[GTALUG] Acer Aspire 3 A315-21 laptop has mono sound only? -- OFF TOPIC

[Ken Heard]

On 19/03/20 11:26 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | From: Ken Heard via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
> | Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2020 22:42:29 +0700
> 
> | ... Earlier this evening (Thursday) ...
> 
> +0700 -- where the heck are you?
> Siberia?  Indonesia?  Vietnam?  Thailand?  Tuva?

Yes we are in Thailand.  My spouse and I live here from the beginning of 
November to the end of the following March.  This year our plans were 
forcibly changed.  We were to fly from here to Europe on 27 March for a 
three week visit there and arrive back in Toronto on 21 April.

By the 27 March the countries in Europe we were to visit had already 
closed their borders to just about everybody. So much for the Europe 
part our return.

The rest of it was effectively cancelled by the Turkish Airline.  Since 
we had booked our return flight through expedia.ca any changes or 
cancellations had to be made the same way.  As soon the rush back to 
Canada started expedia.ca would only talk to customers booked to fly 
within the next seven days. So within seven days we called again; this 
time the seven days had been reduced to 72 hours.

Even so, by the time we could talk to an Expedia.ca agent the airline 
had already decided for us by cancelling until further notice all 
flights between Bangkok and Istanbul -- normally there are two each day. 
A few days later their daily flight between Istanbul and Toronto was 
also cancelled until further notice.

The lockdown in Thailand began in mid-January, about seven weeks before 
the European and North American lockdowns. During the Chinese new year 
holiday, which this year was the fourth week of January, the Chinese 
come to Thailand by the plane load, because is is about the only place 
invitingly warm enough that time of the year where they (and Russians 
for that matter) can visit freely without visas.  When they get here 
they get what is called a 'visa on arrival' stamped in their passports.

About 95% of visitors from both those countries come on package tours. 
China however in mid-January cancelled all package tours from China to 
all foreign destinations.  China did so essentially to protect their own 
people and keep the virus from spreading beyond China's borders. It 
however wreaked havoc on the Thai tourist industry, especially in all 
the beach resorts including Pattaya where we are.

There is a large Chinese community Thailand; Chinese people are always 
travelling back and forth between the two countries, Thailand was in 
fact the first country outside China to have a confirmed case of 
COVID-19.  So far Thailand, with almost twice the population as Canada 
in a much smaller area, has less than half the number of recorded cases 
and deaths attributed to COVED-19 than Canada.

All things considered we easily determined that we would be much better 
off here than in Toronto, staying in our Pattaya condo.  Bought in 
January 2012, it cost us all of CA$60,000 to buy and equip it.  Condo 
fees, taxes, etc. are about CA$400 a year. Within an hour's drive there 
are ten golf courses.

The lockdown here is much more relaxed than in Canada.  More services 
are still available here but not in Canada. Maintaining physical 
distance is preached but not really heavily enforced; people here do the 
best they can nevertheless. It is possible to visit people as a small 
group. No one seems to know the supposed maximum size of the group; it 
depends on whom you ask.

At home we can stream movies, documentaries, etc. and read e-books.  We 
are also using the time here to upgrade in various ways the amenities of 
our condo.  We are anything but bored.

A big factor is the climate.  There is some anecdotal evidence that the 
contagiousness in a hot and humid climate is significantly less than in 
places where the average temperature is less than 10 degrees. If we had 
been in Canada since mid-April we would be much more restricted in our 
movements because of the weather and everything else imposed on 
Canadians from abroad such as fourteen days isolation if we were to go 
back anytime soon.

Our three main sources of information about the pandemic are The 
Economist and the Toronto Globe and Mail, both newspapers, and the TV 
Ontario's Agenda, a current affairs program on TV, in our estimation the 
best of its kind in North America. From these information sources it 
appears to us that for health reasons some form of lockdown could 
continue to the Autumn of 2021.

Unknown is once the health problems are abated how long it will take 
international air travel to recover.  If we can go back in the Spring of 
2021 we will probably do so.  If however we have to wait to the Autumn 
of 2021 we will probably stay here for another Canadian winter and go to 
Canada in the spring of 2022.

> Teksavvy services there?

Yes indeed we can and do get Teksavvy services here, for both incoming 
and outgoing email. We have fibre optic from our condo building to the 
switching rooms of the ISP. The last 100 metres or so from the fibre 
optic in the building to our unit is still coaxial.  What can be 
somewhat variable -- sometimes more than somewhat -- is the quality of 
the signal from that switching point to the rest of the world.

> Keep safe!

We try.

Regards, Ken Heard