Quarantined in Vietnam

Yeap, you never know what will happen. My trip to Vietnam was planned already last September when I asked to get a couple of weeks off from work in order to travel to Vietnam and have our second wedding party to celebrate more with H's side of family and friends. I arrived last week Monday to the airport of Hanoi. That time the corona virus was spreading a little bit in Europe and nothing seemed too dangerous for me to make my trip. Last week we went around Hanoi with H, ate good food etc., even though my family had to cancel their trip since Vietnam forbid Europeans entering the country visa-free only one day after I came. That's why we decided to cancel also our wedding party. Well, there is plenty to tell about the last 9 days here but I have to start from my newest experience that got its beginning yesterday...

Last weekend Vietnam announced that all of its citizens who have returned to Vietnam during March should make a corona virus test. H wanted to be a loyal citizen and fair towards his parents and neighbors, so he contacted them and then waited for them to call back. This return call didn't come before H suddenly got a fever yesterday afternoon. That got us all in the house worried. Luckily the fever started to get down fast and when H felt better, he found out there are some testing places open 24/7 for people to go and test for corona. So we took a scooter and rode through a heavy rain to a shopping mall where one of the places was supposed to be. Well, it was not there. But no worries since only a few blocks away ought to be another one. Except that it was only a laboratory where they handle the test results. So we decided to go home and sleep and try again on the next day.

Just before sleeping H had contacted a doctor he knows and got to hear about a place where we could go right in the morning. In order to avoid busy times, we left this morning at 6 a.m. to the biggest hospital in Hanoi and found our way to the department of 'National hospital for tropical diseases'. After we filled information forms and checked our temperatures - both had normal - we were guided to a separate waiting room. Little did we know what would happen next...

We were not let to wait for too long and after a while we were guided to go outside and to our surprise step into an ambulance. It drove us with the sirens on for about half an hour, to an isolation hospital outside the city. I took the whole thing as a cool experience since I had never been inside an ambulance, not to mention one driving with the siren and ignoring red lights. Actually the ride was kinda crazy at times when the car zigzagged between the other traffic... At the isolation hospital we saw doctors covered with the protection suits that I had seen on news about corona. Our blood pressures were checked and there were a few other patients arriving too. From the discussions we found out that we are not going to get home today. Neither tomorrow. Even if our virus tests will end up being negative, they will redo it a few times. That meaning that we would stay here for a several days at least, or even a week or who knows! My flight back to France will be on Saturday and it really seemed there is a big chance that I am going to miss that... At this point my "excitement for an interesting experience" started to decline. And then we were guided to the patient room area were they asked some questions from me with bad English - I had to ask her to repeat 3 times - and we were put to different rooms since men and women had separate rooms. I had thought I would survive this whole experience when I am with my husband but now it was taken away from me. Luckily we are on the same floor and the wifi here works, so I am not completely alone, but anyway.

Inside the ambulance rushing us to the isolation hospital.

Our "taxi"

The quarantine hospital's hallways are very empty and patients are
told mostly stay in their rooms. I wish to spend more time with H.

H ended up to a room with 4 other men while my room was still empty. I was given bed sheets, a toothbrush, shampoo, a thermometer and hospital clothes. Then I waited for about half an hour until a doctor came in to do the test. I am not so afraid of the needles and a blood test is nothing for me. But oh boy I disliked the other tests she made! She had 3 long cotton sticks, two of which she stuck one by one to my mouth, too far to be pleasant. If she had pushed it a few millimeters further to my throat, I might have vomited. And then the third stick, that was for my nose. And I have to say it was even more horrible. It felt like she tried to reach my brains with it. "Did it hurt?" she asked. Oh boy, did it!

My room before I got 2 room mates. They are both Vietnamese but
speak good English since they just returned here from living abroad.

Now I am here waiting for the results. There are so many questions in my mind that make me feel a bit unease. When will I get the results? How many times do I have to make the test again? How many days will I spend here? What happens if it is positive? Will I be able to fly back to Europe if I miss my flight on Saturday because there are less and less flights every day? I don't really even have symptoms and just wanted to make the test to be sure since I have been my whole trip with H and he got a fever for a few hours...

Oh, how I wish to go outside...

At least the lunch was quite good.
Except that shrimps are not for me.