Thailand has always been a favourite international tourist destination. With everything to offer from sandy beaches, vibrant cities, and a peaceful countryside, Thailand has many different experiences to fulfil your sense of adventure.
But like all countries around the world the borders of Thailand closed due to the pandemic. It was devastating for the industry and there are countless stories of the hardships with many tourist-related jobs lost. But Thais are resilient and many went back to their home towns and started niche tourist locations providing unique coffee shops, hobby farm experiences and niche hotels commonly known as boutique hotels. Each will bring it's unique theme and environment. It is a great way for budget travelers to explore the country. But for those who want to splurge after 2 years of English weather and pamper yourself then the world class hotels and destinations are ready and waiting to give you an experience you'll never forget.
And with two years without the multitude of tourist feet stomping around, the beaches, the natural landscape and the environment have all recovered and today provide breathtaking scenery.
All the hotel and tourist destinations have taken safety and prevention very seriously. Hotels required their staff to wear masks at all times and there are special cleaning arrangements for the common areas and rooms. For example if you stay at the Marriott you will find that every room is deep cleaned and then sealed with a sticker over the door so that when you arrive you know nobody has been in the room between the times of cleaning and your arrival. When going out and about masks are not mandatory but you will find all the locals will wear a mask and there is always free alcohol hand gel at all restaurants, shops and public venues.
Thailand has now reopened its borders to tourists with no restrictions for fully vaccinated adult tourists and children aged 12-17 with at least one vaccine shot. Under 12 years old do not need any vaccination status. You will need to stay in an approved hotel for the first night and take an RT-PCR test on that first day but after that you are free to travel anywhere in Thailand. You will also need to show 20,000 USD (about 15,000 GBP) medical insurance per person before flying. As booking a holiday is not done overnight, Thailand has also announced that they have no intentions of closing the borders again and give tourists the stability and confidence to prepare your holidays.
This is only a guideline and you should always check again for the latest rules before booking.
After graduating from Swinburne University in Melbourne Australia in 1992, I have worked globally designing and installing control and automation systems for the industrial sector including wood, food and beverage, power plants, green energy sector, pharmaceuticals and many other industries. In the past 5 years I've upgraded and trained to become a data scientist combining the decades of industrial experience with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to bring Industrial 4.0 solutions to the industrial sector. Since the covid pandemic restricted travel I have done much more remote work supporting AI, industrial and software companies in US, Europe and Asia (https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardteo/). No plans to retire ! Enjoy learning, improving, achieving and teaching the next generation too much to start fishing yet.
Having worked with European, American and Asian companies I finally settled and worked for a Belgium company as Regional Manager of their Thailand operations and Global Manager of all their Joint Ventures and Licensees globally from Brazil to China. Even though traveling a lot I continued to call Thailand home. Finally I took the plunge and started my own company in Thailand and provide services to an International set of clients.
Edge Grove has always been a fundamental and happy memory with Mr Pratt and Mr Waterfield at the helm at that time. It was a place where the Headmaster and Teachers cared about you and pushed you to achieve your limits - whether that was academically, artistically or athletically. I even took my daughter there for a walk down memory lane a few years ago before the pandemic. I still enjoy playing the piano which I learnt all those years ago at Edge Grove and have a passion for pencil drawing, painting and photography in my free time. You can see some of my works at https://www.deviantart.com/richardteo/gallery.
I welcome anyone who remembers me to get in touch.
