Travelling SE Asia Ft. Corona

In January 2020 two things happened:

1. I packed up and left the UK for what I hoped would be 4 months.

2. An outbreak of Coronavirus occurred in China.

At the time, I never imagined the second event would have any impact on the first; how naive I was!

I have always had a deep rooted passion for travel. From sandy plains in Morocco to the chaos of New York City, I have been lucky enough to explore diverse cultures and countries from a young age. How, then, could I resist joining the gap year bandwagon and booking a generic travellers trip with my closest pals. The answer, in case you were wondering, is I couldn’t…

With a bag bulging at the sides and full to the brim with four months worth of clothes, I set off for Heathrow Airport where my journey was to begin. Anticipation overcame me as I was flooded with excitement, therefore a fairly emotionless goodbye was had with my parents before boarding a flight to New Zealand. We landed, after a 30 hour journey, on the other side of the world.

Our plan was to drive from Christchurch down South as far as Queenstown and then make our way up North to Auckland via the West Coast. In a campervan might I add. A bungee jump in Queenstown, sky dive in Franz Josef, 20KM walk through a volcano in Tongariro National Park and trip to Hobbiton later, and we had effectively covered the whole country. New Zealand? Completed it mate.

At this point I don’t think I had actually even heard of the Coronavirus. Imagine someone still being blissfully unaware of what Coronavirus was and the damage it could cause. Due to limited signal and patchy wifi through New Zealand, that was me. So on January 24th we boarded a flight to Bangkok, ready to embrace the eclectic culture and wild nights that Thailand had on offer.

Standing out as my favourite country by far, we experienced everything from dolphin watching, cooking classes and sunsets on a canyon to pulling all nighters in a club, skinny dipping and branding ourselves with stick and poke tattoos. Quite a range there, right! Once again, I was fairly obliviously that a worldwide pandemic was brewing in China. I actually may not have heard of Coronavirus yet, but if I had it definitely hadn’t been something I’d paid much attention to.

It was coming to the end of February as we boarded the slow boat which would take us from North Thailand to Luang Prabang in Laos. The highlights here were Kuang Si National Park which had gorgeous rescue bears and the most sensational waterfall, and a bowling alley (yes you read that right) which stayed open until 3AM and was essentially the only place you could stay out drinking. Moving on to Vang Vieng, we indulged in tubing, a day driving dune buggies and a jungle party (literally a night out in the middle of Laos jungle). I loved Laos, and I mean really love. We only spent a week there but memories were made which will last a lifetime.

Guess what, it was now March and still I had no real knowledge of Coronavirus. I had now heard of it and knew it had supposedly come from a wet market in China. However, it was rarely talked about between us and we definitely didn’t think that in 23 days time we’d be on a flight back home.

We touched base in Hanoi and booked to do the Hi Giang loop (this was sensational, a real must if going to Vietnam)! Interestingly, by doing this we travelled right to the Chinese border, still very nonchalant in regards to the spreading virus. We were, however, aware that many countries had been affected by now. Italy was beginning its torturous lockdown and friends of mine had flown home from South East Asia, having flown out just a couple of weeks before. There was no denying things had escalated, but we felt extremely safe.

Once back from the Hi Giang Province, we were due to go to Halong Bay and stay on Cat Ba Island. It was at this point that Coronavirus began affecting us. A Vietnamese woman who had been in Italy had gone to Cat Ba and tested positive for the virus. The whole island was shut down and our hopes of staying there were shattered. Vietnam had its first case.

It was looking like we may not get to Halong Bay, but we finally secured a cruise and feasted our eyes on the breathtaking array of tiny islands. The day after we got back, the whole of Halong Bay shut (we'd got their by the skin of our teeth)! Our next stop was supposed to be Ninh Binh, but with our hostel in quarantine we weren’t going to be staying there. Instead, we went to Trang An and began experiencing the damage Corona was causing. Everything was shutting down.

Our next hostel was similarly cancelled and when we finally got to Phong Nha the botanical gardens and infamous duck stop were shut. We didn’t feel at risk or unsafe, but Coronavirus was proving to be one big slap in the face for travellers. We were no longer one step ahead and our plans were deteriorating because of it. Men in hazmat suits would come on board our buses and take our temperatures and we would frequently be pulled over and asked to fill out a form listing everywhere we’d been. More and more people were wearing masks and anti-bac dispensers started appearing in the streets.

We were forced to wear masks ourselves in many public places but when we arrived in Hoi An, Corona finally played to our advantage. Taking a trip to Ba Na Hills and the Golden Hands Bridge, we had the whole fantasy park to ourselves as it was still open but no one wanted to brave it. Unfortunately, the next morning we were given intelligence that the UK would soon be going into lockdown. It looked like if we wanted to get home, it was now or never. Almost everyone we knew had fled South East Asia but being stubborn, we’d stuck it out. We could no longer justify staying though, and with very few hostels staying open, we felt it was a wise move to book a flight home.

We made it to Ho Chi Minh City, chuffed that we had visited more or less every place we’d wanted to in Vietnam. We’d gone as far North as possible on the Hi Giang Loop and descended all the way down to Ho Chi Minh where we had time to do the Cu Chi Tunnels and War Remnants Museum. The further South we had gone, the more noticeable Coronavirus had become, though. There were far less travellers so Vietnam wasn't nearly as social as Thailand and Laos had been. In fact, it was a positively quiet and mundane country in comparison! It was also now law to wear face masks so things were really hotting up (quite literally, those masks were stuffy; especially in 40 degree heat)!

We headed to the airport having had two jam packed days in Ho Chi Minh and saw that almost all flights out of Vietnam had been cancelled. Ours, along with just two others, were thankfully still going, but with hazmat suits, temperature checks and masks, it was to be a journey like no other. Eventually, we walked through the arrivals at Heathrow airport, having flown home a month earlier than we had originally planned. Cambodia and Bali would have to wait for another time, but with lockdown sweeping the UK the day we arrived home, we knew we had made the right decision.

Once back I self isolated for two weeks and barely left the house for a month. Once I did it was disconcerting to see the roads so bare and the UK death toll rising so rapidly each day. It seemed so surreal to have been in Vietnam just weeks before.

There is no doubt about it, travel, whether a short holiday or more long term trip, will not return to normal for the foreseeable future. Perhaps years. Coronavirus has caused worldwide devastation and restoring our planet could prove a lengthy process. However, once travel is safe again, I for one will be on the first flight out!