State Quarantine? Welcome to Posh Prison...
- Rosie Gibbs
- Aug 31, 2020
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 15, 2022
Well, the fact that I am publishing this post means that I have - finally - come to the end of my fifteen-night Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ)! It has certainly been an...experience...but hey, at least I have a good 'personal challenge that I've had to overcome' for job interviews now. Before I get started on my tales of quarantine, here's some background information on ASQ in Thailand - just to set the scene... Currently, everyone arriving into the country is required to carry out two weeks of quarantine in a designated, government-approved hotel. There are around forty ASQ hotels, all ranging in quality and price, as well as how much access to fresh air and communal areas you'll have during your stay. However, as I mentioned in my previous post, by the time I had managed to book my repatriation flight out here, practically all of the hotels were fully booked, so I really didn't have the pick of the bunch as I assumed I would! Without much choice in the matter and my stress levels through the roof (flight booked but no where to go on arrival in Bangkok), I eventually managed to book a room at the very glamorous (but well over my budget of 'the cheapest option possible') Pullman Bangkok Hotel G. https://www.pullmanbangkokhotelg.com
I was going to write this post in the style of a daily quarantine log, but I soon realised that I really didn't have a sufficient amount of interesting anecdotes for each day (not a whole lot to do in room by yourself for two weeks)... So have instead decided to give you an overview of the highs, lows, and other stand out moments of my ASQ experience. I should also mention that luckily, Georgia (the other Uni of Bath student doing my placement) and I managed to book the same flight and ASQ hotel, so are very much in this very strange adventure together!
Without further ado, welcome to my reality for the past couple of weeks - I hope that you enjoy reading about it more than I have enjoyed living it!
After stepping out of the airport and straight into the hotel car standing by, I was driven about thirty-minutes west into the centre of Bangkok. Over the course of the journey, I was given a menu from which I had to choose all of my meal options for each day of my quarantine (there were three options per meal). Being both gluten-free and a vegetarian, set menus are always a challenge, but the food sounded pretty good so I was happy. I was also instructed to take off my shoes and change into a pair of hotel slippers before we arrived at the hotel - a bit strange but I guess they didn't want to risk bringing Covid into the hotel on our shoes! When we arrived at the hotel, rather than pulling up out front like I had expected, I was driven straight up to the top floor of the adjoining multi-storey carpark - which I soon realised was the hotel's new 'reception' for ASQ guests. There were a series of isolated chairs and desks dotted around the carpark, and I was soon instructed to sit down and wait. It was boiling hot and seriously humid, and the lone chair that I was sat on, combined with the carpark setting and dodgy lighting, did make it feel a little bit like I was about to be interrogated (video attached below)... I was soon called up to the first desk, where I was asked a series of medical questions and had my temperature and blood pressure taken - all fine. I then had to return to my interrogation-style seating before reaching the final 'reception' desk. My travel documents were then checked for the one-hundredth time and I was at last welcomed to the hotel. The check-in process did make me laugh as it was such a contrast to what you would expect at a 5* hotel - but I'm not complaining, I was just happy to be there!
Eventually, I was escorted into the service lift and straight up to my room on the twentieth floor. The room truly is something else - everything is crisp, white, modern, and unbelievably comfy. Not to mention the huge floor to ceiling windows and a view over the city to die for! So I think it's fair to say that I could think of much worse places to spend my quarantine... Completely disoriented and in a real daze, I think I sat on my bed and just stared out of the window for a good hour... As soon as the door to my room closed behind me, I think the reality of the next two weeks really hit me, and it's safe to say that that first night was really tough. It's a very strange situation to be in, and certainly not normal to move to the other side of the world and on arrival be shut, by yourself, in a hotel room for two weeks! That evening I was acquainted with some parts of my new daily routine at the hotel, such as my first of many temperature checks (we have two every day, one at 10am and one at 8pm). I also learned that the only times we are allowed to open our door is for temperature checks (where a nurse in full PPE quickly scans your forehead), to receive our meals (they ring our doorbells and you collect your food from the table outside your door), and to put your rubbish outside the door.
