hurdles include submitting paperwork for a Visa and Certificate of Entry, showing proof of a negative PCR test and paying for COVID-19 insurance - a minimum coverage of $50,000 is required." So when I initially read this and I thought I had the quote in here, but they used the term in here "obligatory R&R" and by obligatory you have to go through Phuket in order to get in and use this. But apparently I have either forgotten to quote it correctly but it did appear when I was dealing with that before.

In any event, yeah this is sort of obligatory R&R does seem to be kind of part and parcel of the "Sandbox Scheme". You are stuck in there until you can get out, basically; until you test and you have gone through the period of time depending on your vaccination status possibly 7 maybe 10 days in the “Phuket Sandbox”. So yeah it is what it is. It is not perfect but I will give it credit for being better than other jurisdictions in the region.