As shit started to hit the fan in the rest of the world, I figured I should get my self back to China before it would be impossible to return. I wasn’t really sure if it was the best idea, but in early March I started to get reports back from friends in China that told me life was beginning to get back to normal, slowly but surely. I looked at tickets around the 10th of March and they were insanely expensive so I pushed it back to a flight on March 17th, San Francisco – Taipei – Hong Kong. I thought this would be pushing my luck with the timing a bit, as I fully expected the USA to start to finally understand that the virus is actually something to take seriously as more and more cases started to show up around the country, but I thought we still might not be in full blown pandemic in the USA by the time of my flight.

Of course, I turned out to be wrong, and China declared USA one of the hot spots and added us to the list of countries requiring extra screening and mandatory government quarantine for anyone arriving on the 19th. Hong Kong did this as well. As the 17th drew closer I was debating internally if I should go or not, and obviously ended up on the plane, but I had to make a few last minute changes to my plans due to the new restrictions. I was worried if I did fly to Hong Kong, I would be forced to do 14 days quarantine there, and after I would have to do another 14 days in mainland China. While at SFO I confirmed with the ground staff that I could have my bag not end up in Hong Kong as the original ticket would have required if I booked another flight. Luckily that was possible so at the airport just before my flight I booked a new ticket from Taipei to Shanghai instead. I also booked a ticket from Shanghai to Kunming via Zhangjiajie and another from Kunming to my home city of Xishuangbanna. I allowed for long layovers because reports on the ground were that the airports were gonna take me awhile to get through.

On the first leg of the journey, nearly everyone was wearing a mask, with many people also in protective eyewear or even full on hazmat suits. I was seated next to the toilet, which usually is miserable on a long haul flight, but this time almost nobody got up to use the toilet during the entire 12 hour flight. The few people that did use the loo came prepared with their sanitizing wipes in hand. Most people also refused their meals and drinks, but I’m glad I chose to eat because it would be one of the last meals I had a chance to eat for a couple of days.

After arriving in Taipei, Taiwan, we had a temperature check while exiting the plane. Since I was transiting I went to the transit line where I got another temperature check. I was worried about this one because it was hot as hell in that airport, and I was sweating like a pig, but I passed that check thankfully and continued on to the terminal. I had a few hours layover so I went to the Priority Pass Lounge and got another temperature check before being let in. I ate a little bit of food (should have had more had I known what was coming next), had some coffee, and then headed off to my Shanghai-bound flight.

Arriving in Shanghai

When boarding the flight, my ticket buzzed and the little light turned red and I was told I would have to get a new boarding pass. They informed me that everyone coming from hard hit countries would be sitting in the back of the plane together, so that’s where I went after yet another temperature check. This is a short flight so no food is generally served. They handed out water bottles but that was it. They also gave everyone on board a questionnaire to fill out with information like “recent travel history” and if you have symptoms, etc. It also asked about any medication recently taken, including things like ibuprofen. I checked everything “no” and then enjoyed the quick flight to Shanghai. Just before landing we got another temperature check.

We touched down in Shanghai Pudong at 3PM. Everyone was instructed to stay seated and wait until called to deplane. First they called around 20 names specifically. I’m not sure entirely why, perhaps they had fever or some other symptoms checked on their forms. They were from various parts of the plane, including our back segregated section. After that they moved on to groups. For example, they said “If you have been to USA, Canada, or Japan during the past 14 days please deplane now.” They did a few small groups of countries at a time. I went up when it was my turn, there were two people in hazmat suits checking temperatures, asking about travel history, symptoms, etc. and writing it all down on a chart. I passed the temperature check again and then the fun began. We were all forced to wait on the jetbridge until everyone from a problem country or with symptoms was done being checked. Then they escorted us off and into the terminal where we waited again. Everybody else who was onboard that had not been to a hard hit country was taken off the plane and lead away somewhere. Once that was done they lined us up single file and took us marching through the airport to a very, very, very long line of people I guess in the same boat as us.

I stood in this line for about 3 hours. Once at the front, we had to sit down and do a short interview with more people in hazmat suits. They will ask you if you have taken any medication, once again, even OTC meds like advil, within the last two weeks. I’m very lucky that my friend went through this process two days before and told me that he admitted he took advil recently, and then was immediately whisked away in an ambulance to a hospital. Even if you took these meds for something like headaches or backpain or whatever else, not related to Covid 19, if you say you took this stuff then you are put in the hospital. Anyway I said no, answered all the questions, which were the same as on the form I had already filled out and then got a yellow sticker on my passport and on my form. At this point I also had to scan a QR code (opens in a wechat miniprogram) and input some information. After input, I got a red screen with a QR code that can be scanned to bring up all my health and travel information. I got red because of my recent travel history to USA. I was told to screenshot this screen and present it on up ahead whenever asked.

