My quarantine

Landing in hometown

I landed into my hometown Kuching around 1600, a few minutes behind schedule. We queued up for temperature checks and you guessed it … more forms to fill. But once they knew I was an international arrival, the form was no longer required.

Having applied for and received an approval to return to the state, I showed my approval barcode and had that scanned. They confirmed my details and gave me a blue wristband to indicate that I had flown in from abroad.

Out-of-state arrivals staying in Kuching were given a white wristband and given home quarantine for 3 days after which they would be allowed to live their lives as normal. Out-of-state arrivals bound for rural areas had to do 3 days of hotel quarantine though.

I went through state immigration and downstairs to collect my bags. I’m not used to travelling with baggage and it was a bit nerve-wracking waiting for the first and then second piece to turn up. With hardly any international passengers these days, customs staff were nowhere to be seen and I exited into the public area about 30 mins after landing.

Blue wristband for international arrival.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Civil Defence staff were at the exit to the public area. They didn’t check blue vs white wristbands too carefully and I could have disappeared into public transport to my apartment. But I did things properly and showed them my blue band and they asked me to take a seat to await transport to the quarantine hotel.

It was a long wait while they attempted to gather sufficient people to take to quarantine in one hit. Slowly, a few other passengers showed up. One passenger had been given a white wristband instead of blue but once she mentioned it to staff, they promptly re-issued her a blue one. Things in Kuching aren’t as well done as in Kuala Lumpur.

I waited around 1h45 before we were taken to a waiting bus with other passengers. It felt much longer than that because it had already been a long day. That “so near yet so far” feeling until I have a shower and rest.

Waiting to be batched up for transport to the hotel.

Transport to the hotel

With social distancing on board, the bus was less than half-full.  My heart sank when staff advised that I would be quarantining at the Harbour View Hotel. It wasn’t the best hotel in town and I was envious of people who had done theirs at the Pullman, Hilton and Riverside Majestic.

The bus dropped off the bulk of the passengers to the Riverside Majestic. I wondered how the staff had decided who went where. Was it the colour of their skin? Or was it because the people at the front of the bus were assigned to the Harbour View.

It turned out that international arrivals went to my hotel while the out-of-state to the Riverside Majestic. This may have been driven by the larger number of out-of-state, requiring a larger hotel … or the fact that they’re doing a shorter quarantine and can justify the higher cost per night.

Checking-in and briefing

We arrived at the Harbour View Hotel around 1830. There was an old lady with a walker that had come in from Auckland apparently. I had helped her with her luggage before the hotel porter showed up. Strangely I hadn’t seen her in my whole transit process.

At the lobby, we scanned into the state government’s website to fill in a form, then scanned into the hotel’s contactless check-in process. Then there were paper forms to fill, including a Letter of Undertaking and Indemnity (LOU). I didn’t quite understand the need for the LOU as I thought the quarantine was free but I was too tired to care. This was taking a while.

After a briefing on the quarantine rules, I was allowed to go to room 1109 which would be my home for the next two weeks. We were warned that our room key-cards don’t work. They only activate the power. So I found my room door ajar for me to enter. Once closed, I would not leave the room apart for two PCR tests on Day 2 and Day 10. I’m not a PUS (Person Under Surveillance) and breach of quarantine may result in two years jail.

My room

My room was huge with two double beds. It offered a view of the Sarawak River and the Tua Pek Kong temple below. It had unobstructed wall space for me to do yoga. Having been disappointed with my assigned hotel before, I was now very happy. Space and light is more important to me than quality furnishing.

Dinner came around after 2000. It was a bit sad and miserly, so I was pleased I had brought a small pantry of food with me. Fortunately, the hotel had stocked the room up with water, coffee and tea to last for a reasonably long stay.

Even though I was tired, I fluffed around organising my new home before retiring around 2200. It had been a very long day full of new experiences … yeah, like a nose swab!