I Got the All Day Quarantine Blues

I got the all day quarantine blues

Been reading all the daily news

If you gonna avoid the Covid flu

You gotta pay your dues

Malaysian Search and Rescue helicopter flying over a mothballed cruise-ship and while keeping the sea border shut.

Last night the Malaysian Prime Minister announced the extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO) for another two weeks till May 12th. I really expected the extension would come with some relaxation of rules, but so far I haven't heard of any lightening up. Malaysia has been very aggressive in tamping down their new Covid-19 cases.

This graph is the daily new cases of Covid-19 in Malaysia, a not small country of 31 million, showing a clear decline. The MCO restricts movement beyond 10km  of your residence, and only for essentials. It is enforced using police roadblocks and gentle evening text messages to everyone's phone. While most everyone has a cell phone here, they are typically on prepaid plans or limited data plans. The government has setup so all cell companies automatically give each cell phone 1 GB of extra free data each day from 8am to 6pm as an inspiration to stay at home. Compliance to the MCO is generally very good. They do arrest a few scofflaws and place them in a separate detention home to drive the point home in the media. The stories make a big splash when the evil doers are ex-pats.

The testing coverage rate in Malaysia is fairly high. The positive test rate is 4.7%, a strong indication that they are doing significant testing coverage.  WHO recommends a 10% or less rate. The US is at about 20% and South Korea at 3%. Washington state is at 8.3%. Malaysia recently ordered one million rapid test kits from South Korea in the competitive international testing supplies market. Like most other countries, Malaysian health workers have suffered from the pandemic, with a 32 year old nurse dying yesterday from Covid-19.

I am pretty proud to publicly announce that other than in our dreams neither Chris nor I have inflicted anything close to permanent damage on each other. I'm hoping other couples aspire to such lofty goals. 

The next big issue for cruisers here will be expiring visas. During the MCO all of our visas are being automatically extended. The current understanding of the rules is that when the MCO is lifted we will have 14 days to leave the country. Unfortunately there is nowhere open to take our boat to, other than the US, and it isn't clear we will be allowed back in if we fly out, leaving the boat behind.

Cruisers here in Langkawi certainly have it far better than our friends who are a third of the way across the Indian Ocean in The Maldives. The densely populated main city, Male, has had a rapid increase in Covid-19 cases. The islands have been shut to the country's primary industry, tourism, for months and they recently had a terrorist attack that burned down official boats near Male. The agent that is dealing with the 15 cruising boats recently sent a long message to them that included this note from the Coast Guard:

The coastguard commander asked me to inform you that he is suggesting to all the yachts to be prepared to leave the country in case the situation gets out of control. Which means in case of emergency you must all make back up plan about your next destination from Maldives. Of course they will not ask you or command you to leave the country without sufficient food supplies and water and fuel. They are not heartless. They completely understand the gravity of the situation. They assured us in a case like that they will facilitate the necessary means to provide sufficient food supplies and fuel, water and make arrangements. 

Most all of these boats would like to sail off, the problem is there are few, if any, places that will allow them in. Hopefully they will work out a decent plan in the next week or so.

Stay healthy and hang in there

Paul

Days into the MCO

Seattle isn't new to pandemic lock-downs. This is the Green Lake street car that ran between Seattle and Green Lake. The conductor is stopping the man on the right from boarding the trolley because he has no face mask. In those days the leaders didn't announce public health recommendations for the people while saying they weren't going to follow the recommendations themselves. The naming of pandemics for political purposes is not new either. The pandemic above is the 1918 Spanish Flu. The flu was extensive in the United Kingdom, France, the US and Spain. The allies were gearing up for war and wanted to control the message to avoid any thoughts that they were anything but strong and not to interrupt the troop recruiting.  Spain was a neutral country, so they got labeled with the flu.

Here, the Malaysian authorities are now doing an admirable job of enforcing social distancing. The Malaysian Movement Control Order (MCO), enacted March 18th, has been extended till April 14th. It is fairly strictly enforced with numerous roadblocks manned by the police and army. It is pretty likely that it will be extended again, perhaps in a modified fashion. Ramadan, the month long Islamic celebration, is coming up on April 23rd. It will be important that the social distancing is managed during this time or Malaysia will have another flare up of cases. About 60% of the covid19 cases in Malaysia can be traced back to a local "tabligh", a multi-day religious gathering, that occurred in late February.

Above is the Rebak Resort pool when it was still full, before the last resort guests got out. The water's been emptied now, making it less tempting to violate the MCO and go swimming in it.

The island has some nice wild life. Lots of Rhinoceros Hornbills. The ones on the bottom are doing synchronized feather cleaning.

With the resort closed the monkeys are taking advantage of the empty room balconies. Not sure if this is a little foreshadowing of the outcome from the pandemic, Planet of the Apes style. 

What's she thinking?

Not all monkeys are good monkeys. These are the bad monkeys getting into the trash.

The island supports some serious lizards. This Asian water monitor lizard has a pretty impressive forked tongue. She's big girl, at  least 6-7 feet long.

