By Kimberly Spykerman

THE hotel room telephone rang in the dead of night rousing the newly-weds.

Masked men entered their room.

Then they were bundled into a van for a destination they had never heard of.

It was a honeymoon to remember for the German couple, both 31, who had been on the same flight as Patient Zero, seated two rows behind them.

Ms Stefanie Nikusch and Mr Dirk Debatin had stepped on board the Singapore Airlines flight from New York to Singapore at Frankfurt, headed here for the start of their two-week honeymoon.

It was 3am on Thursday morning when the telephone rang in their room at the Carlton Hotel in Bras Basah Road.

The person on the other line, a Health Ministry official, told them they had to be quarantined as they had been in close proximity to Singapore's first H1N1 case. Get packed and wait for a doctor to come, they were told. 'We started to get worried because we weren't sure now if we had the flu,' Ms Nikusch said.

At 6am, a doctor and a translator wearing masks arrived to take their temperatures. Satisfied that neither was running a fever, the doctor had them masked and escorted to a waiting van. Accompanied by three Cisco officers, they were driven to Aloha Resort in Loyang.

The resort is the quarantine area for those with no residence here. There are now 14 people, all foreigners, at the resort.

A few hours later and the authorities would have missed the couple, who were due to fly to Bali in the afternoon for their second honeymoon stop.

They had been in Singapore for two days and managed to visit Chinatown and Little India, as well as take a spin on the Singapore Flyer.

Their honeymoon tour will resume once they are released on June 2.

While they are housed in the same bungalow, the newly-weds are not allowed to sleep in the same bedroom. They also have to record their temperatures three times a day.

All is fine so far, said Ms Nikusch.

Were they aware there was a person suffering from H1N1 on the plane?

Ms Nikusch said their travel agent had told them the news earlier in the day but they had thought nothing of it as they were feeling well. They also did not know the authorities were looking for passengers seated near the 22-year old undergraduate.

The whole turn of events has been 'unreal', said Ms Nikusch. 'Of course, we were very disappointed and it's not good that our honeymoon turned out like this.

' Still, at least we got to enjoy Singapore.'

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