Hello from Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea, where I'm in my last week on site and knee-deep in doing my handover notes in preparation for the end of my first hitch in my new FIFO role. It's challenging to say the least, much more so than my last stint here from 2014 to 2016 due to the mess created by organisational changes compounded by COVID. This first rotation didn't start on the right foot as I had to undergo 20 days in quarantine (usually only 10 days which is now officially 7 days). A day-by-day rundown of my time holed up in the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Port Moresby from 27th May to 16th June will help explain why that is so. The two other posts in this series are here: part 1 part 3.
Day 1
After a night transiting at the airport hotel in Brisbane, I had to put up with really rude and uncooperative Australian staff for Air Nuigini. Luckily, the company's travel office operates 24/7 and was able to help me out of that bureaucratic mess and I could board the plane for Port Moresby. At the other end, I was able to saunter out of the airport without a temperature check nor COVID swab which was a sign of how lax the health guidelines are in PNG. Also, no one was wearing masks on the streets and there was no segregation between quarantined folk and the general population at the main hotel lobby. The room I got was OK (on the top floor and the end of the corridor). However, I was really dismayed at the cold shower and was starting to dread the coming days.
The last Australian sunrise... until I'm back home again
Day 2
Set up my office which honestly is better than what I had back home and resumed work. The hotel WiFi was putting up fine so I didn't need the SIM network adapter I requested from the company. Thank goodness for my wireless adapter which I could connect to from both my work and personal laptops. This enabled the hotel TV to be used as a second monitor. The menu on rotation looked acceptable although what was served didn't match the menu most of the time so they might as well not provide that. I don't like to cook so I'll never complain when I'm served free food. Lunch was always worse than dinner though but the portion size was reasonable. I also realised the shower worked opposite to normal convention i.e. turn right (or clockwise) for hot water and I got a warm shower tonight and for the rest of my nights here. Major crisis averted!
My hotel office
Day 3
Started my exercise band routine using whatever anchor points that were available. The main door was the only strong one but I needed to open the door as infrequently as possible to minimise the chances of the virus that's lurking in the corridor entering my room. I got my first COVID swab too and the company medical personnel wasn't even in full PPE (she said she was vaccinated and also got COVID before so she's immune!)! The result came back within a few hours and it was negative. Disaster struck during dinner when my bottom-left pre-molar cracked. Although the tooth wasn't "shaky" as the crack wasn't in the middle of it I knew it'll only get worse from here as this was the third time this has happened. And I only started my quarantine! I knew it had to come off but was trying hard not to think about it as I already have one out on that side and another one will make chewing really difficult. MAJOR FUCK!
Day 4
My cracked tooth was slowly worsening and I had to be really careful when chewing i.e. to push all food to the right side and then chew. Loose and crumbly food like rice was particularly bad and there's a LOT of it on the menu! Sundays are good for work as they are quieter and I can get more done. That's if I don't get disturbed by hotel staff constantly showing at my door! The supplies I needed in my room always fell short i.e. they needed to be delivered constantly. Every time the door opened, the virus seal was broken. I put on a mask whenever there's
someone at the door to be safe, especially when the hotel staff were not
really gowned up in safety gear. The worst was when they repeatedly delivered the
wrong thing e.g. decaf instead of non-decaf coffee sachets. Why they couldn't have enough supplies in the room to see a person through the quarantine period (which they are aware of) was beyond me.
Day 5
Contacted the company doctor to ask for options regarding a dental visit. The recommendation was to visit the dentist in Port Moresby after getting approval from my manager and his boss on day 8 of my quarantine as international visitors cannot leave the quarantine facility within the first 7 days. This also meant I'd have to break quarantine and reset the whole process (as I'd have mixed with the locals which were all assumed to be infected) i.e. day 8 would be day 0. I guess I'm not that averse to isolation seeing I'm a home body who lives in a one-room apartment. Also, the extra quarantine days count as work days and working in a hotel as opposed to on site is much more relaxing. So although it sounds bad, a quarantine reset was really not that bad, even when I was in a room without access to fresh air i.e. balcony or a window that can be opened. The decision had to be made by the next day. I also did a video chat with Ision before I slept over Whatsapp and that immediate familiarity when I saw his face felt really nice.