The island has about a 104 people on it now. Probably 75 cruisers and the rest are the skeleton resort staff. Most of the boats are empty, with their owners hunkered down in their respective home countries around the world. For those of us left here, we have lots of time to contemplate the outcome of the pandemic and think about when, and if, we will be able to move on. Now, on occasion, people have said I am a pessimist. When it comes to survival situations, I've always believed in the Stockdale Paradox. Admiral Stockdale was the most senior officer incarcerated in the 'Hanoi Hilton', the infamous North Vietnamese prison for US prisoners of war during the Vietnam War.  As explained by Stockdale to an interviewer the paradox goes like this:

I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.^[21]

When Collins asked who didn't make it out of Vietnam, Stockdale replied:

Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.^[21]

Stockdale then added:

This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.^[21]

We've been singing Happy Birthday multiple times in a row. Not just to time how long we wash our hands, but also to celebrate Chris' and my birthdays over the lat few weeks. Our new philosophy:  Getting old isn't for sissies.
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Our current leaders respond to disasters in the same way as the prehistoric ones:

Paul

Anchor What?

If you spend anytime on the online sailors forums you'll know of the volatility of discussions about boat anchors. Armchair sailors and experienced cruisers alike manage to go over the top for thousands of posts about the relative value of a style of one anchor over another. Often to the point of abject uncivil behavior. 

Well this post has nothing to do with anchors. It is about our trip to the ancient temples of Angkor Wat a few weeks ago (I believe Angkor Wat means Anchor What in the Khmer language). The post has a ton pictures, but you've probably got nothing else to do while in lock-down now that you've almost finished Netflix. We traveled to Siem Reap, the city next to the Wats, in the early coronovirus season which this year coincided with the dry season. This meant that there were very few visitors, no Chinese, Japanese or Korean tour buses and the 5-star hotel available for usd$195 for three days total. In retrospect we were probably pushing the coronovirus season with the exposure from airports and airplanes. Since we are well past our 14-day quarantine from being in Cambodia and Bangkok I'll share some temple pictures. 

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world covering more than 400 acres. It dates back to the 12 century. Over its life it has been a Hindu and a Buddhist temple, sometimes simultaneously. 

There are a group Wats in the area, each built at slightly different times. The local kings typically built the temples to improve their standing with the populace and with a selected god. Think along the lines of a Trump Tower.

 The stones were put in place rough. Then the surfaces smoothed. In this picture you can see an unfinished outline of a decorative carving.

And a finished stone carving.

The smaller temples in the surrounding area are just as fascinating asAngkor.

The temples were placed in the heart of solid jungle. Moats were built around them and the near by river was used to transport quarry stone from far away.

Gotta have the required temple monkeys.

A tuk-tuk, the local transportation, heading along the road and through the old temple gate.

Smiling faces temple.

Elephant temple.

Young, probably early teenage or younger, monks hanging under the tree

The jungle hardwood trees just take over the temples. Sometimes they are removed during restoration, but not always, as the tree becomes a key structural part of the walls. In some attempted restorations the tree has been removed and the building has collapsed.

This is the inside walls of one the temple chambers. All those round marks in the wall would have been filled with glittering jewels and semi-precious stones before the treasure hunter, come looters, arrived. They would typically go into the abandoned temples and cut off the heads from the stone statutes to make them easier to transport for sale. They would smash open the rectangular platforms that the shrines were mounted on, sometimes using dynamite, to look for jewels inside.

Tomb raiders of the Wats.

On the entryway walks to the temples you often here music being played under a canopy. The musicians are all disabled, some blind, most with missing limbs. These are the results of landmines. Estimates as high as 10 million landmines having been placed in Cambodia during the civil war in the 1970's and '80s has left Cambodia with the highest amputee population in the world. The musician on the right is thanking Chris for leaving a donation with the traditional hands clasp namiste.

Another smiling god in the temple gate.

A Khmer girl getting her wedding pictures taken by the temple.

The kids would take one look at Chris and know they had a mark. It was probably a good 3 dollar investment.

Trees growing into the moat. 

A small column with a missing figure, either removed by looters for sale or it was a Buddha head that was removed during a period that the temples were primarily Hindu. There is a lot of interaction between Hinduism and Buddhism, with the temples often being repurposed back and forth over the centuries.

A water buffalo taking a little time off work.

We took a boat trip to the floating city of Chong Kneas. Which is on a lake that is part of the Tanle Sap River (at least as best as I can tell). River levels change over 30ft over the year, with the floating city residents moving their floating houses to the new shallows as depths change. Note the propeller on the river boat above. The whole mechanism raises and lowers to get through the shallows.

  

Pretty select steering wheel and old truck transmission in the river boat.

Leaving the front deck of their floating house to go to work.

Checking in with the neighbors.

This is the hardware store for the village.

And the lumber store and restaurant with a couple of Vietnamese kids playing in half, plastic barrels. The Vietnamese have been here on this Cambodian lake for many decades, some as war refugees. There was also a mother in a canoe with a young daughter in the bow. The girl had a large python wrapped around her body and neck. She was tightly holding onto the snakes neck with her left hand. Both the girl and the snake had a less than happy expression on their faces. The mother wanted a dollar for a picture, but I just didn't feel right about contributing to the snake and child abuse.

Crocs waiting to be turned into handbags.

This is a modern day Buddhist monastery, a wat. These are the primary teaching places for monks. They also act as a sort of orphanage, where young men can enter and begin studying to become monks. Note the key architectural features. It is built on very long stilts so it can function in both the low and high water seasons. Even more important it is located right next to the cell tower for good 4G connectivity.

We didn't just stay in our hotel in the off temple touring time. So we had the valet call us a Tuk Tuk. Tuk Tuks are dominate local transportation. We loaded up and headed into town for dinner.

Tuk Tuks are not only good for transportation, they make a good advertising platform too. The locals would address me as Papa - supposedly a sign of respect.

The view into town on the Tuk Tuk.

And the restaurant section where you get a couple of cold beers and two main meals for usd$8.

Early morning view out of he hotel room in a typical SE Asian haze

Paul