Thailand menyang Inggris: Kepiye COVID-19 wis ngowahi malang

After a couple of minutes of conversation of why I was wearing a mask, the bank manager(ess) let down her guard and started crying saying she was under a lot of stress. As a mother of two and grandmother she wanted to work from home but the bank, at the time, was insisting staff work a full day of 8 am to 5 pm. She revealed her concerns of meeting customers and the risk she was exposed to. I recommended she buy masks, which at that time were not widely available in the UK and hardly worn, as you were viewed as a sick person if you were spotted wearing a mask.

I went into Starbucks and presented cash and was surprised that they refused to take or touch payment by cash and demanded contactless payment by card. A new experience for me.

I then grabbed a taxi and my driver asked why I was wearing a mask. He thought it was rational to wear protective face gear but commented that he did not know where to buy masks that were safe as masks and toilet paper “came from China and are most likely infected with the virus.”

A weird 48 hours in the UK. Having left Bangkok, which was mostly masked up, and then arriving to the UK where people wearing face masks were mocked or avoided, it appeared Thailand was ahead of the curve in control on containment of COVID. With jetlag I was still on Thai time, and on Day 3 in the UK, I woke up at 2 am and checked my emails and social channels.

I saw that Thailand was going into lockdown within 48 hours. Fit to fly certificate. COVID insurance. And other hoops to jump through would be needed to re-enter Thailand. I was online and booked Gulf Air to fly back to Thailand, departing in 8 hours. Cornwall trip was canceled, and I made a mad dash to Heathrow Airport. It was a little chaotic at the airport with me and four Thais refused at the check-in counter to board the flight as the Flight Manager insisted, “Thailand is now closed to international arrivals without COVID-free certificate and Fit To Fly document from the Royal Thai Embassy.”

Thankfully, a few phone calls and we were allowed to board as Thailand was not closing its borders in 22 hours and documents were not required until then. Got on the plane and arrived in Bangkok six hours before lockdown and the new strict control of international arrivals. I heard the queue at the Royal Thai Embassy the next day stretched along the street with applicants of the Fit To Fly certificate. I had dodged being locked out of Thailand and felt I was in a safe place with Krungthep masked for protection.

Bangkok was in a good place with being masked up as many of the city residents, including myself, had been wearing face masks a year before anyone had ever heard of coronavirus. Living in a city with choking air pollution and some days an AQI reaching a stratospheric 150, city officials had been alerting residents to mask up when going outside due to the air pollution. So wearing masks was not alien to Bangkokians.

Back in Thailand, I remotely bought the house in Cornwall, unseen, in a town I had never visited. I had done plenty of research and felt very positive with the purchase. Many thought it was sheer madness, but I felt Cornwall’s popularity could escalate with Brits on WFH. Working from home allowed employees to be located anywhere of their choice and not stuck in a city office. This newfound freedom or working nomads has driven demand for Cornwall in the past three months.

Becoming the owner of a 1779-built heritage house needing a fair amount of work on it, I was keen to visit my new home, but decided to delay a return to the UK as Thailand was reportedly one of the five safest countries in the world with containment of COVID-19. As months passed, I was pleased to be in Thailand and concerned watching UK from afar go into lockdown, wrestle with wave one, a second wave, a second lockdown, and numbers of infected and deaths skyrocketing, compared to Thailand which was a safe haven.

Now one year on, I bit the bullet and flew back to the UK. COVID test pre-flight, a collection of documents showing I was fit to fly and had booked COVID tests in the UK on Day Two and Day Eight meant I could fly back to the UK. A strange flight experience with biosecurity protocols in place. I got through Border Control at Heathrow Airport to find a UK that was very different to the kingdom I had fled a year before.

Oh, how the tables have tuned! I left Thailand in a bit of a mess with cases of COVID increasing in a new unexpected wave, that took officials and citizens by surprise and with widespread shock and alarm, and arrived in the UK with everyone masked up, calm, alert to transmission risk, and emerging from tough lockdown measures.

UK 34.5 v Thailand 1. That was the score when I arrived in the UK 13 days ago. The UK has successfully and efficiently vaccinated more than 34 million “at risk” people to remove the risk of distressing the National Health System (NHS). Brits have put systems in place, Track & Trace, lockdown, and masking up to beat the latest wave of infections. And it’s worked. As I have arrived back in the UK there is an air of cautious optimism as UK emerges from firm lockdown measures with restaurants, pubs, and other social businesses reopening in the most recent phase. More relaxation of preventative measures is due in July in time for summer. However, when going into confined spaces such as shops or on public transport, wearing a mask remains a must. Less so when walking outdoors.

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David Barrett

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