Yamato

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/former-pm-thaksin-says-daughter-paetongtarn-will-announce-his-return-to-thailand-this-year Former PM Thaksin says daughter Paetongtarn will announce his return to Thailand this year Pheu Thai Party leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra (right) during a visit to a community in Chinatown, Bangkok, Thailand, on Jan 21. PHOTO: EPA-EFE BANGKOK - Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra insists his return to Thailand will come without help from Pheu Thai or the ruling Palang Pracharath Party and will be announced by his daughter Paetongtarn. Thaksin made the latest declaration on returning to his homeland during a discussion on the Clubhouse social media app on Tuesday night. It came amid rumours that Palang Pracharat and Pheu Thai have done a deal for Thaksin to return after the general election, scheduled for May. The former PM was answering questions from supporters in a live session held by the CARE Kid Kluan Thai (Think and Move Thailand) Facebook page. Asked when he would return to Thailand, Thaksin revealed that he suffered an illness last year that disrupted his plans to come back. “I intended to do so and I sped up oxygen treatment before the year-end. But the situation remained dangerous and my children had concerns over my safety,” he said. The ex-PM did not reveal why he needed oxygen therapy, though he reportedly caught Covid-19 last year. “Anyway, I can confirm that I’ll definitely return and I want to emphasise here that I won’t be seeking help from any political party, including Pheu Thai. I’ll depend on my own heart, so don’t worry about me.” Thaksin asked supporters to listen out for an announcement by his youngest daughter, Ms Paetongtarn, who is set to be unveiled as Pheu Thai’s candidate for prime minister at the next election. “Ing (Paetongtarn) will announce when I’ll be back,” Thaksin added. The former prime minister said no amnesty law would be enacted to pardon him and Pheu Thai would not seek compromise with Palang Pracharath over an amnesty. “I depend on myself. I won’t beg for help from (Palang Pracharath). I can help myself and I’ll definitely return,” he declared. Complaining of persecution by Thai authorities during his exile, he said he would return to his homeland to defend himself. Thaksin was ousted in a military coup on Sept 19, 2006 while attending a United Nations meeting in New York. He returned in April 2008 to a hero’s welcome only to flee from a corruption trial in August 2008. He was eventually sentenced to a total of 10 years in jail. An amnesty push by the government of his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, sparked street protests that culminated in the 2014 coup led by then Army chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. On Tuesday, former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan alleged that Thaksin had betrayed his supporters before the coup by compromising with Mr Prayut to block red shirts from protesting. Mr Jatuporn said Mr Prayut had been able to stage the coup only because Thaksin had done a deal with him to halt any red-shirt mass protests. Mr Jatuporn also claimed that Thaksin had neutralised the red-shirt movement after it helped his proxy Pheu Thai party to win power. He added that including Thaksin as a beneficiary of the amnesty push had triggered its failure, leaving many of the red shirts who should have been pardoned for political offences in jail. Asked to comment on Mr Jatuporn’s claims, Thaksin shrugged off the allegations. “It’s okay. It’s natural. I want to tell red shirts that humanity does matter and all understand it, including the love for democracy,” he replied. “People seek many ways to survive and I don’t mind if they attack me.” Thaksin said he was confident that the “pro-democracy side”, or Pheu Thai and the Move Forward Party, would win over 300 House seats at the election, citing recent opinion polls. As a result, the pro-democracy faction would definitely win the election and form the next coalition government, he added. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

This year’s cold spell in Bangkok is most unusually long I believe it’s almost 2 months now, usually it lasts only 2 weeks. It’s 7.32am now But I’m not complaining 😂

Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year. Time passes quickly and tomorrow is time to go back to Thailand to join my fellow Thai salesmen in selling screws. Had a great dinner tonight, all home cooked (except the yu-sheng) Started with yu-sheng lo-hei bought this from Putian restaurant The its the actual dinner Braised abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber, chicken, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, scallops etc Pork meatballs Treadfin steamed with soya sauce Prawns Cabbage soup with fish maw and abalone Great meal with the family

Fried noodles for my family Chinese New Year party

First of all I would like to wish everyone in this forum a Happy & Healthy & Prosperous Lunar New Year. Have a Great Rabbit Year! Every eve of lunar new year Chinese all over the world will try their best to have reunion dinner with the family. So every year I will try my best to come back to Singapore to have my reunion dinner with my mom. I'd like to share my reunion dinner photos with all of you here. The spread of 10 dishes Lorbak Brocoli Roast chicken Meatballs Chapchai Fried noodles Roast pork belly Prawns Steamed golden pomfret Fish maw pig stomach pepper soup Happy holidays

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-Spotlight/Thailand-and-Indonesia-gear-up-for-return-of-Chinese-tourists?utm_campaign=GL_asia_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=1&pub_date=20230120190000&seq_num=3&si=44594 Foreign tourists at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, one of Bangkok's most popular attractions, on Jan. 10. © EPA/Jiji Thailand and Indonesia gear up for return of Chinese tourists After a three-year lull, is Southeast Asia's travel sector ready for a rush? NANA SHIBATA, PAK YIU and FRANCESCA REGALADO, Nikkei staff writersJanuary 20, 2023 06:00 JST JAKARTA/HONG KONG/BANGKOK -- When Beijing decided to drop the COVID-era border controls that had shut China off from the rest of the world for three years, Komang, a souvenir seller at the traditional tourist haunts of Sanur beach in Bali, could not have been happier. "I'm excited and looking forward to Chinese tourists coming to Bali again," the 36-year-old, who goes by only one name, told Nikkei Asia. "Most importantly, always having a group of tourists around means we'll have income." Komang is not worried about the coronavirus spreading, either, despite reports of cases surging in China. "Not at all. As long as they are healthy when they come to Bali, it should be fine," he said. "I'm vaccinated, so I'm not worried about interacting with tourists." He is not alone in his optimism. Across Southeast Asia, hotels, restaurants, airlines and others are looking forward to the impending return of Chinese travelers for the Lunar New Year holiday. The question is whether the industry is ready to receive them. In Thailand -- the most popular destination in the region for Chinese travelers pre-pandemic -- the first direct flight from China since the pandemic arrived on Jan. 9, carrying over 200 passengers. Thailand's health, transportation and tourism ministers were at the airport to greet them with smiles and garlands of flowers. "It's a good signal for Thailand's tourism sector," said Anutin Charnvirakul, the health minister. "It's an opportunity for Thais to [recover] from the damage of the past three years." Members of the media swarm travelers from China at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Jan. 9. © AFP/Jiji That same morning, Thai officials announced they would not impose vaccine and insurance requirements on arrivals from China, citing sufficient vaccination rates in both countries, low COVID incidence in Thailand and "inconvenience." More than a dozen countries, including Japan, Australia and the U.S., began imposing testing and quarantine restrictions on travelers from China following the reopening, while South Korea suspended the issuance of short-term visas for them. China stuck to its strict zero-COVID approach longer than any other major country. While travelers from elsewhere in the world have been trickling back to Southeast Asia for some time, without China back in the picture the region's tourism industry had little hope of regaining its pre-pandemic heights. Chinese tourists spent $254 billion during their travels abroad in 2019, according to Statista, much of it in Southeast Asia. That same year, Chinese travelers to Indonesia spent an average of $1,114 per visit, while in Thailand they spent around $1,467. When that inflow of money stopped, it left a hole that other travelers have not been able to fill. That is partly because Chinese travelers accounted for 22% of all visitors to the region before the pandemic, and their spending helped create jobs. The hospitality sector employs almost 11 million people in Indonesia, nearly 8 million in the Philippines and about 7 million in Thailand, according to the latest statistics from the World Travel and Tourism Council. Budget hotel chain RedDoorz, like souvenir seller Komang, is excited about the return of Chinese tourists even though its customers are primarily domestic travelers. "Chinese tourists are important," Amit Saberwal, who started the chain in Indonesia, told Nikkei Asia. "They are big drivers of the travel economy and they will certainly lift the overall sentiment of the industry." Travelers arriving at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali pose for a photo on Jan. 5. © EPA/Jiji Airlines are also seeking opportunities in the reopening. VietJet Air plans to fully resume its Vietnam-China flights by June 2023. "After China's pandemic prevention measures are removed and the tourist visa policy between the two countries is restored, VietJet