FalangTingTong

Greetings from post-Quarantine!

 

My last days at the Pullman G were about the same as the other days -- variety may be the spice of life, but Heinz chili sauce is the spice of Quarantine!

 

Well to be fair there were a lot of different spices on offer, in addition to the ubiquitious Heinz chili sauce, which is actually pretty good on fries.  And it's not like nothing ever changed: by my last day there were seven of us in Pool Area Relaxation Hour, including the first woman and the first smoker (one person, not two).

 

On the last full day the kitchen sent me a cute message on the dinner bag -- final day! -- with an illustration of a cute lady cook.  Or maybe the nurse in a cook's outfit!  I would have rather had them send the cook/nurse herself, but this was Quarantine Hotel and not Fantasy Island.

 

As for potentially useful information: the second PCR test was fine and by that point your only real risk of a positive result is the miniscule risk of a false positive, but still I was nervous.  The negative result was more of a relief than I'd expected.

 

In fact overall I found the experience more stressful than I was admitting to myself.  I devised a pretty workable, if not at all productive, routine for killing the time, but by the last couple of days I noticed my teeth were clenched more often than not.  I wasn't feeling isolated, exactly -- I had at least one phone call every day -- but after a while the stuck-ness started to get to me.  I'm sure I could have powered through more of this, but I'm also sure it wouldn't have been good for me.

 

The last full day felt especially absurd: I already had the second negative PCR result, so why was I still in Martha Stewart Luxury Prison?  Because rules, I guess.  In honor of the gods of absurdity I spent the final day learning about Non-Fungible Tokens, aka the intersection of Gamestonk and Sotheby's.  Google Beeple for more.  Oh and I still had to check my temperature.  One never knows.

 

On the final evening I got a call from the front desk asking when I'd like to check out.  I chose 11am and they asked if I'd like breakfast as usual.  Yes.  And in the morning I was surprised by a Proper Hotel Breakfast -- same same benedict but on a fancy tray, with extra fruit and toast.  It was a nice gesture, sort of symbolically marking your transition from Plague Suspect to Almost Free Falang.

 

Checkout was pretty simple: wait for the staff to bring you down, wear your slippers, then put on your shoes and sign out, collecting your certificates on the way, then wait for your taxi.

 

Specific to the Pullman I should also note that laundry is charged at hotel rates.  Some people elsewhere have complained about that.  I didn't have any problem with it: the majority of the guests seemed bound for some version of "home" after ASQ anyway, and times are tight, I'm sure the laundry service isn't free for the hotel.  And it was hotel-quality service: took half a day, clean and folded and smelling fresh, none of that "interesting Thai water" smell I've encountered with laundry services.

 

Getting out into the world was a bit overwhelming but, obviously, a wonderful feeling.  My taxi driver got lost on Sukhumvit and had to turn around and then got lost again -- twice in two straight lines, even with help from my Google Maps!  And I didn't care in the least.  The Sheraton Grande was super accommodating and is in fact pretty Grande.  To the reader who asked: Junior Suite has bum gun.  And minibar! (Not much in it but I didn't want to get drunk on Freedom Day One anyway.)  The ThailandPlus app failed to recognize several QR codes in a row at Terminal 21.  I was able to set up a post-paid mobile phone account with nothing but my passport and my karma.

 

I made it through quarantine with my sanity intact and my health only slightly impacted, and you can too!  If I had to do it again the only thing I'd change for sure is that I'd try harder to pull myself together and do some yoga or whatever.  I definitely sat around too much, but that's on me.

 

My final verdict on the Pullman G: friendly staff; very good food and more than enough of it; amazing view; quite limited outdoor area; and -- significantly -- a very generous deposit policy, in case you care how much money you have at risk before you get on that airplane.  I paid 60K THB for the whole thing (plus laundry, YMMV) and I would most definitely call it Value For Money.

 

Whether this is right for you I can not answer, but do check other reviews and compare what people say about different hotels.  I also found YouTube pretty useful: one place, which I will not name, had some really great extras and I almost booked it, but then watched its very positive review and found it pretty depressing.  Glad I booked the G instead.  Consider what your needs are, and which things are going to bring you joy or misery when you live with them in an apparently eternal cycle, on average 23.5 hours a day, until they let you out.

 

I have no regrets and will definitely consider the Pullman G again if this system is still in place in the Fall.  Which, please dear Buddha and all available spirits, let it not be!

 

PS -- Buri Ram Guy from the yard, if you're reading this, hello from freedom! If I ever make it to Buri Ram I'll keep an eye out for ya.

Hello again from Quarantine!

