Thailand post-Covid and comparisons to the UK
I just got back to Thailand after six weeks from the UK. I hadn’t been back to Blighty for around two and a half years and the difference was a bit of a shock. Nothing major, but enough to possibly be of interest to anyone travelling in either direction.
I was in a Bangkok bar the other day, and my English friends were asking what it was all like these days. Here’s what I told them.
Mask wearing and covid is a thing in Thailand. In the UK, it isn’t.
The UK feels completely post-covid. After a couple of years wearing a mask to do anything, it was strange to arrive in London and see people not wearing them. The only masked people I saw, less than 1% of the population, were the occasional old person and people from Asia.
After a few days, the sense that I was forgetting something when I left the house faded, and going maskless became normal. Now I am back in Thailand, and I am having to get used to the whole mask thing again. Which was fine, but a bit annoying.
I’m not an antivaxxer, I think they’re idiots. I’m happily triple-jabbed and firmly believe masks help. But with Omicron, there seems to be no end-game. It feels like there are two options: live with the virus and return to normal like the UK, or wear masks, presumably for ever.
I should add that I got covid in the first week of being there, so maybe there is something to this mask thing after all. However, I didn’t even know I had covid until I tested due to a family member getting it, and only caught it right at the end. I was lucky and felt fine. Experiences differ.
If you wander around the regions of Thailand, quite a lot of the mask-wearing has been dropped. But here in Bangkok, if you want to go to the shops, you will need a mask. People wear them more in Bangkok anyway, due to the rich and character-filled polluted air. So, maybe people have just switched from a covid mask to a pollution one, and I didn’t notice. Mask-wearing remains ubiquitous.
Travel requirements going in each direction
This is similar to the general vibe above. Going to the UK there were no restrictions or paperwork. It was like travelling there in good old 2019. Coming back to Thailand was a slightly different story. We were lucky in that a week before we were due to return, the one night quarantine and test was dropped.
The rules may well have changed again in the time it has taken me to write this, but you currently need to prove you are vaccinated – or you go to quarantine – and you need to have insurance. I have health insurance already, but to avoid paperwork or questions, I bought some through the Thai Pass website. I doubt I will get much coverage from it, but it’s just easier. It feels like a bit of a scam, but it’s a cheap one. Eventually this will change.
I didn’t use cash in the UK
This was weird and unexpected. Last time I was in the UK, you could pay for a lot of stuff by just tapping with your card or phone, but now it is standard for everything. Many shops even insisted on card only and it made things a lot easier. I took out £100 when I landed and left with £90. The tenner was when a shop’s card reader broke.
Thailand, by contrast, is still very cash based. This isn’t really a big deal, I have obviously used cash all my life, but it was an odd contrast. If you are coming from Europe, you should get used to cash for most things.
I wrote this post as it was something I would have been curious about if planning a trip to Thailand. It is pretty chilled out here now, but nowhere near the laissez faire attitude of the UK. If you decide to visit, there aren’t many tourists, so you will have more space at attractions. Beach are more empty, and hotel rooms readily available. It is the rainy though.
Just bring a mask and some cash.
