It’s not you, it’s me. No, it’s you.

I won’t lie. Seven months of living with uh-muh-ni was six and-a-half months too long. At first, I felt as if I had worn out my welcome. By the end, I believed it was she who had worn out her welcome, in her own home. It was time to go.

I had tried to leave earlier. Ever since leaving my teaching job abruptly in Jan 2021, I had been pining to teach in Thailand again. I scoured the job boards, and sent resumes. I was invited to Zoom interviews. I got offers. Then COVID-19 Delta-variant blew up in Bangkok. It spread to surrounding provinces. Then to all 77 provinces. Schools closed-down, and I decided to decline job offers and wait out the outbreak, as if it was that easy. In my naïveté, I assumed that after one or two months, the world would be back to normal.

Instead, infections rose astronomically. Photos emerged of Thai people lying dead in the streets. Stories abounded of people committing suicide, mugging and murdering one another. The despair was palpable and heart breaking.

The months dragged along. I followed the COVID-19 carnage that exploded not only in Thailand, but in all of southeast Asia, exacerbated by low vaccination rates. I started to wonder if I should redirect my attention to teach in other countries.

Photo by Markus Winkler via Unsplash

Bite the bullet

Then the Phuket Sandbox manifested, and although it was slapped together without thorough forethought, hundreds of foreigners signed up, including me. It was a way to enter Thailand without submitting to a strict 14-day quarantine. Instead, with regularly spaced testing, tourists could roam around the island for 14 days, before being freed to travel elsewhere in Thailand.

There were many rules, expensive insurance requirements, and tight deadlines. There were many complications: Thai Consulates in the US didn’t know exactly how the process worked, certified hotels didn’t know how to produce a certified receipt, and the Thai government changed rules while we tourists had already spent hundreds to thousands of dollars—putting our investment at risk. Worst of all, nightmare scenarios emerged soon after the much lauded “successful” Phuket Sandbox.

Tourists reported being hauled off to strict 14-day quarantine at eye-watering prices for hotel accommodation. To be specific, it was not because they tested positive for COVID-19, but because a fellow flight passenger who had sat within two rows in front of, or two rows behind said tourist tested positive. This even happened on Day 13! How insane! If the tourist never spent time again with that particular passenger, why would that person be considered a “close contact” nearly two weeks later?

Then a foreign female was raped on the island. Things did not seem successful at all. Although I had secured a job from my previous employer, and although they were facing a teacher shortage (in truth, the entire country) due to rigid entry-rules, it seemed too dicey to enter Thailand. I decided to cancel my trip, and in the process, forfeited insurance premiums and faced cancelation penalties. I felt regretful; it was sad to let go a firm offer to teach again in Thailand.

More months passed. I decided to send my resume to other countries. I got offers from Taiwan, but they were only hiring teachers already in Taiwan. I got offers from Vietnam, but they wouldn’t accept my TEFL certificate until it was legalized to prove it was authentic and not forged. Since I had received my TEFL certificate in Chiang Mai, I would have to enter Thailand to get it authenticated!

In September, I decided to bite the bullet and submit to strict 14-day quarantine, even though I had been double-vaccinated with Pfizer. If I wanted to teach in Thailand, then that was a sacrifice I would have to make, and I accepted it. This time, I would just go without trying to get a job offer beforehand. I would just go and see where my chips landed.

Incheon International airport: desolate halls and shuttered shops

Snoozing my way to Thailand

Surprisingly, the Asiana flight was pretty full, but I had a row to myself. The crew, perhaps trying to freeze-kill any COVID-19 virus, kept the cabin temperature colder than a meat locker. I hunkered under all the blankets. Availing myself to the three seats, three pillows, and three blankets, I slept through the night.

My flight included a 14-hour layover in Incheon International airport. At 5am, the terminal was a ghost town. However, at 12pm, it was still a ghost town. After all, COVID-19 was also ravaging Korea, and it had impacted transport into and out of the airport. The positive side of the empty terminals was that I was able to camp out on a row of benches, and stretch out for a mid-day snooze.

Passengers sleeping on benches. I would follow their lead a few hours later.

