Here it is, day 14 - with a day delay as I expected. Yes, we're free, since a bit more than 24h now! It was not the enormous emotional release you might expect. It just happened, in a way. It's also because of the way it happened. You get out of your room, into the elevator, wristband is cut off, you get another piece of paper (release certificate) and then you are free. All that happens in the basement car park of the hotel, so not very romantic either. And then that's it. You are pointed towards a waiting area, where you can arrange your transport. We ordered a Grab, waited for 10-15' in this cozy car park, were picked up, and off we went; home! It means, by the time you get home, you've been out for an hour, and have just been going through all these practical, non-emotional, non-romantic steps. So the discharge gets "spread" over this period. Of course we're su-per happy, don't get me wrong on that one!!!
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The first moment of freedom: in the lift to go down. In the 14 day period, we left the room once - on the last day of quarantine - to get the finger prick test done. This happened on our room floor, it was only a 20m walk outside the room. Now we were finally able to get out and move.
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Symbolic moment, captured in a blurry photo: the wristband is cut off! We had to wear this the entire period (although we actually took it off - it wasn't supposed to be possible, but it was; it wasn't very comfortable to keep on).
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The romantic moment of being released - into an underground car park, waiting for a Grab car.
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On the way home; nothing much has changed in these 7 months, hahaha. Even the major roadworks because of the DASH construction in Damansara Perdana don't seem to have progressed much.
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We've been really lucky. Today a new announcement came out from the Malaysian authorities: foreigners will pay a whole lot more for their quarantine, for arrivals from today onwards. For us, it would have made a difference of RM 5,200 - more than 1,000 EUR! Again, Malaysia is making clear towards it's foreign residents that they are not as welcome as they once were. Come on, these foreign residents pay taxes here as well - often a lot. It's pure discrimination, as has been the case with so many of the rulings for foreigners. I don't get it. Honestly, I heard (just in these 24h since we're out) quite a few foreigners who are considering, or have already decided, to leave Malaysia. I totally understand it. Malaysia is really doing its best to make foreigners feel unwelcome...
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Arrival at Armanee Terrace Drop Off - as if we have never been away!
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| And... Home! Woohoooooo!!! |
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In case anyone doubts it: yes, we have been officially released from prison.
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One of the first things we did: do some quick groceries, including: fresh fruit! Today we did part 2 of those groceries, the major version.
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Ice coffee, home, balcony; This! Is! It!
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Well, I've been positive throughout this 14-day quarantine story, and I want to end with a positive note as well. We're so happy we made the decision to return, and to endure that unpleasant quarantine. In the end, it wasn't that bad, we were well prepared, and it went fast without any trouble or stress. Coming home was the best possible reward, it's been great to be back! We slept well in our own bed, we made fresh bread in the morning, had our breakfast and coffees on our fantastic balcony - in short, we are HOME!
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What to do once you're out of quarantine? Well, you go hashing of course, straight into the jungle!
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The photo isn't any good, but it shows what we enjoyed: climbing up a rocky river for a long while, then more uphill, and then jungle bashing - to emerge from the jungle after 1,5h (after less than 5km I think), far away from the runsite (another 10km running back, on the road). The hare had lost his way; he arranged a car for those runners (a handful) we had made it all the way, the rest had turned back... It was beautiful and adventurous, more like a jungle expedition than a hash run however. Not bad after having been locked up in a room for 14 days!
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We needed new shoes, to do more (a lot more) of those jungle adventures, passed by the Salomon store today, and sure enough: there were sales! We each bought a new pair of Speedcross for less than RM 400 per pair (80 EUR), not a bad deal at all - and now we're sure we're ready for going out there for months to come!
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I had a lot of nice comments from several people about the blog, thanks for that, it helped the motivation to keep up the daily posts tremendously! Thanks for reading and until the next stories! And now: sayonara - for now!
