Freedom Day!

Getting released

Today is freedom day.  I get released from my week of hotel quarantine, having received verbal confirmation of my negative PCR test result yesterday.  One week of quarantine is a breeze and feels very easy compared to two weeks.

I woke up early to check the MySejahtera app to check whether my test result had been confirmed there, along with my risk level and my quarantine order.  They hadn’t been but were updated around 0800 which meant that I could go eat out without being challenged.

I had been told to go down to the lobby by myself at 0830.  I left my room five minutes before that to find myself third in line for the lift.  Soon after, a queue formed behind me.  Being Sunday, we have lots of people from last Sunday’s international flight.  Whereas if it had been any other day, it would have been only a few people connecting from international flights via Kuala Lumpur.

Lifts came and went as they were full.  They appeared to have filled up from the upper floors and have no room by the time they get to us on Level 6.  Some people behind me tried to jump the queue and I promptly told them to wait their turn.

After about 15 mins of waiting, we caught a lift that was going upstairs empty.  It allowed us to catch it before filling up.  We then went back down to the lobby where there was no queue.  The lift hassles had staggered our arrival down at reception.

My wrist band was cut and I was given my release papers before 0900.  A friend, Boo, had offered to drive me back to my apartment.  I was in my home sweet home, away from my other home sweet home in Auckland, around 0930.

Incidentally, in the second half of my quarantine, my tummy finally settled and I got rid of whatever mild tummy bug that I had.

Quarantine at the Pullman

Despite the Pullman being a high-end hotel, I found my quarantine experience to be a lesser one than at the Harbour View (a lower grade hotel) over a year ago.

The food at the Pullman was very poor and repetitive.  Bony hacked chicken, fried rice or noodles with nearly nothing in it.  The sweet for each meal was usually the same cake or agar.  I seldom had fresh fruit apart from breakfast.  I know the hotel only gets MYR150 per night from the government for having me.  But somehow the Harbour View did find the budget for better and more varied meals.

They also skimped on many things.  Eg. one roll of toilet paper, one towel, no creamer for coffee/tea.  It took me 3 phone calls over 2 days to get a new roll of toilet paper.

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If I had been a paying guest, I would not have been impressed with the room décor.  For a high-end hotel, it had formica furniture that is normally seen at the Ibis chain.  The design and construction of the room and bathroom was very functional and utilitarian without much style.  Soap and shampoo are provided in large wall mounted dispensers (which were nearly empty for me as a quarantine guest).

The hotel management never saw quarantine guests as an opportunity for future custom or for good publicity.