Life in BKK is, currently, not very fun. I am completely using my pro-level stay-at-home skills right now. I mean, I get that it’s all relative and last week’s uptick wouldn’t have scared me at all, but the people around me are way more anxious and it’s probably best if I can do all I can to not add to it.On April 25, 2021, Thailand hit an all-time high in new cases (2,438). Thailand has a population of about 69.63 million (as of 2019). But let’s get real, the people here started freaking out when it hit 250 new cases. As an American, this is barely a drop in a bucket of water. Their positivity rate is at 0.7%. In the US, we’re happy if we can get at or below 5%. However, when I arrived, there were less than 100 deaths (97, I think). and now…within the last 2 weeks, it’s at 140. That’s quite the jump in 2 weeks for Thailand. Their vaccination rate, not so go…but then again, they are NOT a first world country. Only 0.3% of the population is fully vaccinated and only 1.4% has gotten at least the first dose. They also just made a deal to get 2 new vaccines: Sputnik V (Russian) and Pfizer (American). Currently, I believe they have access to Sinovac (Chinese) and AstraZeneca (English).

So, I really, really haven’t done much and when I do get out…we try to get everything done at once so we don’t have to venture out again. We did go early one day to the floating market. It was not as I was expected. It wasn’t really like a traditional floating market. All the shops were on concrete barges and it really didn’t feel like it was floating. You walked through the market like any other market. The only difference was that there were canals here and there and you had to cross the occasional bridge. There were no small boats along the canals. It was still nice. We went so early (and it was, apparently, the last day the market was to be open; due to COVID, they were closing again) that the market was fairly empty and it was easy to maintain social distancing. Not a ton of shops were open, but the important ones were. Like the sai oua (Thai sausage) shop was open…albeit a little later than usual, but they usually have a line…this time, no line. We were able to get breakfast, which was nice. My cousin bought a bunch of stuff for the house and to bring to her mother and brother.

The only other time I got out was when I went to the immigration office to request an extension on my visa due to COVID. In order to get to the immigration office, we had to take the ferry across the river. After the ferry, it was onto the back of a motorcycle to get to the immigration office. We spent about 2 hours there, which is about the same amount of time I spent at the one in Chiang Mai. Altogether, it wasn’t too bad a wait. It went by pretty fast. I’m hoping when I go back to see if my extension is approved that it won’t take nearly as long and they’ll either say yes or no. [fingers crossed…or not]. I have a contingency plan.

But like I said, we make the most of our time when we’re out of the house. After getting back across the river, we headed to a temple and got some lunch nearby. The food was delicious even if we did order too much. And, the temple was pretty good. There were a ton of cute places to take photos. I wasn’t up for the photo taking session, but my cousin was relentless. It was easier to obliged because saying “no” just wasn’t working. Oh well…without her insistence, I wouldn’t have the photos.

It’s still been a very blah kind of feeling as of late, so I’ve been not very productive. I believe there was an article in the NY Times that called this feeling languishing. Enough of this blah-ness. Let’s see what I’ve been eating since the last update. And don’t forget to check out the videos for Week 1 and Week 2. And to stay more current on my daily life, my Instagram is the best place to find that.