Serious Covid Surges & Restrictions

Bangkok and major provinces surrounding it (such as mine) are now experiencing real pandemic deep shit.  The Covid-19 virus – and especially its Delta variant – is surging, with record numbers of infections and deaths here.  Vastly more than all of 2020’s casualties combined.  It’s bad.  And the vaccination programs here are scandalously slow, ill-conceived and uniformly bungled up – a total embarrassment. 

From this weekend, we are under a curfew: from about 20:00 hours (8pm) to 04:00, and people must stay home unless for absolute emergencies.  Supermarkets and neighborhood convenience stores are by necessity open, but they have more restricted hours, so I am able to get to them for food, either by taxi (in the case of supermarkets) or by trekking on foot to the local neighborhood stores to fill my backpack.  All malls are closed except for their pharmacies, supermarkets, electronic-communications stores, and take-out services from restaurants.  Most everything must close at 20:00 hours.   

But if the government tries to outlaw the total purchase of alcohol – like they did for ten days in the April 2020 lockdown – I fear there will be a revolution, because folks here are really pissed. 

As for my own chances of getting vaccinated soon:  not good.  It is an absurdly incompetent roll-out.  The Thai government is offering free Covid vaccinations – mostly the Chinese vaccines, which no one has much confidence in – but they are so limited in supply that they are gone in an instant.  These and other, more respected, vaccines are promised with numerous websites dedicated to pre-registering for them, but the websites freeze up due to incredibly heavy demand, and pre-register slots are gone immediately.  Then there was the special government-run website for expats’ vaccinations, which was quickly hacked, with registered participants’ data leaked.  Bungle in the jungle.  Again.

Tuk has tried to register her parents and I for Moderna vaccine when it will be (hopefully) available in October at a private hospital for a fee.  She wants an additional jab of this for herself, since she only had the Chinese Sinovac jabs.  She apparently got us registered and paid for – yet I think the hospital registered more shots than they are scheduled to receive.  We’ll see. 

In more upbeat news, the Rainy Season has clouded the skies more, and, even though it is still hot and humid, there is not as much constant sun to fry us as there was in the March-May Hot Season.  The rain and more frequent breezes are refreshing. 

And I am grateful to Amazon for creating their Kindle and providing opportunities to download eBooks easily, books I would otherwise be unable to find.  And Netflix lets me see movies I originally missed and cannot otherwise find (although their movie selection here is not as wide as in the USA).  Spotify lets me find any music I could possibly want to search for, and they help me explore new music.  In the balance: Life is Good. 

-Zenwind. 

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Covid Devastation

 

The Covid-19 pandemic is seriously disrupting life here in Thailand since April’s Third Wave has ballooned.  We are not in complete “lockdown” (yet), but we are very restricted, especially in the bigger city areas like here in greater Bangkok.  Since my last two posts here (in May and June), restaurants are now prohibited from having any dine-in service and can only offer take-out.  Cinemas and pubs are still closed, of course.  The government’s unpredictably sudden changes of policy are angering a lot of Thai people.  But especially frustrating is the slow availability of vaccines after being promised great things on this front. 

Covid deaths (the officially counted ones) in Thailand so far are now around 2,000, most of these during this Third Wave.  This is a massive jump since last year.  It is shocking, since we had a very good record during all of 2020. 

Vaccines are used up much faster than the demand for them.  They are rationed out, I think appropriately, first to front-line health workers.  (Taxi drivers were later given opportunities to get them, which relieves me since I have to travel by taxi a couple of times a week.)  Institutions with a bit of clout get their people jabbed.  Tuk is a manager in an important state enterprise, and she is now fully vaccinated. 

As for my own chances of getting jabbed, well, probably not soon.  There are vaccination programs set up, many that also include foreigners, with online registration procedures that are most often incomprehensible and impossible to function.  My doctor told me to have Tuk call a hospital that would give me the jab right away, but when she called, they told her they would not.  Other hospitals and vaccination centers have similar glitches.  (TIT, i.e., “This Is Thailand”.) 

Older folks are more vulnerable to Covid, so Thailand is trying to vaccinate them soon.  They had previously set up a major vac center at the huge Bang Sue Grand Station (not terribly far from us), and for the first part of July they are allowing Thai citizens aged 75 and over to have “walk-in” priority without registration appointments.  My parents-in-law are aged around 90 and 88, and I want them vaccinated soon. 

Since this vac site is on a public transit route I know well, I did a recon last week to see how feasible it would be to take the parents there.  The Bang Sue Grand Station is new and not finished, but it will be the biggest transport hub in Southeast Asia, connecting numerous transport lines, thus, it is monstrous huge. 

