February 23, 2024
I2/1: 官塘 → 海口
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So far as I know—other than Tibet and a handful each of counties in Qinghai, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces that still require special travel permits—there are very few places in China that members of the Chinese public are allowed to freely go but foreigners are not. Until quite recently, four of these places were in Hainan, but Wuzhishan mountain¹ opened up around the same time they decided to stop allowing cruises to the Paracel Islands.
Tongguling Ridge and the Space Launch Center—the two remaining locations—are both in Wenchang. And, I've actually visited both of them. One before Chinese tourists' ongoing disrespect for "stay out of the barracks area" signs somehow translated into "we should prohibit foreigners" and the other about four months ago as part of an ongoing project to try to get permission to sell us tickets to VIP launch-watching platforms during commercial launches.
Given the way things panned out last time², I was kind of surprised to get a message yesterday afternoon asking if I wanted to come to a launch at 7:30 tonight. I've been once before, on the beach, and the logistics involved³ were such that "going to watch a launch" isn't usually a last-minute decision. But what the heck, the South Africans I'm staying with in Qionghai were already planning on doing Cool Tourist Stuff with me today and this is some Grade A Super Prime Cool Tourist Stuff.
It also simplifies to some degree the matter of getting back to Haikou on the 24th in order to take Sarah to Flower Exchange Festival as I'd promised I'd do before embarking on the Clockwise Reset.
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Last time I went to a launch, we were there many more hours ahead of the road closures. I also think that one might have been a commercial launch whereas this one is a Long March V with "military satellite" listed as part of its payload. So, I don't know if the Security Checkpoint⁴ we drove through is normal or not.
Traffic was cray cray. If we thought the 45 minutes it took us to go 21km on the way in was mental, it took twice that long on the way out, and I now find myself wondering if perhaps the reason they don't actively go out of their way to officially announce to the general public that a launch is coming isn't because of the possible loss of face caused by having to scrub the launch but because of the sheer logistics nightmare that is already space and astronomy enthusiasts from all over the country converging on a town which only needed to get its first traffic light a dozen years ago.
The hotel whose 9th floor and rooftop viewing platform we had access to is a kilometer from the beach or about six kilometers from the launch site. Far enough away that we probably shouldn't have to worry about any burning chunks of booster rocket falling on our heads but close enough that it's among the concerns held by the authorities.
I'm not sure, but I think the militia⁵ guys that were stationed in groups of two and three on every roof that had roof access were as much there as Face Giving Security Theater, as to make sure no one set off fireworks⁶, as to make sure that no one had snuck in a bazooka and mortar, as to be first aid trained feet on the ground in the event of anything⁷ going wrong.
Up on a viewing platform instead of as part of the crowds down by the beach, the crescendo of sound that is both the rocket and a few thousand people simultaneously yelling "wow" is diminished slightly, but—if you haven't been so close to a launch as to feel the building beneath you vibrating with the force of the explosion as you watch the rocket go higher and higher and change direction in stages—how can I describe it?
Magical, I suppose.
Of course, by the time I'd spent a few hours sat in traffic in the coach the Astronomy Lovers Club chartered, much of the magic had dissipated, but it's still really incredible...
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¹ Owing to an unfortunate series of events wherein the first overnight Search and Rescue operation and the first death of a tourist (in 30+ years of tourism activities!) in Wuzhishan were both foreigners—although I didn't support the decision—I fully understood why it was made.
² Which included my being locked in the car during a meeting, and two weeks of "we're thinking about approving her" followed by "we have decided against approving any foreigners at this time"
³ Which involve not only road closures for many hours prior to the launch but also include every decent hotel room being booked months in advance and most places that aren't the Hilton refusing to take foreign passport holders
⁴ The people that invited me did ask for a license plate number of the car I'd be in, but Security didn't seem to be checking license plate numbers against any lists. However—from the bomb sniffing dogs to the guy with a mirror on a stick checking every car's undercarriage—it was very definitely an actual security checkpoint and not mere security theater
⁵ 民兵. A branch of Chinese military whose existence I was previously unaware of, they were much older than real camo grunts normally are but—from posture and physical condition—were just as clearly Actual Military rather than security guards cosplaying at being military.
⁶ Someone on the same street as me started setting off sky flowers less than 10 minutes after the roads opened
⁷ An "anything" which encompasses everything from any medical emergency that the ambulance crews can't get access to as it does falling bits of burning metal
Today's ride: 3 km (2 miles)
Total: 898 km (558 miles)
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