South-East Asia

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Satow Waterfall

Above:  Ice cream sandwich Malaysian style; not quite … traditionally it’s ice cream rather than soft serve, and in a soft roll rather than a slice of bread. I had a meet-up with some friends from school this morning, for breakfast.  After breakfast, despite being a rainy day, a few of us decided to continue […]

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Chinese inches

Above:  Chinese inches (upper tape) vs Imperial inches (lower tape). My life in Kuching is somewhat lacking in excitement.  I go to the gym and run errands in the form of mainly grocery shopping.  While the swimming pools have just been allowed to open, they haven’t sorted out their Covid-19 controls yet.  Not sure if […]

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Show me the way to go home

Last night, as I was finalising my arrangements for diving in Sipadan, an email came through from Malaysia Airlines advising that my return flight home to New Zealand had been cancelled.  Arrggghhh!  With Covid-19, flight cancellation are rife and this was a risk that I had been wary of.  But I needed to be with […]

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The real world

This stay in Kuching for 2-3 months will be the longest stretch I’ve ever spent in hometown since leaving some 35 years ago.  I thought I’d better get into an exercise routine that includes more than just yoga and swimming.  I thought I’d go to the gym as well, as I normally do in Auckland. After […]

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Sweet taste of freedom

Above:  Dinner of Nasi Uduk with Ayam Serunding. I had my last hotel meal this morning after my yoga practice.  I didn’t finish the fried beehoon as it was too much for me, as with most of their breakfasts. A few minutes before 1000 today, I walked out of Room 1109 of the Harbour View […]

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False hope

Above:  Day 12 & 13 quarantine hotel food. After yoga and breakfast today, I rang down to the hotel reception to confirm that I was leaving tomorrow.  Having arrived on a Sunday, I should check out on a Sunday two week later.  There have been reports of people leaving a day earlier, so it seemed […]

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Food update

All going well, I have four more sleeps until I’m released.  From the Facebook support group, some people get released after 13 nights (14 days) whereas it is typically 14 nights (15 days). I thought I’d give an update on the food situation.  It hasn’t been too bad if you accept that the meals are […]

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Making progress

Big Day Out Today, being Day 10, I had my second swab at the hotel (third if you count the one at Kuala Lumpur International Airport).  I was called down to the function room around 1000.  It was my big day out, my second time outside of my hotel room in my whole stay so […]

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Temperature checks

Above:  These are the only people I see each day during my 2 week quarantine. They take my temperature daily. I have my temperature taken daily at the hotel around 1000.  [Edit: except for the two days when I go for my swab.]   This is done by two people dressed up in hazmat suits; one […]

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Booking flights

With Covid-19 I haven’t been making many new travel arrangements.  Instead time was spent checking for cancellations by airlines for existing bookings and requesting refunds. For my long stay in Kuching, I had planned on making a diving trip to Sipadan.  It was going to be towards the end of my stay in Kuching, so […]

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