Return to China - Part One

---

Background

When I left China at the end of 2019, I was only meant to be gone for a few months. Do a bit of travelling around Eastern Europe, get a new work visa and then return to start my dream job. Well Covid 19 truly screwed up that plan. At first I wasn't too bothered as it meant I got to stay in Europe for a bit longer and snuck in an extra couple of weeks travelling. Then China and most other sensible countries shut their borders and eventually the UK went into lockdown. When things started to open up in summer 2020, I thought I would get back to China, but the job I was meant to start back in March didn't seem possible as only major companies in major cities could secure the paperwork for foreign staff. So it was back to the drawing board, I applied for jobs in several countries and accepted a couple, but things didn't pan out due to Covid. Finally, though after two years and a lot of stress I have made it back to China.




Predeparture Process

Getting back is not an easy process. Getting the visa is probably the easiest step at least on my side of things as all I had to do was send the company the paperwork and they applied for the necessary documents and I just waited, as there was nothing I could do. Also, getting the visa in the UK seems pretty straight forward so long as you have the right paperwork. Fill in the ridiculously long online form (a couple of years ago it was a lot simpler), make an appointment, attend the appointment and submit the paperwork and then go back in a week to collect the visa. I know in other countries you are able to post in all your documents, but then you are at the consulate/embassy's mercy of them processing the visa when they feel like it.

Once I got my visa the fun and games started. This is where it got stressful for me. I think I aged a good few years in the last month as there was quite a few things to do and so much could still go wrong. First was book a flight. The flights to China are extremely limited and ridiculously expensive. If your country has a direct flight to China, you have to take that. The UK doesn't and hasn't since December 2020, and I can't say I blame China for banning flights from Plague Island but other countries with terrible Covid rates didn't get flight bans, so I don't think it is entirely down to Covid. You are allowed to take a flight with one transfer and the transit time shouldn't exceed 24 hours (I don't think that they are so strict with this, but I didn't want to chance it) and must get Covid tests at the airport, therefore there are only certain routes that work and work well. For me, transiting through Helsinki on Finnair seemed to be the best option and people online have said that it was smooth and straightforward. Also, I have flown Finnair before and found them good. There is only one flight a week and the one I wanted was already sold out so that pushed my departure date back a week. Booking the flight online was as easy as non Covid times and the Finnair website has a good section on the transiting to China part. The only thing that was a bit of a hassle with this was that the transit Covid tests weren't included in the price of the flight and the information on payment wasn't exactly clear. Could I just pay for them at the airport when checking in for my flight to Helsinki or did it have to be done in advance? I tried to call Finnair a couple of times, but was on hold for a ridiculously long time. I had better luck with the chatbot, but even that was a pain in the arse as it would tell me the queue was too long and kick me out, leading me to have to go through the process several time, one time I even got to the front of the queue and it still kicked me out! Finally I got through to a representative and was sent a link to pay for the tests, surely they could have just done this when I booked the flight? I think you can pay at the airport too, but the woman checking me in didn't seem that knowledgeable.

In order to board your flight you need to get a green code issued by the embassy/consulate in your country. Quite a few different things are needed to get the green code. Since the UK has a high infection rate of around 40,000-50,000 people a day, the Chinese government set stricter rules for people travelling back to China. I can't say I blame them. When you look at the mess the aged, obese, alcohol and cocaine addicted Milky Bar kid that runs the country has made of the pandemic, it's no wonder we are person non grata in so many places. So as well as doing the regular test two days before departure, you have to do a PCR test seven days before departure and fill in a health monitoring form daily. That sent me off to Wilkos to get a thermometer. The form is easy to fill in, just take your temperature and answer no to each of the questions each day. The PCR test you can do at any government approved clinic/lab, so I went to one in central Newcastle that had good reviews. It was my first time to do a PCR test and it wasn't too bad and over very quickly. I got the results through early the next day and was negative. First sigh of relief.

