I'm having a house built. It's stressful. I haven't even signed off the plans yet after three weeks of too-ing and fro-ing with the architect who doesn't seem to have a clue about electrical engineering or regulations.
It's nothing special. Just a stock plan with a number of minor amendments as I could neither afford nor get my own design past the wife so it's a compromise. Anyway, more on this later but with this background in mind, we decided to take our first 'new normal' trip away on the bike for just 2 days and 1 night in Kanchanburi, home of the bridge over the River Kwai.
Currently in Thailand.....
We are in phase 3....or it could be phase 4 of lockdown restrictions. Bars are not yet open but massage parlours are, but only the traditional health ones, not the soapies. Restaurants are open but only one to a table unless there is a plastic screen between you. You still can't however, have a beer with a meal.
Beer with lunch and an empty bridge!
There is still an 11pm until 3am nationwide curfew and no buses south. There are a few internal flights now but our border is still rigidly closed to incoming passengers, unless you have a work permit and various letters of permission and health certificates from the Thai embassy in your home country. Basically there is no one coming in for 3 months now and this ban is expected to remain until at least the 31st of July. Tourism, on which much of the country relies, is trashed. Thousands are in poverty and out of work.
The government is now trying to promote domestic tourism and as such, some hotels have reopened and people are starting to travel a little but to be honest, Thais are not huge tourists and our chosen destination, Kanchaburi, despite it being a huge destination for foreign tourists, is never going to attract hordes of Thais....
So this isn't a review, merely a look at how things are, and that can be answered in one short sentence. Very quiet and rather sad.
The hotel was one of only a handful that was open and it was actually booked up. We got the last of the 40 rooms. There are special offers galore on hotel bookings all over Thailand at the moment, if only you could get here of course! Breakfast was served plated rather than buffet style. All buffet style eateries are still banned and despite pools being allowed to open again, ours was closed which was a relief as it was looking rather errr green!
The street on which the hotel is located is where most of the riverside hotels are, and is a long stretch of bars, cafes and restaurants but at nighttime, the normally bustling street was almost silent and empty except for a few local style eating places, a couple of shops and a rather forlorn mom and pop store.
In town at lunchtime, it was dreadfully quiet. The markets and touristy trinket shops open, but without anyone in them. The bridge itself is normally packed with tourists taking photos, seven days a week but there was barely a soul walking across, even when the train came over. We ate lunch at a riverside restaurant we enjoyed last time we were here but unlike last time when there was hardly a seat to be had, we were the only customers.
Classic tourist view....minus the tourists!
The government is mulling over an idea to give everyone 3000 baht ($100USD) credit or rebate if they book a stay in a qualifying hotel. It's possibly a good way to start the ball rolling and get some cash circulating in the tourist industry but I'm not sure it will work out quite as planned!!
So what of Hotel The Zeit ?
This isn't really a review. The hotel was just OK. To be honest, I've stayed in much better places for much less money. We paid a very heavily discounted 1500Baht ($50USD) and it was just 'OK', The location is superb, on the banks of the River Kwai and thankfully this time, there weren't hordes of revellers on party boats going up and down 24 hours a day! This trip, I had my tranquillity!
Nice, peaceful view from my room.
Cool design should look effortless....
From a design perspective, the hotel had tried much too hard to be cool, hip and trendy. I love industrial and modern design but it's been done to death and so to remain fresh, it needs to be different. This was just so generic and the whole place seemed to be begging for attention. There was also no flow amongst the various elements of the hotel.
Reception area. Look at me. I'm cool!
The toilets, reception, rooms, venue, pool and eating area were all separate structures without any sort of connection to each other and thus, the overall site. It was also a little shabby. One thing with this form of design is it needs to be kept in tip-top shape. Shabby modern design is just 'shabby', and is certainly not shabby chic!
A nice line of room blocks, with one, just stuck in front and slightly offset. God knows why but it ruins the whole aesthetic. Nice rainbow though!
Cool is cool, whether it be human or design!
Back to reality.....
Reality Thai style that is! Messages from the architect welcomed me home, informing me the brown window frames were almost double the price of the white ones and I was going to need a bigger consumer unit if I wanted the separate spur into one of the bathrooms I asked for.
Oh, and we passed a real Boeing 747 in a field at the side of the road as we drove home....as you do!
Can you and the missus sit at the same table at the restaurant? And why can't you have beer with the meal?
Will be back shortly with a photo and a full answer to this !
@livinguktaiwan this is our 'new normal' !
This is how it is in a fully enclosed, indoor restaurant OR its just one to a table!! This is in Bangkok, in other places, the rules are not so well-enforced I think. As for the beers, they banned alcohol sales for about 6 weeks before lifting the ban for take out sales only. Restaurants are still not allowed to sell alcohol and bars are still closed until at least the end of the month although the word is that this will be extended!
The idea is that they don't want large gatherings and people getting pissed and partying, hence the 11pm while 3am curfew which still applies.
Hope you're still safe and well. Are you still in Weston?
Takes out all the romance over dinner doesn't it?!!!
The curfew is 11pm to 3am? You said 11am until 3pm in your post which I thought was a bit odd ...
Yes, still in Weston and all is well, thank you. I reckon I will be here for a while as Taiwan won't be opening their border till October I hear. How are you managing your visa runs now?
Ahh I will go back and edit it later, thanks!
All Visas have been automatically extended until July 31st allegedly! So I went and extended mine anyway and I have to go back at the end of this month for my 1-year extension which means I will only have to 'check-in' every 90 days. This is only because I have a marriage visa. It's going to be bedlam for those on tourist visas on the 31st of July as they will have to leave unless the amnesty is extended. I'd rather have everything sorted because I wouldn't trust immigration not to start levying fines regardless of the amnesty.
I personally don't see Thailand opening up will late in the year either. All incoming passenger flights are still banned but I could still get out thanks to Eva, and now some other airlines who are basically flying in empty to pick people up and fly them on. Eva are still running a weekly direct flight to Heathrow from here (down from the usual 3 times a week)
Sadly, I'm going to miss my Mum's 80th birthday next month but if I go, I simply can't get back.
I heard about the immigration slapping hefty fees on visa extension in some SEA countries, but I still find it crazy you have to do visa runs even though you're married to a local.
It's a pity you can't be back for your mum's birthday, were you guys going to hold a big party for her originally? 80 is a great milestone, hopefully the rest of your family will be there with here, even if its at a social distance.
Haha, even planes need holidays! Great write, great shots - I love photos void of people and traffic. Makes me feel like a kid again, when I read this story where this boy woke up in the world completely alone 😊
It's a good point I'd not noticed about the pictures being devoid of people!
Thailand never fails to throw up surprises. That plane must have been trucked in, in pieces and reassembled. Its 50 km from an airport! totally bizarre and I'm sure if I go back in 10 years it will be just a rusty pile of trash. They do have these great ideas which don't turn out to be so great after all lol
Its up on bricks. If that were Leeds, the wheels would be nicked off it!
Yay!
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