will prioritize reopening the Vietnam-China flight network, starting with flights from Vietnam's major economic and tourist cities to China's populous cities in 2023," VietJet Vice President Nguyen Thanh Son said in early January. The company plans to increase the flight network by 20% to 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels by year-end, Nguyen added. Before the pandemic, the airline operated the most flights between Vietnam and China, comprising up to 50% of total flight capacity between the two countries. In Indonesia, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said Chinese airlines, including Air China, China Southern and Chinese Eastern, have requested permission to offer direct flights to Bali. Malaysia Airlines, meanwhile, hopes to recover capacity over its entire network for China and North Asia by the first half of 2023. Malaysia Airlines hopes to increase capacity as demand from China shows signs of bouncing back. © Reuters But some businesses are tempering expectations of a Lunar New Year boom. The suddenness of China's reopening before a major holiday left little time to issue visas, renew passports, and ramp up flight and hotel capacity. "Stakeholders are demanding more than we can supply," said Punnaporn Wongjunpen, a Thai travel agency owner. "Some hotels focused on Chinese visitors have not yet reopened. Bus operators and tour guides who speak Chinese found work as teachers or other jobs." Several members of the Association of Thai Travel Agents who cater exclusively to the Chinese market shut down during the pandemic and are "in wait-and-see mode," Punnaporn added. At Central Group shopping malls, the Thai retail group had planned for Lunar New Year promotions before Beijing decided to allow international travel. "We weren't counting on Chinese tourists as early as we expect them now. We were expecting recovery to start in [the second quarter] of 2023," said Olivier Bron, CEO of Central and Robinson department stores. The company aims to double sales to Chinese tourists and increase overall sales by 20% from the previous year in 2023. Jane Sun, CEO of China's Trip.com Group, said companies in the travel industry have reduced headcount over the past three years after restrictions hammered revenue. "Capacity is not back at the 2019 level yet. Even if we fill all the planes and all the hotels, it won't be at 2019 levels," she said. Trip.com Group's data shows that searches for trips during the holiday travel period -- covering early January to mid-February -- to pre-pandemic hot spots have grown significantly, with Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the U.S., U.K., Singapore, Malaysia and Australia being the most-searched destinations. Searches for package tours during the Lunar New Year break soared sixfold. Though the industry is still struggling to keep up with surging demand, Trip.com's Chinese-language platform Ctrip launched a campaign to reconnect Chinese travelers with international destinations last year in anticipation of an outbound travel rebound. The company distributed 1 billion yuan ($147 million) worth of travel spending vouchers across 20 countries. With flights still limited, high airfares are discouraging some Chinese from venturing overseas during the holiday. "We will stay put, perhaps visit nearby scenic locations," said Cao Lingna, a homemaker in Shenzhen who, along with her family members, has recently recovered from COVID. "Overseas travel is out of the question as airfares are still high." Many other Chinese also plan to stay home or travel in-country this year. China's domestic new year travel is set to double to 2 billion trips after the easing of coronavirus restrictions. The Ministry of Transport said in early January that it expects the number of trips to reach 70.3% of 2019 levels this year. Tourists take photos in Bangkok's Chinatown district. Thailand is a popular destination for travelers from China. © AP Meanwhile, weekly seat availability for flights from China to Southeast Asia is still down more than 30% compared with the same period in 2019, according to aviation data provider OAG. But if travelers like Jasper, a 27-year-old from China, are any indication, Southeast Asia can look forward to more tourism once capacity catches up with demand. He booked one of the first available flights to Thailand from southern China, spending over $1,000 on an air ticket -- about three times the pre-pandemic price. "It feels kind of scary after not being out for three years," Jasper said, adding that he and his partner planned to spend a few days in Bangkok to "get their bearings" before making any out-of-town trips. Their last trip before the pandemic was to Japan in December 2019. But this time they opted for the Thai capital, where Jasper used to live, due to COVID-related restrictions on travel to Japan. And after three years of being unable to leave the country, he is not complaining. "To be honest," he said, "I'm excited to use cash again." Additional reporting by Lien Hoang in Ho Chi Minh City, Ismi Damayanti in Jakarta, CK Tan in Shanghai and Hakimie Amrie Hisamudin in Kuala Lumpur.