 

Just a quick update for any folks thinking about running the Quarantine Gauntlet in order to enter the Kingdom.

 

FEEDING

 

The food is very good here, which I expected based on prior reviews.  And, also per expectations, there is consistently a lot of it.

 

Pre-ordering everything before check-in was not ideal, and if I could do it over I would ask how far in advance I have to order -- I'm sure they would accommodate you at check-in. The fun "I don't remember what I ordered" factor wore off really fast, and it would definitely be "funner" to order tomorrow's vittles today.  That said, I don't think I can be bothered to mess with the system now, so I'm sticking with the Law of Surprise.

 

My consumption has tapered off, which is good: you'd have to be very disciplined about your in-room exercise to not get fat on this diet, and "Discipline" is not my middle name, my middle name is "Procrastination."

 

By now I'm eating about half of each meal, 2/3 if I'm hungry, and I'm tempted to reduce further in order to actually diet a bit, but as I said the food is really good.  Your caloric needs may vary!  I have also been "caching" some of the food in the fridge, so if I get hungry off schedule I can usually grab a yoghurt or some candied fruit.

 

I was given a bowl, a plate, and silverware, as well as cups and glasses.  These are washed in the sink, with the provided sponge and detergent.  It's a fine system and by now, I'm mostly using the plate for dinner and sometimes for lunch.

 

As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm a tea snob and brought my own tea kit, but there are teabags.  The kettle is great, perfectly clean, easy to handle.  Coffee is served twice a day -- at breakfast and at "tea" -- and it's perfectly acceptable coffee for a hotel.  If you want better coffee you will have to leave the hotel, and if you leave the hotel you will go to jail, and the coffee in jail is probably much worse!

 

There were a few soft drinks in the mini-fridge, I'm not sure if these are included in the price but they're not so much my thing anyway. I did drink a Coke last night to celebrate my impending Relaxation (see below) so I should be able to report on that when I check out.

 

I am staying properly hydrated and thus ran out of bottled water around Day Five; it was replaced in about five minutes when I asked.  The front desk staff has been very friendly and helpful, if you had any special requests I'm sure they would do their best to accommodate you.

 

The folks who bring your meals are also very friendly.  You don't really interact with them but a "Sawatdee Khrap" from down the hall actually means a lot when you aren't seeing humans for several days in a row.

 

TESTING

 

The first PCR test was on Day Five (remember, arrival is Day Zero).  It was super efficient!  I had sort of hoped I'd have to mill around a bit in the parking garage, since it was my first fresh air since checking in, but no such luck: the whole thing, from room to parking structure to sample taken and back to room took five minutes.

 

The next day around lunchtime the nurse called to tell me the result was negative.  Of course I expected it to be negative, after all I'd had the same test done twice in Germany before leaving.  But it would have been possible to pick the virus up in transit, and asymptomatic infection is a thing, and on my previous post someone linked to a scary tale of a grumpy person sent to the hospital after getting what he thought was a false positive – so I was mentally prepared for anything, and was quite happy to get the "negative."

 

Armed with my povisional non-leper status, I asked the front desk when I could go outside.  The answer was: tomorrow.  And you have to book three days at a time.

 

Having cleared this hurdle, I am now focused on the next one, which I think is on Day 12 or so. It doesn't give you any new privileges, but it is a very important marker towards your freedom: if despite all probability you were to somehow turn up positive on that second test, you'd be packed off to the partner hospital for however long.  In the worst case that I can think of, i.e. if you actually had symptoms, you could easily have your entire Visa Exempt trip to Thailand consist of quarantine and hospital.  That's a bit far-fetched but not impossible, and I would expect if that actually happened to anyone they would probably never return to the Kingdom, which can't really be in anyone's interest.

 

Of course that's diminishingly unlikely: I tested negative, I'm not interacting with any humans, I will presumably test negative next time as well.  But I'm not going to put my money down for March accommodation before I have the result in hand.

 

RELAXATION

 

From my room I can see a lower, cheaper, less awesome hotel nearby.  I can see the people outside for their "relaxation."  And I hate to say it, but they have it better than I do in the exercise department.

 

Over there, at Hotel Lower, the inmates guests can power-walk laps around the pool.  As I write this, a woman is doing just that, in long pants and long sleeves and a hat (I guess she must be Asian) – for pretty much her full hour.  And there is another part where I have seen people actually running, though right at the moment it has some tables set up to maybe block the track.  I have seen people power-walking there too.  So they can easily give two (or more!) people pretty good exercise in the fresh air.