The view through the sealed window
Day 6
Because it'd be disastrous if my tooth were to break apart whilst I'm on site with no dentist, I finally decided to break quarantine and visit the company-recommended one in Port Moresby as there's no guarantee I could leave site in a timely fashion even although I was assured of that. I'd be in immense pain then too (there's no pain at the moment unless I bite down hard). I'm holding on to a faint glimmer of hope that the tooth could be salvaged but I didn't think so as it had cracked. My second swab today came back negative. Work was getting stressful due to an emergency that happened. My manager is new too and his constant questions meant that I had to spend extra time finding out about things that he should know. Thank goodness I'm not on site yet as the work emergency would have been far worse to deal with if I were there.
Day 7
The dental visit was approved and the logistics and resultant flight changes were organised. Transport to the clinic was hard to arrange as I wasn't on a roaming mobile plan and I only wanted them to contact me via the hotel staff through my room phone. I was given the choice to change my room upon my return from the dentist
but I decided to stay as I was too lazy to pack and then unpack. I was
also told the room I was in was the biggest they had. On the one hand it'd be a huge relief to get the tooth out but I was also scared of the anesthetic jabs before extraction. I remembered those were really painful from past experience. On the work front, I managed to clarify with the payroll department salary, leave and time sheet issues around the conversion from my temporary Australian contract to the permanent PNG one. Nothing happens smoothly with this company and you're always faced with obstacles at every level within the organisation.
Day 8
I got my third negative swab results but that's all useless now as I'd have to reset my quarantine after the dental visit. There was some cock-up with transport (as expected) as the hotel isolation staff didn't get the approval from the company doctor for me to leave even though I had it in writing. I left anyway as I couldn't be late for the dental appointment which was close to the end of the business day. I moaned in pain a lot at the dentist and he tried to calm me with jokes. I felt like telling him they were useless but was in too much pain. The extraction was smooth though I was rudely shocked when I had to pay for it myself (I was told it's reimbursable). 400 kina was the damage (around AUD150) so it wasn't too bad. I took Panandols in case the pain came back when the anesthetic wore off. In the end, there was just a general blunt sensation. I felt really sad as I saw in the mirror that huge gaping hole where the tooth used to be. The dentist told me I had other teeth missing and so the remaining ones get more stress and hence they inevitably fracture. The only solution is to get dentures which will be one of the first things I'd have to do when I get home as I can't suffer another tooth-cracking episode (the last time was 3 years ago).
Goodbye, I will miss you
Day 9
I sent my clothes to be laundered and before that, I took pictures of it in case they got lost (I have a trust-no-one approach) but they came back fine. Chewing was seriously impaired with that huge gap on the bottom left side which was something I need to get used to. I hope the hole gets filled up by the time I get fitted for dentures back home as that would surely cause a problem otherwise? I don't know. I learnt that I needed to submit a travel insurance claim to get reimbursed for the extraction procedure. More paperwork and more delays... great. The company psychologist called to check in and I just let it rip with all the complaints regarding how the quarantine was run and the bad experiences I had so far and she said she'd feed them back to upper management.
Pre- and post-laundry
Day 10
I started the handover process with my back-to-back as he stopped working in preparation for his arrival on site. He had it so good i.e. enjoying the foreign service premium whilst not on site all because of a screw-up which had me instead of him departing Australia first. There's really too much rice and carbs and not much other options here and I can tell that I'm slowly losing muscle definition. I thought of ordering room service food with my company credit card but I wasn't sure if that was allowed. I later discovered that it was and the quality was much better i.e. quarantine food and room service food must come from different kitchens! Got another useless courtesy check-in call from the company's medical team. Work was still busy as the problems caused by the previous emergency were still unsolved.
