Leaving the Cold behind... SEA (Thailand, India, Singapore) with LH A380 in FIRST
Apr 2, 2020, 10:31 am
#106
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Programs: Lufthansa SEN, Bonvoy LT TE, SIXT Diamond, AVIS President, HERTZ President
Posts: 268
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
After breakfast we decided to drive to ‘Coconut Beach’,
some kilometres south but still located in the same bay as the Le Meridien.
The beach was ‘okay’, not much different to our hotel beach – but at least we saw some other people relaxing and swimming. For one European lady it got already that boring that she started to collect the rubbish from the beach.
After some minutes of walking we decided ‘it’s not really Paradise Beach’, drove back to the hotel and spent the day & evening within the hotel’s area.
________________________________
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Even paradise is getting boring after a few days…
At 9 we arrived at breakfast were the usual table was waiting for the 4 of us. The staff already knows what we want to drink, the guys at the egg-station know what to prepare. And after a day of absence the my ley-rolls were waiting for me.
We said ‘good-bye’ to an Austrian couple who had a QR flight out of Phuket at 2230, but had to leave the hotel at 10 in the morning, taxi to the Phang Nga side of the bridge, walking the bridge with luggage, crossing the check-point, taking another taxi to the airport.
The hotel is getting emptier every day, just some people from Bangkok arrived, renting all the Villas to stay during the crisis. We have been informed that the hotel would not take any new reservations anymore, but they would have no plan to close down. Cross fingers !
Since traveling within the region of Phang Nga is still allowed, we decided to take a chance to see something else than our beach & hotel. My Swiss friend needed to stay at the hotel due to some Video-Calls, the 3 of us jumped into the Beemer.
Valentyna drove us south on the new, 4-lane highway 4, where still some work is in actual process. From highway 4 we turned south-east into a smaller road – and within some kilometres the landscape got scenic, smooth hills, jungle-like – but also with a lot of these terrible palm-oil plantations.
10 Kilometres before our destination the landscape changed again, rough karst mountains, overgrown by jungle – impressive !
After 1 ― hours we reached the city of Phang Nga, the capitol of our region. We were quite surprised that within the region there wasn’t any check-point, no feeling of the actual crisis, life just as normal with people walking around, working, selling goods roadside.
We didn’t expect much since Phang Nga isn’t a metropolis, but one of the only two ‘cities’ within the Phang Nga region, with just below 10’000 inhabitants.
We drove straight to the shopping mall, which is just a smaller complex comprising of 2 levels, the 2nd one closed because it’s a cinema.
At the 1st level there’s a BigC supermarket, an optician (where I got some contact lenses), a Watsons drug store, a book store, an electronic outlet, a shop selling shoes and of course a KFC.
We did spend roughly an hour within this ‘civilization’, I have been surprised that even here I could stock up my ‘Alpecin’ shampoo. And I thought of buying some new RayBan sunglasses, since they offered 70% discount, final price below US$ 100.
Tripadvisor guided us to the nearby restaurant ‘Genesis Garden’, located in a small sideroad.
We were allowed to have a seat outside the restaurant, so we luckily didn’t have to eat in the car.
Since Phang Nga isn’t touristic at all, we were surprised by a menu which included modern Korean style dishes and even Spaghetti Tom Yam Goong.
The food we ordered, egg-noodles stir fried in soy sauce with seafood, spicy glass noodle salad
and ‘Suki’ haeng (dry) was extremely well prepared,
‘Thai-spicy’ as requested – and not quite expensive. In combination with some ice-cold smoothies from natural fruits (pineapple & strawberry)
a perfect lunch at 38 degrees.
Further we drove Wat Tham Ta Pan, a rather strange assembly of sculptures. I would be really interested to know what kind of drugs the monks took to get such creatures in mind.
From the ‘sculpture park’ you can take some rather steep stairs up
towards a small building on a cliff, overlooking the impressive landscape of the Phang Nga area.
Coming down we were so happy to sit in a cool, airconditioned car.
Phang Nga caves were closed due to Covid-19 and therefore we drove the 105 km back on Highway 4,
having a stop to buy pineapples (5 small pineapples at US$ 0.50).
Back to the hotel 1630, did some in-room-gym and relaxed until dinner, which we decided to have at the hotel.