 

In my Pool Area for Relaxation, you can't do a lap around the pool because it abuts the edge of the building.  There are two zones: shady with chairs, and sunny with loungers.  You can do some walking in very tight laps around the loungers on the sunny side, and when I was brought down there was a tall shirtless older Farang in Birkenstocks doing just that.

 

Thus I was sent to the other side.  On the one hand, that's fine: I'm more of a chair person anyway, never did like loungers, and my Viking skin prefers the shade.  But it was also a bit of a disappointment that I had nowhere to walk around, since Mr Birkenstock had occupied it.  He must be staying on a lower floor.

 

For the whole hour there were only the two of us and one staff member.  We formed a triangle with about six meters on each side, but still we all wore masks, at least mostly.  If you're reading this, Birkenstock, I saw you take that off to breathe while you were tanning!

 

The hour went very quickly, and was massively refreshing after a week of lockup.  For what they have to work with, I think the Pullman G is doing a fine job, obviously prioritizing safety over exercise but short of opening the gym there's not much more they can do.  I was surprised by how small the pool area is, but there were only the two guests.

 

In summary, there are tradeoffs for any hotel, and I'm pretty happy with the deal I got, but if you are strongly attached to your outdoor exercise you should consider that factor in your hotel choice.  I admit I'm pretty jealeous as I watch Ms Powerwalk 2021 down there, but I'll get over it, and for the other 23 hours I have an amazing view.

 

Oh, and the instructions were to wear hotel slippers, so I was a bit miffed when I saw Mr Birkenstock had gotten away with his Birkenstocks.  Then I looked down at my fluffy white footwear and remembered that Birkenstocks have never, in the entire history of the world, ever gotten anyone laid.

INFOTAINMENT

 

I have not used the TV.  I thought the DVD player (!) might have an HDMI cable I could use to hook up my computer, but to my surprise and delight it has RCA connectors.

 

I really don't care, I've got plenty to do and watch on my laptop and my iPad.  But if you like to watch things on the big screen, and you have your own device from which to source content, be sure to ask for an HDMI cable up front.

 

Once you're in the room I don't think they can easily mess around with the TV, because you are a plague risk; and I don't see any obvious cable hookups on the outside, I think they're on the back.

 

Internet speed has been fine.  The first few days there was no login interstitial at all, it was just a standard open network.  Then they must have kicked the switch or something, and the world-standard hotel-style login and upsell thing showed up.  I have chosen "free" every time, and have no complaints.  Reconnecting after waking up the laptop can be a little quirky but if you have hotel wifi experience in general you should do just fine.

MENTAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH

 

Quarantine is a bit different than I expected.  My previous quarantine experience was in Germany, where enforcement is nonexistent so it's not a big deal to sneak out for a walk and so on; also, I was in apartments before, not in a luxury hotel.

 

I thought I would be wigging out and getting depressed and need things to keep me busy.  So I arrived with a nice big list of things to work on, and some vague exercise goals, and a big idea to start doing an online language course.

 

Seven days in, I haven't been particularly bored and I also haven't been productive at all.  Nor have I been depressed, nor antsy: I find that most of the time, my only real desire is to keep myself occupied until the day ends and I can tick it off my mental calendar, counting down towards Freedom Day.

 

(And, oh the irony! It turns out that Freedom Day for me falls on a Buddhist Holiday with a Booze Ban, namely Friday the 26th.  So much for celebrating with a bottle of SangSom Cristal!)

 

I've made a little art but not much; done a little writing but not much; taken some photographs but not edited them; read a book but not that much of it; and spent one whole day designing then undesigning a web site.  I've spent a whole lot of time on Google Maps.  If you have a job and will be doing it from the hotel, well bully for you, none of this applies, and I can say the desk is spacious, the aircon consistent, you will be the star of your Zoom meetings.

 

I still have some hope of pulling myself together and getting some things done in my remaining time.  I also won't be shocked if I do nothing more than reading, writing and YouTube until the 26th.

 

The food schedule is an interesting thing.  Breakfast is served around 7am, which you might find early; dinner is around 7pm, which you might find early too; lunch is at noon and "tea" (snack) at 4. The day is thus broken out into fairly predictable sections, which can help you organize your day, or at least give you near-term goals for killing time.

 

I have not been great about doing my phone and video calls with friends out in the World.  Partly that's down to time zones, and partly just the laziness of introverted time-wasting. This is something worth taking seriously: if you're not interacting with real live humans, it's a very good idea to interact with probably genuine humans over video, lest you wake up on Freedom Day asking yourself: what is the Matrix?