Last night a friend brought me to a tzechar restaurant in Tiong Bahru - Ting Hing Seafood See indoor and outdoor sitting of this restaurant Live seafood Started with these Claypot liver Kailan Chicken Dry oysters with cabbage Sweet and sour ribs Tofu Hokkien noodle

A friend drove me to Beo Crescent for the famous Hainanese curry rice there. A long queue as always even thought its almost 2pm Queued for 25mins The dishes Lunch is ready Costs S$27

Some photos of life at Yaowarat in the morning mostly opening of shops

Visited Bangkok's Chinatown, Yaowarat last week to do some last minute Chinese New Year shopping. I was very early arriving there about 6.30am so the streets are rather quiet. Here's the scene of the streets Visited the Chinatown market

I heard from my friend that there is a new branch of the Old Airport Road Food Centre's lormee at Holland Drive block 43 coffeeshop. I always like this Old Airport Road lormee so I went to try. The coffeeshop The stall The prices and choices My breakfast: lormee S$8 and kopiO S$1.20 Pretty ya My verdict is this is very nice too

Hope I did not over do it this year 😂😂😂

Doing brunch at the SQ lounge in Suvarnabhumi Airport Roti with green curry (ya its weird) Laksa (too bad its not hot) So basically ate just a little but the beer was good Boarded the noon flight Pre-ordered the Hindu meal, looks good Oh gotta have the gin tonic with it for sure Fish curry pretty good I think was a mackerel fillet Potato salad Chapati Indian dessert (bloody sweet) Took a nap and I arrived.

Was just back from Singapore last week but its now time to go back to Singapore for the annual family Chinese New Year reunion. But before one does that I have to prepare my own home in Bangkok for this festival. So before leaving this morning got them ready

A heavy dinner sometimes nonetheless. Zinc Razors https://i.imgur.com/5VYvL4q.jpg[/img] Seafood Duck https://i.imgur.com/SUBgSWq.jpg[/img] Seabass

Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is one of the newest food centres in Singapore opened on August the 1st last year however most of the stalls are really old like over 30 years old most moved from Tanglin Halt Food Centre about 1.2km away. This new Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is located beside the old Margaret Drive Market, built in 1960 or 63 years ago it is now being conserved. This is the old Margaret Drive Market now refurbished The brand new Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, a 2 storeys food centre Stalls on the ground floor, I took photos of some of the popular stalls from Tanglin Halt I've been having desserts from this stall since in secondary school meaning this stall is more than 40 years old Always have a queue at this stall Going upstairs Great wanton noodles The legendary Hakka thunder tea This was what I came for, my favourite vegetarian beehoon My breakfast still very good First time I see this with conveyor 👍🏻

Before leaving Singapore I also have to visit this chicken rice stall, my favourite. Located at Block 40 Holland Drive Lunch Delicious chicken cooked just right so juicy Boiled beans sprouts Vegetables with oyster sauce