Quarantine is a pleasant surprise

I landed in Bangkok after midnight. A man in full PPE escorted me to a waiting van and drove me to the hotel. I was immediately isolated in my room, where I would spend the next 14 days. I have to admit, I was impressed by the level of organization and preparation.

The hotel had pre-stocked my room with plenty of supplies. I was provided with a stack of face masks, which was interesting considering I would not be entertaining guests any time soon. I also received a thermometer, since I had to report my temperature twice a day to the nurse. The hotel filled my shelves with plenty of bottled water, coffee, and teas. There were also snacks such as chips, nuts, and chocolates. The mini-fridge was stocked with Coke, Sprite, iced tea, and seltzer water.

The bathroom counter was filled with neat rows of shampoo, conditioner, soap, cotton-tips, toothbrush-toothpaste kits, toilet paper, and tissues. The hotel thoughtfully included a yoga mat for use. They definitely went to lengths to make quarantine as comfortable as possible.

Photo below:

• QR code to order meals; thermometer, face masks, and bottle of hand sanitizer.
• The beverage area stocked with water bottles, tea, coffee, utensils, dish soap, and a sponge.
• Toiletries in the bathroom included soap, shampoo, conditioner, and shower caps.

Over the course of 14 days, I was required to take three nasal-swab RT-PCR tests. It was very unpleasant, since the tester shoved the swab so far up my nose and twisted it for an agonizing long minute!

The hotel had it down to a science. Every day between 9:30-11am, I heard constant doorbells “ding-dong” because it was COVID-19 testing time. There was a woman in full PPE gear ringing doorbells to call a guest out one-at-a-time; another person in PPE gear at the elevator to make sure only one guest used it at a time. I took the elevator up to the top floor, to the open-air roof. Two people in PPE guided me to walk to the far end of the pool where I sat for the nasal swab. Afterwards, I was guided to take the elevator back down and go directly to my room. It was all done in less than ten minutes, very efficient.
I noticed all of the other guests for the COVID-19 test were Thais. I wonder if they traveled abroad to get better vaccines, and were coming back home to Thailand…it was being reported in the papers.

Fresh green salad, basil and chili chicken.

The hotel allowed me to make a custom menu since I didn’t want to order from their usual menu. I told them for breakfast, I only wanted raw nuts and oatmeal. For lunch, I requested a chicken dish, and a salad. I had to tell them to stop sending me extra food because with breakfast, they would also send a bowl of rice porridge and bottle of milk! They probably thought I was under-ordering! They provided very generous servings, for example, they gave me a large bowl of cashew nuts. Cashew nuts are very expensive! One day they sent green curry chicken. Another day, they sent chicken stir-fried with ginger and mushrooms.

Message of support on Day 7.

Being under strict quarantine, staff were not allowed to enter my room. Thus, I did all the cleaning myself. Luckily, I had brought a small rag from home, and used that to mop the floors every day. The hotel provided a large bottle of hand sanitizer, so I squirted that onto tissues to clean the sink and toilet. I brought a small amount of laundry detergent with me, and washed my clothes by hand, but had to hang everything inside the room. I did not have a balcony or windows that opened.

Message from the nurse.

Free at last!

I received three such messages from the nurse, meaning, I had produced three negative COVID-19 tests, and I was free on Day 15! I walked out of the hotel, and squinted in the midday sun. A waiting van drove me to the airport, where I would catch a flight north to Chiang Mai.

I wouldn’t want to do another 14-day quarantine, but I also didn’t resist it. I have heard stories of people descending into despair and depression. The reason I did not was because of my years of meditation practice. Due to years of living in a forest monastery in a rural village in Thailand, I learned how to be self-reliant. I learned how to be by myself. I learned how to observe my mind and become equanimous. I learned how to make a routine and find fulfillment in repetitive tasks. I learned how to not to despise the lowliest of chores, including cleaning bathrooms by hand. I learned how to not take for granted food, eating the same food every day, to keep me nourished and alive. I learned how to pay attention to the silence. The Silence, which became more and more obvious until one day I realized, this Silence is so loud! It’s all I hear, morning, noon, and night—Silence.

Seated in the van, I looked at my clothes: a black skirt and a white blouse, exactly what I wore as a long-term laywoman at the monastery. It suited perfectly.