Unfortunately, the kitchen-crew changed April 1st, not offering the same high standard as before – but the Thai dishes still okay.
After some rounds of Sueca we decided to end this interesting day.
After breakfast we decided to drive to ‘Coconut Beach’,
some kilometres south but still located in the same bay as the Le Meridien.
The beach was ‘okay’, not much different to our hotel beach – but at least we saw some other people relaxing and swimming. For one European lady it got already that boring that she started to collect the rubbish from the beach.
After some minutes of walking we decided ‘it’s not really Paradise Beach’, drove back to the hotel and spent the day & evening within the hotel’s area.
________________________________
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Even paradise is getting boring after a few days…
At 9 we arrived at breakfast were the usual table was waiting for the 4 of us. The staff already knows what we want to drink, the guys at the egg-station know what to prepare. And after a day of absence the my ley-rolls were waiting for me.
We said ‘good-bye’ to an Austrian couple who had a QR flight out of Phuket at 2230, but had to leave the hotel at 10 in the morning, taxi to the Phang Nga side of the bridge, walking the bridge with luggage, crossing the check-point, taking another taxi to the airport.
The hotel is getting emptier every day, just some people from Bangkok arrived, renting all the Villas to stay during the crisis. We have been informed that the hotel would not take any new reservations anymore, but they would have no plan to close down. Cross fingers !
Since traveling within the region of Phang Nga is still allowed, we decided to take a chance to see something else than our beach & hotel. My Swiss friend needed to stay at the hotel due to some Video-Calls, the 3 of us jumped into the Beemer.
Valentyna drove us south on the new, 4-lane highway 4, where still some work is in actual process. From highway 4 we turned south-east into a smaller road – and within some kilometres the landscape got scenic, smooth hills, jungle-like – but also with a lot of these terrible palm-oil plantations.
10 Kilometres before our destination the landscape changed again, rough karst mountains, overgrown by jungle – impressive !
After 1 ― hours we reached the city of Phang Nga, the capitol of our region. We were quite surprised that within the region there wasn’t any check-point, no feeling of the actual crisis, life just as normal with people walking around, working, selling goods roadside.
We didn’t expect much since Phang Nga isn’t a metropolis, but one of the only two ‘cities’ within the Phang Nga region, with just below 10’000 inhabitants.
We drove straight to the shopping mall, which is just a smaller complex comprising of 2 levels, the 2nd one closed because it’s a cinema.
At the 1st level there’s a BigC supermarket, an optician (where I got some contact lenses), a Watsons drug store, a book store, an electronic outlet, a shop selling shoes and of course a KFC.
We did spend roughly an hour within this ‘civilization’, I have been surprised that even here I could stock up my ‘Alpecin’ shampoo. And I thought of buying some new RayBan sunglasses, since they offered 70% discount, final price below US$ 100.
Tripadvisor guided us to the nearby restaurant ‘Genesis Garden’, located in a small sideroad.
We were allowed to have a seat outside the restaurant, so we luckily didn’t have to eat in the car.
Since Phang Nga isn’t touristic at all, we were surprised by a menu which included modern Korean style dishes and even Spaghetti Tom Yam Goong.
The food we ordered, egg-noodles stir fried in soy sauce with seafood, spicy glass noodle salad
and ‘Suki’ haeng (dry) was extremely well prepared,
‘Thai-spicy’ as requested – and not quite expensive. In combination with some ice-cold smoothies from natural fruits (pineapple & strawberry)
a perfect lunch at 38 degrees.
Further we drove Wat Tham Ta Pan, a rather strange assembly of sculptures. I would be really interested to know what kind of drugs the monks took to get such creatures in mind.
From the ‘sculpture park’ you can take some rather steep stairs up
towards a small building on a cliff, overlooking the impressive landscape of the Phang Nga area.
Coming down we were so happy to sit in a cool, airconditioned car.
Phang Nga caves were closed due to Covid-19 and therefore we drove the 105 km back on Highway 4,
having a stop to buy pineapples (5 small pineapples at US$ 0.50).
Back to the hotel 1630, did some in-room-gym and relaxed until dinner, which we decided to have at the hotel.
Unfortunately, the kitchen-crew changed April 1st, not offering the same high standard as before – but the Thai dishes still okay.
After some rounds of Sueca we decided to end this interesting day.
