Bangkok dreams - reflections from my quarantine at the top of the world

As a young girl in the 1960's I grew up with plenty of unsound, far-from-#timesup sanitised fairy tales about princesses eking out their days in splendid isolation, in beautiful castles, at the top of a hill far from the madding crowd. Peering over the ramparts at the bustling city below, they would often dream of escape, adventure and for real life to begin.

I find myself in Bangkok as one of the privileged few who has been able to get on a flight and travel across continents during a year defined by some of the severest and most widespread lockdown measures the world has seen, in the battle to curtail the rampant, escalating spread of the #Corona-virus.

On day three of a 15-day quarantine-stretch I find myself fully identifying with the sentiment of those fairytale princesses, eking out my days, hours and minutes on floor 22 of a beautiful #Bangkok hotel, peering down on the verdant streets below, longingly watching the cars, mopeds and tuk-tuks as they thread their way around the city. I dream of escaping to explore the markets, the street food stands and the offerings of the side-walk hawkers. I gaze out at the impressive silhouette of the skyline, and fantasize about plunging into the deep blue eternity pools visible on rooftops of apartment buildings and hotels below us.

A year ago, before Corona asserted itself as a world wide pandemic, my husband and I triggered the process of building a house in #Thailand. The house is nearing finalisation, and it′s time to take on all the tasks associated with completing the final paperwork, and start moving in. So we decided to plough ahead with the massive preparations required to obtain a visa and book quarantine in one of the designated Bangkok hotels.

Although the number of infections has risen in Thailand in the past couple of weeks, this nation of almost 70 million people has managed to keep its covid-spread tightly under control for the greater part of last year. Since the beginning of the outbreak in early 2020, only 9500 people have become infected, and 67 people have died.

Having been present during Thailand's initial response to the virus in the spring of 2020, I noted that measures were swift, stringent and conscientious at the outset. Many people in Thailand naturally don #masks if they are feeling unwell, making it part of the culture which helped the speedy adoption of this crucial practice. The authorities also went on to quickly close down tourist-attractions, markets, bars, restaurants and massage-parlours, and restricted travel between regions. Temperature-checks along the motorway carried out by police controls became standard.

So when we landed at #Suvarnabhumi Airport a couple of days ago, it did not surprise me when we were met by legions of airport personnel dressed in surgical outfits from head to toe. The whole procedure of testing temperatures and checking papers was very efficient. They swiftly channelled us on to our designated driver. Before stepping into the vehicle ferrying us to our hotel, we were asked to don knee high plastic covers for our shoes. The space between passengers and driver was hermetically sealed off by a moulded transparent plastic barrier. There was even a built-in plastic box for tips! Traffic from the airport into the city was sparse, and the sky was blue. (Last year the four lanes from the airport into the city hardly moved, and the air was yellow and thick, visibility low.) We alighted in the underground garage of the hotel, where our temperature was measured again, before being guided to a special elevator opening up to a separate Covid quarantine reception area. There, we were signed in by staff in full Covid protection-gear, and instructed about the process and scheduling of our stay. This included downloading a special covid health and tracing app, in which we are required to enter our temperature twice daily.

From the moment we reached our hotel room, we've had no more direct contact with the outer world, and it will remain so for seven days. Meals are delivered in plastic containers at the door. When you open the door, the person delivering your food has long since disappeared.

Suffering from mild claustrophobia as I do, as well as being a person who inherently dislikes to be restricted, I still have to commend Thailand for its stringent, uncompromising approach to containing the virus. True, one might question the significant damage to the country's economy, and the millions of vulnerable people whose livelihoods have been shattered. To counter that, Thailand is planning to use the pandemic crisis as a means to shift away from sex tourism to medical and high-end eco/sports tourism, while at the same time investing extensively in education and training for new skillsets to support the new focus. The results of this strategy can probably only be judged a decade or two down the road, but making positive use of the tabula rasa that the Covid-crisis has created seems like a commendable plan.

Imagine if the nations of the world had been better prepared and more united to collectively address a major global threat such as this Covid-19 pandemic: taking steps to swiftly lock down their respective countries and regions, closing borders during a limited period of 2-3 months. Surely, we could have beaten the pandemic together early on?

Instead political polarisation has topped the agenda during this critical time. We've seen a storming of the Capitol in Washington against the backdrop of 22.2 million Covid infected and more than 370.000 dead. In UK the citizens are calling for the resignation of Boris Johnson because of the UK government's delayed and indecisive response to effectively handling Corona with 2.96 million infected and almost 80.000 dead. The Swedish government, having decided on a separate path from most other nations, has finally and after much criticism adjusted its covid-strategy of creating herd-immunity to starting lock-down measures.

So much time has been wasted, so many lives destroyed, and so many economies run into the ground because the people we've appointed to govern lack the vision, integrity and courage to focus on doing "the right thing". And who pays the price? Almost always it's the most vulnerable. But in this case, it will be all of us!

My hope is that governments have learned that in critical situations - whether it's about pandemics, climate change, or the environmental crisis - that global collaboration based on research and expertise trumps national supremacy or regional interests. That pointedly refocusing the political and economic agenda on the future of our planet and the common good is non-negotiable, requiring us to work across party lines and ideological divides. It's the role of government to act as risk-manager, and risk-taker of last resort, and I hope that from now on the politicians we've elected will step up to own that role, and accept the responsibility they have been given. And above all, that we expect them to be accountable, and refrain from pushing responsibility to regional institutions or even individual (epidemiologist) experts, cowering from the risk of not being re-elected.

However, make no mistake about it, we as voters, we the people, also have a responsibility. We need to take a more active part in shaping our common future, and demonstrate through open dialogue, and the choices we make - whether it's about voting, what and how we consume, how we act - what we expect and what we accept.

Please, at long last, enter the grown-ups in the room!