Its been 2 weeks now since Malaysia applied it’s RMO (Restricted Movement Order).
It feels like an eternity.
They call it restricted movement but to us it feels more like a lockdown. Certainly more so than the current restrictions in the UK. In the UK at least you are allowed out once a day to get some exercise. There is no luxury of that in Malaysia right now.
The head of each household is allowed to go and get groceries, other than that it’s a pretty strict stay at home order.
On a lighter note this ‘head’ of the house appears to have caused some domestic disgruntle among the locals.
Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country meaning that it is the husband in the family that is allowed out to get the groceries in. Probably for the first time in some families lives here the woman of the house isn’t the one getting the food shop in, it is the man.
I read an article a few days ago that was saying how this has caused the men much confusion as to what they should be buying. I’m sure most will have been given a shopping list but the sheer number of options available has caused many men to be left in utter bewilderment and more often than not buying the wrong things.
I feel for these blokes, I have similar problems myself right now when I pop to the shops. “Why did you get this? You should have got that”. Ah well, at least we aren’t starving though.
Joking aside these first 2 weeks have given us some major headaches.
I know a lot of you will probably think that we are stupid for not following the UK FCO’s advice to return to the UK immediately, but for us it hasn’t been that simple a decision to make.
We have no job or money to return to. No house to go back to, nothing really other than the bags on our back. That’s just the nature of how we travel. No commitments back home. No mortgage or house of our own, just some clothes and a few personal possessions that are stored with friends and family for when we return.
People may think we are crazy for living like this, but to us we live for the present and not the future. It’s a lifestyle we are comfortable with and it’s made us very happy for several years now.
So as it stands we are still able to get a flight back to the UK but have chosen not to.
It has really torn us up inside trying to decide what is best to do and we have came to the conclusion that there is no right or wrong decision to be made. Nobody knows what the future holds right now so we have gone with the decision that feels right at this particular moment in time.
We are staying where we are until such a time as returning home feels safe.
If we did fly home we would be passing through 3 airports and sitting on 2 flights. That in itself doesn’t feel safe to us right now. The sheer number of people we will be in contact with would massively increase our chance of contracting this virus and in turn passing it to others.
Where we are right now we hardly see anyone. We have a big open field next to us with nobody for miles around. The only time we come into contact with others is when we go to the supermarket to get some supplies.
On top of that when we do get back home we would have to isolate ourselves for 2 weeks before being able to live anywhere else such as with friends or family. We know it wouldn’t be responsible to simply move in with others after traveling.
With no job and very low prospects of finding one how would we even live if we did return?
With all of these things taken into account this makes us a little more comfortable with the decision we have made. Things will most likely get a lot worse in the months ahead and we may find ourselves stranded with no options at all to return home. But we will stay close to the news and constantly review our situation and options as and when they change.
I don’t want people thinking we have made this decision just to continue with our travels. We haven’t. We know when this is finally over that we will be heading straight back home to the UK.
This isn’t a case of sitting it out on some beautiful tropical island. As I mentioned before we don’t even get to go out for exercise so it’s not as if we are relaxing on the beach or sat lazing by a pool with a cocktail. It is the same as most other places now. We are sat inside making sure we minimize our contact with others.
Due to having to stay indoors we haven’t been able to help out with the animals at the shelter as we usually do. Don’t worry the animals are still being fed and looked after but now only by the full time staff that work there. Myself and Dani have been pretty much locked up in our room for 2 weeks other than the occasional trip to the shops.
Our room at the shelter is fine during normal circumstances. We are usually out most of the day doing our tasks at the shelter or enjoying the beach or a few beers at a bar. However been confined to that room has taken it’s toll.
There are no windows at all in the room and it is stiflingly hot, which makes for a fairly dull and uncomfortable day. Like being in a cell. You cant relate to what time of the day it is due to the lack of daylight. Like being in a casino, time has become irrelevant.
We started to get into bad habits. Some nights I wouldn’t sleep but would stay up drinking and listening to music until 6am, then sleeping until mid afternoon. This might not sound like a bad thing but after a while we weren’t dealing with it very well.
Also the WiFi doesn’t reach our room either. Usually that’s not an issue as we aren’t really internet fiends when we are traveling. We prefer to spend our time out and about experiencing the real world. However given the current situation having some connection goes a long way to making your day that little bit more bearable.
So we made the decision to move out of the shelter and find some alternative accommodation.
We managed to get a good deal at a homestay not far from the shelter. We get our own private apartment within a family compound. Complete with small kitchen area, big fridge, a gas hob, rice steamer etc so we can sort our own meals out.
It’s a decent enough place and at only £175 a month with our bills in it’s a good deal. It also means we are giving a local family a little bit of income during these hard times. A lot of locals will be struggling right now due to the lack of tourists. It’s a holiday island so most peoples incomes are linked in some way to tourism. It’s a good deal for us and for the family so we feel good having moved out.
It really is a case now of sitting this thing out. We feel safe where we are. In a way everyone should feel safe. If you don’t come in to contact with others and make sure you wash thoroughly both yourself and any goods you bring in to your home from the outside then you should be safe. Likewise you wont be passing anything on to others if you abide by this. It really is that simple. If everyone done there part this virus could die out quickly.
We hope you as our readers are safe and well. Our followers are now from all over the world. Not a huge following but we do get regular readers from around 30 countries. Every country has it’s own thing going on right now and I hope you are all staying as safe and protected as possible.
It is nice to dream of sometime in the not so distant future when we are able to write a post that doesn’t mention this terrible virus or the effects it is having worldwide. Hopefully that time is soon.
