Last week I did manage to buy three Chinese calendars from Chinatown in one short trip. It was a very fulfilling mission with delightful success; this feeling kept me puffed up for a few days. I thought I would find reasonable excuses for not going out but my guilty feeling drove me out on my way. Since the long lockdown, I seemed to be more static and stuck in ‘safe’ spaces. So, I have consciously reminded myself of my innate adventurous and active nature. This time my innate nature has taken the matter to rather extreme actions.
I still haven’t secure a new pocket diary for next year. I did browse at the Robinson mall in the stationary section but there was no small diaries. The inner self reminded me that I usually got all my diaries from a posh shopping mall in Sukhumvit road called the Emporium. But that was quite far away and the traffic would be rather bad as police would be closing several roads to rehearse the security procedures before the APEC Meeting in Bangkok. Fortunately, Putin wouldn’t be here but the Chinese Premier would be here in person including the WEF’s creator. Traffic is going to be very bad the whole week. So, I should have done all my essential shopping before the VIPs arrived in Bangkok.
I spent almost an hour debating inside my head whether I should travel in the evening by bus, taxi or by car. The bus would waste time as it had to make a big detour. Taxi would be reluctant to go near the conference location. Looking at the clock, I had only two hours left before the shopping mall wound close in the evening. Life sprang the unexpected on me as a test of my character again! I did a small prayer in my heart and jump in my dear old car hoping that the car guardian would help me sail through all traffic.
I was quite surprised that I was driving as fast as I would during daytime. I haven’t been out on a long distance for several months. I realised that I could see things very clearly; my eyesight has improved and I didn’t have to slow down in the night. So, I could drive with much confidence and I dared say that I should be thinking of car racing as a hobby. I loved speed and I was addicted to speed since I had the opportunity of sitting in my friend’s red Ferrari along the quiet country lanes long time ago. I felt as if I was sitting on a flying carpet while the scenery was just a blur. Any way, my mother only sat in my car once and she refused to be my passenger a long time ago. I was quite proud of my driving skill as I got my driver license from abroad.
Certainly, it was very dark along the shortcuts I liked to take as this would save me some time. I had to try to reach the Emporium in under an hour so that I would have one hour for my shopping. I was quite rude and did overtake slow cars along the way. Sometimes people were just too afraid to make decisions, drivers forgot traffic times, slow cars were on the fast lane. Most drivers didn’t know about defensive driving and their ways of driving were based on habits. It’s helpful that I could zoom in and read the mind of some drivers before making risky decisions. My car guardian had to work quite hard each time I was in a hurry. I thanked them profusely for being overly kind and generous towards me.
I did quite well despite two spots of traffic jam, and reached my destination within forty minutes. The shopping mall was quite lonesome as the Christmas decorations were minimal. The large entrance hall had no decorations at all and customers were very few. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the people working inside the mall. I heard that the management tried to find a buyer of the whole complex since last year. Nothing came out of that effort. Several shops were boarded up for ‘renovation’; my acquaintance had closed his camping shop over a year ago. I just hoped that there would be more tourists coming to Thailand soon. coming to Thailand soon. I heard the news about the government trying to negotiate with the Chinese so that they would relax their ‘zero Covid’ policy and allow Chinese tourists to travel to Thailand.
I got to the stationary section and was so glad to see several types of diaries. This mall has to cater for regular customers who are addicted to certain types of diaries. I would go for the cheapest and simplest diaries from Italy (Quo Vadis). But they haven’t arrived yet; last year customers had to reserve for their diaries as there were very few available. So, I got two very cheap Thai design diaries for backup. Now I could start to ponder about life and impending changes next year!
As I had almost an hour left; I took a walk along the walkways in front of the mall. The walkways connecting three big shopping malls with the sky train station. I had to survey the Christmas decoration in front of two other luxurious malls. The deserted walkways made me very melancholy about the Christmas atmosphere in Bangkok. Parents should be out taking selfies with their children around this huge walkway and big yard as they did in the past. People are probably still afraid of new variants which have been declared by some local experts. Fear mongering still persists so long as the fiduciary incentives are forthcoming. People would never be free from fear; the social engineering technics had been professionally carried out in lockstep.
There were few tourists around but I couldn’t see crowds of families on a night out in town. The other two shopping malls were wanting of more
customers. I had the opportunity of taking photos of the surrounding space without being obstructed by crowds of people as in the past. The decorations looked acceptable but the scale was reduced by half of the usual display. I quite liked the LED display of fashion show with nice background. I had to rush back before the police started closing the roads near the official meeting venue. I had a lucky escape from hitting another car as I missed my shortcut turning. There was some construction along this road and I was distracted by a car accident on the left side. But good thinking and the car guardian told me to slam my break and waited for the incoming car to pass before I could quickly took the right turn back to join the main road. Strangely, I wasn’t perturbed by this near miss incident and carried on as usual.
I was so glad that I impulsively took this journey to the Emporium to get my pocket diaries. I could open my eyes to see other dimensions of reality; how other people were coping with slow economic activities and how they had to adapt to changes. The impermanence of all things came back to my mind and the precarious of life was reflected in my driving incident. I hope and pray for better opportunities for all hard working people whose fighting spirits continue to soldier on despite all difficulties. I wouldn’t hope for any help from politicians and experts gearing up for the big meeting with VIPs. Their properties should be confiscated and examined for money laundering. With their civil servants’ salaries, they shouldn’t be able to have many big houses and expensive designers’ watches. I could feed many stray cats for years with the cost of one of those watches! Hopefully there would be more tourists next month for the New Year’s celebration.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.