806. Bangkok Part 11 | Khao San Road + COVID in Thailand

A couple weekends ago we visited Bangkok's famous nightlife street known as Khao San Road. It's a short street lined with bars and clubs, usually filled with backpackers and tourists (mixed with locals). Of course now during COVID, it was mainly all locals. We went there to check it out and I fully expected it to be dead with most places closed. However that wasn't the case. It ended up being quite packed the later it got and probably almost as busy as it is in normal times.

Thailand has been keeping the virus under control, with very low case numbers throughout the pandemic (although these days, as I'm typing this, unfortunately the rates have been increasing). Businesses and restaurants remain open and nightlife continues. It was a bit weird to me when I first saw and experienced this..since back in Toronto (where I am from..in case you are new to my blog), life is pretty much at a halt. The city and province is under full lockdown, though not as strict as it should be..making it a frustrating endless cycle.

I do feel lucky to be where I am now so I don't have to experience that, and to be fairly shielded from the pandemic. I know most other countries around the world are also in lockdown and struggling to contain the spread. Here, people still live their day to day lives as businesses are still open. The biggest impact was to their tourism industry, and Thailand relies on that a lot. It's very sad to see a lot of businesses that shut down or places empty yet still open. Everyone wears masks here (in fact, the only ones who don't are foreigners!) and there are temperature checks everywhere but those things aren't a big deal to me anymore. I've learned to get used to wearing a mask at all times outdoors, even in 35-40 degrees celcius with humidity. Last night we went to a movie theatre to watch "Nobody". It was really good and I loved it a lot! Then it occurred to me that most theatres around the world are still closed and I wondered how many other theatres the movie was released at.

Here are some photos of our night at Khao San Road. We went to this bar called The One (pic above) which looked to be the nicest one on the street. It was completely packed. Luckily we got there a bit earlier so we had a table without having to wait. These next few photos were taken when we first arrived, before the crowds poured in. The street is very loud. Every place blasts their own music (even when the street was empty). It was a very fun experience!



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