Quarantine

I'm back in Thailand now!

on the flight to Thailand

It was a wonderful visit back home to the US, and while I have a ton of blog posts to catch up on, I just wanted to update you all on my arrival and current quarantine in Thailand. It's been interesting. Travel isn't impossible right now, but COVID-19 makes it very slow and a bit difficult.

Before leaving the US, I had to send my passport off to Washington for a visa from the Thai embassy. This took way more paperwork than usual, including proof of Thai COVID-19 insurance. I then had to petition the government for a Certificate of Entry, a new piece of paperwork certifying my entry back to Thailand, which required further submission of several documents. I had to book Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ), the mandated 14-day stay in a government-approved hotel. 

There were three layers of document checks - once upon departing from DFW, once at Hamad Airport in Qatar, and once again upon arrival. I'll say this, though: it was the fastest and most efficient arrivals procedure I've ever been through! There was a whole army of Thai government employees in full PPE gear to process us through Immigration, and from touchdown to checking in at the ASQ hotel, the whole process took under an hour.

After clearing Immigration, we took all of our stamped and approved documents, and were picked up immediately at the gate by government staff in full PPE. They took all of our luggage, sprayed it and us down with alcohol disinfectant, and ushered us quickly into a large white van. There was almost nobody at the airport, and our flight was nearly empty. Few people are flying to Thailand right now.

We were totally isolated from the driver by a large plastic wall. We had barely stepped foot into Thailand before being surrounded by our quarantine bubble. I have to say, it felt very safe!

The process was so fast and efficient! I am incredibly impressed with the arrival and quarantine process. Way to go, Thailand! We were driven directly to the Bangkok Palace Hotel - home for the next 14 days. There, we checked in, which required presenting all of our documents once again. We had our temperatures taken by the on-site nurse, and were issued thermometers. We will have to report our temperatures twice daily to the nurse via a messaging app - once at 9am and once at 5pm sharp.

This was the most fun part! We were given a menu for our stay, and were able to choose our orders for 3 meals a day for all 14 days of our stay. We were kind of rushed though, so I don't really remember what I ordered! I'm looking forward to meal time. Thrice daily, staff will deliver boxed meals outside of our room.

We were led through the hotel, an old but comfortable 4-star hotel. We won't see much of it, though. Once in our room, we will only be allowed out three times for our three COVID-19 PCR tests.

Home, sweet home. This is the two-person room, which is only available for married couples. It's small, but will do just fine. We have our own WiFi router, so the internet is fast. There's a big window to let in lots of natural light, but no balcony. 

Hopefully my wife and I don't get sick of each other over the next 14 days!

We have a kettle and plenty of bottled water. Luckily, I packed a big jar of instant coffee and creamer, as well as 100 bags of black tea and 100 bags of green tea. I think that should get me through the next two weeks.

We can also place orders through the hotel. They'll deliver coffee, tea, instant noodles, and the likes to our room.

We can also order room service if we really want something extra, but I don't think I'll need to with three meals already included per day. We can also order from 7-11, and the hotel will bring our orders to our room. Deliveries are twice daily at noon and 7pm.

So far, it's not so bad! I'll be able to get some work done, and we can use this time to adjust our body clocks from jet lag. The past month has been so busy and so full of fun stuff, that I'm almost looking forward to a period of boredom and the chance to take it easy. I'll also use the time to start my new semester of grad school and get some reading in. All in all, I'm not dreading it! 

The view isn't spectacular, but at least we have a big window. It'll do.

Over the next 14 days whilst undergoing quarantine, I plan to write up one blog post per day about my adventures back in Texas. I've got a ton of great stuff to share with you, and nothing but time to get them written. Stay tuned!