CV Travels
Posted: March 19th, 2020, 9:14 am
Hi,
Travelling during the corona virus crisis has certainly been different. In general, it's been more pleasant, with noticeably less people travelling, but all air transport has been a pig in a poke, facing cancellation of any flight at any time. Here is a precis of events...
February 25th, Saigon Airport. Few passengers as all China flights were cancelled. The only hassle was getting a boarding pass (Air Asia), as the jobsworth at check-in (no machines) insisted I had to have a ticket out of Thailand. He only relented when I showed him a ticket out of Malaysia a month later. Very unfriendly, possibly exacerbated by CV paranoia. No temperature checks.
Plenty of foreign tourists in Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne, but undoubtedly not as many as usual, given the absence of Chinese. Hoi An old town was merely overflowing at dusk compared to how jam-packed it apparently was in January.
At the time Vietnam had 16 known CV cases, all recovered. My natural cynicism tempered this with the fact that Hanoi was due to hold it's inaugural Grand Prix on April 5th.
Bangkok (Don Mueang Airport, budget airlines). No temperature check, but taken to one side at immigration for a superior to go slowly through my passport, presumably looking for any Chinese stamps.
At the time South Korea, Iran and Italy were just starting to ramp up CV cases. Thailand had about 35 known cases, but only a dozen active. For a country of about 70 million people, even allowing for a ten-fold increase in undetected cases, that was about a 1 in 200,000 chance of catching it, though it no doubt helps to avoid crowds and wash hands regularly.
In Vietnam and Thailand perhaps half the locals were wearing face masks, but few western tourists.
This was one of those freak occasions when it was possible to be the only person walking across the Bridge on the River Kwai just after sunrise.
Travelling by bus and train in Thailand was noticeably quieter than normal, particularly the nearly deserted 50 baht morning train from Hatyai to the border at Padang Besar.
March 5th, Padang Besar railway station. No temperature check at Thai immigration, but there was on the Malaysian side. Hand gel on the Thai side. Declaration required on the Malaysian side for any visits to China, South Korea, Iran or Italy in the previous fortnight.
March 7th, Penang Airport. My Air Asia flight to Langkawi (40 minutes) was cancelled about 10 days before, and I was moved to the next flight, an hour later, the number of daily flights having been halved, to two. The flight was half empty.
Langkawi (March 7 until ?)
A lovely island, duty-free, but spoiled by haphazard tourist development over the past 20 years, not to mention the litter problem so typical of most of Asia. Langkawians, I have to say, are some of the most friendly people I have ever come across, and I visit regularly.
I have an apartment here.
There are fewer people here than normal, but it's always quiet when the March heat has turned the paddy fields brown and exposed the litter.
A few days after I arrived, Malaysia barred foreigners. On March 18, due to a CV outbreak at an end-of-February love-in at a mosque south of KL, attended by 16,000 acolytes, Malaysia went into lockdown. Takeaway meals and supermarkets are open, so no great drama, but all else is closed. In this CV age, I took it in my stride: the surreal has become normal.
My flight from Singapore to Athens on March 24 has not (yet) been cancelled. The only problem is that, as a foreigner, I'm not actually allowed to enter Singapore on a point-to-point flight, as that entails going through immigration before the next check-in. An inherent defect to budget travel. Scoot and Air Asia offered credit but no refunds (unlike Ryanair, who refunded my fares within a week of them cancelling my flights to and from Rome; and Easyjet), which is useless if they go bust.
So here I am, in sunny Langkawi. I like it here, despite the 36 degree C midday heat. I swim, cycle, read and catch up on boxsets. WiFi keeps me up to date, though I have to say that I am seriously going off the news these days. It's getting even more depressing and repetitive than Brexit...
Malaysia gives 90-day tourist visas, and I am in no hurry to leave. Whilst the World goes into paroxysms of xenophobic paranoia, why would I want to return to the current epicentre of chaos, even assuming I can get there without hassle, or contracting a dose?
If it comes to pass that, by the end of May, no country will accept me, I guess Malaysian immigration will have to throw me in prison as an overstayer with nowhere to go.
When the surreal has become normal, what else could I expect?
