March 5, 2020
Day 12 - Swimming Pool Express
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.
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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 I slept better accordingly.
Basically the way I reasoned is like this: we are now almost 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 this disruption, I would have gone back to China as normal, 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, tell the current bosses I'll be leaving China. Next, get out the resume and start applying and interviewing for jobs. And finally, take an offer that came along outside of China.
[Update November 2022] And here I now find myself repeating almost the exact same loop after the Shanghai lockdown but with a variation somewhat
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? Some would say that China was moving towards being a walled-off society from the world for a long time coming already, but the virus was all the proof of that I needed.
[Update November 2022] Shockingly, that assessment is more or less the same now
In the end, I didn't get very far on the ride. I was aiming for Buriram but stumbled upon this Ryan's Resort that seemed interesting. I overheard a bunch of people talking nonstop about Pattaya in the swimming pool while I was chilling on the beach chairs.
Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,093 km (679 miles)
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