I’m currently typing this blog post from Luk Hostel in Chinatown, Bangkok where I’ve been laying low for the past 2 weeks! It’s one of the only safe havens still open in the entire city. I never anticipated to be living in Thailand for over 3 months, but then the Coronavirus outbreak happened and I just decided to stay here rather than return to my normal boring life in America. You can read my previous blog post entitled Why I Decided To Extend My Visa in Thailand.
The Thai government recently announced they will be offering a second automatic visa extension to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Thankfully, I already qualified for the first automatic extension until April 30th and now I will be allowed to remain legally in Thailand until July 31st without another tedious visit to the immigration office to wait in long queues with hundreds of people and additional fees to renew my visa. I’m not sure yet whether I’ll stay in Thailand for another 3 months or buy a one-way plane ticket to Philippines, Vietnam, or Indonesia. It all depends on the lockdown situation in these countries and when they open the borders to foreigners again.
I’m going to be brutally honest with you. This is a very challenging time to be a digital nomad and expat living in a foreign country. The majority of my traveler friends have already returned to their home countries. I chose to take an unconventional counterculture approach by remaining in “The Land Of Smiles”. The entire nation of Thailand has reported 2,811 cases and 48 fatalities at the time of writing. Contrary to common practice, we don’t have a mandatory lockdown over here during this world pandemic.
The Thai government has enacted a curfew in which you’re not allowed to go outside between the hours of 10pm - 4am or you could face large fines and possibly jail time. Regardless of multiple offenders, this curfew will most likely be lifted on April 30th if the number of COVID-19 cases per day continues to go down. Good news is the economy is finally starting to come back online. I went for a walk around Chinatown yesterday — businesses are opening up and people are going about their daily lives in the outside world. Or so I thought until the adventure I’m about to share with you.
I encourage my readers to get out of their comfort zone, even during these dystopian times of mass incarceration on a global scale. Today, I was walking around Bangkok City for over 3 hours looking for another place to rest my weary head.
Why, you might ask? I recently decided to make a reservation for 5 nights at Prince Palace Hotel. Rooms are normally $250 and I found a really cheap deal on Agoda for only $23 per night! You’d be lucky to find a private room on Airbnb for such a competitive price. I figured this would be a huge upgrade from my current hostel living quarters.
The next day I woke up in the morning all excited about moving to a luxury 5-star hotel. I hopped on the nearest subway to downtown Bangkok. You’re not allowed to ride the tracks without wearing a face mask. A bunch of tuk-tuk drivers approached me at the train station asking, “Where you go?” It was a relatively short distance of 1.5km to the hotel in the scorching heat with my hiking bag and camera equipment. I sometimes feel like an alien walking around since there are so few foreigners and tourists during this world pandemic. It’s a very surreal and chaotic time to be an expat living in a foreign country.
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
-Steve Jobs
After 30 minutes I arrived at Prince Palace Hotel drenched in sweat. The lady at the front desk greeted me with a welcoming smile, clearly relieved to see another guest checking in to their mostly empty hotel. I immediately showed her my passport to verify my identity, signed a slip of paper, and paid the mandatory 1,000 Baht security deposit by withdrawing the remaining money in my bank account from the ATM machine across the street.
The nice gentleman escorted me to my hotel room on the 20th floor. The beautiful large sprawling pool was closed due to Coronavirus. Government order. It was the same case at Silom Serene Hotel where I was staying for a week at no charge in exchange for photography and marketing. Rather disappointing.
The bell-boy informed me that I was one of 20 guests staying at Prince Palace Hotel with 744 rooms spread out across 4 different buildings. I was grateful but not impressed with the superior room. I plugged in my laptop and the charger didn’t work. The Wi-Fi was unsecured and wouldn’t connect. I posted a few stories on Instagram and asked if I could move to another room. The lady at reception didn’t understand my question. I put it out of my mind and took a cold shower to wash off all the sweat. I kept thinking during my shower, “It’s lonely at the top, it’s lonely at the top.” On repeat.
My next action was calling Agoda to get a full refund for my accommodation. I’ve always been very satisfied with the speedy assistance of their customer support team. The specialist handled my query in less than 5 minutes and also called the hotel reception for me to confirm the cancellation. Unfortunately I had to pay for one night because of the short notice. Not a huge deal.
I was planning to use the AgodaCash to book a hotel room at the D&D Inn on the famous Khaosan Road, but in the interest of saving money I chose a nearby top-rated hostel named Cocoon Hostel without thinking to call ahead to confirm they were indeed open for business. I checked out of Prince Palace Hotel, got back my 1,000 Baht security deposit, and hailed a tuk-tuk driver waiting outside.
