[Above photo: The view of the Bangkok River from room 2423. ]
4 April 2021
A thundershower dropped in and the river, barges, freighters, and bridges all disappeared. It was strange to see rain after 5+ months of nary a drop. It feels healthy to me and it does clear the air. I like the monsoon season in Yangon, which betrays my Seattle origins, I guess.
I’ve not done a quarantine before. It is like a meditation retreat where you speak to no one. There is no one I even see except on the riverside 24 stories down or occasionally walking on the deck of the rust bucket moored in mid-river near the hotel. I also have three ample meals served to me per day, Netflix and the BBC or Al Jazeera news, a comfy bed with 4 (!) pillows, and a computer and phone with the NYTimes, Washington Post, and the New Yorker available. I asked the staff to bring me a yoga mat which is laid on the floor but I haven’t used it yet. I do 50 deep knee bends per day and walk back and forth to the bathroom to pee or brush my teeth. It’s, thus, not at all like a meditation retreat.
I’m staying at the Montien Riverside Hotel, one of the hotels set-up and approved for quarantine. They employ a special elevator and put quarantinees on separate floors from the other customers. I must take a photo of my thermometer twice per day and send it to the hotel nurse. They will swab my nose for covid on day 5 and day 10. Meals are brought to a table outside my door, the bell is rung, and I collect them. Perhaps more like a prison for white collar criminals, I think. If my day 5 covid swab is negative, I get to go outside for 45 minutes, to walk up and down in the riverfront gardens or to use the outdoor exercise equipment, like going out in the Yard to play pickup ball, have a smoke, or stretch one’s legs .
Traffic on the river is minimal. There are collections of barges rafted together and moored on large buoys, as well as the few odd anchored small freighters. Little watercraft move up or downstream, as well as tugs. I’ve seen three elegant Chris Craft-like mahogany runabouts going up the river yesterday and today. A flock of large birds which I could not identify just flew by at eye-level as I wrote this.
It is a quiet, climate-controlled existence and such a contrast to the noise of flash-bangs and semi-automatic weapon-fire ever present in Yangon. I cannot complain and this is what I wanted. It does, however, feel like I am living in a very artificial environment—one that is peacefully dead—compared with that lively killing field.
I’m reading Anthony Bourdain’s memoir, Kitchen Confidential. It is a titillating peek under the covers. It reminds me of the Orwell scene in Down and Out in London and Paris where he is working in a subterranean hell of a kitchen in a great French hotel. He drops a cooked steak on the floor—the chef shouts at him to pick it up, brush off the sawdust, and put it back on the plate. It gives me a great appreciation for when, in a party of 8 or 10, the food all arrives at once, hot and cooked to perfection It also gives me pause about ever eating in a restaurant again. At least with street food, which I’m looking forward to here, I can see it being cooked. Certainly, never be rude to your server.
I have about 5 weeks to travel here. I’ve arranged for my flight to the US in mid-May. It is a relatively short flight to San Francisco via Tokyo on Japan Airlines. I only wish I could get off and travel in Japan, we had such a good time when we went to Kyoto and Takashima. That country has a strong pull for me.
I’m thinking of going to an island to snorkel and perhaps scuba dive (20 meters maximum depth) and then head to a national park for some walking. I might fly to Chiang Rai in the NE or to Mai Son in the NW. I’ve been to neither. I’ll be scouring Lonely Planet and the internet for ideas. What with the time of year (hot) and covid I don’t think most places will be crowded. It’ll be nice to ditch my two heavy bags and travel light.
I am preparing to record a brief glimpse of my life for my 55th medical school virtual reunion. How can that be?! The earth keeps circling the sun, George, that’s how it can be. Ha! It isn’t easy to compress 55 years into 10-15 minutes, so it’ll be a fly-over, with a brief hover for my recent phase in Myanmar. Don’t we accumulate memories, though.
A Psychiatrist in Myanmar 