The Thai government seem, at last, to be getting its Covid act together. Infections (at least the reported ones) are reducing whilst the number of people being vaccinated is steadily increasing. Both Nokky and I have now had our first shots of Astro Zeneca with my second one due in a week and hers on 1st December. So things were beginning to look up until…..
Last Thursday I was scheduled to have a small operation on my hand. The day before we were due to drive to Bangkok for this, Nokky developed a slight cough which, under normal circumstances, I would have ignored. However, not wishing to have an aborted trip the following day and merely as a precaution, she took an antigen test which, unfortunately proved positive whilst mine was negative. It was subsequently confirmed with a full PCR test that she is, indeed, suffering from Covid! So my op has been postponed. So far, although unwelcome news, things were pretty well under control.
Then, before we knew it, the social media machine kicked in with all sorts of rumours and claims that our Knock Knock restaurant and bar was some sort of Covid hotbed whereas the most likely cause of the infection was Nokky’s short trip to a Hua Hin market a few days previously where it was subsequently discovered there had been quite a serious outbreak of the virus.
Sadly, the chattering classes had already done their damage so we had no choice but to close our already struggling restaurant/bar.
Apart from a niggly cough, Nokky has no obvious symptoms so hopefully her recovery will be swift. The Thais, though, have their sometimes incomprehensible rules which, in this case, seem to be that all Covid sufferers, irrespective of age, severity of symptoms, vaccinated or not, must be hospitalized. So, after nearly 6 days of home quarantine and with no fever, and few, if any, other symptoms she had to pack her bags
and wait for an ambulance to take her to some isolation hotel commandeered by the government to accommodate unfortunate Covid sufferers.
I’m happy to say that, after 2 antigen tests, I am still Covid negative but have to self quarantine at home for a while albeit in a much more pleasant isolation environment . Whilst I am here home alone, there’s always plenty to do around the house and the garden where an abundance of wildlife keeps me company!
The moths and butterflies are stunning but they will insist of getting stuck inside the house.
Sadly, these two bird eggs didn’t make it as I found the empty and broken eggshells on the ground a couple of days later after taking this pic.
And, frankly, these cane toads are a bloomin nuisance as they are forever trying to get into the house and, I am told are mildly poisonous. Snakes love them of course but I’m happy to say that our house and garden have been snake free for a while now!
This little brown frog does nobody any harm and is just happy to jump around in our trees. So, I’m not really alone while I am waiting for Nokky’s return!
The current plan is to reopen Knock Knock 94 on 25th October if the coast is Covid clear. In the meantime, not only because it seemed the right thing to do but also in an attempt to turn the negative of our close down into some sort of positive, we have had the Knock Knock 94 premises professionally cleaned and thoroughly disinfected in the hope this will encourage our customers to quickly return when we reopen.
A
Thailand never ceases to amaze and amuse me. Before we were both incarcerated, I stumbled across a sizeable shop (big for Thailand, anyway) in the middle of the town selling only chicken.
Just chicken!
With a bit of luck, it’s possible that, by the time I scribble my next blog, a degree of normality will have descended on Thailand and Hua Hin in particular. Our Covid scare will be behind us and hopefully bars and restaurants will all be operating again and may even be allowed to sell alcohol. And the icing on the cake would be if international tourists started to trickle back bringing with them bucket loads of foreign currency to swell the empty coffers here. Or did I just see a load of pigs (a ‘drove’ or ‘drift’, I think it’s called) flying by? We shall see!
R.
thelasthurrahsite 