Bangkok Daily Living

[Saraburi121]

Just wondering how folks in Bangkok are living?  My wife was just talking to her friend in Bangkok (married to an expat) and she has not left her apartment in a few months.  Her husband shops/works and her and the child stays home. We haven't been to Bangkok in over a year and dearly miss the trips.  We live in a small village which it is ok for people to visit the village from Bangkok but if you go to Bangkok for a visit you are under village scrutiny/quarentine upon return, still haven't figured that one out.  Miss eating in the different styles of restaurants in BKK which a lot are probably closed now.  We (Thai wife included) miss being able to escape the village.  Used to do a once a month trip to shop and eat to BKK. 

 

Do most folks go about life as normal?  Stay in the apartment and get delivered food and water?  Are you worried every time you go out?  What do your trust for transportation?  Grab, taxi, motorbike, walk?  

 

I ask this because we live in a very secluded place we grow our own vegetables and have water, pork, chicken delivered from as much as you can trust local sources.  Only 39 cases in the Amphoe since April.  No idea what my wifes friend is going through.  

[internationalism]

I think it's just being lazy on part of that woman locked in an apartment. Covid is just an excuse for her lifestyle.

She, but even more so her kid, need sunshine for vid D, as well as a minimum of 1h physical activity (the best outside).

Parks are opened again, but walking along canals, paths away from roads and traffic, was always possible.

Same story with my wife, she always sits home, doing nothing (no kids). Out of sheer boredom she started gardening.

 

For me covid did not make any change in my lifestyle. I do prefer shopping personally at macro, rather than online, because can get special offers on groceries. But also suplement with online shopping, because it's very difficult to find on the shelf chosen item with all thai writing.

 

there is no lock down, so travelling up and down from bkk is easy, just don't tell neighbours    

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by internationalism

[userabcd]

Its hard to believe that humans cant manage without intermingling, being around other humans, travelling about, eating in restaurants or wandering aimlessly about in shopping malls.

[tonray]

9 hours ago, Saraburi121 said:

and she has not left her apartment in a few months

That's absurd...I go to Bangkok about once or twice a week...and aside from sit down restaurant closures and lack of foreoign tourists....life as usual. Same Street food vendors, etc etc.

[couchpotato]

8 minutes ago, tonray said:

That's absurd...I go to Bangkok about once or twice a week...and aside from sit down restaurant closures and lack of foreoign tourists....life as usual. Same Street food vendors, etc etc.

I concur.  Yes be careful, but don't be a hermit.  Wear a mask, don't mingle and wash hands frequently.

[Surelynot]

You can easily live as "normal"......we eat out once or twice a week, and go out for a few drinks every other night.....you can always find somewhere open......shopping hasn't changed and travel is easier for sure......taxis line the streets.

 

Big night clubs and 'proper' bars and pubs are the real losers in all of this.....most of these are closed.

[smutcakes]

I still go for a run in the morning outside, go to Big C or Tesco Lotus once a week early morning, other than that i spend much of the time at home, working from Mon-Friday. Up until they banned dine in again, the restaurants around here (Thonglor) still seemed to have people dining in. I believe shopping malls are open, but i have not been and rarely go when its not Covid.

 

Essentially its quiet and i try and stay at home where possible, but there is nothing to stop you heading out for a stroll, visiting the malls if that is your thing. As always there are the odd bar/restaurant still serving drinks/dinner if you know where to look.

 

All in all its a bit quiet but difficult to complain to much.

 

Edited to add that i avoid taxis and public transport and drive my own vehicle wherever i go.

Edited July 1, 2021 by smutcakes
Clarify

[brewsterbudgen]

Apart from bars being closed and shops closing slightly earlier, life in Bangkok has been fairly normal.  The recent closure of dine-in restaurants is a pain, but parks are open, as are shops and malls.  

[Kinnock]

The Thai Government, like most other Governments, is trying to fight a virus with pointless bureaucracy.  I just try to live as normally as possible within any of the rules that are actually enforced.  

 

[The Cipher]

I go out almost daily. Malls and markets open and busy. Many people in malls and local markets, few people in night markets. When restaurants are allowed to open, they tend to be quite full as well (certain brands are always full with long lines). One very sad thing is that many small and/or independent shops have closed while many more seem to be barely hanging on. The dominance of the large (well capitalized) chains seems to be increasing. Not fantastic for the lifestyle diversity of Bangkok.