Apr 3, 2020, 3:42 pm
#107
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: CGN
Programs: LH M&M FT, SQ-PPS
Posts: 91
I would really try to get out now!!
To be left behind far away from safe medical treatment and human rights .
Considering good medical assistance - BKK is far away.
On top u would have to stay now more than 5(really best case) -10 weeks over there. Whatever comes!
Pls consider:
There are some rescue flights ex BKK from Condor(listed here) to get European! people back to Europe. Mainly German/Austrian /Swiss people booking with OTA and single arrangements.
Also with Valentyna having no German Passport it should be a solution to get 2 seats on a plane to Frankfurt. Possible transit for non Germans via under controlled stay=non terminal.
To get a seat you can try contacting Condor.de(min deposit of 99€ per pax required) or a TUI agent in Phuket/Bangkok In PhuketTui ist located in the Amari Phuket.
There are also some Condor flights ex HKT in the next 2-3 days.
Emirates will start to fly from Europe 3 times the week to major cities in Europe after 10 th April, but they will not fly to and out of Thailand.
So I give you list of Condor flight, out of BKK.
4. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt)fully booked)
5. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt(fully booked)
6. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
7. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
8. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
9. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
Some days (4th,5th, 6th) Condor is flying out of HKT.
Other options within the next 3-4 weeks maybe to fly to Taiwan (within 3-4 weeks) without transit.Taiwan may open flights with safe screening tests before flying out of Thailand and quarantine in Taiwan.
To be left behind far away from safe medical treatment and human rights .
Considering good medical assistance - BKK is far away.
On top u would have to stay now more than 5(really best case) -10 weeks over there. Whatever comes!
Pls consider:
There are some rescue flights ex BKK from Condor(listed here) to get European! people back to Europe. Mainly German/Austrian /Swiss people booking with OTA and single arrangements.
Also with Valentyna having no German Passport it should be a solution to get 2 seats on a plane to Frankfurt. Possible transit for non Germans via under controlled stay=non terminal.
To get a seat you can try contacting Condor.de(min deposit of 99€ per pax required) or a TUI agent in Phuket/Bangkok In PhuketTui ist located in the Amari Phuket.
There are also some Condor flights ex HKT in the next 2-3 days.
Emirates will start to fly from Europe 3 times the week to major cities in Europe after 10 th April, but they will not fly to and out of Thailand.
So I give you list of Condor flight, out of BKK.
4. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt)fully booked)
5. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt(fully booked)
6. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
7. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
8. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
9. April 2020, DE8763 Bangkok-Frankfurt
Some days (4th,5th, 6th) Condor is flying out of HKT.
Other options within the next 3-4 weeks maybe to fly to Taiwan (within 3-4 weeks) without transit.Taiwan may open flights with safe screening tests before flying out of Thailand and quarantine in Taiwan.
Last edited by DanielW; Apr 4, 2020 at 4:33 am Reason: Generalisation
Apr 3, 2020, 5:37 pm
#108
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Germany
Posts: 3,813
But what's the point?
There is no safe place in the world apart from Taiwan, and maybe South Korea and Singapore (but they are not out of the woods yet). Their borders are closed.
Germany won't let Valentyna in, since she is (I suppose) not family in the formal sense and doesn't have a German residence permit. I doubt Condor would even let her board.
Going to Ukraine (even if it were possible) doesn't seem to be better than staying in Thailand. Riding it out in the Thailand countryside doesn't seem a bad option for the OP, given that he can afford it and has backup plans in case all hotels close.
The health care in Germany is fragile too. We cannot afford to stay in a lockdown for many months, and ending the lockdown will cause new infections to surge again, eventually overwhelming the health care system. In fact in Thailand, money will probably buy the OP better health care than in Germany, should health care systems collapse due to Covid-19.
There is no safe place in the world apart from Taiwan, and maybe South Korea and Singapore (but they are not out of the woods yet). Their borders are closed.
Germany won't let Valentyna in, since she is (I suppose) not family in the formal sense and doesn't have a German residence permit. I doubt Condor would even let her board.
Going to Ukraine (even if it were possible) doesn't seem to be better than staying in Thailand. Riding it out in the Thailand countryside doesn't seem a bad option for the OP, given that he can afford it and has backup plans in case all hotels close.
