By Reuters and Agence France Presse SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia/HONG KONG - After nearly two weeks cast away in search of a port that would take them, passengers aboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship spoke of an ordeal that was anything but harrowing. Passengers wave their towels as they are about to leave MS Westerdam, a cruise ship that spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by five countries over fears that someone aboard might have the coronavirus, as it docks in Sihanoukville, Cambodia February 14, 2020. (REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/MANILA BULLETIN) "Everyone says 'poor you'. But there was no poor you. We had free internet and free wine. We had three-course meals. There was so much choice," said Zahra Jennings, a retired staff nurse from Britain. How was it? "Lovely," she said. The 1,544 passengers and 802 crew had never expected a port stop in Hong Kong to metastasize into full-blown fear that some of the ship's passengers carried the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, late last year that has killed more than 1,500 people. Turned away by Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand, it was Cambodia that finally let the lost ship dock – and it was discovered there that none of the passengers was infected. The only complaint aboard? "They ran out of hash browns a couple of days ago, and tomato sauce," said Robert Sayers, a 60-year-old chemical company employee from New Zealand. "But that was it. It was fine, really." Cruise ships around Asia face widespread fears they may be spreading the virus since it was found aboard the Diamond Princess that is now at anchor in Yokohama and where 218 of the passengers have been diagnosed with the virus. Vietnam turned back two ships on Friday. Free 14-day cruise It was Valentine's Day when the first passengers disembarked from the Westerdam. The prime minister, Hun Sen, flew in from the capital, shaking hands with passengers and handing out roses. Government officials draped "Welcome to Cambodia" banners on buses. All passengers were given free visas. Hun Sen, an authoritarian ruler condemned by Western countries for human rights abuses said: "Our current disease around the world is fear and discrimination," he said. "If Cambodia didn't allow this ship to dock, where should these 2,000 passengers go?" Holland America sent letters to all passengers saying it would reimburse the cost of the cruise, give them another free 14-day cruise, and charter them flights home. The company, it said, would do its best to match the class of flight they had originally booked. The cruise had been scheduled to end in Shanghai on Saturday. In Shanghai it was 14 Celsius, overcast and raining. In Sihanoukville, it was 27C and sunny. Holland America arranged free coaches to a nearby beach for the stranded passengers, across the street from the villa where Hun Sen stays in Sihanoukville and surrounded by Chinese casinos. "This was my best cruise ever," said retired Canadian aerospace engineer Pierre Ashby. "Usually you buy a cruise and you know exactly what you are going to get. This was an adventure." His wife was sitting beside him in a yellow bathing suit with two red roses. Barefoot in the sand, he smiled and gestured out to sea. "Take your time." Ultra-marathon at home With much of the 1.4 billion Chinese population ordered indoors and gyms closed, people are competing to outdo each other in how many bottles of water they can lift, how many push-ups they can do with their children on their backs or how many flights of stairs they can scale in their tower blocks. But Pan Shancu, a massage therapist and dedicated long distance runner easily won the unofficial gold medal after jogging 66 kilometres (41 miles) in a loop at home in six hours, 41 minutes. He has the data tracker that he says proves it, and the 44-year-old's feat and a video of him repeatedly circling furniture in his apartment went viral in China. "I felt a little dizzy at first, but you get used to it after you circle many times," Pan told AFP by telephone from Hangzhou, near Shanghai. "Running is like an addiction. If you don't run for a long time, you get itchy feet." On another occasion Pan ran 30 kilometres on the spot in his bathroom and live-streamed it to inspire others who have similarly been confined at home for the last two weeks. "I am in an online chat group in which people are asking what we want to do most after the epidemic," said Pan. "Some people said they want to have a feast. I said that I want to run 100 kilometres outside." READ MORE: Man runs marathon in apartment as China fights virus with exercise Get creative   China's ruling Communist Party has launched a campaign featuring Olympic athletes to demonstrate how people can stay fit while spending endless days stuck inside. Tables, chairs and even door frames can all be used in one form or another to help exercise, according to one online pamphlet. Schools are shut and children are not exempt. They have been ordered by education authorities not to simply lounge about playing computer games and fiddling with their phones. "In addition to letting children help parents do some chores within their ability, they must get creative at home," government expert Zhao Wenhua told a press conference. "For example, walking and running on the spot, skipping, push-ups, sit-ups and so on." Some people have turned to technology, using apps on their smartphones that show how to work out without equipment and sharing the results with their friends. Peter Gardner, a 61-year-old Briton hunkered down in the snow-covered northeast city of Tianjin, prefers more traditional methods. An operations manager for an American firm, Gardner said he is allowed out of his block of flats for only 30 minutes in the daytime to stock up on essentials. To make up for the lack of exercise, he twice runs up and down the emergency stairwell of his 17-floor apartment tower three times a day. "It's good in some ways," said Gardner, whose family have temporarily left China, leaving him with their two guinea pigs for company.