Wednesday Walk: local life under lockdown, เดินดูวิถีชีวิตภายใต้ล็อกดาวน์

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This is my entry for #wednesdaywalk created by @tattoodjay. I needed my walking exercise to work out my lockdown blue. So I took the local mini-bus and got off at a random stop to explore local life under lockdown. The junction was a good spot to start my walk.

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In the early evening, lots of people cane out shopping at the local market, local people depended on motorbikes in order to get through the traffic jam more easily. But sometimes the traffic jam was so bad that hundreds of motorbikes were stuck behind cars. Under lockdown, these motorcycles went by very fast as the roads were less congested. We have to be more vigilant of zooming motorbikes.

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This area is full of small alleys and narrow roads suitable for one way traffic. The old shop-houses could still be seen in these alleys. But those old houses along the wider roads have been bought by companies who turned them into trendy and expensive condominium units. Younger Chinese-Thai generations are moving from ground level living to high level living style. They have no idea that according to traditional Chinese medicine, living without grounding to the earth will lead to ill health. So, people who live constantly in high rise buildings will suffer from various illness in their old age. That’s why old Chinese people like to do Tai Chi in public parks for longevity.

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These are new townhouses which were built during the seventies to replace the old shop-houses. They no longer use the wooden door and window frames.

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Some people just set up fast food restaurant, hair salon, grocery store on the ground level of their townhouses; some selling fruits or vegetables or stick food.

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Surprisingly, a very old local private school still survives competition from other mainstream schools. In the old days, there would be local schools in all community; these schools were more like big home schooling for children from poor or working class families. New regulations meant that they were forced to close down to make ways for new, modern and standardised schools that charge commercial fees. These new schools had to pay big fees for the permission certificates to teach; so that’s how some civil servants made extra money and destroyed homely education for the poor.

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The new condominium stands in contrast to the rows of townhouses. There are the usual security guards, nice garden with a modern gym and a swimming pool!

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The footpath near the condo us also specially beautify with plants, rare trees and decorations.

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ช่วงล็อกดาวน์เป็นเวลาที่เราต้องบอกให้ตนเอง ออกไปหาที่เดินเล่นที่ปลอดภัยเพื่อทำความเข้าใจความเปลี่ยนแปลงของสังคมมากขึ้น เราชอบไปเดินดูชีวิตตวามเป็นอยู่ของคนในชุมชนชาวจีนรุ่นที่สาม เพราะเราคิดว่าคงเป็นรุ่นสุดท้ายของสังคมปัจจุบัน ส่วนคนรุ่นที่สี่และห้า จะเป็นคนที่อยู่กับสิ่งใหม่ๆในโลกดิจิตอล และบ้านเรือนเก่าๆก็จะถูกรื้อ เพื่อสร้างเมืองใหม่ เราไปเดินตามถนนที่มีตึกแถวเรียงราย ที่เป็นแหล่งที่อยู่อาศัยและทำมาหากินของคนระดับล่างและระดับกลาง เราเห็นความมานะบากบั่นของคนหาเข้ากินคํ่า ทำให้เรารู้สึกว่าตนเองขี้เกียจมาก และไม่สู้ชีวิตเหมือนคนเหล่านั้น เราเดินดูร้านอาหารที่น่าสนใจมากหลายร้าน แต่ที่น่าแปลกใจคือ โรงเรียนเอกชนที่เปิดมายาวนาน เขายังสามารถอยู่รอดได้ ภายใต้การแข่งขันที่้ข้มข้นกับโรงเรียนที่มีขื่ิเสียงมากมายในกรุงเทพฯ ที่นั่นมีต้นไม้เขียวขจีและมีลานจอดรถที่กว้างขวางมาก

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ตึกแถวเก่าๆที่อยู่ในทำเลที่ดี มักจะถูกกว้านซื้อเพื่อมาสร้างคอนโดหรู คนรุ่นใหม่จึงชอบอยู่คอนโดเพราะ ราคาถูกกว่าซื้อที่มาสร้างบ้านเอง และมีความสะดวกปลอดภัย มีทั้งสวนและก้องออกกำลังกาย และสระว่ายน้ำ ต่อไปกรุงเทพคงไม่ต่างไปจากฮ่องกงหรือเซี่ยงไฮ้นักกระมัง

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Some old shop-house tries to make money by placing this ‘picking dolls’ machine in front of the house! This is strictly illegal so I wonder why the police has not done anything. This is one of the paradox of Thai society; sometimes luck plays a big role.

