Playing Double Dutch With International Borders
I didn’t plan on posting again until Thursday, but it seems that the world is moving at an incredible pace and I figured that some of you reading might want to know a bit about what’s happening over here with me. So I’ll start by telling you my plan up until 72 hours ago. Originally, the plan was this…
February 25 - Land back in Bangkok, giving me a 30 day tourist visa valid until March 25
March 21 - Fly to Penang, and stay until March 24
March 24 - Fly back to Bangkok giving me another 30 day tourist visa valid until April 21
March 26-April 19 - Stage at DAG
April 21 - Fly To Yangon, and stay until April 23
April 23 - Fly back to Bangkok giving me another 30 day tourist visa valid until May 22
April 29-May20 - Stage at bo.lan
May 21 - Fly to Luang Prabang, and stay until May 25
May 25 - Fly to Bangkok giving me my last 30 day tourist visa which will last until my June 1 flight home through Seoul.
May 25-June 1 - Get my fill of Thai street food and Thai massages
June 1 - Fly to Seoul and spend 1 night eating around town
June 2 - Return to Boston
COVID has left me in an almost impossible position. With the condition of things in Boston, I can’t go home, and it’s not like I want to. I have stages set up that are very important to me mentally and spiritually. I have a condo that I have rented until June 1. A flight to Malaysia may not be a really good option for me, even with my Airbnb and my flight already booked. So, here are the options I’m looking at:
Take a chance and fly to Malaysia anyways. There have been new cases documented in Malaysia, which makes things dicey. There is a possibility I will be stuck in Penang. The Thai government may be announcing travel restrictions tomorrow, which would keep me from coming or going, or might even force me to self quarantine for a matter of 14 days. If it goes off without a hitch, it’s perfect. It’ll allow me to stay on schedule.
I can try to fly to another country such as Laos. Laos currently isn’t reporting many cases. Reporting is the operative word. Again, there is no guarantee that there won’t be a change in this status. It means, along with the rest of the following options that I would forfeit the money I spent on the flight and Airbnb in Penang. It could keep me on the tight schedule that I have with my stages, which is a good thing though. Hopefully, all of this would blow over by the time of my May visa run and I would consider going to Penang then.
I can take a bus to the Cambodian border and just turn right around. This means passing through the borders over land, which may be a little bit safer as far as getting back into the country, but again, there are no guarantees. I forfeit Penang expenses, but it’s probably cheaper and safer than buying another flight. It means that I spend 4-5 hours in a bus or minibus with whoever is also making a visa run. I think that if push comes to shove and I get stuck in Cambodia, I could at least contact Rinda’s family and head up to Siem Reap, though I would want no contact with Rinda’s mother, as she is in the most at risk age bracket. I would hole up in the hotel that Rinda’s brother works in. Depending on how long it would take to get back into Bangkok, it could get expensive, and it could fuck with my stage schedule.
I can try to go to the Immigration office here in Bangkok and try to get a 30 day extension to my tourist visa. This is a gamble because of timing. I will have to time it out so that my 30 day extension covers my time until I would make my next visa run before my stage at bo.lan. This means I will have to wait until the absolute last minute to go to the office. If they say no, then I’ll have to move fast to hit a border pushing me back to option 2 or 3, as my ability to execute option 1 would have lapsed. It also means that I could be making my next visa run during the Songkran holiday.
So those are my options at the moment, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I may head to the Immigration office and just feel out what I need in order to extend my visa tomorrow. I am very interested to see what they may announce tomorrow.
These are scary, scary times for me. I know I have support systems at home in Boston, but I’m really not even sure what they could do for me, whether I’m here or away. If anyone has any great ideas, feel free to e-mail them to me.
So, in my situation, lately, I have tried to socially distance myself as much as possible. What makes things difficult is that I have no pots or pans in my condo, so I can’t really cook for myself. I can usually last until around 5PM when I start getting stir crazy and need to go find food. I keep a fair amount of fruit and sparkling water in my fridge at all times. I also have 1 cup of instant noodles, some Oreos, coffee, and a bunch of theses super addictive rice crackers.
The situation in Boston really scares me as well. So many of my friends are out of work. People are calling for a complete shutdown, and I wonder if there will just be a complete domino effect. Will all other cities and countries follow suit? Will there be no safe harbor?
Over the last few months that I was in the United States, I have noticed a move towards an increasingly less hospitable hospitality industry where people order at kiosks and there’s little to no human contact. With the appearance of COVID, will this give people more of an excuse to be more distant from each other. Even without the hospitality industry, I feel less and less connected to anyone anywhere. I see happy little snippets on Instagram and Facebook (among all of the COVID posts), but I know that it’s not the full picture of the person being portrayed. Are we all going to be adrift in our own bubbles, not able to touch or hug another person? I used to think that the ramen booths in Japan were a novel idea where you were alone with your amazing bowl of noodles. Now, I think that the concept may not be. That far away from every restaurant out there. Takeout is the new fine dining. UberEats will take 30% of the sales to cover gas and labor costs. It actively pains me to think about it.
Just cooking the food was never what drew me to the industry. The food was the pretty woman across the room. The things that made me love the hospitality industry are the fellowship of the kitchen, the creation of community between the restaurant staff and the guests, and the ability to express art on a plate, not just dump nourishment into a compostable to go box. It’s the people I met in dining rooms, and sitting at the bar. It’s the jokes with dishwashers. It’s the teamwork among cooks. I feel like all of that is corroding. What are we going to do to right the ship? It’s not just about healthcare, wages, cost of goods, and rent. It’s about community. How are we going to bring back community to out lives and our business?
I am worried on so many levels about so many things. Some might say that it’s a good thing that I’m not really in the mix right now, but everyone has their problems. For all of you who actually know me in real life, for all of those who I have worked with, who I have broken bread with, who I have had the privilege to feed and talk with, know that I think about you guys every day out here.