The next couple of days were filled with a mixture of serious jet lag, feeling fairly under the weather, with a bit of homesickness and general disorientation thrown in for good measure too. To top things off, the hotel hadn't quite got to grips with my dietary requirements, and so I received some really odd meals for the first few days; including sea bass (definitely not veggie) and a lot of fruit-as-a-meal-substitute meals when they couldn't accommodate for the GF aspect... It ended up that I didn't eat my first proper meal until Tuesday evening (two and a half days after my last meal at home). However, after speaking to the food and drinks manager; and explaining again that fish, including shellfish (as apparently they are exclusive of each other?) is not vegetarian; all was sorted and the food has mostly been fine ever since. I spent my first few days of quarantine moving between my bed, desk and armchair, doing very little apart from reading books and watching Netflix. I think the only thing that kept me sane through those first few days were the incredible views over Bangkok from my window!
On day four came the first of our Covid tests, which I had been dreading from the moment I arrived at the hotel. I was escorted from my room back to the carpark where we had been checked into the hotel on day one. However, this time, the reception desks had evolved into testing stations complete with clear plastic box screens and nurses dressed in full PPE. I was soon instructed to sit down at the station and very little was said to me from that point onwards. The throat swab was swiftly taken and before I had time to even adjust myself, and without any warning, the swab was shoved so far up my nose that it felt like it had hit my brain - I honestly can't even describe how painful it was! I had very smoothly managed to half throw myself off the chair from jolting backwards in shock, but the nurse silently continued with his work and soon gestured for me to move to the waiting desk. I was then escorted back to my room where I then spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on my bed like an abandoned puppy, feeling very sorry for myself. This probably all seems rather overdramatic but you really had to be there...
Luckily, my results came back negative, and I was told that I would now be able to book a one hour slot each day to visit either the hotel gym or the pool area. Bearing in mind that I received my results on the Friday, I was soon informed that the pool and gym were in fact fully booked until the following Monday, which was a bit of a kick in the teeth considering we'd been so excited to finally get out of our rooms... And then on top of that (oh yes), we were told that the only available slot on Monday was 6am at the pool. But beggars can't be choosers, so we happily booked it. Also, just to be clear, when I say 'we' I mean Georgia and I - I haven't gone (entirely) insane and developed multiple personalities...
After a few more days of doing very little, Monday finally came around. I decided to make the most of the early start and woke up at 5:30am to watch the sunrise before heading to the pool. Definitely worth it as the views from my room were so beautiful! In true prison-style, I was then escorted down to the pool area for my one hour of freedom (ish). It felt so good to be out of my room and in the fresh air (well, slightly polluted and humid Bangkok fresh air), and was especially nice as Georgia and I had managed to book the same hour, so could sit down and have a socially distanced cup of tea and catch up while we were there. The pool area itself is really lovely, with an infinity-style pool, bar, and loads of places to relax. The only downside is that you're not actually allowed to use the pool (for Covid-related reasons), which is fairly torturous when the pool is so inviting and it's so hot outside! Despite the pool being out of bounds, it felt amazing to be somewhere new and to have even just an hour of normality.
As soon as we were allowed out for our daily hour of freedom, my mood shifted massively and I started to feel ten times more positive about the week ahead. My days were far more productive in the second week and I definitely settled into more of a routine. Georgia and I made sure to book the same 'relaxation areas' (as the hotel calls them) each day so that we could have an hour of normal conversation. By this point the school had also sent me some work to have a look at if I felt up to it, so I spent a fair bit of my time going through that and getting to grips with the teaching material. I learnt that this term I will be assisting with the IB (year 12 and 13) art, English and psychology classes, as well as a few art classes for younger students - so that's exciting. Speaking of psychology, Georgia and I have decided that we're starting to become conditioned to associate the sound of our doorbell with our meals being outside, so are soon going to end up associating all doorbell sounds with food - just like Pavlov's dogs (maybe minus the salivation...). So quarantine so far has pretty much just stripped us of all individual agency and turned us into dogs. Great.
As well as my near-daily trips to the pool area, I decided on one occasion to venture to the gym (emphasis on 'one occasion'). I normally like to stay really active and had got into a real fitness routine over lockdown back at home. However, something about being stuck in this hotel room seemed to completely sap all of my motivation. My sole trip to the gym wasn't a huge success - after spending twenty minutes on the cross trainer, I thought that my legs were either going to give way or I was going to pass out from the heat, so spent the next forty minutes collapsed in a heap on the floor, 'stretching'. I had no idea that my strength could deteriorate so quickly, but I guess spending nearly two weeks stuck in a hotel room doing absolutely nothing will do that to you! Was nice to have a change of scene though, and the view from the gym was pretty special too.
I am now sat writing these final paragraphs on my fifteenth and final day in quarantine! I had my second Covid test yesterday morning (a lot better than the first one but still really horrible), so I'm hoping that that's the last one of those I'll have for a while... I received my test results this morning, and thank God they were negative - which means that as of tomorrow morning I am free to go! I can't quite believe that I have finally reached the end of my ASQ, and will at last be able to escape from my room/prison cell for good! No more artificial air-conditioned air, no more temperature checks (although, saying that, the temperature nurse has become one of my favourite people ever - the happiest person I've ever met!), no more doorbells regulating my entire daily routine, no more weird food, and no more being watched and followed whenever I step foot outside my room...
I am so excited to get out and finally explore the country that I am now going to call home for the next year! It's strange to think that I have now been here for over two weeks, but all I've seen of the outside world is the view from my hotel room window - albeit very beautiful. Georgia and I have spent a large portion of the last two weeks researching and planning all of the places we want to see over the next year - our list is already bursting at the seams and I'm certain that there will be plenty more still to add...
On a more serious note, I think I can quite confidently say that this has been one of the most mentally challenging things I've ever had to do. Before I left the UK, I kept being told by my friends and family that what I'm doing is really brave, but I couldn't see it at all! I was so preoccupied with organising the actual getting out here part, that I didn't really have the time to think about it too deeply. I also didn't understand why people were using the word 'brave', when on paper, all I'm really doing is moving to a beautiful tropical island for a year and working at an incredible school! But now that I have completed the rollercoaster experience that has been my ASQ, and have had the time to sit back and reflect; I have started to understand what everyone was on about, and I feel really proud of myself for doing this! I have singlehandedly organised my entire trip out here, through all of the travel restrictions, extra paperwork, complications with flights and the stress of booking an ASQ hotel; as well as moved to a country (that I have never previously visited) on the other side of the world in the midst of a global pandemic; and to top it all off, on arrival in said country, I have endured just over two weeks of solitary quarantine in a hotel room. So, without wanting to appear full of myself, because that's really not the point - I'm just really proud that I've managed to get through it all, and have had the strength to keep going, even when things have hit a dead end or have been really tough. The idea behind going abroad for my placement year was to do something new and out of my comfort zone, and I think it's safe to say that this has already ticked that box - and I haven't even arrived in Phuket yet! So, despite the beginning part of my placement year not being the easiest or the most conventional, it has already taught me a lot and I feel that I'm much better off for it.
Well, that's my quarantine experience in a nutshell - the hard bit is now well and truly over, so expect much more exciting posts after this one! Thanks (and congratulations) for making it this far - as I said previously, I hope you've enjoyed reading about my ASQ more than I've enjoyed living it! My next move is to get out of here as early as I can tomorrow morning, and then spend the day exploring Bangkok before flying out to Phuket in the evening to start work on Wednesday morning! I would imagine that the next few weeks will be fairly full on, with starting my job at BISP and settling into life in Phuket - but I'll try and get another post out before too long... Adios, wish me luck!
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