Why are double vaccinated (by supposedly among the world's highest standard vaccines - Pfizer) asymptomatic persons who *had a PCR test within 3 days* required to effectively pay a $400+ CAD tax for the privilege of entering Thailand?

PCR test Canada $173

hotel stay $150+

Insurance $105+

I am an old & healthy pensioner, a low-budget sojourner (not exactly a backpacker but not quite an expatriate, more of an eastern-oriented 'snowbird'). My habit is living on the cheap for four to six months at a time in ASEAN countries. I would not normally stay in such fancy hotels. But I am forced by circumstance to travel like a middle-class tourist. Maybe for persons who fit my profile, the time of easy and cheap travel has run out. IMHO, despite COVID being real, it is also being used as an excuse to weed out 'undesirables'. We are not welcome anymore. Certainly in Cambodia, charter flight of Chinese tourists (and not just from PRC) are the cash cows. And for other nefarious non-economic reasons that I won't go into here because this is not a political group.

The only good news I see is that versus Cambodia, Thailand is less troublesome and cheaper.

If I didn't have a business appointment in Thailand I would instead go to loosey-goosey Colombia or great value Argentina. I just cancelled a trip to Tanzania (wide open) in part because of very high-pricing. Until recently they had the ludicrous approach of 'pray COVID away' but at least the country was wide open.

Maybe SEA is finished so I am looking for a tourist-friendly country with sensible policies, based more on science and economics. As soon as India has reopened I will go there. Nepal is open but has such poor medical infrastructure I am wary.

I consider Thailand just a stepping-stone, getting 'my foot in the door' in Asia this winter.