 

The physical aspects have not been any real challenge for me, and I do have the ability to exercise a little in the room if I want.  The mental side has turned out to be less a challenge than a transitional state of mind.  But I have, on occasion, marveled at the absurdity of it all.  It's a bit like voluntarily committing yourself to Bedlam: you'll probably get out, but it's not guaranteed, and until then you've lost your freedom.  In many places, cheating on quarantine would mean you might face a fine if you get caught, and you might just not get caught.  Here, as nice as everyone is, I have no doubt they'd lock me up in the State Home for Wayward Farangs and sell me a one-way ticket back to Falangia if I tried to sneak out to Sewen.  And this, of course, is what I signed up for.

 

For what it's worth: if you are they type who can stay inside for a few days at a time and busy yourself with whatever random stuff without going nuts; if you are the type who might spend a whole day in the hotel anyway when you go on vacation; and above all if you are any type of Nerd, then you should do fine with pretty much any version of quarantine.  Shop around, compare your options.  I'm quite happy with stupendous view and excellent food this time around.  Next time I might try something different, like a balcony or if I can afford it by then even Golf!  (Can you learn to play golf in golf quarantine?  Do they have mini-golf quarantine?  What exactly is a caddy?)

 

Unfortunately I do think there will be a next time, by which I mean I doubt the Powers that Be will have improved much on this system before I come back around in September.  I have a distant hope for Beach Quarantine but I'm an optimist.

 

So that's my rambling report, here at the Pullman G on Si Lom, halfway through Day Seven.

Greetings from Quarantine!  I'm only on the tail end of Day One but thought my experience of getting in etc. might be useful to someone, so here goes.

 

I'm a US citizen and live in Germany; I flew from Berlin, so YMMV for any other situation.

 

PREPARATION

 

I decided to enter Visa Exempt because it was a lot faster than getting a visa.  Hopefully getting a real visa after ASQ will not be a hassle.

 

The "Fit to Fly" was a bit funny because it wasn't at all clear what the "correct" form is, and anyway the thing itself is utterly meaningless, as you will certainly be told if you get one from a German doctor.  The form on the Thai Airways site is basically identical to the form the Thai Embassy in Washington tells you is NOT acceptable.  Fortunately I caught that and was lucky enough to find a doctor who could set me up in Berlin.   As backup I had the one from Dr Donna (which I did after getting my PCR results, see below) and another from a doctor friend elsewhere.

 

The PCRs worked out fine but it was a bit stressful waiting for the results.  In Berlin now there are lots of "test centers" but they just take samples for PCR; they all promise "next day results" but that actually means the end of the next day.  So be sure to give it plenty of time!  I took two, using different  labs, in case one didn't come back in time.  And indeed, one lab was definitely sketchier than the other: I gave the sample at 10am and they took it to the lab at 10am the next day.  The other place got it to the lab within half an hour.  Both results came back 6pm the day before my flight: time to spare, but not so much that I wasn't a bit nervous.

 

The COE was a breeze by comparison: I bought my insurance (the AXA one, covers asymptomatic as well as general accident/illness) and registered on a Sunday; they processed it before noon Monday.  Getting the flight and ASQ set up took a couple days but that was mostly down to my own indecision.  I also booked a flight out within my 45-day window, to Singapore, and uploaded it to the website with a clear indication of what it was.  The Embassy processed this again in under four hours and I had my COE, just needed my PCR and Fit to Fly.

 

I printed three copies of (almost) everything and went to the airport, arriving three hours before departure, which turned out to be about right in order to avoid a line.

 

FLIGHT

 

I flew Qatar Airways, BER DOH BKK, in Business.  You can look up whatever info you like about the service on YouTube, but I will just comment that the Q-Suites product is way better than British First, and that they kept my glass full enough on the way to DOH that I had to sleep it off on the way to BKK.

Check-in was slow but efficient.  A manager checked all my documents and made copies of some.  I also had to fill out a Qatar Airlines form which I wish they'd e-mailed me, but it only took a couple minutes.

 

Berlin Brandenburg airport is a total clusterf*** and every time I go there I really miss TXL.  The (shared) lounge at the far end of the airport was open, and had nice views, but was subject to rules only a German could think up: they had food and drink but you couldn't consume it in the lounge, you had to take it out into the hallway to eat and drink, then come back in.  And no alcohol.  However, take note!  Right before the stairs up to the passport control there is a lovely little shop selling sandwiches, snacks, good beer, decent wine and even cocktails in cans.  For totally reasonable prices.  So I did manage to have a couple before boarding: in the vast seating area near the gate, where incidentally most of the airport staff seemed to be hanging out.