A sample of the menu
Day 11
Work was quieter today as my boss was on his off day. The rolling power outages were getting worse and this was a city-wide issue i.e. nothing to do with the hotel. The standby generator kicked in but those brief moments of outage were enough to knock out the WiFi and disrupt your work meetings on Microsoft Teams. Now I understand why the SIM network adapter was needed as that unit had a charged battery which continued to provide coverage during power outages. The air-conditioning got knocked out too and it could take 20 to 30 minutes to come back on and that surely wasn't good for proper circulation in a quarantine facility! That being said, the corridors were not air-conditioned anyway so they were a prime spot for the virus to fester. The worst happened at night when the water pump went out too when I wanted to shower. When I called reception to complain, she actually had the gall to ask me "what else"?!!! Fortunately, it came back on within 15 minutes.
Day 12
It was another boring day in quarantine but at least my exercise routines were keeping it "fresh". Apart from my exercise bands, I have my skipping rope which provided me with all the cardio I needed. The one I bought wasn't that good as I needed to hold it in a way so that it didn't entangle and that created blisters with the repeat movements. The gym gloves I had didn't protect so I had to fashion up something out of the delivery bags the hotel staff used. I was slowly improving in the number of skips within the half hour and the count ranged from 2000 to 3000. I skip naked just like the porn clips I have with hot hung men doing the very same thing which is always a pleasure to watch! It's Monday i.e. Ision's day off and it's become a routine to give him a video call on Mondays.
My trusted quarantine companion
Day 13
In preparation for a lack of Equal sugar on site, I've been asking for 10 to 20 sachets every other day and I was glad I did that as there wasn't any supplied on site (it used to be). I also had my first negative swab test since quarantine was reset. Work was still a little crazy and yet another emergency had arisen. If it were this bad when I'm not even on site yet, I shudder at how bad it'd be when I get there. My boss will leave for his break on 2nd July and the deputy comes in as the stand-in boss as the back-to-back of my current boss continues his long break after completing an extended hitch. Managing a single boss was hard enough for most, imagine having three bosses all with different personalities to deal with! Luckily, there was something to make myself feel better not to mention to pass the time and that's taking selfies!
How else does one take selfies if not in the nude?
Day 14
It's been a fortnight in quarantine now. Frustrations at work had boiled up to the surface and as a result, my tone with the boss was getting impatient. I really need to watch that. One thing that helped me unwind at the end of the day was watching National Geographic nature documentaries before I sleep which had become a nightly routine. There were 148 channels of cable TV so I guess there's a never-ending fix for TV addicts. There was a lot of downloaded stuff in my personal laptop but I was always too tired to watch any of those after a long day as they were all full-length shows. I needed things that don't have a plot so I could give my brain a rest.
Day 15
I did another load of laundry today and was surprised I was given a bill even though it was supposed to be free. I called reception and got that clarified (it was a mistake on their part, surprise surprise). I had enough mineral water bottles (25x 600ml bottles) to fill them all up with water to create a makeshift dumbbell which provided some variation to my exercise band routine. My phone's screen was acting up and if it were to die, that'd be my perfect excuse to buy a Galaxy Fold 3 (yet to be released) which I had been eyeing for a long time. I got paid early this month (i.e. today) and was pleasantly surprised at the number... I guess the hard work has to be worth it. My travel insurance claim for the dental visit was progressing ever-so-slowly as I continued to smooth out the kinks and knots of all the red tape.
Necessity is the mother of invention
Day 16
My second (actually my fifth) negative COVID swab was done. They didn't do the throat swab here as they were not strictly required but they were still being done back home. The swab results came back while I was taking a dump and I had to shout from the toilet and ask her to wait for 10 minutes. You see, they had to give you a wrist bad marked with the day of the negative test and you were supposed to wear it till your next test result but I didn't. My days in quarantine were numbered and I needed to finish the accumulated tea snacks before I go. Poor lean definition.... but those cakes and cookies were what I look forward to between meals when I take a few minutes off work to have them with a cuppa. I was given a warning that water would be turned off as a water pipe burst. Fortunately, I didn't need to shower at that time.