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Team work street food stall and an old house full of ‘Thai fighting fish’ for sale.

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Some local shops sell consumers goods which are very convenient as all shopping malls are close under lockdown.

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We are quite lucky in Thailand that we could still move about during daytime under lockdown. But there are no new cases of locally infected people for a few weeks now. So I hope that normalcy or the new normal will be fully tested soon.

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Wishing you all a very nice day!

Stay strong and healthy.



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21 comments
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Manually curated by ackhoo from the Qurator Team. Keep up the good work!

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Thank you very much for your kind support.

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(Edited)

It seems to be getting more lively out there good to see 👍

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(Edited)

Yup! More people coming out in the evening! Good for the economy and for building up herd immunity.

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True right i think everyone has had enough but we still must act with cautions we don't want a second wave.

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Such interesting shots on your walk, I didn't know that belief about living on higher levels not being so healthy for people, but I have never wanted to live in a high apartment I like being at ground level

Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk :)

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Thank you very much! Most people don’t know this! But my Chinese doctors and martial art teacher all know that people who don’t ground themselves for a long time tend to have shorter life span

So, it’s good to have a garden!

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that is interesting to know and confirms when we move a ground level house is what we want

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Like the footpath area very much. The ginger cat is so cute! I think the toy picking machine has something more to do with luck. Perhaps less visible location and bribery play some roles too 🤣 Some places with high humidity like Shanghai for example, tenants are advised to pick apartments above the second floor. Basements, ground floors and first floors are susceptible to molds hence people staying there will exude moldy smell like poor people depicted in the "Parasite" movie.

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You are right about that machine! It's like gambling so it's illegal. It's only one machine so it won't make much money. In some places, there were up to six machines so the police had to move in!

I haven't seen that film! It sounds very interesting! We don't have mold problems in these townhouses! But in big houses with lots of trees would become damp and moldy. It's very dry and hot here for almost the whole year.

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In Malaysia, people running video game arcades with toy picking machines are associated with triads. So, on top of bribing government officials they need to pay certain percentage of their profit as protection fee to triad members. Yes, Parasite is a very interesting movie. It highlights socioeconomic class divide.

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Oh wow. I want to be back in Thailand. It looks so a live and colorful. My heart is still there! I love your posts.😊

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Thank you very much! So glad you like to see local people ‘s lifestyle. People have started to come out of their hiding! The traffic has started to be busy!

I think Thai people are more flexible and superfluous to be seriously frightened by the virus for too long! LoL

These are happy go lucky people!
Cheers.

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Bangkok city still looks busy on lockdown hope things get back to normal soon it is causing to much damage and hardship on everyone right now.

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We have been under lockdown for two months now. So, the country has no new cases of infection for 28 days!

In the South, the immigrants from Malaysia were found to be infected and are all in hospital. We have free treatment for all patients! So,the risk level is very, very low now! But people are still quite paranoid. Next week, all shops will be opened finally!

I have to start looking for a new part-time job! All my friends are unemployed or partly employed with reduced salary! My friends who are pilots also have to stay home!!

Very bad damages to so many people! Very sad with several suicide cases this month.

Praying for better days to arrive soon.

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It has taken such a devastating toll on the whole world in very similar situation all so very sad and depressing for many we are still on lockdown in Australia and i am still of work but we started later then you in Thailand.

I really wish the best for you and your friends that you can all resume work real soon.

Let's hope it all gets back to normal but unfortunately it's going to take a while.

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Thank you very much for your kind words. We should be ending the lockdown in seven days’ time. So I do hope things will start to improve by the end of this month.

Have a nice day.

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It's really surprising to see that some street food places aren't scared to keep open at a time like this, and the city seems very lively. 🙂

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Oh! We have been under lockdown for two months now. So, all those people with fever and virus infection were already in hospitals. We don’t allow tourists to come in at all; that helps a lot.

Most people got sick from foreign tourists or Thai people who lived in England and Italy. No more Chinese tourists!

So, we are quite free of virus this whole month! No new cases, except immigrants in the south; they came in from Malaysia. But they were all in hospital now!

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