May 20th (2020)

 

May 20th
66 days here
And it's not getting any easier.

I am up at 07.21 am today, thinking about breakfast, or the lack thereof. I miss a toaster. Toast with butter and some preserve makes a simple but elegant breakfast. I'm really not into soup, with or without slices of meat or pig's blood for breakfast. Nor do I yearn for rice congee with dried whatever's and salted egg for the first meal of the day, but Chinese Dim Sum would be okay, as would Indian Dosa, but these breakfast foods are not available for breakfast, as I have mentioned before.

I have no preserve or conserve, no Wilkin & Sons Ltd Tiptree Raspberry Jam, no chunky cut orange marmalade flavour the drying  Cambodian bread. Instead, I have sugar. Breakfast will be almost stale bread with butter and sugar, accompanied by a mug of Nescafe 'Red'.

Tomorrow is Thursday. What the hell happened to the week? Again. I remember that manic 1966 film "Stop the World I want to get off'. and it really does feel like that sometimes.

For some on an actual ‘lock-down’, not this half-hearted slight impairment of freedom Cambodia has, time is paused with society (societies) at the very brink of resetting, but Siem Reap just feels a little down at the heel. I do too.

It has been an experience being here for so long, a treasured one at that, but now I would prefer to resume the life that I had in Malaysia, with myriad choices for breakfast. Thank you multiverse, now it’s time to continue I do believe.

The Expat magazine (from May 17) informs that….
“Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri, has announced that the government will allow all Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa holders back into the country, effective Sunday, May 17th. This is indeed welcome news for the few hundred people who have been stuck overseas for weeks, simply because they were unable to return before the borders were hastily closed in mid-March. Many have had a very difficult time during this extended period, as their primary homes are here in Malaysia. It is sad it has taken so long for the government to realise how unfair they were being to deny entry to this group who have accepted Malaysia’s invitation to come and make their home here.

MM2Hers returning to Malaysia will need to be tested for Covid-19 in the country they’re currently in and produce the results of a negative test upon arrival in Malaysia to be permitted entry. They will also be required to complete a 14-day quarantine at a designated centre; some hotels are being utilised for this function. The costs of the quarantine period will be borne by the MM2Hers.”

Nice of Malaysia, considering those people paid through the nose to obtain that elusive status. Adding insult to their injury, Malaysia not only takes their money, laughing all the way to the bank, but also now expects those poor unfortunates to pay (more) for their own quarantine as well. I see this as a sneaky way for the Malaysian government to squeeze those particular Expats for extra dosh. However, this does not help me. I am not one of the elite with money to burn. So I am still exiled.

Sorry, I’m going through a moment of being extremely pissed off. This Google docs isn’t helping. It is not syncing my text (on the hand-phone), to the midi Mac, consequently I am back writing twice, the very thing that I sought to avoid.

Lunch is pot noodle yet again, with cucumber and tomato.

Dinner is pot noodle this time with the remainder bean sprouts and plastic cheese.

In between I had afternoon tea and bread  butter and sugar. It's all I had, as a packet of biscuits here is the price of a cheap meal and cake is dry, as is cut bread. This lengthened trip has been a financial eye opener.

I didn't go out today, so no spend.

And so to bed.