Interviews after arrival in Shanghai

Moving on to the next line there they had non-handheld temperature scanners for the first time. They had little gates you had to stand between and it would open if you were the right temperature. It appeared to me that if you didn’t pass this you were taken to a little quarantine area and there was a sign that said something about a health screening area. I passed the test again and again was interviewed, same questions, same results, and was given a blue arrival card to take to customs (usually foreigners get yellow cards). The blue card had the same information as well as requiring a local contact person’s name and telephone number, and information on who invited you to China and why (sometimes required for certain visas). We also had to fill out the regular yellow card which is in the regular place by customs if you’ve been to China before you know.

Customs officers were all fully decked out in Hazmat gear. Besides that it was the same process as usual at this point.

After clearing customs you need to present your paper questionnaire, color coded QR code, and itinerary, either staying in Shanghai or moving on to other cities. At this point it was nearly 9PM, so 6 hours from touching down in Shanghai to clearing customs. I showed them my ongoing flight to Kunming which was due to leave at 10 am the next day and was put into another queue for transit passengers. This line was quick only maybe 10 minutes to get to the front. I gave them my passport and flight details and they had me wait in a little holding pen that was roped off and guarded. Twenty minutes later they called my name and I was off with a small group of people (and our handler) to baggage claim to grab our bags and be escorted to the next holding area. Another lineup, this time even quicker. They took my passport and ongoing flight information from the previous handler, confirmed it was me and when my flight time was, and then put my passport and paperwork into one of many bins that was sorted by flight times. They told me to wait in this lounge area next to baggage claim until they called me to take me to my flight. I sat around in the crowded lounge with hundreds of others, all wearing masks. It had now been 12 hours or so since my last light meal at the airport lounge in Taipei, no big deal really at this point, but it kind of sucked. I had about 10 hours or so until I would need to be taken to my ongoing flight, so I tried to get a little bit of sleep in the brightly lit hall, semi-laying down on my chair with my legs up across my suitcase.

At one point in the night they yelled out that they had bread, crackers, cookies, and water for everyone. This caused a mad dash to grab the goods. I held back because I hate fighting my way through crowds, and ended up with two bottles of water and a pack of Chips Ahoy to tide me over until morning.

A little after 8 they called my name and took me and another guy out of there to check into our next flight. To leave the baggage claim area and into the normally non secure part of the airport, we had to go with our handler who showed paperwork to people that made sure the right amount of people were with him. We went through a few checks like this and up into the departures check in area. I’ve never seen it so empty. Usually Pudong Airport is an absolute shitshow, but there was no one up there save for a few passengers and tons of people in hazmat suits. We got our boarding passes and then waited. I’m not entirely sure why we were waiting, I’m guessing because they wanted us to wait until boarding the plane started so we didn’t hang out around the departure area, but I don’t know for sure. About 930 AM came around (flight was 1005 AM) and finally a new person came to escort us to our plane. We went through a special security check (they took my tiny bottle of hand sanitizer!) for people that were like us, transiting from abroad, and then were taken briskly (couldn’t stop to grab a bite) to the plane. We were the last two to board, and we were sitting in the very back, along with a few other people, again, like us. There were three totally empty rows in front of us, and then the normal passengers took up the rest of the plane.

On the way to departures with our handler

The flight attendants made an announcement that everyone was required to keep their masks on for the entirety of the flight, and removing your mask could be a problem. They also announced that no food would be served in order to protect everyone’s safety. The flight to Kunming had a brief scheduled stop in Zhangjiajie before continuing on to Kunming. Typically in my experience, short stops like that, ongoing passengers stay on the plane, and only people stopping there would exit the plane and others would board the plane. Instead, they made all of us back of the plane folk get off first, get our temperature checked, go to baggage claim where they had the health inspector people waiting, fill out another form, get a temp check, scan our QR code, and then head back to the plane. We couldn’t walk back the way we came though, we had to go out of baggage claim, and then back up through security and through the departure lounge and then back on the plane. Again, this was all done with handlers that greeted us as we deplaned and escorted us the whole way. Before boarding we again got a temperature check and then we were on our way to Kunming.

I was dog tired at this point, and starving, but the goal was in reach. I really, genuinely thought I could get back to Xishuangbanna and do my quarantine there. I was happy and relieved to be able to get home. However…

Everything was good upon arrival in Kunming. I again filled out my form, scanned a QR code, did all the rigamarole, got my luggage, and went to the transit area where I rechecked my baggage and got my final boarding pass. I went up through security and on my way when I had to pass one more health inspection and scan one more QR code. Of course, my code came up red (temperature still good though) and I was told I’d have to go back and see the health people in another little quarantine room. I only had an hour til my final flight, and my bag was already gone, so I was a bit worried, but still I had hope.

