Personal report from my son inside China.....

[LeslieDean]

I am going to try and post a FB post from my son who lives in Xiam China.  Hope I can do it.

https://www.facebook.com/ufi/reaction/profile/browser/?ft_ent_identifier=ZmVlZGJhY2s6MTAyMTk2Njc0MjYxMjk2OTg%3D&av=100007632912682

 

Dont know what that means. Maybe someone could help me.

[Nirex]

Your best bet would probably be to screenshot it.

[SUNRAY]

1 minute ago, LeslieDean said:

I am going to try and post a FB post from my son who lives in Xiam China.  Hope I can do it.

https://www.facebook.com/ufi/reaction/profile/browser/?ft_ent_identifier=ZmVlZGJhY2s6MTAyMTk2Njc0MjYxMjk2OTg%3D&av=100007632912682

 

Dont know what that means. Maybe someone could help me.

I don't have a FB account Leslie, perhaps you could relate what he posted if not too long?

[LeslieDean]

On Jan. 20th I boarded a flight with my wife and daughter to fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was Chinese New Year, so we planned on going to an island called Koh Rong. The Holiday was scheduled for 10 days so we were pretty excited and looking forward to the days to come.

(By this time there was some talk about a strange virus in Wuhan, around an estimated 170 people had been infected. We weren't concerned, Wuhan was about 500 miles from us.)

We arrived at the hotel in Phnom Penh around 10pm, so we got luggage put away and ready for bed.

On Jan. 21st we woke up and I took a shower. After the shower, my wife said she had been looking at weibo(a social media app) and people were starting to talk a lot about that new virus. So, I told her not to worry.

We walked around and took some pictures so my wife could post some on her wechat. Later that day, she got a message from a friend that said she and her husband would be in Phnom Penh on the 23rd and asked us to wait before going to Koh Rong. It's a long story but exactly two years before we met them in Phnom Penh, during a mix up with an overbooked hotel...turns out the hotel had booked us for the same room. Somehow, we hit off, and spent the majority of that vacation cruising throughout various cities in Cambodia with them.

Jan. 23rd, The friends were also arriving from China, so the two wives got to talking and I could over hear their conversations...it mainly consisted of talk about things they were reading on weibo and this new virus might be pretty bad.

(I asked them not to worry about it and enjoy our trip, but they stayed focused on their phones.)

We planned poorly and arrived at the island on the 24th, only to find that there weren't any rooms available. Unfortunately, we arrived on the last boat to the island which meant, it was also the last boat off the island. Needless to say, we were stuck after we spent some time looking for rooms. Thankfully, we met an exceptionally nice lady that owned an outdoor bar. (The little deserted island hut types with a thatched style roof.) The nice lady pulled out some beach mats, apologized for not being able to help us, and made us a bed in the sand in front of her bar. Still to this day I'm not sure why she apologized, that night sleeping and drinking on the beach, along with all of us laughing about how horribly we had failed was the single best highlight of the entire trip.

Jan. 25th, We woke up early and took some pictures of the sunrise, by midday the wives were talking about Wuhan being quarantined on the 23rd and how crazy things seemed there. An entire city with a population of 11 million people! Nobody can go in or out.

(Once again I told them not to worry)

We tried again to find a hotel room but the place was much busier than we'd ever seen it in our previous travels, so we decided to head to Sihanoukville.

We spent the night of the 25th and the 26th in Sihanoukville. By this time my friend Joe and I were pretty much left up to our own devices because our wives had their eyes locked on their phones and could only think of this virus so far away in Wuhan.

We woke up on the 27th and I asked my wife if she wanted to go out and she said no. She just wanted to sit on her phone and follow the news. So I grabbed the daughter, called up Joe and asked if he wanted to meetup at a beach bar down the street a bit. We met up with Joe, and were walking down this little beach side road while making our way to the bar. That's when I got the call from my wife...the first case of the virus had been discovered in Cambodia and it was in Sihanoukville...I knew what that meant, then Joe's phone started ringing too...time to get out of town, Joe said, with a disappointing look on his face. On the walk back to the hotels we complained about the wives paranoia and laughed a little. Within an hour we had a private car booked to take us back to Phnom Penh. That drive took about 6hrs.

We arrived in Phnom Penh around evening time and went to book rooms...I liked the last hotel we stayed in just a few days before that so we went back. I checked in and took the wife and daughter upstairs so we could get showered and ready for dinner. Once we got sorted in the hotel room I got a call from Joe. He said, "I can't find a hotel that will allow us to check in.". I replied, "What that's crazy. Why not?". Joe, "I don't know, Booking.com says they have rooms available. I've tried three hotels. When we arrive they say they're booked.". So I told him, "Come over to our hotel, I can see several doors open to the rooms, they have plenty." About 20 minutes later they arrived. I met them at the street and walked with them to the front desk. We asked to check in and Joe's wife(whom is Chinese) handed over her passport and 50 dollars...that's when I learned why they couldn't get a room. Front desk girl, "Sorry, we're booked."
At this point Joe has a really confused look on his face and so does his wife. I asked Joe to talk with me outside...once we arrived outside I asked him to use his passport to check into the hotel next door. (He's French) Moments later he walked back grabbed his bag, then him and his wife went to their new hotel room.