 

People out and about tend, in general, to skew younger (most look under 40).

 

Quite a few places offered free or discounted parking for awhile, although that now seems to be being slowly rolled back. I also take the trains from time to time and they are reasonably full as well - particularly during peak hours. Traffic is better than before, but still can be a pain during rush hours or on weekends.

 

My social life is much reduced (due to restrictions, not choice). Organized night life is zero, at least as far as I'm aware.

[Aussieroaming]

Food shopping is normal but we haven't been to Central or Union Mall since April and we used to go once a week for a wander. I'm walking everyday to get some exercise but 3 hours in a face mask in the sun is uncomfortable after a while. Haven't been able to swim or use the condo gym since April but I bought a reasonable quality spin bike in November to use in the condo. All in all it is survivable but not an ideal way to live. We were looking for a house to buy in PKK but that got put on hold in April as my wife ian't comfortable travelling and staying in hotels at the present in order to look.

[Saraburi121]

2 hours ago, The Cipher said:

One very sad thing is that many small and/or independent shops have closed while many more seem to be barely hanging on. The dominance of the large (well capitalized) chains seems to be increasing. Not fantastic for the lifestyle diversity of Bangkok.

That is sad.  Some of the best restaurants are the Mom and Pop small establishments. The chain restaurants seem to be taking over.

[Saraburi121]

7 hours ago, tonray said:

That's absurd...I go to Bangkok about once or twice a week...and aside from sit down restaurant closures and lack of foreoign tourists....life as usual. Same Street food vendors, etc etc.

I thought the same myself, think I would go crazy being locked in an apartment for a few months. Bit extreme.  Seems like most folk in BKK just are going on about life which is good.  Where we live life goes on just as always, no real changes except a few restaurants do takeaway only now.  

[Thingamabob]

Pretty much as normal except for the nightlife which is virtually non-existent at the moment.

[Ralf001]

Other than not going out for a meal every Thursday night life is 100% normal.

[brewsterbudgen]

1 hour ago, Saraburi121 said:

I thought the same myself, think I would go crazy being locked in an apartment for a few months. Bit extreme.  Seems like most folk in BKK just are going on about life which is good.  Where we live life goes on just as always, no real changes except a few restaurants do takeaway only now.  

Us Bangkokians are resilient types!

[jack71]

On 7/1/2021 at 12:18 AM, Saraburi121 said:

We haven't been to Bangkok in over a year and dearly miss the trips

Stop being a baby. We've had heaps of weekends there. We wear 2 masks each. One standard medical grade mask that most people wear and an N95 on top. Never caught covid.

Edited July 4, 2021 by onthedarkside
flame comment removed

[Pmbkk]

On 7/1/2021 at 8:31 PM, jack71 said:

Stop being a baby. We've had heaps of weekends there. We wear 2 masks each. One standard medical grade mask that most people wear and an N95 on top. Never caught covid.

 

God you're hard - do you carry a stick to keep your distance...????

[Caldera]

I still go out daily, I just avoid crowds. I wouldn't want to miss walking around and catching some sunshine.

 

Some things are different obviously. Netflix instead of going to the cinema, takeaway food instead of dining out. Not such a big deal for me, but not being able to hang out with friends kind of sucks.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There's a difference between the COVID rules the government imposes, and those we choose to follow ourselves.

 

The wife and I always enjoyed eating out, but stopped doing that sometime before the government's latest decision to shut down sit-down restaurant dining in Bangkok.

 

The number of new daily COVID cases in BKK about doubled from 1,000 per day to 2,000 per day just over the past week. And I'm an over age 60 type, so the last thing I want to be doing is taking chances with COVID.

 

As much as we enjoyed going out to restaurants before, government or no government, I don't want to be sitting around indoors among a big group of people from all over with no one wearing masks while they're eating.

 

That's just begging for trouble, especially with the very contagious Delta/India variant now becoming predominant here.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

On 7/1/2021 at 8:31 PM, jack71 said:

We wear 2 masks each. One standard medical grade mask that most people wear and an N95 on top. Never caught covid.

Been tested?

[big dendrobenaes]

there is lockdown in bkk for 2 weeks