The health care in Germany is fragile too. We cannot afford to stay in a lockdown for many months, and ending the lockdown will cause new infections to surge again, eventually overwhelming the health care system. In fact in Thailand, money will probably buy the OP better health care than in Germany, should health care systems collapse due to Covid-19.
Apr 4, 2020, 3:40 am
#109
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Programs: Lufthansa SEN, Bonvoy LT TE, SIXT Diamond, AVIS President, HERTZ President
Posts: 268
Friday, April 3, 2020
Another day in ‘paradise’ – we thought.
So as usual we met a breakfast, had our standard items. When returning to our Villa I saw the hotel staff removing all the sunbeds from the beach – strange !
I asked them why they do this and they answered ‘because the hotel will close’. Wow, did I really have to get this rather important information from the beach boys ?
Back to the room I called at the reception, asked for the Duty Manager and was informed that she would call back. After some minutes she really did, informed that the governor of the province ordered all hotels to close on April 5th.
I asked her to come, and she really did. She excused, but there’s nothing they could do about it, would help us finding something within or in the neighbouring districts. Of course she never came back to us.
Instead of going to the beach we had to look for an alternative. We straight decided against any hotel, because we could or rather would run into the same problem again and again.
Within the area there was nothing appropriate, so we checked AirBnB for Krabi and Surat Thani region. The choice of nice 2- or 3-bedroom Pool-Villas was rather limited, especially when you’re not ready to go on an island.
During lunch we agreed with a Thai/English couple from Krabi to rent their Villa until end of the month, official rental with the needed TM30 registration to get a Visa prolongation.
Our BMW X1 was a bit too small for 4 persons plus 5 big suitcases, so my Swiss friend hired car & driver, who at least could bring them to the new house instead of only to the Phang Nga/Krabi checkpoint.
We folded down the backseats, loaded all the luggage in our car,
we in the front of the Beemer, our friends in the back of the Camry.
First stop ‘Amazon Café’, to refuel ourselves.
Then onwards, the same way to drove the day before, direction Phang Nga.
Instead of sun and 38 degrees we had a strong rain storm, temperature drop to 25 degrees. When the rain stopped and the sun came out, it got very scenic, all the water on the street and in the forest evaporating, giving a beautiful dust within the jungle on both sides.
Just before Phang Nga we turned left direction Krabi, the landscape got stunning with all the overgrown karst rocks of different shape.
We reached the Phang Nga / Krabi checkpoint where all cars had to stop, open the window for showing passports (of which, as well as the cars, photos were made) and temperature screening.
The police guys were very friendly, let us go with a smile and ‘good luck’ – and off we were.
Just some kilometres before Krabi we left highway 4, turned right direction Ao Nang,
driving through a beautiful jungle with the karst mountains in the back.
Finally, after 2 ― hours drive we arrived at our Villa,
the friendly owners waiting for us.
They showed us around, introduced the features of the house – as well as a warning about many mosquitoes in the evening hours due to jungle and rain.
After we paid the security deposit and the rent for the first week they made photos of our passports to register as soon as the immigration office reopens on Tuesday.
Quickly we unloaded and off we were, shopping at MAKRO supermarket 10 kilometres away.
I can’t say I like MAKRO, but we needed to get some items quickly, especially to prepare breakfast the next morning.
When queuing I have been surprised that especially elderly tourists don’t practise social distancing. Just behind us a older man didn’t keep distance at all, I would say maximum 30 centimetres. When I asked him to please keep the recommended distance, he started to shout at me, that I should pay faster because his taxi would be waiting.
We understood that it was already 2000 and restaurants are closing, so on the way back we stopped at a Thai-Korean restaurant and ordered some take-away. Even there were no customers and the curfew was getting closer, they took their time to prepare.
2115 we arrived back to our Villa and had dinner.
But the Villa, which has AC in all 3 bedrooms, doesn’t have an AC in the huge living room – and the doors had to be kept shut because of millions of flies outside. So it was incredibly hot, even the two fans were working on maximum speed.
And, not very clever, we forgot to switch the pool-lights off before leaving to the supermarket. So the surface of the water was covered by insects.
We did read the news, that the district government would close Ao Nang from the next morning, no driving in and out. Luckily the Villa is located in Ao Nang district, but not in the city itself.
Another day in ‘paradise’ – we thought.
So as usual we met a breakfast, had our standard items. When returning to our Villa I saw the hotel staff removing all the sunbeds from the beach – strange !