Fattening but oh so good
Day 17
When you're on site, you get a day off every week due to the long rotations. Though not strictly allowed to take off days during quarantine, I'm taking it anyway as that's a legitimate coping mechanism especially when I was doing such a LONG one (I had worked enough hours so far to qualify for it too). I chose a Sunday to do this as it's a quiet day with the Sydney office offline. After a happy morning selfie, I recorded a cover version of my new favourite Chinese pop song (動力火車's "我很好骗"). That was a nice relaxing time away from work. That being said, I still had to attend a Zoom meeting where the COO wanted quarantine feedback from all of us. The WiFi went down twice with the power during the meeting and I couldn't be bothered to reconnect after it dropped out the second time.
Morning selfies never looked this good!
Day 18
A very so-so day with work, exercise band routine and skipping rope cardio. My travel insurance claim had hit a further snag as the previous instructions provided to me were wrong! Today's hotel WiFi was quite good so I went to town with the downloading and managed to get the videos that I couldn't for the past many days when the WiFi was intermittent (I couldn't use the company-provided SIM network adapter to download these videos). I took it a little easy work-wise and had time to draft a short musical blog post. It's my second last night in this room and I think I'll kind of
miss it. Talk about Stockholm syndrome! Watched a downloaded movie on TV before bed.
Day 19
This was my last full day in quarantine and I started to tidy up the room and pack. I couldn't find my luggage-weighing tool and asked Ision if he could locate it at home but he couldn't. I might have left it in the Brisbane transit hotel. Oh well, I can always buy a new one. I was told the checked-in luggage weight limit for the charter flight was 20kg and that limitation meant that I couldn't bring with me all the toiletries I bought in Australia (they don't sell anything other than bar soap on site). I had my last negative swab and had to wear that negative wrist band on the travelling day, otherwise we wouldn't be allowed to board the plane. I was told another person from the same company would travel with me which is always a good thing. I had a video chat with Ision before sleep-time.
My trophies from quarantine
Day 20
This must be the longest quarantine for any company employee. 20 full days! I woke up at 4am and had my self-prepared breakfast comprising of the leftover tea snacks. I also packed some food to go in case I got hungry before lunch on site as they no longer serve food on charter flights due to COVID but I carelessly left it in the room. The hotel actually prepared a breakfast pack for us to take away so it was all good. I must say that's the nicest thing they had done so far. Just before I left the hotel, I signed on the bill which amounted to about 11300 kina (around AUD4300, which is a lot if we were to pay for quarantine ourselves). I headed for the airport and took the 6.30am flight straight to Moro airport which was a 30-minute drive away from site.
So there ends my epic 20-day quarantine. I would only have to do 7 days for my next hitch as the company has relaxed quarantine restrictions after successful negotiations with the PNG government on the basis that the company is doing a great job keeping COVID under control with their own health measures. We know that's not entirely true but at least things are moving in the right direction.
The company's vaccination drive was in full swing a few weeks ago but it has now become an uphill struggle coaxing the national population to get vaccinated due to widespread misinformation and hesitancy. The plan is to do away with quarantine altogether if at least 60% of the workforce were vaccinated. I can't say I like that too much as a week away from site is a week away from stress but I guess for those not as fine with isolation as me wish otherwise.
I'll be writing about my quarantine experience in Australia which I'll soon go into in the next part of this series so stay tuned. In the meantime, I hope the current Melbourne lockdown will be removed by the time I get back though it's looking increasingly unlikely as case numbers are rising (curse the Delta strain). I miss home and my boo SO SO much! Take care and stay safe guys!
