Day T33: Swimming Pool Express

March 5, 2020

Sangkha to Prasat

The hotel was AMAZING, actually despite the lack of a swimming pool or the amenities that came with accommodation in Cambodia, this was the best hotel of the trip. It was the beginning of several awesome nights of sleep in a row, and it started with a full blast of hot water in a shower that had been lacking since entering Cambodia. Even in the nice hotels, the shower water is limited flow due to the electric heater. So this hotel was a pleasant surprise. It was also within walking distance of 7/11 and Amazon coffee at those typical gas stations, so that was a win.

The sleep would soon start to improve a lot. The last few days I couldn't sleep well due to worrying so much about the coronavirus. But having taken some significant steps and making some really hard and difficult decisions with imperfect information, I felt that things were coming out ahead.

Basically the way I reasoned is like this: we are now about two months into what was originally supposed to be a four week holiday. During this extension there was plenty of time to think of how to handle a very difficult situation. This mainly took place in Bangkok, Pattaya, and Siem Reap. Without all this disruption, I would have gone back to China as normal. Then I would have gotten swamped with work as normal, waited for the next vacation as normal, and gotten trapped in the perpetual cycle of 'one more year'.

With help from close friends, it propelled me to make a move in three stages to take advantage of this opportunity.

First stage, tell the current bosses I'll be leaving China. Done and dusted. Second stage, fire off the resume and start applying and interviewing for jobs. Check. And finally, take an offer that comes.

[Update April 2024] How ironic that the same loop is on repeat. It's a different variation but then not really.

I guess at some point, the foreigners will have to leave China. In my case I would hope to find a new base somewhere else and still have the option to go back and forth. But from my assessment it's no longer safe or stable to live there long-term. Was it ever to begin with? The Chinese themselves have a famous saying that 'you can always fool a foreigner'

Some would say that China was moving towards being a walled-off society from the world for a long time coming already. The virus was just an accelerant.

[Update November 2022] Shockingly, that assessment is more or less the same now

In the end, I didn't get very far on the bike ride. I was aiming for Buri Ram but stumbled upon this Ryan's Resort along the way that seemed more interesting. I overheard a bunch of people in the swim pool talking nonstop about Pattaya while I was chilling on the beach chairs.

The question is why weren't they there?

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,093 km (679 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0