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/daughter-of-thailands-exiled-former-pm-thaksin-to-seek-premiership Daughter of Thailand's exiled former PM Thaksin to seek premiership Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra has led opinion polls in recent months on top prime minister candidates. PHOTO: REUTERS BANGKOK - The daughter of Thailand’s self-exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra has declared her readiness to run for prime minister in an election this year, as the main opposition seeks to regain power after being ousted in a coup eight years ago. Ms Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra both led governments toppled by the army, will run under the Pheu Thai Party, the latest incarnation of a populist movement founded by her billionaire family two decades ago. “Yes, I am ready,” she told reporters late on Sunday in north-east Thailand, the rural stronghold of the Shinawatras that delivered them unprecedented majorities in five elections since 2001. “We want the party to win the election by a landslide so the promises we made to the people can be realised,” she said. Pheu Thai, which is hugely popular among the rural and urban working classes, won most seats in the last election in 2019 but was unable to form a government. Administrations loyal to Shinawatras have each been removed by the military or judicial rulings, adding fuel to a seemingly intractable political crisis that has ebbed and flowed in Thailand for over 17 years. Ms Paetongtarn, 36, has attended party rallies in the past year and has led opinion polls in recent months on top prime minister candidates, far ahead of incumbent Prayuth Chan-ocha, who as army chief overthrew Ms Yingluck’s government. Both Ms Yingluck and Mr Thaksin are living overseas to avoid jail terms handed down under military rule. Mr Prayuth has been in charge since 2014, initially as junta leader and then prime minister picked by Parliament after a 2019 election that his critics said was held under rules designed to keep him in power. He insists he earned the role fairly. Mr Prayuth, 68, joined the new United Thai Nation Party last week, hinting at a bid to remain premier. He has yet to dissolve Parliament and an election must be held by May. REUTERS

Whenever I visit Singapore I will never fail to have roti-prata at Tanglin Halt Market For me this is perfect breakfast ttps://i.imgur.com/3dB95el.jpg[/img] Another breakfast I like is lormee and carrot cake there

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thais-warned-against-becoming-foreigners-nominees-in-businesses-reserved-for-thai-nationals/ Thais warned against becoming foreigners’ nominees in businesses reserved for Thai nationals January 15, 2023 Thai people who allow their names to be used by foreigners as nominees to open businesses reserved for Thai nationals may face prison terms of three years and/or a fine of between 100,000 baht and a million baht, said Thosapone Dansuputra, director-general of Business Development Department, today. He said that foreigners are not allowed to open businesses selling food or drinks, as he responded to reports that Chinese businessmen had purchased a number of food shops in the Chinatown area. He explained that foreigners who want to open a food shop must get a permission from the Business Development Department, adding that Thai people who co-invest with foreign partners in such business must show their bank accounts, to prove that they have the financial resources to invest and are not just acting as a nominee. To take legal action against foreign businessmen who uses Thais as their nominees, he said that there must be clear evidence that their Thai partners deliberately allowed themselves to be used as nominees and concealed the fact to help the foreigners. Thosapone said that his department has cooperated with the Labour Ministry in checking businesses which have foreigners as partners or shareholders, to find out if the businesses were properly registered.

One of the mornings went to Tiong Bahru market for the famous lormee and jweekueh Love this lormee Jweekueh Then there is this curry rice shop Long queue Best

In Singapore had this wonderful dinner with a few friends at Holy Crab restaurant in Capitol We started with lo-hei Lo-hei with abalone My favourite dish there - bitter gourd in salted egg sauce Deep fried goby Burnt beehoon - another once of my favourite there Black tofu seafood Green chili crab - 1.4kg Crab fried rice Had a great time with great food there

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2479769/panel-seeks-unesco-listing-for-late-king Panel seeks Unesco listing for late king PUBLISHED : 11 JAN 2023 AT 04:00 NEWSPAPER SECTION: NEWS WRITER: POST REPORTERS The Education Ministry has set up a committee tasked with collecting all of the papers Unesco would require to add His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great to the list of the world's eminent personalities,... Atthapol Sangkhawasi, the permanent secretary at the Education Ministry, said yesterday the ministry had agreed to establish a committee to oversee the collection of all relevant royal projects before... Unesco will then send letters of consideration to all of its member countries. Any revisions must be made before the second quarter of 2025 so that the proposal can be presented at Unesco's General Conference...