I asked them why they do this and they answered ‘because the hotel will close’. Wow, did I really have to get this rather important information from the beach boys ?
Back to the room I called at the reception, asked for the Duty Manager and was informed that she would call back. After some minutes she really did, informed that the governor of the province ordered all hotels to close on April 5th.
I asked her to come, and she really did. She excused, but there’s nothing they could do about it, would help us finding something within or in the neighbouring districts. Of course she never came back to us.
Instead of going to the beach we had to look for an alternative. We straight decided against any hotel, because we could or rather would run into the same problem again and again.
Within the area there was nothing appropriate, so we checked AirBnB for Krabi and Surat Thani region. The choice of nice 2- or 3-bedroom Pool-Villas was rather limited, especially when you’re not ready to go on an island.
During lunch we agreed with a Thai/English couple from Krabi to rent their Villa until end of the month, official rental with the needed TM30 registration to get a Visa prolongation.
Our BMW X1 was a bit too small for 4 persons plus 5 big suitcases, so my Swiss friend hired car & driver, who at least could bring them to the new house instead of only to the Phang Nga/Krabi checkpoint.
We folded down the backseats, loaded all the luggage in our car,
we in the front of the Beemer, our friends in the back of the Camry.
First stop ‘Amazon Café’, to refuel ourselves.
Then onwards, the same way to drove the day before, direction Phang Nga.
Instead of sun and 38 degrees we had a strong rain storm, temperature drop to 25 degrees. When the rain stopped and the sun came out, it got very scenic, all the water on the street and in the forest evaporating, giving a beautiful dust within the jungle on both sides.
Just before Phang Nga we turned left direction Krabi, the landscape got stunning with all the overgrown karst rocks of different shape.
We reached the Phang Nga / Krabi checkpoint where all cars had to stop, open the window for showing passports (of which, as well as the cars, photos were made) and temperature screening.
The police guys were very friendly, let us go with a smile and ‘good luck’ – and off we were.
Just some kilometres before Krabi we left highway 4, turned right direction Ao Nang,
driving through a beautiful jungle with the karst mountains in the back.
Finally, after 2 ― hours drive we arrived at our Villa,
the friendly owners waiting for us.
They showed us around, introduced the features of the house – as well as a warning about many mosquitoes in the evening hours due to jungle and rain.
After we paid the security deposit and the rent for the first week they made photos of our passports to register as soon as the immigration office reopens on Tuesday.
Quickly we unloaded and off we were, shopping at MAKRO supermarket 10 kilometres away.
I can’t say I like MAKRO, but we needed to get some items quickly, especially to prepare breakfast the next morning.
When queuing I have been surprised that especially elderly tourists don’t practise social distancing. Just behind us a older man didn’t keep distance at all, I would say maximum 30 centimetres. When I asked him to please keep the recommended distance, he started to shout at me, that I should pay faster because his taxi would be waiting.
We understood that it was already 2000 and restaurants are closing, so on the way back we stopped at a Thai-Korean restaurant and ordered some take-away. Even there were no customers and the curfew was getting closer, they took their time to prepare.
2115 we arrived back to our Villa and had dinner.
But the Villa, which has AC in all 3 bedrooms, doesn’t have an AC in the huge living room – and the doors had to be kept shut because of millions of flies outside. So it was incredibly hot, even the two fans were working on maximum speed.
And, not very clever, we forgot to switch the pool-lights off before leaving to the supermarket. So the surface of the water was covered by insects.
We did read the news, that the district government would close Ao Nang from the next morning, no driving in and out. Luckily the Villa is located in Ao Nang district, but not in the city itself.
Apr 4, 2020, 4:02 am
#110
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Programs: Lufthansa SEN, Bonvoy LT TE, SIXT Diamond, AVIS President, HERTZ President
Posts: 268
Yes, we were thinking about this option, too.
The only way we would have is to fly Bangkok - Amsterdam - Minsk. Then to get a car & driver, drive to the Belarus/Ukrainian boarder, hop out there, walk for 5 kilometers with our luggage until we reach the Ukrainian boarder, where my driver would wait for us, drive us home to Kiev or Odessa.
Yes, I could take Lufthansa from Bangkok to Frankfurt, either stay in Germany or find a way back home. But then I would have to let Valentyna behind, something I wouldn't do.