Dinner ended up being canceled that night because my wife said she wanted to find some N95 masks. It turned out to be a very difficult task. We couldn't find any. So we searched all night. By this time our wives were talking to friends and family...people were locking themselves inside their homes...masks were a becoming a feeling of safety but hoarders had already started...We found one shop the guy said he was expecting new stock in the morning. We were the first people there...waited for him to open. By the time he had opened a line had already formed. We were only about 10 minutes early. Apparently the madness had not firmly set in yet. We managed to get two boxes.

Jan. 28th&29th were spent scouring the city looking for masks...Joe and I complaining the entire time but the wives were trying to find some for friends and family. We weren't very successful during that two day hunt but my wife was happy she found some.

Jan. 30th, We flew out of Phnom Penh and made our way back to Jie Yang China. Once we were at the airport you could tell something was different. Every person that boarded our flight was wearing a mask. Once we were seated even the flight attendants were wearing them, pilots too. A few hours later we arrived in Jie Yang. We sat on the tarmac for about an hour and a half, then a group of guys boarded the plane in hazmat suits...this was about the time I started making sure that little metal band on the surgical mask I was wearing was fitted properly. The guys in Hazmat suits asked if anyone on the flight was from Wuhan. One guy said yes and they came and escorted him off the plane. Everyone looked at him like he had some kind of plague. The asked again, nobody said anything...asked once more, nobody said anything. They called out a ladies name, she stood up. They escorted her off the plane. They began screening by temperature checks. 3 hours later we finally made it inside the airport. I was stunned. I had never seen an airport in China that dead. We collected our luggage and made it outside. Wow! Nobody! My wife looked worried, I was starting too get that way too. We called for a taxi which is one of the easiest things to do in China...no reply from the taxi app. Tried for more than an hour, no rides were being accepted. We found a guy and paid him a little to much money to take us to the train station.

Once we made it to the high speed train, only a handful of people were there. Keep in mind this is Chinese New Year...typically there would be thousands but nobody was there. The hour and a half train ride to our city was uneventful, just empty of passengers. Stop after stop nobody got on or off.

Once out of the train station we managed to catch another more expensive than should be ride home.

Finally we made it home. We walked inside our house and I left to go shopping for food. I made a few trips that evening to the local market. I'd come home with a few bags of groceries and my wife would give me a new list and ask me to go for more. I would complain...but I'd go anyway.

Later on that evening of Jan. 30th we went to bed. Little did I know I wouldn't leave the house again for 22 days. Little did I know that even to this day my wife and daughter would still be inside the house and today is March 17th. Little did I know that when I walked out of the house after 22 days elevators would be covered in plastic. I'd have to get a special ID card that allows me to walk back into my building after I go grocery shopping. I'd have to get temp checks every time I walk inside a supermarket. Little did I know that even still to this day, my gym will still be closed. Heck, most places are still closed around here but it is getting better. Everyday it gets better.

I've learned a few things over the past 50(ish) days.

How Joe and I would moan and complain, how I would moan and complain...about our wives, about my wife. Did she overreact? I don't think so. She just had her family in her best interest. I also learned even when I thought she was crazy, I'd still do the things she requested when she was scared...no matter crazy or how many trips she'd want me to make to the supermarket that night, I knew I'd complain, but I'd do it anyway. She knew that too.

I've learned a few things over the past 55 days.

I learned about how in times of a catastrophe people want to say ,not me, and find blame in someone else...I mean after all it was Joe's wife's passport that was keeping them from being able to check in to a hotel on the 27th.

I've learned that countries are different in how they handle things...some for the good some for the bad.

I've learned sometimes things just happen, and when they happen. It can go from 0 to catastrophe pretty freaking quick. For me it was ten days from going on vacation to finding myself self quarantined in our house with the wife and daughter . Ten days with Italy too. That's about how long it took them to go from slight worry to major nationwide quaratine.

At the end of this long drawn out story there is a point...COVID-19 spreads fast! And it is deadly! It may not kill you. It may not kill your family. But it is killing people, it has killed people, and for the time being it will continue to kill people.

For those of you that think all of these recent measures are not needed...Look at China, look at Italy, look at Iran, look at South Korea, look at where they have went wrong, but more importantly look at where they have went right! China nailed the containment! 100% nailed it once they got started. South Korea? Boom! Look at their ability to test! It took Italy about ten days do end up where they are now and look at the steps they are taking now to try and fix it.

Listen to the warnings, look at how countries have done it right and learn from how have done it wrong.

If you're in a country that isn't hit hard yet, stay home for awhile and try to keep it that way because it's coming! If you do nothing to help contain the spread your only hurting the ones that are going to need hospitalization.

1Deborah Goudeau

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[LeslieDean]

1 minute ago, SUNRAY said:

I don't have a FB account Leslie, perhaps you could relate what he posted if not too long?

Im not certain how it popped up but it did!  It is an account of his family vacation and the unfolding of the early stages of CoVid-19 as it was happening in his eyes.

[SUNRAY]

2 minutes ago, LeslieDean said:

Im not certain how it popped up but it did!  It is an account of his family vacation and the unfolding of the early stages of CoVid-19 as it was happening in his eyes.

Wow..thanks! that must be a very interesting story! I will read it!

Edited March 18, 2020 by SUNRAY
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[LeslieDean]

post #4 is his story

[SUNRAY]

19 minutes ago, LeslieDean said:

post #4 is his story

That is an amazing account, Leslie. Thank you so much for sharing it. I am glad your family is OK! 😘

[ladybug]

Thank you for sharing such an eye witness report!    My how the scene of this world has changed.