They had me fill out some paperwork and then they hit me with the bad news. Because of my red code I could not leave Kunming until I did a mandatory 14 day quarantine. I called the airline asap, got my bag back (amazingly quick, China can be super efficient sometimes) and then sat, and sat, and sat. I slept again. I was mentally and physically drained, and by this point I was flat out starving. There was no food, again I was in the baggage claim area in a holding pen similar to in Shanghai. This time there were no Chips Ahoy and there was no water. I had a headache so I secretly took some advil. I landed in Kunming at 3PM, so 24 hours since I’d arrived in Shanghai exactly, and again waited about 6 hours here until finally my name got called and I was put on a bus to the quarantine hotel. I fell asleep again on the bus and when I awoke, everything outside was black. Kunming, though you probably haven’t heard of it, is a huge city. Millions and millions of people, there was no way it was so dark in Kunming. I pulled out my phone and saw were out in the middle of nowhere north of Kunming. We’d been in the bus for about an hour and were in some random village. I thought to myself, “oh great, this quarantine is gonna be really shitty,” mainly because I knew there was no way I would be getting delivery of any kind of decent food out here. We pulled up to the hotel and did an armpit temp check, filled out a bunch of paperwork, and finally go to the room. It was a little after 11PM. I ate a bowl of instant noodles that the hotel provided and crashed immediately.

Check in at first hotel

Shortly after midnight, I was startled awake by the super loud hotel phone ringing right next to my ear.

“What now?”

The other end of the phone told me that as it turns out, foreigners aren’t allowed at that quarantine hotel, and me and another foreigner (actually China born Chinese person with a Canadian passport) would need to immediately pack up and drive back to the city and stay in a foreigner hotel.

So off I went again, slept in the car on the way. Driver separated from us with a big sheet of plastic. Woke up when we pulled up, to a much nicer hotel, inside the actual city of Kunming, at around 2AM. I was very happy about the change as I knew I’d be able to get decent food and have options here as opposed to whatever they would have given us at the last place (previous place quarantine menu just said “rice porridge, rice, and soup.”

As soon as I walked in the lobby, two people in the corner of the room started yelling at me. They were some kind of Russian judging by their accents, and they were not happy. They yelled to me me they were being mistreated, that they should be able to leave already because they entered China before the new rules were put in effect, etc., etc. I tried to pay attention to what they were saying but I also didn’t want to appear to be in cahoots with them because as much as I love China, I’m well aware of the things you can and can not do and say, especially with police and government people around and in a time of crisis. They were sitting on the hotel lobby sofas and had their luggage with them, and also had blankets and pillows. They said they had rooms previously, they’d been there 5 or 6 days, but now since they tried to leave they were no longer given rooms or any freedoms, they had to sit on those sofas for their entire quarantine except for using the toilet. The people that were checking me in and doing my interview and temperature check also told me to ignore them, and told me to not go near them because they had fevers and were sick. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I wasn’t planning on walking over there anyway and ending up stuck on the sofa with them. I don’t know really what the problem was, I got the both sides pretty quickly, but I do think that not speaking any Chinese at all helped them much. They probably got caught up in some misunderstanding and they are paying for it now. Sucks for them.

Finally got to my room at 230 AM on the 21st of March, after leaving SF on the night of the 17th (actually 18th 1240AM). Again, mentally and physically exhausted and more or less starving, but all in one piece. I spent the vast majority of my first day in quarantine sleeping, except for the 2 temperature checks I did when they came around knocking on my door. I can’t leave the room for the next two weeks, and can only open the door to get my food that they put outside or to get my health checks.

Home for the next 2 weeks

I’m gonna make use of my 13 days of free time by writing my book that I’ve had on hold for awhile now, and playing plenty of videogames too. I’m lucky I’ve got my Switch to keep me company and also my friends Netflix account. I can’t wait to be done with this and get back to Xishuangbanna where they haven’t had any cases of the virus in weeks and never really got hit thanks to isolation measures that were put in place quickly. I’m gonna link a Youtube video at the end in case anyone wants to see how much of China reacted and the measures put in place to keep the virus under control for the most part. It’s a stark difference to what was going on in the USA and much of the rest of the world. It helps to have a surveillance state and willing and compliant people. You could argue (and probably be right) that those are not good things most of the time, but in the case of an epidemic it seems to help more than just a bit.

One other thing, I have been tested (they are testing every single person entering the country) but I will not get my results until Tuesday. Actually, I’ll only get results if I’m positive, so I hope to hear nothing. I feel great, haven’t had any symptoms, and now that I’m caught up on sleep and have eaten plenty I’m feeling better than ever.

Last but not least, the video I mentioned above. Watch it if you have time, I’m sure you do.