Quarantine! Finally! After weeks of exhausting Egypt, we arrived in an organized and polite country. We were brought to our hotel, where we were instructed by one of the nurses and a staff member. They handed us their contacts for various apps and some instruction papers. At our room we took off all our clothes and just laid down. We fell asleep pretty soon and were woken up by a knock on the door. It was our food. After the dinner we fell asleep again, though I had some trouble. Feeling your breath stopping because of exhaustion while you try to fall asleep is no fun and sounds completely stupid.
Our quarantine-package was two weeks in a standard room with the standard package. That means room with balcony, 3 meals a day, microwave, kettle, a package with coffee and tea, free WiFi with a private router, transfer to the hotel, a nurse on standby 24/7, two PCR-tests, water, toilet paper, tissues, face masks, hand sanitizer, dish washing stuff and detergent for washing your clothes. This was 49.500 Bhat (ca. 1300 €) in total for two persons.
I already told you about my to-do-list. Back in Egypt I imagined myself being full of energy and motivation as soon as I had slept one long night and then going in full “work”-mode. Guess, what happened! Nothing! The first few days we just laid in bed, watched YouTube videos and movies, I read, I set up another to-do-list on an app that was mentioned by a youtuber “to be more productive”. We stared out our window, watching the people live their life down on the street and were amazed by the jungle that was growing between all the houses. These few days consisted of eating and relaxing only. And you’d be surprise how hungry we were and still sometimes are.
Next to the hotel there is a huge street, elevated above the suburbs. This street is loved by street racers and owners of fast and tuned cars. We spent more than one evening sitting at the window, watching the people drive the street up and down. One evening we spent just watching a thunderstorm unfolding in front of us. Two thunderstorms we had directly over the hotel itself. I was amazed by how warm it still was, despite the thunderstorm. From Germany I am used to humidity right before a thunderstorm and afterwards a huge drop in the temperature. Here, it just stays warm and I love it!
At the fifth day we had our first PCR-test. After several of those tests we have felt a lot of forms of how the cotton swab can inserted into the nose and mouth. Never it was this deep, not even in Germany where people are known for “sticking to the rules”. We felt the swab in our throats. Luckily, the test was negative.
After the relaxing days my motivation came back and I looked up, what I wanted to do. Like some of my short stories, I wanted to publish them in a magazine. I wrote the magazine and within a few days I managed to place it in one of the next two volumes. I worked myself through the website goodreads to have a look around for new, exciting books. Though, I have to say, that it is a novelty for me to read in English, for years I had troubles with that and there is still sitting Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my shelf, unread. I bought it somewhat in my teens. I had some pictures, that I wanted to check, to work with and in the end uploading onto our Website, older blog entries that were left without pictures, because of the bad WiFi. (This is the reminder for you to check our gallery and the old blog entries. 😉) Another thing were some mails I had to write and we had to run some errands for Rob. Which is quite a challenge with every document back in Germany and everything you got is your memory where to find the stuff. We managed it. Now, let’s hope for a good ending.
Of course, we tried to wash some clothes, but we faced two problems. One, don’t pick up the phone … Sorry, got caught in a catchy tune. One, the sink was leaking and additional to the water in the sink, we had it on the table underneath. Two, Egypt was an arid climate, Bangkok is humid and inside the room it is nearly impossible to dry the clothes. Outside it is working better, but still not, what we are used to from Egypt.
Midway through our quarantine we had a problem with our toilet. It was stuck. We don’t know if we were the only people with that problem, but we guess it was a problem with the whole floor, because we heard the plumber at our neighbour’s room as well.
Another thing related to creative writing are my notebooks. After trying to write on computer only I switched back to notebooks, because I could put my thoughts together way better. This requires to retype every notebook, every page of it. That is exhausting, but I can already make a few changes and become aware of mistakes I had put into the text. Simultaneously, I am writing in my new notebook and finished a smaller story within a greater universe, that I started back in 2016. The whole book is not nearly done, but I am proud of myself. I used the time as good as I could.
Nearing our second PCR-test (also negative), Rob and I became aware of something. We had booked our quarantine for 14 days. At our entry into the country we were told to quarantine for 10 days. And the hotel had put down also a quarantine for 10 days. We asked, when we would have to leave, because we were looking for hotels after the quarantine. We were allowed to check out five days earlier. And – and this is something that would barely happen in Egypt – we got back the money we paid too much. Not all of it, because we had ordered ice cream two times for our Ghibli-movie-nights. Still, 4000 Bhat (ca. 120 €) more is quite a thing.
Theoretically, you are allowed to go outside after the first negative PCR-test for about 30 min to an hour each day. We did it only one time. The backyard of the hotel was a good variety, but it became very dull very quick.
Before coming to Thailand, we had thought about staying another few days in Bangkok after two weeks of quarantine, but now we changed our plans. Instead of roaming the city of Bangkok we had set of to Pattaya, a city at the ocean. It’s my first time in an ocean, that is not around Europe or the Caribbean. I am excited and so is Rob.
Well then, my dear people. I hope you’ll have a nice week!
-Toni
TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF 