I can start to smell freedom soon, to be released from my hotel room cell in Shangri-La after 14 nights of compulsory quarantine since returning from my UK trip. The COVID19 test results I did on Tues (first trip out of the room on Day 11 for 30 mins in the same building) came back negative on Thurs and so I should be able to check out tomorrow after noon time.
The anticipation and apprehension of returning back to S’pore after spending a month in Oxford was high for me because of this quarantine requirement. You hear about all the negative rumours as so few people have done it before. It did not helped that I visited the famous Oxford Prison during my last week there. The guide had recounted the horrible prison conditions there for hundreds of years LOL. And there I was, heading for a 14 nights of staying in my room/cell.
This was the first time in my life where I will be trapped in a room for so long. The nationwide virus lockdown/circuit breaker period earlier in the year had probably also help me prepare for this. We were told then to stay home for many weeks and to minimize movement when the first wave was surging.
The first night of quarantine was the worse for me as I was still having the effects of jetlag and woke up in the middle of the night feeling disorientated and highly claustrophobic. I broke into cold sweat and had to try to calm myself, wanting to just do some exercise to take my mind off the fact that I will be trapped in the room for days.
The following days became better as I got used to it and started to plan a daily schedule of activities to get into a regular routine asap. I decided to also do 400 stomach crunches before every meal. The hotel provided an activities schedule with QR codes to relevant videos. I followed the exercises schedule religiously, going into Zumba and Salsa classes, HIIT workout, stretch and Yoga flow sessions as a late afternoon activity every day. I adopted a series of calisthenics exercise routine I found on the internet to do it every morning before breakfast.
Like the reason for writing on this blog, I decided to share my quarantine experience on my social media accounts (via Facebook and Instagram) too. I believe that to talk about it will reduce the fear for me. It was also to inform a few friends who were going to do this compulsory quarantine soon when they return to S’pore. Most readers provided words of encouragement and some followed up with questions about the experience. The downside? A few idiots commented that they wished they were in my place and one even sent me photos of himself enjoying his time outside on the beach a few days in a row to make me envious. Assholes!
The daily routine is coming to an end soon. Tonight will be my 14th and last night in this room I have been calling home for 2 weeks. Checking out by noontime tomorrow, I would have been away from home for almost 6 weeks. Looking forward to meeting my wife and younger son again.
This has been a spa detox staycation for me. My body system should be better now with clean living, a simple diet with less over eating and regular exercises throughout each day. Freedom smells so sweet and close – I have gotten a better appreciation of it without taking freedom for granted.
The COVID19 situation around the world is getting worse by the day as summer moves into winter and the 2nd wave hits. The impending shit show ahead seems so apparent that Boris had threatened to cancel Christmas if it is not brought under control by then. Countries are returning to lockdowns now in order to ensure that the rising 2nd wave is flattened.
We are lucky as a small country that the virus is relatively under control now with a proactive government. Visiting the UK with my first hand experience on the ground experience plus watching Myanmar deteriorate rapidly via my regular consultancy calls was a wake up call for me. Many governments with a much bigger population, porous borders and placing a higher value over individual rights have found it hard to contain the invisible enemy.
Asia in general has done much better than the rest of the world. Asian values generally prioritize the community over individual rights. What is good for the village as a whole is good for every person in it. Wearing masks and obeying the draconian new rules of the authorities is a given, we do not question them.
There is no need to politicize the issues like what America is doing. Wearing a mask is not about breaching your 1st amendment right but it is to protect your fellow human beings. Testing and contact tracing is a bare minimum to arrest the spread of the virus. Rushing to reopen is a recipe for disaster. The virus does not discriminate.
The 2 presidential candidates into their final 5 days of campaigning cannot be more different. Their messages are the opposite of one another. Surely one side is lying through his teeth? The virus will be over soon when cases are hitting record highs? Promising over the last few years that a new and better healthcare plan will always be coming in the next few weeks and not delivering? Saying that you have won the war against the virus with bold moves when cases hit historical highs?
This will be a good human case study in the future as Trump supporters remain blind to the actual situation. The echo chamber of social media news keep them them sheltered in an alternate reality world where all news that disagree with their views are labeled fake news. Will they ever get out of this when the elections are over next week and their candidate loses?
My view is very simple. For the sake of the world, I hope Biden wins. If not, then the Americans deserve the orange one and we are all in for a crazy ride ahead.
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