I'm with you OhOh, plan and book ahead, my wife is the same. And the majority of Thais and all of the non-Thais who have stayed with us. But in the six months we've been open it has amazed us Thais just arriving in the province or even the local Pua area and then looking, even on the busy Friday and Saturday nights in the peak periods. We've had three walk-ins (well drive or ride-ins I guess) and a further six same day online bookings including a couple that arrived less than half an hour after the booking. But we had to turn away dozens of folks who call the wife/homestay mobile looking for last minute accommodation. I suspect many end up sleeping in their car at the PTT service station.
It now appears that they are not letting foreigners enter Mongolia through countries with the virus. A look on the local expat FB page shows me then several people are now stranded in Korea/Hong Kong/Beijing. If I want to leave there is only one exit: Russia!
I cannae remember the exact figures - someone mentioned today that the death rate for the most affected group (elderly 80+) is 2.5% while death rates for the same group for hospital admission was nearly double - so they were better off being admitted with c-virus. (at least statistically)
Though someone else asked whether the data coming out of China was credible - not so much the numbers but the fact that they were still building new hospitals.??!
Also apparently c-virus loses its potency significantly with each transmission so it was expected that it will spread rapidly (explode) but then die out quickly...
Hysteria was the oft repeated word.
And apparently the most common early symptom was gonad swelling...
I may have misheard some of the above.
Are these kind of outbreak where the term yellow peril comes from?
^ absolutely - and the std will take your mind off the c-virus
People in the countryside avoiding big cities is one way many are affected.
I just told my Japanese colleagues that I will be going to Tokyo this weekend and they did their best to talk me out of it. They are concerned that I will bring the virus back with me. They are saying that many people are avoiding Tokyo like the plague. Face masks are completely sold out, even in my little town, miles away from Tokyo.
They seem to think that the government is playing it down and the situation in Tokyo is much worse than is being reported. With the Olympics just around the corner it could not have come at a worse time. Those bladdy Chinese are raining on their parade, and you can bet that a lot of people who have planned to come to the Olympics, spectators and athletes alike, are monitoring the situation and are already thinking about cancelling their plans.
The fact that the outbreak is coinciding with Chinese new year, where Chinese travel in droves is also a discussion point here. The Japanese dont particularly like the Chinese as it stands, and the fact that they brought the virus to Japan means they are demonizing their traditional foes even more.
Last edited by Wally Dorian Raffles; 07-02-2020 at 03:38 PM.
I've stopped buying mexican beer.
All trains over the border to China now cancelled, some Mongolians are not keen on the Chinese at the best of times, so now some seem to using this as a hall pass for xenophobia. These sentiments are stronger in the countryside, here in UB people tend to have a more rational take on it.
In typical Japanese style they will beat around the bush and not come out and say directly what they mean.
It usually goes something like `And even though they know the risks of spreading it, they are still coming to Japan. So many of them come for Chinese new year ....That`s a little bit ........mmmmmm, isn`t it ......? The right thing to do would be to stay in your own country ...... mmmmmmm... wouldn`t it ...... mmmmmmmm, and right before the Olympics ........ mmmmmm.......`.
The Japanese have made an art form of back stabbing whilst keeping their composure. They find us Westerners abrupt , and too forward - but I think deep down they envy the fact that we can say what we mean . Coming from such a rigid society, a lot of Japanese mannerisms are about biting your lip and putting up with things. It`s called `gaman`in Japanese which literally translates to "enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity".
I had a training in Penang re-scheduled until the end of the month . . . we'll see, but other than that, no.
Back at Heathrow after a week in the Smoke. Not a ton of masks to be seen. Just saw Monty Panesar and he isn't wearing one.
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