I rambled around and found how to get from the subway to the Grand Station, and I entered.  A vast space.  They were well organized, and I quickly found a worker who spoke English and oriented me.  But it was obvious that the size of the crowd of old folks and their caretakers was overwhelming.  I realized that I could guide mother-in-law here, because she is one tough old lady, and she might be able to endure the wait.  But father-in-law is too lame and frail for the ordeal.  I decided to come back next week to see if the crowds were less. 

But Friday night, Tuk told me that vaccine supplies had run out at this site due to the enormous demand.  And I’ve found that the vaccines have run out in most other sites.  Back to square one. 

When I travel public transport or am in public spaces, I try to let the Thai people I interact with know that I am not one of those “dirty farangs” (i.e., the legend of Westerners who are “uniformly unhygienic”.)  I wear a mask, as everyone is required to do in public, but I also have a little 50ml bottle of Dettol hand sanitizer (similar to Lysol) clipped to the carabiner on the front shoulder strap of my daypack.  I wear this universally-recognized green plastic bottle of disinfectant on my chest as a badge, pledging that I participate in public hygiene, and I use it regularly.  After all, one does not want to scare off the native populace.  This is my home. 

Tuk is doing well, while working extremely hard.  She has a year and a half before retirement, and she has a very important management role at the end of her career.  She is no longer working from home much, and is going into her office most weekdays.  Her new office location is an hour commute, each way, thus quite a burden.  After hours, and on weekends, she gets work-related phone calls from work colleagues.  She often works into the night and on weekends with spreadsheets, etc.  She is an angel, and we try to support her as much as we can.  On weekends, she sleeps as much as possible, along with the cats.  And she puts up with me, possibly a recommendation for sainthood? 

-Zenwind. 

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Covid Shadow

The Covid-19 pandemic is still profoundly affecting life here in Thailand.  This Third Wave of infections, by far the worst we’ve had, hit hard since April, and the vaccine program was slow to roll out and is only now really getting started. 

Cinemas are still closed, as are pubs.  Restaurants must close by 21:00 hours (9PM) and cannot serve alcohol.  A truly huge number of small and medium businesses have collapsed for good.  Masks are mandatory everywhere in public.  The Thai tourism industry, a massive portion of the country’s economy, has been completely halted for over a year, and the number of people out of work is countless. 

Tuk got her first Covid vaccination shot this week.  She has only recently been going back into work in person.  She is in management within the transportation division of the state electric company, and her office has been transferred to a new transportation hub a bit upcountry, out of the greater Bangkok area.  Therefore, she has to commute via company van to and from this site, and during rush hour it is still an hour each way.  Prior to this, for her entire career she only had to walk 200 meters to her office next door. 

As far as Covid vaccine for me, I will know more about my chances in two weeks with my routine doctor’s appointment.  I am slowly recovering from a recent vicious cycle of fibromyalgia pain and fatigue, caused by such things as hurting my fragile back by overdoing it, and from overall lack of exercise because of the seasonal air pollution, the intense tropical heat, and blisters on my feet – I need to find some Tincture of Benzoin to protect my feet in this heat. 

As far as better news:  The gross air pollution that has been plaguing us over both the Cool and Hot Seasons (December-February, March-May) has ended.  That toxic PM2.5 cloud over us has dissipated, due to a combination of rain, of farmers no longer burning their stubble, and of fresh monsoon winds clearing the air.  Also, it is a tiny bit less hot during the times when clouds cover the sun.  It is still humid, and when the sun is out the temps still get up to 100*F, but the occasional cloud relief is a blessing. 

This time of year, I still get disoriented when the sun, at noon, is North of me.  Growing up at latitude 42*N, the sun would always be to the South, even at June Midsummer.  But not at 14*N, well within the Tropics. 

-Zenwind. 

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Third Wave of Covid-19

We are living under new Covid restrictions here.  Movie theaters are now closed, as are pubs, etc.  It’s not a complete lockdown yet, but the opening hours of supermarkets and convenience stores are shortened.  Take-out only at restaurants.  Masks mandated in public.  

The First Wave of Covid-19 here was in the spring of 2020, followed by a lull in its spread.  In the entire year of 2020, Thailand only had 61 Covid deaths, and sometimes no deaths at all for a couple of months. 

The Second Wave started in December 2020 before leveling off a bit by February 2021.  The main centers of this outbreak were a Burmese migrant worker ghetto and an illegal Thai gambling den. 