 

Transit in Doha was pretty mellow.  Lounge was open but I gather it's the less-nice lounge; I hadn't been in DOH in many years so I don't exactly remember.  Everybody was professional and document check for boarding the next leg was very quick, this time done by Thais.  I mostly slept on the way to Bangkok but did remember to use the lavatory shortly before landing.  I'm not sure I actually saw a lav in the airport.

IMMIGRATION

 

We were herded into a seating area for most of the wait, and only had to move seats once.  We got our ASQ hotel numbers to pin on our shirts.  Documents were checked again, once minimally and once more thoroughly. Here it turned out you needed to have your boarding pass so they could check your seat number, presumably for contact tracing.  Fortunately I still had mine; I usually don't pay much attention to it after boarding.

 

Then we were led to another document check right before the actual immigration window.  There a lady asked where I will stay after my 14 days quarantine (nobody seems to have gotten the memo that it's 16 days) and of course that was the one thing I'd forgotten to print.  She accepted my email reservation and had me write that hotel's name down on the entry form.  As I did not have a Thai phone number she had me write my email.

 

The immigration officer took his time, and seemed slightly annoyed that I had put my ASQ hotel down as my address in Thailand, because, just as nobody told me, they obviously want the *next* one.  He also checked my reservation on my phone and then had to type in Sheraton which he did slowly, but with a smile.  In fairness he was probably trying to impress the younger, female immigration officer standing beside him.  As I would have done!

 

A handler with perfect English met me at the airport and passed me on to a driver; I was the only passenger in a late-model BMW, it was a nice ride in to Si Lom.

 

We landed around 12:40 and I was checked in to my room by 14:30.

 

HOTEL

 

I am doing ASQ in the Pullman G.  I chose it based on reviews praising the food and the view.  So far I can absolutely corroborate that: food has been great, views are stunning, I can see a stretch of the river and a chunk of IconSiam and one of the expressways and a lot of standard-issue CBD stuff.  And just now some fireworks for Chinese New Year.   Also, the deposit was only 5000 THB, which gave me a little more peace of mind while waiting for my PCR test results.

 

I got a yoga mat delivered within a few minutes when I asked and it's a nice thick one.  Bathroom is very nice, with a tub and great water pressure in the separate shower.  American-sized toilet, for XXL Americans, no bum gun.  I opted for the older room on a higher floor for slightly cheaper (60K vs 65K) -- if you are sensitive to that kind of thing, the all-white updated rooms are probably spiffier but I probably have the better view.  There were no USB sockets, but I brought my own adapters so no problem.

 

Plates and silverware are provided, as are a sponge and detergent to wash them.  All food is served in plastic containers; so far I've been eating out of them too but maybe I'll get fancy and bust out the plate tomorrow.  Tea kettle is provided and they serve coffee twice a day if you like, or tea.  I am a tea snob so I brought my own.

 

There was no crazy control or disinfection of my personal effects or anything like that.  People were friendly and helpful and spoke very good English.  I have chosen to do a much needed 16-day alcohol-free liver cleanse; you can't order alcohol, but there is room service for other things.  They give you more than enough to eat, so I haven't even checked the menu yet.  They even give you kangaroo butter twice a day, in case you are Australian!

 

I chose all my meals before check-in but if you want to do it as you go they'd probably let you.  Front desk is very responsive on the LINE app.  There are vegetarian options for everything but (I think) the tea set, but as I'm not a veg I didn't ask if they could do it meatless.  In any case only the savory stuff would have meat.

 

There do seem to be other people around: I can hear a family with a kid in probably the next room, and there are quite a few tables out on this floor.

 

While I would definitely recommend the Pullman, especially if food quality and view matter, I should also note that I recently saw there are Golf LSQ's. With, you know, golf.  Outdoors.  Pretty expensive but I would consider that for next time.  Who knows what kinds of deals you can make out on the green!

 

All in all, I'm satisfied with the experience and I look forward to emerging, blinking, into the pollution and chaos and LIFE once the DT's wear off.  (Just kidding!)

 

It's obviously a big hurdle and expense but coming off the sh**-show that is Europe right now, I think I made the right choice.  I'll try to post again to summarize at the end, if I don't lose my mind by the 26th.

 

TAKE-AWAYS

 

1. The Embassy wants us to come, and is working faster than I ever would have expected from any embassy.
2. Allow sufficient time for your PCR tests, do not assume 24h turnaround.
3. Fit To Fly might be tricky, I recommed Dr Donna as at least a fallback option.  Apparently it's more normal in the US and UK.  Link: https://www.medconsultasia.com
4. Have everything printed out before you fly.
5. Don't forget post-ASQ address with whatever will document it; that is your "address" in Thailand even if it's only for a few days.
6. Keep your boarding pass!
7. BYO USB charger just in case.