Wearing face masks in the Land of Smiles

After touching down, we were funneled through the airport to a roped-off section of folding chairs facing the exit doors. Every second chair had a big red X above the words “maintain social distance” and people were actually complying. A very compact and competent man picked us out of the bunch, liberally sprayed our bags with antiseptic, and deposited us in a private shuttle sent from our “Alternative State Quarantine” hotel. At the hotel, we had a long chat with a kind manager about how things were going to go down: for the next 24 hours, we were not allowed to leave our room. If we wanted food, medicine, anything, they would be happy to run out and grab it. They would even spot us the money because we couldn’t go to an ATM. An hour later, a woman in a full hazmat suit came and administered COVID tests from within our hotel room. After our results came back negative the next day, we checked out (in a separate, “clean” part of the hotel) and were told to report back in 6 days with the results of another test. Five months traveling during a pandemic and I have never seen anyone take COVID as seriously as Thailand.

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When we first conceived of this trip, we weren’t sure what countries we wanted to visit, but we knew Thailand was at the top of the list. We began using it as synecdoche for the whole year of travel, our daydreams starting with, “when we’re in Thailand…” We would have visited sooner but their COVID travel restrictions were so intense that we questioned how authentic of an experience we would get with such high barriers to enter a country where so much of the economy relies on tourism and expats. Plus, it was just way too expensive to jump through the hoops. But we were so excited to go that we booked flights literally the day the restrictions were lifted to a manageable level (1 night of quarantine if you’re vaccinated). 

So, as you can imagine, I sometimes wonder: Did we come too soon?

This question isn’t easy to answer. So far we’ve only been in Bangkok, but I hope to be able to speak to Chiang Mai and Krabi in the coming weeks. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Bangkok is its vibrant (and risqué) nightlife, and there’s no doubt that today this is only a faint glimmer of what it used to be. The city with a reputation for blazing all night long every day of the week now only ignites on weekends until 9 or 10pm and then recedes to illicit gatherings under the cover of soft music, paper cups, and bribed cops.

This hasn’t been a huge deal to us – I can’t say that the wild party culture is exactly our scene. We came more to see the spectacle than to take part in it, and despite the restraints there’s plenty to be seen. We went out one Saturday night and encountered more (impeccably dressed) transgender streetwalkers on a single road than I’d ever imagined seeing in my life. The same street was lined with tables selling obscene merchandise. I’d give examples but my family reads this blog. 

Perhaps most irreverent of all is a phenomenon known as the “sexpat.” These are old (and pretty much always white) men who come to Thailand from affluent countries for the singular purpose of being romantically catered to by Thai girls too young to be their daughters. I’d been prepared for this and was still startled by how common it is. We saw one cluster of bars with over 100 patrons where every single person was either one of these men or their aspiring female companions (“bargirls”, many of whom ostensibly work as waitresses at the bars and whose employers must be paid a fee by any gentleman who would like to leave with her). Many of these blossom into full-fledged “relationships” or, as I suspect is more the case, a kind of financial partnership. I joke but don’t mean to judge: this kind of work is a legitimate part of the economy here and, like other forms of employment, it’s an opportunity to afford a better life.

In addition to its nightlife, for the last few decades Bangkok has offered an international crossroads for backpackers. It combines a robust tourism industry with abundantly affordable lifestyle and accommodation options, attracting broke hippie types that we were honestly looking forward to meeting. We’ve made a couple of friends, but mostly it’s been pretty quiet. It’s clear that people are just starting to trickle in. The hostels are nowhere near capacity… However, neither are the temples. The Grand Palace, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole country and a site we were cautioned away from with reports of hordes of tourists, was almost deserted when we visited and gave us a lovely, tranquil experience. All of the major tourist sites have been like this. 

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However, what brought me to Bangkok was not the nightlife or friendships or even the temples, but the street food. It really has been as fantastic as promised. I love a culture that’s not afraid to throw bright bold flavors at you (or 2 or 3 or 4 at once), that’s not afraid to twice deep fry something, that’s not afraid to drown your meal in sauce. And just as delightful as the taste is the experience. I’ve read that Thai people eat about 7 small meals a day, so they are pretty much always eating, rarely eating very much, and often eating on the move. As a result, everything is made in little bites and packaged to-go. Street carts usually specialize in just one dish but are often situated in a big outdoor market with other vendors, so you can easily grab one chive cake here, one meat skewer there, and a tiny deep fried banana for the road. 

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So let’s return to our question. Did we come too soon? There’s no doubt that COVID has colored my experience here more than any place we’ve visited yet. I walk around seeing shuttered shops and restaurants and can’t help but wonder if it’s always like this, whether we’re getting the “real” experience. There can be no doubt that Bangkok is not yet the city depicted in The Hangover (part 2). But perhaps the question is not whether we came too soon to see this red-lit and tourist-fueled image of the city but rather if we came too late. Many of the shuttered restaurants are listed as permanently closed. People in the tourism industry have had to find other work. I’ve actually really loved it here; Bangkok still has lots of spunk to keep us engaged and it’s one of my favorite places we’ve been. But it can be sad to see the city through the lens of what it once was, to witness the economic carnage of COVID in a place so clearly meant to shine.

The government here has issues just like any other, but something I’ve noticed is that it’s not a passive one. It’s been very deliberate in creating a tourist paradise, in clearing its notorious traffic jams, in closing for COVID. The Bangkok of yore will take a very long time to heal, it may never do so. But whatever direction the city takes while recovering, I know it will be an intentional choice. I wonder what image it will choose.

As usual, see the Photos tab for more recently uploaded pictures!