The present Third Wave seems to have spread, in early April, from a couple of Bangkok nightlife clubs that may not have been following strict pandemic protocols – and the rumor is that some of the owners are in big trouble.  This is a much more serious wave of the virus, and it has spread widely throughout the country. 

Whereas 2020 closed out at New Year with 61 total Covid deaths, as of today our total pandemic death toll is 276, heading fast for 300. 

(To keep some perspective, Thailand’s population is about the size of the UK, whose Covid death toll is way over 100,000.) 

Covid vaccinations here are in a slow roll-out, with frontline heath workers prioritized.  Local production of the top vaccines should be available by June and July, with other vaccines soon to be approved.  News is that Expats like me who are over 60 will get free vaccinations – although I don’t know the timeline; I will ask my doctor when I see him for a routine checkup in June. 

Tuk is working remotely from home and only rarely goes to the office.  She does Zoom conferences with her boss and management team.  (Our cat, Pinkie, has to be confined to another room during these events, since she obsessively wants to be a Zoom star and must be kept away from the camera and microphone.) 

I only go out to buy stuff every two days or so at local convenience stores, and maybe once a week to a big supermarket via taxi, for things I cannot get here.  I miss the cinemas, my meet-ups with libertarian friends, and live music at The Rock Pub – but as a life-long hermit, I can always muster the inner resources to be amused and maintain peace. 

-Zenwind. 

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Beltane

 

Beltane, the Eve of May, is when green life begins its return in the northern temperate zones – and how I miss it!  Six months in opposite, Samhain, aka Halloween, is when vegetation dies and when one must feed cattle from stored-up fodder for the following six months. 

Beltane is the Celtic “beginning of summer”, when cattle were driven out of their winter barns to the greening pastures.  After six months locked in winter stanchions, my father would let the cows out in the first week or two of May, when the grass was a-growin’ again.  The cows would buck and jump and run with wild excitement, and they would gorge themselves on new green grass.  Father’s favorite months of the year were always May and June. 

This holiday is also called Walpurgis Night in northern Europe.  One can consider it the Springtime Halloween.  Witches’ revel on that night, as in Goethe’s classic Faust as well as in certain Dracula stories. 

(Also, it is Camerone Day.  Vive La Legion!) 

-Zenwind. 

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Jefferson Day!

 

Happy Birthday, Tom Jefferson.  To me, you are the epitome of the American thinker, the American libertarian radical.  Wish I could have met you. 

-Zenwind. 

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Songkran, Early Rains, & Covid Third Wave

 

Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year, is tomorrow and the next few days, although it is a week-long holiday here.  Hottest time of the year, when throwing water is customary, yet with a huge Third Wave of Covid infections now raging in Thailand (especially in greater Bangkok) these celebrations will be canceled – just as they were last year.  Multitudes of Thai people are traveling out of the city to their ancestral provinces for the week-long holiday to reunite with family, and the Covid nightmare is only likely to spread and get worse. 

Bars and pubs in most provinces are now closed again for at least two weeks, although the cinemas are still open for now.  We hunker down.  And endure the heat. 

This year, the Rainy Season was predicted to come extra early and to be more intense than normal.  (It might be a La Nina thing.)  We certainly have been getting much more rain, much earlier than is customary, and I do appreciate the clouds that block the hellish sun.  The rain and accompanying wind are cool refreshment (although the humidity and oppressive heat always follow as soon as the storms pass by).  The government has instructed the relevant agencies to prepare for an extra heavy Rainy Season and thus take actions to avoid disastrous flooding (such as we had in 2011), but I somehow doubt that salaried government bureaucrats, with safe, appointed political jobs, will do anything that requires independent thought and initiative.  Sorry, but I’m a cynic. 

Tomorrow, I will celebrate Mr. Jefferson’s birthday.  Truest of American heroes. 

-Zenwind. 

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Breaking in New Sandals

 

This is an annual ordeal.  Every single year, I have to buy and break in a new pair of shoes – actually, sport sandals – since I wear them out and wear them down in this heat.  My feet are extremely sensitive to abrasion, and always have been.  And I do not wear socks in this climate, so my feet get ripped up when breaking in a new pair.  I always carry a roll of athletic tape in my backpack to patch up wounds on my feet while on the march. 

I always go with sandals from The North Face, a great company, and until this year they had one model that I bought for three straight years, which broke in more easily since the contact points with my feet were identical.  Well, they discontinued this model, and I had to pick a new one.  It is wonderfully cushioned and soft on the footbed, but the ankle and toe straps are different, thus harsh. 

