There was a sense of muted caution in the mall that day. It was the first time I visited this Bangkok mall after the first major shutdown in March. Upon entering from the basement parking area we noticed the quietness. Stepping off the escalator onto the main floor we were corralled through a cordoned-off path to a desk with a young man taking peoples' temperature. The floor before the desk was taped indicating where to safely stand to prevent contamination. My turn came. The man pointed the device to my forehead, showed me the reading, held out a yellow dot sticker for me to put on my shoulder to show I was checked, then politely pointed to a pump bottle of hand sanitizer.

It was late afternoon and the look on his face suggested he'd been doing this for several hours. The steady stream of shoppers and motorcycle delivery men walked rapidly through the small crowds of hesitant supermarket customers. I don't blame the customers. The whole place looked different; mostly dark. The comforting buzz of the typical crowds was not there - no mall energy. At this point, the best thing to do is walk swiftly and get out of there as quick as possible.

Before my wife and I would shop for food we had to go to the bank on the fourth floor. Which meant explaining to the escalator guard why we want to go to the upper floors. He opened the plastic gate for us to start our ascent into the eerie darkness. "Are we supposed to be up here?" I asked my wife who walked with confidence in the dim light. "I'm surprised they turned off this many lights. I feel like I'm trespassing. Everything's closed." I said. On our way up two more escalators, we came across a few other people who also had business in the few open shops of mostly banks and mobile phone companies.

We completed our bank business and started heading back to the main floor. That's when I became fascinated with the view of the restaurant delivery system on the main floor below. Most people in Bangkok don't regularly cook at home. As a matter of fact, it is said that eating in local, Thai restaurants is cheaper than cooking at home. This made food delivery a critical system, along with hospitals, supermarkets, and police, to meet the basic needs of the population.

I walked over to the view point that opens up to the whole mall and readied my camera. I noticed a well-defined grid of social distancing; no chaos, frustration, or rushing. Orders came in through the driver's food app, they waited their turn to walk up and order from the restaurant indicated by their customer, and take a seat until the food arrived. This means all the restaurants on the upper floors are still cooking, and that's great.

In the center of this gird there was a long desk that divided the restaurant ordering and the delivery drivers. You couldn't miss this desk as it was filled with packs of free bottled water for the drivers. This desk also provided the food pick up area. As soon as a runner from a restaurant approached, drivers would ready themselves for their order to be called. Others didn't notice as they were in the middle of a mobile game, TV show, or chatting on social media.

With the stress of COVID-19 grabbing our attention everywhere we looked, it was great to see people were still getting fed, and fed well. To the organizers of this well-oiled machine, I say bravo. Medals should be given out.

And to you reading this, if you shop in Bangkok, step to the side when the delivery guys start to trot out the mall with food in their hands. This is when social distancing becomes less distant.

Be safe, wash your hands, don't touch your face, and keep away from people.