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/China-up-close/Analysis-China-s-elderly-pay-ultimate-price-for-COVID-missteps?utm_campaign=GL_china_up_close&utm_medium=email&utm_source=NA_newsletter&utm_content=article_link&del_type=9&pub_date=20230112213007&seq_num=4&si=44594# Senior citizens are dying at an unprecedented pace after President Xi Jinping's administration abandoned the zero-COVID policy. (Nikkei montage/Reuters) Analysis: China's elderly pay ultimate price for COVID missteps Senior citizens die at unprecedented pace, leaving families devastated KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writerJanuary 12, 2023 04:01 JST Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize. In China, young people do not hesitate to offer their seats to the elderly in trains and buses. The Confucian culture has always had, and continues to have, a tradition of respecting senior citizens. But as COVID-19 tears through China's 1.4 billion people, the 200 million senior citizens are bearing the brunt, being driven into a corner. The number of elderly people who die per day has been at unprecedented levels since late December, perhaps earlier. The pandemic has taken the lives of some of China's best brains, such as the prestigious members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in their 80s and older. While the death rate is low among young people and many more are taking to the streets again in big cities, the fact that so many of the elderly are dying has raised questions over the humanitarian aspect of the government's missteps. "Save the elderly." Lawyers in various parts of the country have signed and sent petitions to central government departments with this message, calling on them to take immediate steps, such as importing mass quantities of effective medicines from abroad and producing whatever possible at home. The administration does not release figures that accurately portray the situation. But local work units, known as danwei, do keep track and announce credible information of individual deaths. Those added together show extraordinarily high numbers. Workers push a casket outside a crematorium in Beijing on Dec. 31. The number of cremations per day at funeral halls in an area of Fujian Province has surged five- to six-fold, compared with an average year, since the turn of the year. © AP Notices about many individuals' deaths are posted on university bulletin boards. Some individuals' deaths are announced on internet sites. The central government cannot hide the scale of the tragedy. The deaths of 25 retired professors, teachers and other faculty members were announced on Jan. 3 by a university in the northeastern city of Dalian. An expert who has long analyzed social trends in China calculates that the number of retiree deaths recently announced by universities across China are at least three- to sixfold compared with the previous years. Since the beginning of the year, the number of daily funeral hall cremations in an area of Fujian Province has surged five- to sixfold, compared with an average year. The deaths of teachers and other staff, primarily retirees and their family members, at universities in Fujian are said to be nearly 10 times what might have been expected before last year. The death cause is usually not mentioned, out of a consideration for the central government. But there is little question that they were COVID-related. Patients lie on beds in the emergency department of a hospital on Jan. 5 in Shanghai. © Reuters Even officials at the World Health Organization, who were sympathetic to China in the early days of COVID, are now critical of the discrepancies between China's official COVID-related death numbers and the realities on the ground. Yet, Beijing shows no sign of changing its stance. China's leaders did not highlight the issue of elderly deaths in their New Year messages. All they did was to reiterate slogans such as "Let the country prosper and its people live in peace." Meanwhile on the ground, the situation is dire. Fever-fighting drugs have sold out at pharmacies across China. With many of its staff ill with COVID, hospitals have not been able to examine new patients. Black marketeers are selling Paxlovid - a Beijing-approved COVID treatment developed by U.S. drug giant Pfizer -- at inflated prices of more than 10,000 yuan ($1,477) per box. Empty shelves are seen in a pharmacy as customers tries to find medicine to prepare for a wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing on Dec. 13, 2022. © AP When an earthquake devastated Sichuan in 2008, nongovernmental organizations stepped in to distribute medicines and conduct relief operations. At the time, these fledgling NGOs gave hope to the people that civil society was beginning to work in China. Fifteen years on, the situation has regressed. Since era of President Xi Jinping, NGOs have not been allowed