That Time Of The Year!

In less than 48 hours, I will be finally released from jail! Ok fine – this is many times better than jail.  After 1 week in a quarantine facility how did it feel?  Other than being lonely and inability to leave my room, I would say the place isn’t too bad.

Here is my review of my stay in one of the designated Government Quarantine Facility.

Premise

The quarantine facility that I am in is a civil service chalet.  Don’t expect 5 star resort (unlike the Intercontinental Maldives which I was suppose to review at the end of the month).  I did not have the opportunity to tour the facility as I am barred from leaving my room at any time, hence I can only review my room.

I would estimate the room to be about 120 to 150 square feet (max).  It comes with an ensuite bathroom (one of the requirement for a quarantine facility).  The room came with 2 single bed (that can be combined into a double bed) which isn’t too comfortable but adequate.

There is a bar fridge for you to store snacks and to chill any provided drinks/desserts.  The TV comes with only standard over the air channels (which I never watched prior to

Wardrobe and some storage spaces are available.  However, I did not utilise it due to the musty smell.  2 small windows (that cannot be opened) barely brightens up the room.  The room cannot be adequately darkened due to the translucent (instead of opaque) blind installed.

Toilet is fairly old fashioned and in the absence of partition, the dry area gets wet easily despite the presence of a shower curtain.  Thankfully, hot water is available 24/7.

The room is still fairly comfortable for 1 person, but it can get a little crowded with 2.

Food

One thing I can say is that I am very well fed throughout my stay here.  All 3 meals are provided and the portion is fairly large, catered from outside.  One can also add on by calling for self-paying delivery service  (which I find not necessary).  Other than on Feb 9 where my breakfast was a hastily assembled pack of snacks (I suspect that the caterer failed to deliver the food), the rest of the food were pretty good (at least much better than the food at the food court where I work).  Drinks are provided with every meal and there is a kettle in the room for one to boil water with.

Food is usually delivered at pre-determined timing every day.

I shall let my pictures do the talking:

Feb 7

Feb 8

Feb 9

Feb 10

Feb 11

Feb 12

Feb 13

Feb 14

Feb 15

Connectivity

Wifi is available but I can’t seem to login.  I didn’t bother with it as I have ample data (even with countless videos) I still had more than enough data to use.  I had about 64 Mbps downstream at 6 Mbps upstream using 4G connection.

Amenities

There is no housekeeping (for obvious reason).  Change of bedsheet is available upon request (self change) and similarly, change of towel is provided (by calling the ops command centre).  Trash is cleared by putting the rubbish outside the room for the cleaner to collect.  No toiletries were provided (other than soap and shampoo in a dispenser).   Thankfully, I managed to pack some with me.

How did I spend my time here?!

At the start, there were plenty of emails and FB messages from patients to answer as most of my patients were concerned if they are at risk.  Thankfully, they were not as my swab result came back as negative and I have been well throughout my quarantine period.  Other than that, Youtube with ample data were my 2 best friends.  With FaceTime, I was also able to FaceTime with my family.

I also was in constant contact with my partners with regards to the change in workflow of our clinic given the situation.  Thankfully, I was still able to remotely connect to my workstation in my clinic to do some admin work.

Being confined within these 4 walls can be sedentary – the inertia was there but at the urging of my daughter, I decided to do some simple exercise.  I managed to do some running inside the room (by moving my beds to the center) and some other simple exercise.  I think this has been my most active week for a very long time.

My flyer buddies were nice enough to keep me occupied with messages on WhatsApp and I am also heartened by all the support given by my family, friends and patients.

I will be back to work in less than 72 hours and going forward, things will certainly be challenging as there is no signs of the Covid19 slowing down.  I have already cancelled my Shanghai, Maldives and Bangkok trips and my next trip will only come in June – which is my trip to Svalbard! (I hope that I don’t need to cancel that).  I am very thankful to Singapore Airlines for allowing me to cancel not 1 but 2 Spontaneous Escape bookings without penalty due to my predicament and the Covid19 situation.  Singapore Airlines were also kind enough to cancel my revenue booking to Bangkok without penalty.  I have yet to receive the refund of my miles for my SQ833 and SQ451 miles (likely due to the high volume of cancellations) but I am in no rush for to get back my miles.

Similarly, I am grateful to Intercontinental Hotel for cancelling my non-refundable booking in Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland (which I was really looking forward to besides trying out the new Suites).  I also felt a little sore over the missed opportunity in trying out Maldives Intercontinental after I managed to build up an itinerary using my IHG Ambassador weekend certificate and IHG reward points where I get to stay 5 nights by paying only 2!