Bangkok.1

Bangkok, actually my city of the heart, completely caught us off guard upon our arrival. We had booked a hotel on Bunsiri Road, a fifteen-minute walk to Wat Phra Kaeo. We are familiar with the area, the Phra Nakhon district. During my first visit in 1988, I had stayed just a stone's throw from our hotel at Tic's Guest House, and in 1993 Anja and I had been here several times. Ten years ago, in 2015, we returned in search of Tic, but the guest house was no longer there; however, the neighborhood was friendly with nice hostels and cafes.

In the past ten years, Phra Nakhon has become a hotspot for homelessness. The area around our - by the way, very nice - hotel looks terribly run-down. Most of the shops are closed, and homeless individuals sleep in front of the boarded-up gates, attending to their needs around the corner. Along the canal in Trok Sake, not 100 meters from the hotel, many have set up tarps under which they store their few belongings. Once a week, free meals are distributed there.

(As long as the link still works: www.spiegel.de/ausland/obdachlosigkeit-in-thailand-wie-eine-suppenkueche-bangkoks-aermste-versorgt-a-173730ef-89ad-47d1-89fc-3668a1b136ff)

The following images have been taken from the Spiegel article; in the background, we can see our hotel in the last two images:

We do not know in detail what has caused the dramatic changes; presumably, it was largely due to Covid-19. We hear that during the pandemic, many returned to the countryside to their families and did not come back. Those who remain are the uprooted and those who can no longer face their families out of shame. The small businesses, which were already struggling to survive, are increasingly challenged by chains like Seven-Eleven and the large shopping malls, which are sprouting up like mushrooms. The city has cleared the typical soup kitchens of Bangkok for hygiene reasons. Only those proven to be in need are still allowed to operate a small cooking business on the street. Understandably, but it has not done any good to the quality - and as we notice: also the hygiene! - of the food served.

I will leave it at that. Anja has described many of our impressions in words, which I can only echo:

vakantio.de/oneway2025/bkk-5-nights-in-bangkok