8 Photos That Make Us Miss the Bustle of Bangkok

By Veronica Inveen
Photographs by Cedric Arnold

Apr 13, 2020

IT’S 9:30PM ON A FRIDAY in Asoke, one of Bangkok’s busiest neighborhoods, and not a car, motorcycle, street vendor or tuk tuk is in sight. Eerily quiet, this is the city’s new reality since the Thai government has imposed a 10 pm to 4 am curfew at the beginning of the month as a way to combat the spread of COVID-19. The curfew has presented a hushed version of Bangkok that most have never thought possible of the notoriously rowdy city—let alone have experienced.

Though most of the city’s dwellers have dreamt of carless streets and clear, pollution-free skies, nobody can deny that Bangkok’s sensory overloading way of everyday life is a major part of its charm. Here, longtime Bangkok resident and T+L contributing photographer Cedric Arnold reminds us of the vibrant city we have to look forward to when the world returns to normalcy.

1. Gossip is better over a bowl of noodles

2. Follow the leader. A father accompanies his children to school

3.  A man with his morning paper

4. River traffic sails past Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn

5. Friday entertainment down a back street of Chinatown

6. Smiling novice monks at a local pier along the Chao Praya River

7. Vendors await customers at Pak Khlog Talat, a flower and vegetable market

8. Another day passes by over newspapers and morning coffee