For many years, I had made the mistake of trying to break in new sandals in the Hot Season – not good.  Then I wised up and started breaking them in during the Cool Season.  But, in recent years, our Cool Season has experienced the bane of toxic PM2.5 air pollution, which makes marching hazardous and less regular. 

My sandals wear down from hard use, but also from my sweat in this humidity.  By the time one year of use comes round at the Hot Season, they smell.  And when the Rainy Season hits us in around June, and I stomp through tropical puddles, their wet smell is intolerable and cannot be disguised.  So, I have to semi-retire them annually. 

Slowly, painfully, I’m breaking in the new pair for short jaunts, while still wearing the old for long hard marches.  This is a cycle I’ve come to live with.  But I always carry a roll of tape. 

-Zenwind. 

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Seasons

The Cool Season is over, and heat and humidity are again our normal condition every day and night.  Sweat city.  The toxic PM2.5 air pollution is still a problem, yet we are occasionally getting windy weather that thins it out a bit.  We still wear face masks for pandemic hygiene, but I am more concerned about the dirty PM2.5 air so I always wear a tight-fitting N95 mask when out and about. 

We are definitely into the beginnings of our Hot Season (until the Rainy Season gives us brief moments of respite starting, maybe, in June or July).  After all these years living here (and a year in Vietnam half a century ago), I still cannot comprehend how hot the tropics are.  It is a shock to this body, whose ancestral origins came from northern Europe. 

Today we had some rumblings of thunder and dark clouds – a bit unusual for March – so I took an umbrella with me on my neighborhood errands (e.g., to the pet store, etc.).  As I stepped outside, I had a classic memory of my father:  there was a unique coolness and scent upon the breeze, reminding me of my youth when he used to say, “It feels like it has rained somewhere!”  Indeed, it had rained somewhere, but we didn’t get any of it except for just the hint in the brief cool breeze. 

By the time I was lugging pet supplies and groceries back home, the sun was out again and “coolness” was a concept deleted from consciousness.  I arrived back home completely soaked, head to toe, in sweat. 

The pubs have just been reopened again, so I may venture into the city soon to visit my friends at The Rock Pub.  Movie selections are still thin, but I have some explorations in mind in the city, as there are food markets I want to check out for specific healthy selections.  Public transit is better than ever now, so it is much more comfortable to travel than it was five years ago. 

My physical strength has declined – and this really alarms me since I’ve always strived to be fit – and I blame most of this on my enforced physical inactivity in the last few years due to the PM2.5 pollution.  And, of course, part of it may be that I am getting older! 

(How did that ancient Indian sage explain it?  “Dukkha”, i.e., the impermanence of life and the entire suite of disappointments connected with comprehending that reality.  Accepting that reality was the first task; letting go of negative reactions to these facts of life was the important second task; then there is the experiencing of this blissful release; and finally, cultivating the optimal ethical path going forward.) 

I think it was the Rolling Stones who sang, “What a drag it is getting old.”  But – besides the physical limitations – I still feel incredibly young at heart. 

-Zenwind. 

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February, late post

 

I am way behind on posting here, as I had always promised to post at least monthly, yet I didn’t post at all in January.  I do apologize.  But not much has been happening here to report on. 

We are doing well here.  The Cool Season had many more “cold” days than is usual in January, and that made taking a shower a brutal experience – since we have never had a hot water heater in our house.  The relatively colder water, plus the cool north wind blowing through my outdoor shower, made for a shocking and eye-opening wakeup. 

Movie selections in the cinemas are thin, and pubs (such as my home-away-from-home Rock Pub) are still closed.  So, there is not much reason for venturing far and away except to markets for specialized food items. 

The toxic PM2.5 air pollution has stopped me from long neighborhood walks.  We wear masks for Covid, but more for the air pollution.  Again, it is farmers burning rice stubble and cane that cause this pollution (with no wind to disperse the particulate matter), and the government won’t do anything because like all politicians they are whores to populist votes - with no concern for the rights of others to be free from the dirty drifting of toxins into their private spaces.  

I haven’t been using my laptop much, because sitting at it causes great discomfort.  Sitting + typing = Fibromyalgia pain.  I have pain in my hips when sitting too long, and then I’m awake with pain all night. 

It is much more comfortable to read all online content on my tablet, when I can sit, recline, stand, walk around, or lie back in bed – and I do read, obsessively.   My physical comfort prescribes tablet use – yet it is not easy to type on a tablet, thus my silences. 

I have many, many writings in draft – personal correspondence to family and friends, movie and book reviews, and philosophical rants.  Stay tuned, for I may someday publish them. 

-Zenwind. 

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