But what would be the sense ? I'm talking to my driver, to our housekeeper and other persons. They all tell us 'you're lucky not to be here'. The Asians still handle the issue a bit more relaxed (I'm talking about the people, not the government), nobody is in panic ! I always say: panic kills brain. Here in Thailand we're still able to drive around, the shops are well stocked, medial centers are close. So why should we sit in an aircraft with a risk to get infected ?
The only way we would have is to fly Bangkok - Amsterdam - Minsk. Then to get a car & driver, drive to the Belarus/Ukrainian boarder, hop out there, walk for 5 kilometers with our luggage until we reach the Ukrainian boarder, where my driver would wait for us, drive us home to Kiev or Odessa.
Yes, I could take Lufthansa from Bangkok to Frankfurt, either stay in Germany or find a way back home. But then I would have to let Valentyna behind, something I wouldn't do.
But what would be the sense ? I'm talking to my driver, to our housekeeper and other persons. They all tell us 'you're lucky not to be here'. The Asians still handle the issue a bit more relaxed (I'm talking about the people, not the government), nobody is in panic ! I always say: panic kills brain. Here in Thailand we're still able to drive around, the shops are well stocked, medial centers are close. So why should we sit in an aircraft with a risk to get infected ?
Apr 4, 2020, 4:15 am
#111
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 151
Hi Christian, first stay safe and healthy, all 4 of you. Second, thanks for sharing this great tripreport, I enjoy reading it. It is obvious that the Thai gov. will close down the hotels sooner than later and will try to get rid of tourists as they fear more infections. What fear does nowadays! It is a great choice to stay in a villa and enjoy your time as much as possible. The situation in Germany is not better than in other countries, well not so dreadful like in Italy and Spain but still serious. Do not let scaremongers and mostly those who are envy of your stay in Thailand come to you. If it is time to leave Thailand than I am sure you are wise enough to decide how to get back to Germany or Ukraine, untill then keep sending us those great food pics, I am craving for those simple but great meal!
Apr 4, 2020, 3:37 pm
#113
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: CGN
Programs: LH M&M FT, SQ-PPS
Posts: 91
Hello,
good to see that you are still in healthy condition.
I have expected the closure of hotels and more limitations of public live coming up. Therefore I recommended to ckeck options leaving the country asap.
Do you know what happend to the other remaining customers of the hotel?
Also the info policy of the hotel is not adequate.
So living in this nice house would be your choice at the moment. Maybe they have a nice grill spot in the garden to prepare some barbeque
good to see that you are still in healthy condition.
I have expected the closure of hotels and more limitations of public live coming up. Therefore I recommended to ckeck options leaving the country asap.
Do you know what happend to the other remaining customers of the hotel?
Also the info policy of the hotel is not adequate.
So living in this nice house would be your choice at the moment. Maybe they have a nice grill spot in the garden to prepare some barbeque
Last edited by Lufthansi; Apr 4, 2020 at 4:06 pm
Apr 5, 2020, 7:49 am
#116
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Programs: Lufthansa SEN, Bonvoy LT TE, SIXT Diamond, AVIS President, HERTZ President
Posts: 268
Sunday, April 5, 2020
What’s new in Thailand ? The governor of Krabi region ordered all hotels not to take new guests from today. All remaining guests can stay until April, 10th (in case the hotel doesn’t close earlier), then have to move to ‘designated’ hotels to be announced. Leaving the district isn’t possible anymore, unless you do have a confirmed flight ticket.
Luckily this order doesn’t include private accommodation, such apartments, chalets and villas.
For us life got a bit more interesting. Not living in a hotel but in a Villa with huge kitchen allows us to go shopping, to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Also, to clean the pool from flies (because we forgot to switch off the pool lights) was kind of job. Saturday morning, while the others were still sleeping, I took the net and worked for more than an hour to get it done. After that I cut a lot of fresh fruits, pressed the juice of the remainders over it, added Greece Yoghurt and sweetener; a perfect breakfast in combination with some crunchy Müesli croquant.
While Friday evening we went to MAKRO, Saturday we left the house,
drove through the scenic landscape nearby,
visited BigC near Krabi airport, a much nicer supermarket with bigger selection and better brands,
where we got the basics we needed.
