Thursday, March 19, 2020
At 0830 we arrived at the breakfast restaurant of the SGS, notifying that each day there’re lesser people,
actual occupancy 50 rooms. Also the breakfast selection starts to be reduced – but still nothing to complain about.
I had a delicious mango, a small sin, pancakes,
and a Thai-style egg-white omelette, with the fabulous sauce, made from chili, garlic and fish sauce. Yes, the smell isn’t the best, but the taste just excellent.
No sun again, so I did some things I had to do, before going down to 3rd floor, to do my daily gym-session. When I came around the corner, I got that picture:
Darkness, shutdown…
I went down to the concierge, asked him to call other Bonvoy properties in the area, to see if any gym still operational. And my guess was right, the one at Aloft still open.
So I packed the things I needed, called the Aloft shuttle, which picked me up just opposite at the WESTIN.
At the Aloft I got a very friendly welcome, was escorted to the gym, which isn’t the greatest – but still better than ‘no gym’.
I had a friendly chat with the other gym users, basically all sharing the same idea about the actual situation, even it’s not the most popular.
After 1 ½ hours
I went to the pool area, having a smoke. The pool area at the Aloft is fine, not pure luxury, but you always have a fresh breeze – and the complete BA grew.
I met the GM of the Aloft, a very friendly woman who I know for quite a while. She informed me that also they would have to close down the gym later today, since police is controlling. Basically all locations where many people could meet, would have to be shut down until end of April, at least.
We talked about my undefined length of stay – and she made me a very good offer: when I would stay at the Aloft, I would get a suite and she would but a treadmill, a bench and the dumbbells inside, until the gym would be reopened.
The shuttle brought me back to the WESTIN, I used the skywalk to reach the SGS.
Meanwhile the sun came out, we decided to go down to the pool. Yes, the pool at the SGS is nicer than at the Aloft, but there’s no breeze at all, you’re just boiling in your own juice. In total we were 6 people at the pool, plus 8 people staff.
2 hours were enough. We left the pool, got dressed, went over to the Food Court of Robinson Shopping Mall,
where the staff was doing a small show,
had some Krapao Gai Kai Dao, cheap and tasty.
Further to Terminal 21 Shopping Mall where we had to exchange the glass protector of Valentynas iPhone… again ! I especially bought some ‘indestructible’ cover at more than US$ 50, for both of us. They even give a warranty, exchange up to 3 times free of charge, in case something happens to the indestructible cover. What should I say ??? Mine works for 4 months, Valentynas has been replaced already 3 times. So now we had to buy a new one. Let’s see how many days this one will last (her record was 2 hours !).
Back to the hotel, relaxed for an hour and down to ‘Living Room’ for dinner snacks, a service that will be discontinued from Sunday onwards.
I read the news, the discussion about a shutdown in case Covid-19 reaches stage 3, also about the new immigration process requiring a health certificate and -insurance confirmation. A girl of the BA team told me that today immigration took hours, even for the airline staff.
But one thing I’ve to tell, Thai people are still very friendly towards foreigners, especially since they nowadays realize how dependent they’re on tourists. Hope it’ll stay like that.
At around 2030 we left the hotel, walked deep into Soi 12, where ‘MAY’s’ is located. Presently you don’t need any reservation, at arrival we were the only guests (later 2 more couples arrived).
We ordered by beloved Pomelo-Salad with shrimps,
the ‘Golden Curry’ with softshell crab
and stir-fried chicken with Thai basilic.
While I was used to MAY’s style of kitchen, for Vanetyna it was the first visit – and she didn’t like it. For her all dishes where too sweet, not spicy enough, missing taste. I partially would agree, MAY’s is made for foreigners, nicely styled, but far from the original Thai taste.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, started to back our suitcases.