COVID-19 – Fifth update from ThaiSmiths – A Crisis for Elephants

Hello again from Phuket, Thailand.

Working from home. The office is in the background (centre, not right).

At the office - part-time only.

 A few things have changed for us since the last update.

• Effective March 28, the province of Phuket imposed a curfew – 8 p.m. until 3 a.m. – with the exception of “the urgent errand”. Also, travel to other provinces has been banned.
• Effective April 4, all hotels in Phuket are ordered closed. Those with current guests can remain open until those guests leave. No new guests allowed.
• Phuket’s airports are closing in a few days, and will remain closed until April 30. We are now isolated on this lovely island.
• Effective April 5, Phuket’s party town – Patong – is locked down by government order “until further notice” (click on the highlighted words if you want more detail) . More than 80 per cent of the province’s confirmed COVID cases are in Patong. More lock downs are coming.

           Some things remain the same. The construction of the hotels in this village continues and there is also a considerable amount of infrastructure work going on. Hope is alive and well.

A big machine tearing up our road for a water main.

Construction going well at a village hotel.

Darrel and I are still allowed to go out for groceries. The other day we went to Makro – something like Costco – and we failed the temperature test! The tester asked us to stand under an air conditioner to cool off (the weather is very hot these days), then she took our temperature again. We passed the second test and were allowed to enter the store. When she announced that we had passed, I wanted to give her a “high five” then went “Oops, nope” then gave the customary “wai” which is the polite nod with both hands held together.

We shop at Makro because there are some things that we can’t get delivered from Tesco (like, right now, cheddar cheese, garbanzo beans, and our favourite cereal) and because we get some things in larger packets (like peanuts). We have to go to another store – Villa Market – for things like sour cream and Twining’s lemon-ginger tea. And yes, if we are confined to quarters, we will easily do without all those items.

Our hotel is so very quiet. We did get some good news: all the hotel staff have been retained, but on reduced work weeks. There are still a number of owners living in their condos – at least eight units occupied – and we have given them the phone number of our favourite local Thai restaurant so they can order in from time to time. Nobody goes to the pool – it is officially closed – but today we did see a squirrel scampering around the railing. That’s a first. We sometimes see neighbours going out for a run or walk or a quick shop, but we’re not meeting up for coffee or anything. Most our neighbours are still not wearing masks, but I expect that will change soon.

A very quiet resort.

Only Take-Away.

A little pick-me-up for Dewa staff.

At the Dewa front desk.

The Dewa is providing reasonable monthly rates to stranded tourists.

Our park road, where we bike, is getting over-taken by nature. The sweepers (people, not machines) are off, so the tree debris is all over the road. We both kind of like the wild, woodsy feel of the park these days. There is no through-traffic allowed, so we bikers and walkers and joggers have the road mostly to ourselves. I’m wondering when the squirrels will show up.

Loretta on the park road. It is more littered with tree debris these days.

The Elephant Crisis (click on the highlighted words if you want more detail) - The poor elephants of Thailand are suffering greatly because of the COVID crisis. Life wasn’t great for them in the first place.  I think there are about 4,000 elephants in Thailand, and half of them work in the tourism industry. Their natural habitat has mostly been destroyed, so many of them rely on humans for food. (Darrel just pointed out that the preceding sentence is poorly worded. Of course the elephants don't eat humans - they are herbivores). Many of the elephants have been trained to give rides or perform tricks to earn their food. But now with travel shut down, there are no tourists to pay for the food. A captive elephant needs up to 300 kilograms of food a day to survive. The tour and camp operators can’t afford to continue feeding them.

Now, with the crisis, the elephants might be sold back to zoos or logging companies where they were rescued from in the first place. Or they might be set free into the wild where there is a likelihood that they will be killed by territorial wild elephants. It is a dire situation. According to the Bangkok Post, “Calls are mounting for the government to fund stricken camps to ensure the welfare of elephants.”

Our street dogs (click on the highlighted words if you want more detail) seem to be surviving so far, but their future is also worrisome. The generous restaurants and hotels that feed the stray dogs are now mostly closed. The charitable associations that rely on tourists to help out with the dogs no longer have that option. We are going to check with our local friends to see who is helping to feed and water the dogs (and the odd cat – hardly any strays around here) so we can contribute.

My news links in this blog are to Thai news sources, but I have to admit that my favourite news source is still the CBC National. I am so thankful that we can get it through YouTube. I love their news team and am always moved by their thoughtful coverage, which is mostly positive. And I always come away feeling very proud of Canada.

That’s it for now. Take care. Loretta & Darrel.