March 22, 2020
Day T51: And Away He Goes
Off went the alarm at some ungodly hour. I checked out of the hotel, grabbed my things, picked up the Montague bike, and skulked off into the darkness.
It was a short bike ride to the Chiang Mai airport, only 4km or so, and nobody was on the roads. I made a quick 7/11 stop to fuel up on breakfast then I rolled up to the airport. They let me wheel the bike right on in, and they were all nice and smiles with the temperature checks. A smile, friendly greetings, wai and "Let me take your temperature mister" followed by "Perfect!" once it was 35.8 degrees.
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I then shrink-wapped the bike and checked into the first domestic flight to Phuket. Everything was very smooth and well run at this airport, and the flight itself was perfect The whole thing could have been on auto-pilot from take off to landing, it was that smooth. As the plane started descending into Phuket, the sunlight was shimmering off the water creating beautiful reflections of light rippled in with the waves. It was a beautiful day and I wasn't expecting a meltdown at this point, but there it happened.
I hadn't slept for days. Constantly watching doors slam shut all over the world, border closures, lockdowns, flight cancelations, horror stories from friends, you name it. Then there was seeing stuff in Chiang Mai gradually shut down. First the bars, then the massage parlors, then the restaurants, and then the 'encouragement' to stay at home. The stress of all this added up and got to be too much. I couldn't even stand up in the bathroom in the Phuket arrivals hall.
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But somehow I found my composure and then put the luggage in storage for a few hours. The plan was to walk out into the hot and humid air in Phuket and go for a stroll. Many restaurants were already closing, but a few outdoor ones were good to go. I sat down and ordered something. The staff obviously knew I was on some sort of a layover and asked where I was going. They seemed to think the plan was a good one.
After that a bit of walking around I then checked in for the final flight. All of us had masks. We scanned a QR code while in line and filled in the details for the upcoming entry health registration for mainland China. It all went rather smoothly.
It was soon time to board the flight. We had to fill out yet more forms. There was some severe turbulence on the descent but we landed fine and then waited for over two hours at the gate while Chinese health officials got ready to board the plane. My name was called among others, and the foreigners all taken off the plane. In the terminal we proceeded to play the game of checkpoint chess. I had never seen the Pudong airport like this.
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The main checkpoint was the one were they looked at your passport and wanted to know your travel history. I could make a very solid case that I was in Thailand and Cambodia for the six weeks. If they wanted boarding passes I could show proof. They seemed to let us go rather quickly because this flight was all from Thailand and so was my travel history, with no other countries (except for Cambodia but that was beyond the 14 days).
My only worry was from the recent trip to Bangkok with the attempted passport renewal. They did ask about that but I lied and there was no proof of my time there anyway. Besides if I had gotten the virus then I would have the symptoms already by now.
In the end I got the green sticker and walked right out of the airport.
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Next it was through the final checkpoint and I got the green sticker which meant I could exit the airport. And there was Sophia was waiting for me.
Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 1,475 km (916 miles)
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