The sky is grey and a strange energy has been hanging in the air so I had better concentrate on doing my late #marketfriday post hosted by @dswigle. Life has been quite intense during the last few days, as I discovered that several of my old friends had decided to take the jabs so that they could travel by airplanes and have their reunion at the beach resort during the new year holiday. I could never get used to hearing that more and more highly educated people got the jabs so that they could continue their luxurious lifestyle of resort hopping and private parties at friends’ houses. They just couldn’t be bothered to follow up on the information I sent them. I was very disappointed by their reckless attitude and complacency about the risk and uncertainty of the long term effect. So, I needed to take some time to adjust to the new reality that I would be losing several friends in the near future. Life could never be the same after the spring of next year when we would see fully vaxxed people occupying all available beds in hospitals; this is what is happening now in Israel and Singapore.
Recently, I was curious to see Chinatown after the lockdown had been ended. So, I took the bus to Yaowarad road and took a walk through the narrow alley of the old market in Chinatown. There seemed to be more people walking around Chinatown and I noticed a few foreign tourists. That was a very good sign for the economy in the short term but I wasn’t certain how long the country could be open for tourism. I imagined it could be like some Chinese cities which have suddenly been under lockdown again after new clusters of coronavirus sprung up. I just hoped that the strong sunshine and spices plus herbs in local food could alleviate the effects of spike proteins and other adjuvants in the vaxx. Many vaxxed people I know have been detoxing everyday with local herbals and medicine. The results have been very satisfying. These people didn’t have to be rushed to hospitals like those who just took paracetamol.
I arrived there late afternoon only to find that the most vendors in the old market started closing their shops since early afternoon. There were hardly any customers in the old market these days. The atmosphere was completely different from the crowded and noisy atmosphere in the past. Nowadays, many shops had been closed and there were about ten shops opened for business. I did wonder how things could have been so drastically traumatic; the social and economic fabric of Chinatown has been annihilated. This market represented the life blood of the original Chinese community in this area. This was where laborer could find casual job and budding entrepreneurs could buy and sell goods to wandering customers. There were infinite possibilities and opportunities to make a good living at the old market in the old days.
There were still some old shops which had been there since my childhood. These were shops belonging to well to do vendors with deep cash and credits. Lots of vendors had gone into debt as the lockdown had stopped all commerce. The middle class and small businesses have been hammered by copy cat policies instigated by greedy politicians. It was eerie walking in very quiet atmosphere instead of noisy and bustling vibes of the past.
I did manage to take photos of lots of dried shiitake mushrooms which are the favourite mushrooms for the Chinese cuisine. There are several kinds of Chinese tea displayed in open boxes which seemed rather strange to me. I thought tea leaves should not be left in open air as the aroma would just disappear and humidity could spoil them too. Lots of dried seeds and fruits for cooking special Chinese food were calling out to me as they reminded me of my childhood Chinese meals. Regrettably, I was never allowed in the kitchen so I had never learned how to cook proper Chinese food from my Chinese relatives. There was always such a commotion with steam and laughters including very attractive smell. My Chinese language would have been more advanced had I been allowed to stay with my older Chinese relatives during my childhood.
The lockdown has certainly altered the social fabric of our society and devastated all small businesses. I had never seen the old market deserted like this in the afternoon. It was so quiet that a cat felt comfortable enough to take a nap on the empty stall. Usually it would take me half an hour to walk along this narrow alley; but this time it took me only ten minutes. There was no one else touring the market so the whole alley belonged to me! Mixed feelings were running through my mind as I began to see a bigger picture of the whole country and the likely future scenario. I realised that most people would just become victims or pawns to this global transformation of the fourth Industrial Revolution. How could I communicate my insight to my Chinese relatives? They had to prepare, make changes and contingency plans for the short term impact and long term strategy.
I felt very alone walking through the old market. The old shops I used to know had disappeared; there used to be more than thirty Chinese vendors selling brass statues and crystals at the other end of the market. I searched for some old friends but they were all gone. These Chinese immigrants came to Chinatown only recently, about ten years ago, to make money from selling brass objects and crystals. Some ten years ago, there was a roaring business on crystals and crystal healing. I used to help these vendors whenever they couldn’t communicate with foreign tourists. So, they always gave me very good prices on crystals. There were two elderly vendors in the crystal shop.
In the old days, these crystal shops would be opened till late in the evening. Lots of Thai wholesalers would be flocking to this area while foreign tourists would be hunting for nice pieces of crystal from Brazil and Madagascar. I was lucky to have bought quite a few old stones from Tibet and Nepal.
There was always the risk of picking fake crystals or laboratory made stones or crystals. I had to check out the stone’s vibration to see whether they were real or fake. But I was quite surprised to see that some lab-made stone actually had very high frequencies. I thought these were made from real rocks which had been recomposed by some scientific procedures.
I asked for permission to take photos. The disorderly ways of placing these rocks and crystals left me very puzzled. It seemed that these vendors could not appreciate the qualities and vibes of crystals and rocks. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for these rocks. I hardly had any time to check out some small but nice pieces of rocks as they were closing up the shopping area. Luckily I already had collected all the nicer pieces of rocks and crystals in the past. I continued towards the main road so that I could find the bus stop for getting back to the shopping mall in Bangrak. I still had to go to feed some stray cats at the temple by the river.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.