Weekend Update

No absolute curfew here yet, but we are under an Emergency Decree, which is confusing in its interpretations.  Stay at Home is strongly urged (or is it ordered?), and movement is said to be limited quite a bit, but it is baffling on what that really means.  This government, like all of them anywhere, is hopelessly inept while being puffed up with power-importance, and it would be great comedy if it were not so tragic. 

Recent Immigration Office cluster chaos: 

I had to go to Immigration again this week for additional petty bureaucratic paperwork bullshit, and I found horrendous crowds there, probably because of sudden pandemic-related panic about new visa requirements, etc.  What happened to the “social distancing” so strongly recommended?  It was early in the morning when it is usually not terribly crowded, but lines were already outside the front door – in the sun.  I tried a side entrance, went upstairs to the relevant floor, and found a closely packed line of people going into infinity.  Not only would it be impossible to receive service before noon, but this stockyard, Petri-dish environment repelled me. 

So, I turned around, exited the building and found a taxi home.  Screw it.  I will have to pay a hefty fine for not doing the (utterly ridiculous) paperwork on time, but it was worth it just to get out of there.  Bureaucrats everywhere can go to Hell – a Hell with a torturously impossible queue as in the film Betelgeuse (1988)!   

Other than all that, we are trying to keep cool and civil as the temps go up toward 100*F with deadly dewpoints.  Music, books, and DVDs save the day – along with fans and iced drinks.  Cheers! 

-Zenwind. 

.

Hot Morning Outing

I thought I would be out of the tropics by now, but I probably won’t be going anywhere for quite a while.  We are in stay-at-home lockdown, with such exceptions as Tuk walking to work and me foraging the neighborhood for food on foot – just as I did during the massive flooding in 2011.  (Thank the gods for 7/11 convenience stores, always well stocked; we have several within walking distance.) 

Today’s most urgent anticipated task was to try and find cat litter for our two felines.  I had to see if the little pet store down the road was still open during this round of forced closures, and if it wasn’t then I would have to figure something else out.  Then I got a call from Tuk just after 08:00 from her office.  She had forgotten an important data-drive in her home computer and needed it at work; could I take it to her?  So, I quickly showered and put on some of my more presentable clothes – but still short pants rather than long ones in this heat. 

I stepped outside at 08:30 and it was already sweltering beyond belief.  My face mask, quasi-mandatory wear now, just made it worse.  There was sweat stinging my eyes after going only 20 meters, in the shade.  I had a rolled bandana/headband in my pocket, but planned to use it only when I left the office campus.  There was some wind and a little shade, but the sun was brutal.  I handed off the thumb-drive to Tuk outside her office and then headed off campus by a back gate nearest the pet store, which I was happy to see still open for business. 

Now carrying two really heavy bags of cat litter in my backpack, I head down the road towards the 7/11 store.  I start feeling a bit faint and wonder why.  Holy shit, am I sick?  Then I realize I hadn’t had time to eat or drink anything and was most probably dehydrated from sweating so abundantly from the heat plus the heavy load.  I usually eat a decent breakfast with well over a pint-and-a-half of liquids, but not this morning. 

The 7/11 store has a powerful a/c and I am drenched.  Mask still on, my glasses fog and drip condensation.  Then I lift my head up a bit to see some upper shelves, and sweat that had been trapped by my mask streams down my neck, under my shirt and pants into my crotch.  Damn! 

As soon as I step out of the store, I mop the sweat out of my eyes again and put my headband on.  I arrive home soaked clear through.  And this entire trek was only one kilometer.  Sweat City. 

Once in the house, our feline masters briefly open their eyes and raise their heads just enough to glance at me.  I’m quite certain of what they were telegraphing to me with those looks: “It sure took you long enough; and, oh, do turn on the fan.”  Then heads back down and off to regal feline slumber.  And we think we are at the top of the animal kingdom’s hierarchy? 

-Zenwind. 

.

Thailand Closing Its Doors

The noose is tightening.  In the efforts to stop the spread of the dread Covid-19 virus, the Thai government is starting to lock down the borders.  They are demanding before you can enter Thailand (even Thai citizens), that you present a medical certification that you have been tested and found negative for the virus within the last 72 hours. 

The US State Department has warned American citizens abroad that they should return to the USA right now before borders close down and they cannot return.  Well, I’m hunkered down here in Thailand, hoping that this crisis will eventually end and that I can possibly travel to the USA for my family reunions in the summer. I do not want to be trapped in America indefinitely and blocked from returning to Thailand.  

In addition to the bars being closed here, all movie theaters are closed as well as (gasp!) the massage parlors.  All Songkran celebrations, the traditional Thai New Year with water-throwing during the hottest part of the year, have been canceled, and this is a very big deal.  (All fun has been canceled in the Land of Smiles!) 

Face masks are worn by almost everyone, although many medical experts say that it is not of supreme importance to prevent you from getting the virus and many in Asia do not realize this.  Rather the masks are definitely good for stopping the spread of infection if you already have it.  So, wearing a mask is polite, it shows that you are concerned about the health of your fellow neighbors, and it puts folks at ease.  But the masks are so damned hot to wear in an already hot and humid climate. 

One possible glimmer of hope for us here is that these viruses tend to be less contagious in hot humid weather.  This may possibly be a reason that Thailand has a comparatively low infection and death rate so far.  Maybe.  Yet these reported rates look suspiciously low to me.  Is our Thai testing for the virus lagging and not telling the true picture of infection (just like the case in the USA)?  A prudent government would not want to hide numbers and later be revealed as lying about it.  Do we have a prudent government?  Anywhere in the world?  

We live in interesting times. 

-Zenwind.

.

Hot Season Comes Round Again

It is getting hot again.  Sweltering, dripping, exhausting.  I just finished a successful visit to our provincial Immigration office for my annual renewal of an “Extension of Stay in the Kingdom” based on retirement.  Paperwork beyond belief.  I had it all in order, and it went smoothly.  An additional hassle was having old visa stamps from my old passport transferred to my new one, but that went well too.  The office is new, spacious and air conditioned, and everyone there wore face masks. 

Re:  The Virus.  I had been planning to bail out of this heat-infested tropical hell before April, our hottest and most horribly humid month, and fly to America to see the springtime blossoming from April into May.  But the Covid-19 pandemic is making travel anytime soon questionable.  I have two cousins’ reunions, one in June and one in August, and I will have to wait and see how feasible it is then to travel. 

I have stopped going out unless absolutely necessary.  The pubs, such as my beloved Rock Pub, are all closed in Bangkok for the rest of this month at least.  I’m not sure about movie theaters as of today.  My father-in-law is 87, frail and with a long history of breathing problems, so I do not want to bring a virus home to him. 

I have books aplenty as well as DVDs.  My exercise routines always peter out in the Hot Season when it’s just too damn uncomfortable to move. 

We are all well so far and can’t complain that much.  I will try to update this blog more often in the future. 

-Zenwind.

.