Notes from a Thailand trip (part one)

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armchairlawyer
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Notes from a Thailand trip (part one)

Post by armchairlawyer »

First impressions
Courteous staff at Swampy helping us get our papers organised for medical clearance. It got a bit chaotic beyond customs as travelers found their drivers and papers were checked once again.
On the highway into Bangkok, most of the massive billboards were for rent.

Bangkok
Busy traffic everywhere on the main roads making it difficult to get around at any time of day, I'd had enough of that big city after one week. Shopping malls fairly quiet. BTS and MRT a lot quieter than pre-Covid. A loop tape tells BTS passengers not to talk in case it spreads Covid. On the escalators we are told not to try walking in case we have an accident. Sukhimvit sois very quiet on Sunday afternoon. Nice for walking around. Everyone wears a mask.

Nightlife in Bangkok
The soi 7 beer bar complex was very busy (and not a relaxing place to drink). 11pm comes and goes and it all carries on regardless until 11.20pm when the live band abruptly stops in the middle of Hotel California and staff rush around telling us to drink up and go. Flashing red lights on the soi. Walking down Sukhumvit, a sizeable bunch of maskless women and people who don’t menstruate smile at passers-by outside the Sofitel.

Women in general
Stockier compared to pre-Covid and compared to Phnom Penh now.

Phuket
Busy traffic from the airport to Patong. Soi Bangla is heaving and noisy as fcuk in the evenings. Some aggressive barangs in the bars. The cops show up around midnight to close it all down. But as soon as you get to Second Road it is very quiet at all times of day and night. The beach is fairly busy in the daytime. Tourists often don’t wear masks. Phuket is getting the lion's share of the barang tourist market. But still some great deals on Patong hotels. As soon as we went over the bridge to the mainland, it felt much more relaxing.

The Islands (Lanta and Mook)
Very quiet. The independent hotels are struggling, having borrowed to develop and upgrade in the good times. Now that there are some tourists, the banks are pushing for repayments and land is going for discounted prices. The bigger resorts are holding their prices, able to stick it out.

Trang town
Quite busy with locals bustling around. Zero barang around.

Krabi and Ao Nang
Krabi town is desperately quiet, although there are some barangs wandering about, residents and tourists. The out of town malls are busier. Ao Nang has some tourists but for the time of year, it’s very down (one local told me 90% down) and hundreds of business units are shuttered. All the bigger boats out of Krabi have stopped running and are moored forlornly by the Chao Fah pier. Speedboats and longtails do the ferrying now.

Thai Tourists
Very few in number, a brief surge around the new year holiday. Surprising after so many TAT reports of domestic tourism being a major Covid success story. One Thai hotelier told me that most of the hotels are booking ghost names in order to collect on the 40% government subsidy. She also told me the Thais will only stay right on the beach, they don’t like to have to walk any distance at all to get there, unlike barangs. Also the Thais don’t care how crap the room is so long as it is near the beach. Oh, and they must have parking because they usually come by car.

Cars
The Toyota hegemony has come to an end. There are loads of smart looking small and medium sized Hondas, Fords, Isuzus, Mazdas, Mitsubishis, Suzukis, Nissans and MGs. The Bangkok taxis are still all Toyotas. There are very few large sedans and no super flash cars, a big difference from Phnom Penh.

Chinese tourists
Zero. Hardly seen a Chinese face in a month, not even the "business" types you see in PP.

Tech-induced disruption
The OTAs (online travel agents) have demolished the notion of the Thai price in hotels. Some hotels may offer a cheaper price to Thais but it’s easy for barangs to scroll down and get the bargains.
Grab is more expensive than meter taxis in Bangkok, but it’s useful for getting a reasonably priced SUV if you need a bigger vehicle. In Phuket and Krabi, the JustGrab price is fair but it’s rare that you find any cars available. In Krabi we got a Grab, the driver would not come inside the bus station, afraid of what he called the mafia.

Tours and Transfers
I heard that the privately operated ones have gone up in price. Big government buses still ply the main routes at very reasonable fares.

Travelling with a baby
So easy compared to Cambodia. The buggy can go along the sidewalks. Only, wherever you have a building, such as a hotel or a shopping mall, there are usually stairs to go up, with no ramp. In Bangkok, if you get tired, you can hail a taxi and put the buggy in the trunk.

Covid rules
We have not been asked to scan a QR code anywhere, although we see the locals doing it. As soon as the staff see barang, we just get waved through. Occasionally a hotel asks for a vaccine card. In the non-tourist towns, mask wearing is nearly 100%. In beach places, the Thai tourists comply. It’s basically optional for barang tourists, about 50% comply. The local Thais mostly do not. I get the impression the Bangkok middle class are generally paranoid about Covid, the rest not so much.
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