to freely conduct activities because they typically have Chinese Communist Party cells in them. "There are almost no volunteer relief operations amid the current explosion of infections," one observer said. "Clearly, civil society is retrogressing." China has 200 million seniors who are 65 or older, equivalent to the entire populations of Japan and the U.K. combined, and the coronavirus is inflicting more damage on them than other age groups. According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the country had 10.14 million deaths in 2021. The number of deaths in 2022 will be announced sooner or later, making clear how high the human cost of COVID-19 is -- even if the causes of death are vague. At a certain point, questions will arise over the mishandling of COVID. Bad policies have had consequences in China before. Mao Zedong's disastrous decisions to proceed with the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) caused upheavals so vast they distorted the nation's population pyramid, later research proved. This time around, there was a way to prevent such levels of death. China might have been able to save many of the elderly if it had introduced mRNA vaccines from the West and mass-produced them at home. Although the situation is grim, there are some bright signs. The current wave of infections is presumed to have peaked in some big cities, including Beijing, around late December. People are returning to the streets, and calm is being restored. Children wearing face masks ride on their scooter with Chinese Year of the Rabbit decoration passing by residents shop for Chinese Lunar New Year decorations at a pavement stores on Jan. 7 in Beijing. © AP In China, infected people are called "sheep." That is because the Chinese word for "testing positive" includes the character yang, which has the same pronunciation as character for sheep. "Have you become a sheep?" is the fashionable greeting when friends meet on the street. Most of the people taking to the streets are sheep, having had COVID at least once. The long Chinese New Year holiday period that begins later this month will unleash a torrent of travelers. If more than 1 billion people return home on a cumulative basis to spend time with family after almost three years of being restricted, infections will spread further across the country. The central government's best-case scenario is to bring infections under control by late February, achieve de facto herd immunity and then hold the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament, in early March. It would be a good debut stage for No. 2 Li Qiang, who is expected to succeed Li Keqiang as premier at the session. But this optimistic scenario is full of pitfalls. As countries across the globe have experienced, a first wave of infections is usually followed by second and third waves of mutant viruses. The zero-COVID policy was not going to work against the highly infectious omicron variant. The writing was on the wall before the government abandoned it. Passengers from China take a higher-sensitivity COVID-19 antigen test at Narita airport on Jan. 8. (Photo by Mayumi Tsumita) What hammered the final nail into the zero-COVID coffin were the "white paper" protests. The movement broke out either simultaneously or in a chain reaction at more than 160 universities and other locations. It is believed to have begun at a university in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, with students holding blank sheets of paper during a protest against the zero-COVID policy. Young people vented their pent-up frustration while communicating with each other through various means. What the Chinese government should have been doing is to administer an effective vaccine to the public multiple times, primarily to the elderly, and to prepare large amounts of medicines such as fever reducers. Instead, it was busy declaring victory in the fight against COVID, trying to make the government's response look good. After wasting precious time, the Chinese government was forced to abandon the zero-COVID policy, abruptly. Looking back, two Japanese prime ministers -- Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga -- resigned, partly due to strong public discontent over their poor handling of the COVID-19 scourge. On the surface, it looks like Xi will have no such worries with no democratic elections. Nevertheless, if many Chinese families continue to lose their elderly members, all amid an economic slump, that may change. If people begin to see this mess as a human-made disaster caused by policy mistakes, it will slowly hurt like a body blow to the Xi regime. Such anger could lead to the next white paper protest.

The view of the Gardens By The Bay from the top of Marina Bay Sands is also very beautiful especially at night. Was up there for dinner one night Daylight Dinner was served Night view More wine Dessert