Further to ‘Hotdog&Coolcat’,
a shop for upper range products, owned by a French guy. There we were able to get cheeses, cold cuts, freshly made Ravioli and tasty Baguette.
The sign outside reminded me of different times, where we were just 2 ― months ago, when traveling around the globe has been possible.
Back home we stored everything we bought, already felt much more secure.
For a late lunch we enjoyed our baguette with salted butter (salted butter for me is the best, even in combination with jam) and cold cuts, Valentyna prepared European dinner, perfectly crunchy hash brown potatoes with onions & meat loaf with some fried eggs on top. A nice change after weeks of Sushi, Pizza and Thai food.
There’s even a barbeque in the garden – but it just looks awful, don’t know when it was cleaned last time.
Sunday, after a healthy breakfast and me cleaning the pool, we decided to get some dumbbells. We started to call the suppliers, but nobody really seemed to be interested to sell. While they promised to call back, we never got any answer.
We received an Email from the Ukrainian embassy in Thailand, announcing that they would plan an evacuation flight from Bangkok to Kiev, operated by a 737-800 of SkyUp Airways, between April 8th and 10th. Further information said that the ticket price would depend on the number of passengers. At the very end of the information letter the embassy further wrote that they’re not sure the flight would take place – because nearly no Ukrainian still in Thailand would want to fly back home.
The girls found Russian TV channels on the Villa’s TV, jumped into the pool, my friend and me drove off for some additional shopping and refuelling the car. While on the way out we didn’t see any checkpoint, just an hour later when driving back, we passed already two. But somehow the police wasn’t too interested, nowhere we had to stop.
Back to the house we had some lunch until the pest control arrived, sprayed against ants and mosquitoes – my friend, a very health concerned person, wasn’t particularly happy about all the poison.
In the afternoon Valentyna & me decided to check out the situation, hopped into the car and drove towards the city of Ao Nang. Now at all the crossings they established check-points, but we didn’t try to enter. Instead we drove the other direction, remained in Ao Nang district (not town) and found 3 ― kilometres from the house a smaller city with three 7-Eleven and a ‘Mother Marché’, a smaller supermarket chain with quite a selection of products. We stocked cigarettes and wine, drove back to the house, where meanwhile it started to rain.
It’s quite nice when the temperatures drop below 30 !
In the evening the girls decided to prepare an Italian-style tomato-sauce, to have a pasta-dinner Italian-German-style, with some Frankfurter Sausages within and a hint of Thailand (Chili).
Just some additional information from Ukraine, because in the international press there isn’t anything:
I wrote about the two evacuation flights from Bali and Vietnam, where people were forced into a quarantine hotel, while the weeks before more than 100’000 Ukrainians returned from Italy, Spain, France, US etc. without any control- or quarantine measures. The passengers of these two flights where put in a hotel in the very centre of Kiev, at EUR 200 for 14 days (now you can imagine what kind of hotel it is). Ukrainians arriving later by car (yesterday 6’500) also didn’t have to face a state-controlled quarantine. So, the people forced to stay in the hotel already escaped, 1/3 of them trying to leave Ukraine by car – where they’re stopped and transported back.
For tomorrow the major of Kiev announced further restrictions, e.g. you can’t move further than 2 kilometres from your registered home. But about 30% of the population of Kiev isn’t registered in Kiev, but in their original home places all over the country. Most people are already laughing about such a stupid restriction.
What’s new in Thailand ? The governor of Krabi region ordered all hotels not to take new guests from today. All remaining guests can stay until April, 10th (in case the hotel doesn’t close earlier), then have to move to ‘designated’ hotels to be announced. Leaving the district isn’t possible anymore, unless you do have a confirmed flight ticket.
Luckily this order doesn’t include private accommodation, such apartments, chalets and villas.
For us life got a bit more interesting. Not living in a hotel but in a Villa with huge kitchen allows us to go shopping, to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Also, to clean the pool from flies (because we forgot to switch off the pool lights) was kind of job. Saturday morning, while the others were still sleeping, I took the net and worked for more than an hour to get it done. After that I cut a lot of fresh fruits, pressed the juice of the remainders over it, added Greece Yoghurt and sweetener; a perfect breakfast in combination with some crunchy Müesli croquant.
