Just a small note, because not too much happened in these few days, I’ve condensed them into one page.
24th March - Medical check
I got up at 8:30am, fairly early by my standards, and had breakfast with the others who are always up early. After breakfast, we took the bikes to the nearby medical clinic to get a medical certificate. The police told us to get this medical certificate, I’m not entirely sure what for. Maybe just to show them for the sake of it. I take it the staff weren’t sure what for either, because they were confused too. After a short chat, I think it’s only for those who are going on a plane soon, something to show at the airport. It was pretty cheap, so we thought we may as well get one anyway. They took our blood pressure, measured our height and weight (75kg), and told us to return tomorrow.
So we all went back to the hospital and chilled out. That was until Mat coaxed me into doing a workout which was pretty nuts, especially in this heat. Gina joined in a bit later on. Honestly, I felt dizzy and a bit sick afterwards. After our workout, we freshened up and had noodles for lunch, as is custom now. Living up to the island life, after noodles we simply went and chilled out again, that’s all we had going on. Over the next few hours, I read quite a lot of manga, and also spoke to Gina for a bit too. The 3 of us are pretty like-minded, so it’s always a pleasure. Dinner followed, and I had a humongous portion of chicken and pasta. Our hostel kitchen makes damn sure we don’t starve. To top it off, I had a Milo shake, so cool and refreshing, love ’em. After a short chat, we went back to our rooms and sleep came soon after. Day 9 of quarantine complete.
25th March - Settling into island life
As per usual now, I had a nice lie-in and got up fairly late. What other options do I have now, I’m just adapting to island life. I had the same breakfast as always, but this time with some peanut butter mixed in, takes it to the next level. After we’d finished, Gina and I went for a swim in front of the hostel, because island life. We swam and chatted for about an hour, and it was quite pleasant to do so. If you’re going to chat, why not do it amongst the corals and turtles.
Once we’d had enough, we showered and then chilled out with Mat for a bit. As per usual again, our lunch consisted of super noodles and a fried egg added in too. Gotta save money somehow. Once lunch was finished, we walked into the town centre to do some food shopping and stock up on supplies. I got a tub of cookies to keep my sweet tooth happy, not much choice in our neck of the woods. As is typical in this situation, once we returned to the hostel, we chilled for a few hours, entertaining ourselves by any means possible.
For dinner, we walked to the right side, and found a small place that had food already prepared and you just ask for a spoonful of it. We talked for a couple of hours here, and then walked back in the darkness to the hostel. Not much happens at night, so we entertained ourselves again until sleep took us. Day 10 of quarantine complete.
26th March - Quick days
Woke up late again today, no surprise there! I had quite a large breakfast of oatmeal this morning, gotta switch things up sometimes. After breakfast, I watched some anime for about an hour, it’s good for killing time. By the time I returned to the room, Gina and Mat were doing a workout, but based on my previous experience I wanted to take no part of it. Once they’d finished, the 3 of us went out for a swim, though 30 minutes was all we could bear from the beating Sun.
After returning and freshening up, those two went for a meal whilst I practised some praying in the room. Nothing too serious, but I did find it interesting to research and look into Islam for a time, to see what the crack was all about. Once I’d finished, then I went for lunch by myself. It’s a tough life on the island, so I took the liberty of having a nap for a couple of hours after I got back from lunch. The next thing I did was go for dinner with the others. As you can see, eating is all I live for on the island. Quite startling how much your life revolves around food when you don’t have much to do. Dinner was at another very cheap and local place, nice to experience some local cuisine that doesn’t cost a bomb. Back at the hostel, we chilled out for the night and also played some cards to entertain ourselves. Day 11 of quarantine complete.
