Onwards to hometown

Arrival processing

I had planned on checking-out from the Sama-Sama Express Airside Transit Hotel at 0400.  I couldn’t sleep beyond 0230 having had about 5h sleep already.  The extra complimentary hours given to meant that I could have a cuppa tea and leave around 0430 to commence the arrival process into Malaysia.

A bus was running in place of the train to the main terminal building where my passport, boarding pass, vaccination and PCR report were checked.  A little label was generated for me to take to the station where swabs were taken for on-arrival PCR test.

Arrival processing area where details are checked in preparation for swabbing.

As I was connecting to Sarawak, I could skip the next station which dealt with organising quarantine hotels within the Kuala Lumpur area or verifying home-quarantine arrangements.

I skipped through to immigration where the automated passport clearance gates “Autogate” were back in operation.  Not only that, they have implemented a new model that only requires the passport and a facial capture.  Thumbprints are no longer taken.  I was surprised that the gates opened before I could take my mask off.  I asked the officers if it was OK with the mask on and sure enough, it is supposed to be clever enough to work off the top-half of the face.

Luck had been on my side with no other people arriving.  I had just missed the Sydney flight and the Chennai flight wasn’t in yet.  I was done in about 30 mins.  They came the wait.  I had to wait for a small group to form before we would be escorted to the check-in area. I filled in an online form while waiting.

About 15 mins later, a security person took us there, stopping in the baggage hall where some people had to retrieve their luggage from the office.  They hadn’t been through-checked to their domestic destination and their luggage had been left unclaimed on the carousel last night and were not at the office.

The security escort left us at the check-in area.  Last year, I had to be escorted to a special holding room and escorted to the departure gate.  All this is to minimise the risk of us escaping quarantine and walking out of the public or domestic area.

As soon as I scanned my contact tracing app in Kuala Lumpur airport’s arrival area earlier at the first station, I had become a PUS (Person Under Surveillance) with a quarantine order.  There’s no way I can go into most shops without being turned away by staff.  So, there’s not much point escaping.

The staff told me that I should have scanned-in last night so my quarantine order would have finished earlier.  I guess it doesn’t matter in my case as in Sarawak, it would have started from my entry into the state.

My status in the contact tracing app change as soon as I scanned into the country.

Flying to Kuching

[Edit:  About a month after my travel, the Sarawak government once again closed off the transit process.  International arrivals via Kuala Lumpur have to quarantine there at their own cost, due to the Omicron variant.  It means the state reduces the risk of the variant entering and shifts the risk to the capital city.]

The check-in counter for Malindo Air was open already when I got there about 3h prior to the 0845 departure.  I collected my boarding pass from here even though I had a mobile one already.  My luggage had been through-checked from Istanbul but Malindo had no record of it yet.  It is normal for the second airline to sight the baggage receipt from the first and enter it in to the system but I seem to have lost it somewhere between the swabbing station and immigration.  Fortunately, I got my luggage fine later in Kuching.

I killed some time with walks at domestic airside for about an hour.  I needed some food and a coffee.  The few operational outlets opened at 0700 but needed time to set up properly.  I eventually got a coffee and a microwaved beef pie around 0730.

It was good that I did get a bite at the airport.  I wasn’t sure if my Malindo flight, booked through Turkish Airlines included a meal or not.  It didn’t.

Arrival to Kuching

We landed in Kuching at 1030 and disembarked orderly in groups of three rows, managed very well by one of the flight attendants who stood in the aisle to block off the rows further behind.

International arrivals (of which I was the only one) were pulled aside to wait while domestic passengers queued up to have their barcodes checked.  Sarawakians were in one queue and non-Sarawakians in another as they had different entry requirements.

One could perhaps sneak through all this by tagging along people disembarking from flights within the state.  These people would go through a different arrival hall with no immigration clearance and one would have illegally entered the state, a problem which would surface upon departure.  And one would also need to be without checked-in baggage.

When the queue had cleared, I was attended to with a quarantine order form which I had to sign before going through to the immigration desk for entry into the state.  I was also given a quarantine wrist-band.  Home quarantine is an option for many Malaysians but not in my home-state of Sarawak.

My bag was already on the carousel downstairs.  I exited to the public area and asked the disaster-management staff about my quarantine.  I told them I had a booking at the Pullman.  Within a couple of minutes, I was on a full-sized bus with only the driver heading to the hotel.

As there aren’t many people who require quarantine these days, there’s no point waiting.  Last year, I waited around 1h30 for them to fill about a third of a bus before departing.

Within an hour of landing, I was at the Pullman Hotel in Kuching.

Quarantine

I filled in an online form here again by scanning a QR code and was given a briefing.  I was led to room 621 where I opened my door with my very own keycard.  Last year, keycards were not active and were only for the power supply.  That’s so that people can’t leave their room (or rather can leave but cannot return).

The room was large and airy with a king-sized bed and the bathroom was very spacious as well.  I was very pleased with the hotel I had “chosen” for the next seven nights.

A friend had told me that while one can’t choose a quarantine hotel, certain hotels will accept bookings for a basic package that’s paid for by the state government.  That’s what I did.  On the other hand, some hotels will only accept booking for a premium package which one has to pay unsubsidised by the government.