We agreed on a price and he kept trying to sell me boat tickets on the way to my destination. It’s pretty common for tuk-tuk drivers in Bangkok to scam you out of money by taking you to tourist attractions and suit stores. They get paid a commission when you buy something from a business partner. But I’ll save that story for another time…
The tuk-tuk driver dropped me off a few blocks away from the hostel. Sadly, the sign on the front door read: “CLOSED for Coronavirus”. I was afraid this would happen! Luckily, I later discovered they canceled my request and I wasn’t charged. A week prior I reserved a cheap hostel in Kanchanaburi, a historic city located about 2 hours west on the famous River Kwai featured in the movie of the same name.
I was in my Grab ride to the bus station when the receptionist at my hostel called the driver to inform him my credit card was declined and I had to return to pay for 4 nights accomodation. The manager of Luk Hostel threatened to call Thai immigration if I wasn’t able to pay right now. Thankfully I had just enough money to pay for the driver and my accomodation. The driver made the wise decision to call ahead to Stamp Hostel to confirm they were actually open for guests due to all the travel restrictions in different provinces around Thailand. It was closed and he drove me back to my safe haven. He saved me a lot of hassle of going to Kanchanaburi only to find my hostel was shutdown.
Now, here I was in the same situation all over again. Feeling defeated, I started walking in the direction of my GPS pointing towards Khaosan Road. I walked down a narrow street with loud construction noise towards the nearest subway station. Sometimes, it may seem like life is a constant struggle with no end in sight, but you can always find something to be grateful for. In this particular case, I was grateful to be walking around outside breathing in fresh air with changing scenery after weeks of being cooped up in the same place.
The whole world is under mass quarantine right now and our civil liberties are being excessively curbed by authoritarian “democratic” governments to fight an invisible virus. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is skyrocketing to levels we haven’t seen in recorded history since the Great Depression. Over 16 million people filed unemployment claims in the US as of April 9th! We are effectively killing the world economy to save lives from a virus that isn’t much more deadly than the common cold or flu.
You can either adapt to the lifestyle changes (also referred to as “the new normal”) or succumb to depression and defeat. People suffering from mental illnesses such as PTSD are really struggling to cope during these challenging times. On the plus side, the mass quarantines are having a very positive impact on effects of climate change caused by human activity. What if “we the humans” are in fact the spreading virus on this planet?
I’ll save that discussion for another time… Back to my daring adventure. Turns out the subway won’t take me to Khaosan Road. After waiting a few minutes for the bus, I start walking in the general direction of my next destination. My wrist pedometer is reading over 10,000 steps. This is great exercise and my back is hurting from the heavy load at this point. Eventually, I throw in the proverbial towel and make the wise decision to wait for the next bus.
Khaosan Road is one of the most famous backpacker destinations in all of Southeast Asia. Now it’s completely deserted. All the bars, restaurants, and hotels are closed down. I’m literally the only foreigner walking down the street which is under constant construction. This was a very surreal moment to say the least! There’s a few security guards outside D&D Inn. I ask them politely if the hotel is open. To my pleasant surprise they are still accepting guests!
My phone is dead so I can’t make a reservation using my refund from Agoda. I ask the gentleman at the front desk if I can take a look at the room while my phone is charging. He gives me the key card, instructs me not to touch anything in the room for some reason, and a guard escorts me to the room. Lights are turned off in the hallways and the hotel appears to be closed. The place is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The room is small with no outside view. Essentially no different from a prison without bars. I return the key card and leave with my belongings.
My options are narrowing down by the minute but I refuse to give up. There must be a nearby hostel that is still open. A Thai man approaches me asking, “Where are you going?” I struggle to find an answer to his inquiry. He informs me that everywhere is closed and the lockdown won’t be lifted until April 30th. My only option at this point is to return to Luk Hostel. The tuk-tuk driver offers to take me to Chinatown for 200 baht which I graciously accept.
You the reader may be wondering, what’s the moral of this story… Money can’t buy happiness? The journey is the destination? Home is where the heart is? Never give up? It’s lonely at the top? Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched? Or other overused cliches?
I would say, the moral of this story is “Trust your instincts!” You need to be aware of your own emotions in order to survive in this crazy world. However, it’s important to also control your emotions rather than letting them control you. Traveling in a foreign land as a broke backpacker is not for the weak of heart. You have to be strong-willed, resourceful, and persistent.
Overcoming lots of adversity can be a great source of character-building personal development. It’s also very stressful and demanding at times, so you can’t be afraid to ask for help when necessary. I strongly believe all of these personal and financial challenges actually gives me a thicker skin for surviving the economic crisis in the coming months and years. You can either adapt to the changes and roll with the punches or let them kill your motivation to succeed.
I recently launched my own consulting business teaching digital entrepreneurs how to adapt to the remote work lifestyle. This is a skill that will become increasingly in demand as full-time employees are replaced by independent contractors and freelancers who have the freedom to work remotely from anywhere in the world. You can find more information and schedule a free consultation call at Be Remote Consulting.
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