While Friday evening we went to MAKRO, Saturday we left the house,
drove through the scenic landscape nearby,
visited BigC near Krabi airport, a much nicer supermarket with bigger selection and better brands,
where we got the basics we needed.
Further to ‘Hotdog&Coolcat’,
a shop for upper range products, owned by a French guy. There we were able to get cheeses, cold cuts, freshly made Ravioli and tasty Baguette.
The sign outside reminded me of different times, where we were just 2 ― months ago, when traveling around the globe has been possible.
Back home we stored everything we bought, already felt much more secure.
For a late lunch we enjoyed our baguette with salted butter (salted butter for me is the best, even in combination with jam) and cold cuts, Valentyna prepared European dinner, perfectly crunchy hash brown potatoes with onions & meat loaf with some fried eggs on top. A nice change after weeks of Sushi, Pizza and Thai food.
There’s even a barbeque in the garden – but it just looks awful, don’t know when it was cleaned last time.
Sunday, after a healthy breakfast and me cleaning the pool, we decided to get some dumbbells. We started to call the suppliers, but nobody really seemed to be interested to sell. While they promised to call back, we never got any answer.
We received an Email from the Ukrainian embassy in Thailand, announcing that they would plan an evacuation flight from Bangkok to Kiev, operated by a 737-800 of SkyUp Airways, between April 8th and 10th. Further information said that the ticket price would depend on the number of passengers. At the very end of the information letter the embassy further wrote that they’re not sure the flight would take place – because nearly no Ukrainian still in Thailand would want to fly back home.
The girls found Russian TV channels on the Villa’s TV, jumped into the pool, my friend and me drove off for some additional shopping and refuelling the car. While on the way out we didn’t see any checkpoint, just an hour later when driving back, we passed already two. But somehow the police wasn’t too interested, nowhere we had to stop.
Back to the house we had some lunch until the pest control arrived, sprayed against ants and mosquitoes – my friend, a very health concerned person, wasn’t particularly happy about all the poison.
In the afternoon Valentyna & me decided to check out the situation, hopped into the car and drove towards the city of Ao Nang. Now at all the crossings they established check-points, but we didn’t try to enter. Instead we drove the other direction, remained in Ao Nang district (not town) and found 3 ― kilometres from the house a smaller city with three 7-Eleven and a ‘Mother Marché’, a smaller supermarket chain with quite a selection of products. We stocked cigarettes and wine, drove back to the house, where meanwhile it started to rain.
It’s quite nice when the temperatures drop below 30 !
In the evening the girls decided to prepare an Italian-style tomato-sauce, to have a pasta-dinner Italian-German-style, with some Frankfurter Sausages within and a hint of Thailand (Chili).
Just some additional information from Ukraine, because in the international press there isn’t anything:
I wrote about the two evacuation flights from Bali and Vietnam, where people were forced into a quarantine hotel, while the weeks before more than 100’000 Ukrainians returned from Italy, Spain, France, US etc. without any control- or quarantine measures. The passengers of these two flights where put in a hotel in the very centre of Kiev, at EUR 200 for 14 days (now you can imagine what kind of hotel it is). Ukrainians arriving later by car (yesterday 6’500) also didn’t have to face a state-controlled quarantine. So, the people forced to stay in the hotel already escaped, 1/3 of them trying to leave Ukraine by car – where they’re stopped and transported back.
For tomorrow the major of Kiev announced further restrictions, e.g. you can’t move further than 2 kilometres from your registered home. But about 30% of the population of Kiev isn’t registered in Kiev, but in their original home places all over the country. Most people are already laughing about such a stupid restriction.
Apr 5, 2020, 7:58 am
#117
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Odessa, Ukraine
Programs: Lufthansa SEN, Bonvoy LT TE, SIXT Diamond, AVIS President, HERTZ President
Posts: 268
My businesses are based on decisions I can make via WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram within minutes. I've arranged a setup which allows me to stay away for quite a while, and the show goes on. I'm lucky that until now the crisis didn't effect my business too much. I'm sure there'll be short-term negative effects and long-term positive effects. So I'm still very optimistic - as I normally always tend to be.
Apr 6, 2020, 3:25 pm
#120
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 151
Christian, I do not know if you've read the news. Total flight ban in Thailand till 18.Apr.20 It seems you and the others will be staying till May. Just stay safe and healthy. Are you still able to buy and/or eat local foods or you have to cook entirely now?