Day S12: The Test

August 1, 2021

Guangzhou to Humen

It was a late start obviously, and my wife needed to catch a cab back to the airport. After a few days this trip will be over for me too. This epidemic is flaring up yet again. Even domestic travel looks like it is now compromised. It will have to be local trips around the Shanghai area with the biking + HIIT combo as done here too. Really fucking sucks but what can you do.

Today's biking was super easy at the beginning, and it so happened the chosen route out of Guangzhou didn't have much traffic. A nice change.

I had no idea where to book a hotel, so the plan was to ride about 30km out and then figure it out. I did eventually book a hotel on trip.com at the last minute only to be refused when trying to check in. There wasn't much point in trying to argue my way into the hotel since the conversation was already stacked against me from the beginning.

They wanted to know where I worked and the purpose of this trip. I wasn't sure what to answer, because they were fishing for evidence that I was traveling in a local area and hadn't gone out of state. I showed them my health and travel codes, but they insisted on a negative covid test or else no staying in the hotel. They also wanted to know when I arrived in China and I told them last year in March 2020.

[Update November 2022] Negative covid tests became par for the course starting this year and all businesses, hotels, shopping malls, etc.. would require proof of one to enter, usually 48 hrs. What happened with this hotel on this trip was only the beginning.

In a situation like this, it is pointless to argue your way into a hotel. That's like arguing your way into a date with a woman after she already said no. In this case, you simply move on and find another girl. Or another hotel for that matter.

Then again, if a covid test was going to be a thing for entering hotels, it would make sense to find out where to get one. I figured that any hospital would suffice. And so at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon I just rocked up to the nearest one and found a way to get a test. It was a simple process, and the nurse was quite helpful to explain the form and help me fill it. The usual questions were asked like if you'd been to any high risk areas or had a fever etc... I did say I came from Guangzhou and she helped write in the district. After that you register with the passport, pay the money, and get the test done.

I called trip.com and explained the situation. They tried to find other hotels nearby but it was the same old shit. In the end I got a refund and decided to keep riding the bike closer to Shenzhen where I would have better luck.

This covid test was also a test of my language skills.

That call was the right decision by a long shot. The extra 45km went by fast and the area started to feel more and more like Shenzhen by the time I got to a large town called Humen. This place is only a few kilometers from the city border anyway, and the hotel had no problem taking foreigners. They didn't ask for a covid test, just a health code and travel history. The hotel itself was luxury and for only 50rmb more than the one I got rejected at. As a bonus, they even upgraded me to a superior room.

At this point, it's hard to say what will happen next or what the scale of this latest epidemic is. What we know is that the vaccines are not effective against the Delta variant. It is extremely frustrating, realy. Those like us who do our part to get vaccinated are getting the shitty end of the deal. These vaccines are not working and they are not ending the pandemic. Vaccine or not, you still need to mask up and do all this social distance=ing crap. Border are closed, international travel is off the table, and even domestic travel is a big headache.

Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 996 km (619 miles)

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