Visiting Bangkok during COVID: First Impressions
Even though It wasn't our first time in Bangkok, it's the first time we were to spend more than a week and get to know the city a bit more. For one reason or another, in the past we have often used the big cities as a point of entry and then as a jumping point rather than a destination in their own right. Our schedule in these cities was often like Anthony Bourdain's show "The Layover" packed with must-sees and must-eats, and almsot not sleep, in a short amount of time.
Before this trip, what I knew of Bangkok consisted of Sky Train, Nana station (because I like the sound of it), some of the neighbourhoods around other BTS stations, Khao San Road, main Buddhist Wats and some of the award winning restaurants like our beloved Nahm and Bo.lan.
*Bo.lan has resturctured during the pandemic, click the link above to read their story
Bangkok is a huge metropolitan city with than 10 million people 18 neighbourhoods, and many smaller areas within neighbourhoods. For the first few days in mid November, we stayed in Carlton Hotel with its Test and Go package in Sukhumvit around BTS Asok, only few blocks away from Terminal 21. It used to be known for the shopping, food and night life including notorious Soi Cowboy and a red-light side streets open until late.
Since COVID, Bangkok nightlife hasn't been the same and for much of the time, bars and clubs have been closed (though apparently many are getting around rules by serving small meals and claiming to be restaurants!). When we were released from the hotel quarantine, we were shocked that most restaurants were closed early around 8-9 PM even though there is no longer a curfew in place. On our first 'free' night, after searching in vain for food, we ended up retreating back to our room and ordering room service for dinner.
The next morning, more than a little jet lagged, we were up early and went out looking for food between 5-6 AM. Once again, we were faced with empty streets with no food in sight. At that point we were beyond worried. Has Bangkok stopped being a city literally full of amazing food around every corner? How could the food haven we remembered be empty of restaurants and food stalls?
Good food comes to those who didn't give up! Later on, we walked through side streets and realized most food stalls and small restaurants are now open in very specific times here. Needless to say, we are hopeful again for our tummies. There are more food than I can display here!
Throughout the pandemic, it's been an emotional roller coaster ride for all of us. Simple thing like not wearing a mask or being in a crowded area triggers many fears for heath concerns inside of me.
While in Canada before we left, we went from NOT taking any public transportation and always wearing mask both outdoor and indoor to slowly opening up to eating in restaurants again and being mask free when we were outdoors. It was a slow progress from both public health and personal mindset standpoints.
The first thing we noticed in Bangkok was that EVERYONE wears a mask both outdoors and indoors. If someone is not wearing a mask, it's almost certainly one of the rare tourists. It's hard for us to know all the details of local regulations so we carefully have been following suit of what we see.
Surprisingly, even the hot and humid weather is not a barrier to mask wearing here. Especially in the busy Sky Train, we truly appreciate how people are following the rules by wearing mask properly, checking temperature at every entry and cleaning their hands. The safety measures indeed makes us feel safer in the environment.
Every indoor space, whether a store, a restaurant, guest house, or any other building, has an electronic temperature monitoring device at the entry. Upton entry, everyone scans their hand or another body part. It's not entirely clear to us what happens if temperature is too high or too low. Is it only that entry not permitted or is the abnormal temperature reported to someone. Much left for us to learn...