Best wishes to all for the coming onslaught.
Taurus
Travelling during the corona virus crisis has certainly been different. In general, it's been more pleasant, with noticeably less people travelling, but all air transport has been a pig in a poke, facing cancellation of any flight at any time. Here is a precis of events...
February 25th, Saigon Airport. Few passengers as all China flights were cancelled. The only hassle was getting a boarding pass (Air Asia), as the jobsworth at check-in (no machines) insisted I had to have a ticket out of Thailand. He only relented when I showed him a ticket out of Malaysia a month later. Very unfriendly, possibly exacerbated by CV paranoia. No temperature checks.
Plenty of foreign tourists in Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne, but undoubtedly not as many as usual, given the absence of Chinese. Hoi An old town was merely overflowing at dusk compared to how jam-packed it apparently was in January.
At the time Vietnam had 16 known CV cases, all recovered. My natural cynicism tempered this with the fact that Hanoi was due to hold it's inaugural Grand Prix on April 5th.
Bangkok (Don Mueang Airport, budget airlines). No temperature check, but taken to one side at immigration for a superior to go slowly through my passport, presumably looking for any Chinese stamps.
At the time South Korea, Iran and Italy were just starting to ramp up CV cases. Thailand had about 35 known cases, but only a dozen active. For a country of about 70 million people, even allowing for a ten-fold increase in undetected cases, that was about a 1 in 200,000 chance of catching it, though it no doubt helps to avoid crowds and wash hands regularly.
In Vietnam and Thailand perhaps half the locals were wearing face masks, but few western tourists.
This was one of those freak occasions when it was possible to be the only person walking across the Bridge on the River Kwai just after sunrise.
Travelling by bus and train in Thailand was noticeably quieter than normal, particularly the nearly deserted 50 baht morning train from Hatyai to the border at Padang Besar.
March 5th, Padang Besar railway station. No temperature check at Thai immigration, but there was on the Malaysian side. Hand gel on the Thai side. Declaration required on the Malaysian side for any visits to China, South Korea, Iran or Italy in the previous fortnight.
March 7th, Penang Airport. My Air Asia flight to Langkawi (40 minutes) was cancelled about 10 days before, and I was moved to the next flight, an hour later, the number of daily flights having been halved, to two. The flight was half empty.
Langkawi (March 7 until ?)
A lovely island, duty-free, but spoiled by haphazard tourist development over the past 20 years, not to mention the litter problem so typical of most of Asia. Langkawians, I have to say, are some of the most friendly people I have ever come across, and I visit regularly.
I have an apartment here.
There are fewer people here than normal, but it's always quiet when the March heat has turned the paddy fields brown and exposed the litter.
A few days after I arrived, Malaysia barred foreigners. On March 18, due to a CV outbreak at an end-of-February love-in at a mosque south of KL, attended by 16,000 acolytes, Malaysia went into lockdown. Takeaway meals and supermarkets are open, so no great drama, but all else is closed. In this CV age, I took it in my stride: the surreal has become normal.
My flight from Singapore to Athens on March 24 has not (yet) been cancelled. The only problem is that, as a foreigner, I'm not actually allowed to enter Singapore on a point-to-point flight, as that entails going through immigration before the next check-in. An inherent defect to budget travel. Scoot and Air Asia offered credit but no refunds (unlike Ryanair, who refunded my fares within a week of them cancelling my flights to and from Rome; and Easyjet), which is useless if they go bust.
So here I am, in sunny Langkawi. I like it here, despite the 36 degree C midday heat. I swim, cycle, read and catch up on boxsets. WiFi keeps me up to date, though I have to say that I am seriously going off the news these days. It's getting even more depressing and repetitive than Brexit...
Malaysia gives 90-day tourist visas, and I am in no hurry to leave. Whilst the World goes into paroxysms of xenophobic paranoia, why would I want to return to the current epicentre of chaos, even assuming I can get there without hassle, or contracting a dose?
If it comes to pass that, by the end of May, no country will accept me, I guess Malaysian immigration will have to throw me in prison as an overstayer with nowhere to go.
When the surreal has become normal, what else could I expect?
Best wishes to all for the coming onslaught.
Taurus