Huh, sad to hear it. I had actually planned to visit… right about now, but never got my act together to organize a trip. I might still go in October.
Hopefully, it will have settled down by October. Right now it’s a combination of pent-up demand and the summer school holidays.
Prices for rental cars have gone through the roof, with $500 a day not uncommon now. There are so few to be had now that tourists are actually renting U-Haul trucks. Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, has come out and asked people to stop renting U-Hauls, because that’s clogging the roads even more.
We are maybe at 75% back to normal. Still masking in public, not exposing my unvaccinated child to unvaccinated people, but I personally have no issue being around unvaccinated people. I have eaten in a few restaurants that are good about capacity and social distancing. I am socializing with my vaccinated friends and family on a regular basis.
Next weekend we’re taking our son to an outdoor birthday party with the stipulation that nobody can hold him.
Then there’s my SIL’s wedding. We plan to attend, but our son will not attend.
So our remaining limitations mostly concern our son’s unvaccinated status.
On Sunday I went to Safeway, and for the first time saw a window sign that said “Masks not required for vaccinated individuals - by entering without a mask you attest to being fully vaccinated.”
So I entered an enclosed public place maskless for the first time in 15 months. It was exhilarating.
Update… our kids went to a STEM camp sort of thing a couple of weeks ago, and my wife and I actually went out to lunch at a restaurant and did some brief shopping. It was awfully nice to just be able to eat and chat, without having to deal with takeout packaging, dishes, or anything like that.
In other news, our neighbor’s 17 year old fully vaccinated daughter is a babysitter and she gets along great with my kids. So I’m thinking there’ll be some more outings in the future!
We sent Mars to a week of day camp as well. Was very weird. I am taking him and his BFF to Six Flags next week, as a sort of thank you for his patience through all of this. It’ll be crowded, but out doors.
I’ve been doing small get togethers with other fully vaccinated people, but what I miss is going to stand up comedy shows, concerts and going to all you can eat buffets.
I miss going to the movies.
I’ve been getting Facebook memories of all my trips from years ago. I used to travel all over the world. I miss that more than anything.
Yeah, travel is what i most miss.
International travel. Man, I miss that.
Yes, international travel.
The wife had planned to go back to Bangkok for a visit once a year. Last time was 2019, and she’s hoping to go next year, but who knows? She’s fully vaccinated but going now would still have to quarantine for two weeks, in a state facility at her own expense, and she says to hell with that.
Yeah, Bangkok sounds pretty bad at the moment, and your spouse wouldn’t be able to travel outside it probably. Thailand is in for a very tough summer/fall. 
I’ve missed fishing.
Of course, COVID wasn’t the only factor that couldn’t let me go; I was also busy with studies, among other things.
I just got my own fishing rod and tackle box for my birthday a few weeks ago, and I’m going on vacation in about a week, so I’m glad I’ll be able to go again.
There is a program that started on July 1 called the Phuket Sandbox. You can fly into the southern resort island-province of Phuket – fly straight in from abroad, cannot transfer in Bangkok or any other domestic location – if you are fully vaccinated. You will not have to quarantine in a facility, but you must stay in the province for 14 days before being allowed to travel anywhere else in the country. So you are still quarantining for 14 days, just you can hang at the beach and run around the province instead of having to stay inside a single building the whole time. The program has gotten off to a bumpy start, and all sorts of problems have cropped up. (One is a vaccinated traveler from the UAE still tested positive for Covid upon landing.)
They’re serious about it now though. The army has set up 145 Covid checkpoints, 88 of them inside Bangkok itself, to control the movement of people. You WILL be dealt with harshly if they catch you trying to move around without good cause.
Part of the problem is hubris. There was a big scare in Thailand early on, but the country was hit not too badly, leading the authorities and the public alike to figure further measure were unnecessary, so everyone let down their guard. As so often happens there, the Thais started figuring their innate Thainess somehow was mystically protecting them. They’re getting it rough now as a result.
And expanding to a broad swath of areas in October, and I’ll believe that when I see it. Seems doubtful, and I’d personally wait until next year in any case for real Thai vaccination progress.
But wow, 145 checkpoints! I’m glad they’re serious, the cases trend is pretty much vertical at the moment and the medical situation sounds dire and won’t be getting better. What a thing to live under (both the disease and the severe lockdowns). Fucking hell.
Have real cake in a bakery, not just this dopaversary cake icon.
Happy dopaversary, susan!
Below are excerpts from a message I received tonight from an ex-colleague at both the papers I worked for in Bangkok. He still lives in Bangkok but has worked from home for a Catholic news service for a few years now. I just have to shake my head. (“Jab” is Britspeak for “shot.”):
The situation here is getting grimmer by the day. You would not believe the number of homeless Thais sleeping rough between Nana and Asok, and I am told the situation is very similar in most parts of the city. The economy is now at breaking point after nearly 18 months with no foreign tourists. It’s just impossible for many small businesses such as bars and restaurants to pay their rent indefinitely with no income. Many have already gone to the wall.
Yes, a 9pm curfew started yesterday. It doesn’t make much difference to most people as the bars and most restaurants were already closed anyway. Some restaurants have remained open to do takeaway and delivery, but even they have to close by 9pm. I am watching a lot of Netflix.
It’s only going to get worse after the govt totally screwed up its vaccination program. Only about 5% of Thais have been vaccinated, and many of those received the Sinovac jab which is proving ineffective against the delta variant (a vaccinated doctor and a nurse died last week). The Post staff have had their first jabs after the intervention of the Foreign Ministry, but I am struggling to get vaccinated. You can’t even pay to get jabbed yet because the private hospitals don’t have any vaccines.
Travel outside Bangkok has been banned and the army has set up roadblocks on exit roads. I suspect this situation will last a lot longer than the initial two weeks announced. Covid cases have increased tenfold since late April, and everybody believes the real figures will be much worse than the official figures.
As you can imagine, life is very boring right now. At least my job keeps me busy during the day. In the evenings I cook a meal and have a few drinks while watching TV. It’s a very dull routine but I suppose I have got used to it from previous lockdowns. I never thought life in Bangkok could ever be as tedious as this!