Next was to do my PCR test and antibody test (and N protein test) two days before departure. Now, this is slightly more complex as the Chinese embassy has a list of clinic that you must use for these tests. Since I'd been vaccinated, there was the possibility that my antibody test could come up positive, I didn't think it would as I'd had my last vaccine a few months ago, but I wasn't going to risk it, so I had to book a clinic which offered this test, too, and this reduced the list of available clinics greatly. My closest one was in Leeds. While my stress levels had gone down due to my first test being negative, they were soon sky high again due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of concern and also Storm Arwen battering the north. British trains aren't the most reliable at the best of times, but I'm happy to say luck was on my side as only trains north of Newcastle were stopped and my trains only suffered minor delays. The clinic in Leeds was close to the train station and appeared a bit disorganised. I had to wait outside as there were too many people in the waiting room, profit before safety. The doctor also didn't realise that I'd booked the N protein test so I had to tell him to do that. I was left with a arm of a junkie after the drawing of blood for my antibody test. Anyway, I got the results through that day and the next day.

Now that everything was completed, it was time to upload it all to the website and have it checked over by the embassy and, fingers crossed, get my green code. I did not appreciate waking up that day to find that the MI6 chief had been slagging off China. Stop it you stupid man, this could totally mess up my chances of return if it pissed off the powers that be. I could just imagine getting a red code and the reason being the catch all "other reasons". I'd read online that some people had found it difficult to make an account on the website, but luckily for me this was really straightforward and didn't take long at all. I did this a couple of days in advance, just in case there were any problems. Filling in the information on the form was pretty easy, I had most things to hand, the only thing that stumped me was the time of my final vaccination. That had me searching through the file of screenshots on my computer to find it. One annoying thing on the website is that it only allows up to upload .jpeg files, while my test results and most other info I had had been sent as .pdf files so it meant a lot of screenshotting things on my phone. I also had an issue with the size of the files, it said that they shouldn't exceed 10MB, but I couldn't even get 3 MB files to upload, so I ended up having to take screenshots of the pictures I had taken to reduce the file size. What I thought would take half an hour max as I had everything prepared ended up taking about an hour and a half. I was so pleased when everything was finally uploaded and submitted. My HDC (health declaration certification aka the green code) would be issued by the Manchester Consulate as the clinic I went to in Leeds fell under their jurisdiction. Then it was just a waiting game for, fingers crossed the screen to turn green. I was checking about every 15 minutes at first, but soon got sick of that. I also didn't know how long it would take as my flight wasn't leaving until the following evening and there may be people on other flights leaving sooner that needed to be checked first. I think it took about seven or eight hours after submission for me to get my green code. Finally, I could get a good night's sleep, stress free.

This was my first time in an airport in a long time. I got there early, so just sat and read while waiting for the check-in counter to open. It was a bit annoying as when the counter opened there was only one bloke checking people in and of course, the First Class and Business Class passengers took priority, they could have had one person checking us plebs in. I do feel sorry for the staff though as Covid means that there are so many more questions they need to ask and paperwork they need to see. I don't know how they remember it all for each destination especially as most people seemed to be transiting through Helsinki. I presume their computer gives them hints. I finally made it to the front of the queue and after showing my green code, PCR test results, antibody test results, and receipt for the testing in Helsinki airport, I got my boarding pass. Manchester airport had seemed pretty empty, however all the people were in the queue for security. That took a while to get through and there wasn't a whole lot of social distancing going on. I had a bit of time to kill before boarding so I had a look around a couple of shops, bought some water and had a Burger King. There was a restaurant that I had wanted to go to, but it was closed and I didn't fancy the look of the other two. I got a shock when boarding the plane as it was on the small side, two seats by two seats, a proper flying pencil. I was worried that I would feel every bump and bit of turbulence, but the flight was very smooth. As someone who hates flying it was the perfect first flight after a long hiatus.



Transiting in Helsinki

We landed in Helsinki pretty much on time. I made my way from the gate to the transfer desk, which is located near gate 52. Luckily, I didn't have far to walk and joined the queue. I think taking the Manchester flight was the best option as I think there was a huge queue at the transfer desk later in the evening and I got the impression that this was the flight from London. I can't remember what I had to show to the woman at the desk, I think my passport, and she gave me an information sheet, a form to fill in for the testing centre and my food vouchers (2x17€). I used the tables at the abandoned Burger King to fill out my form and then headed to the test centre. It's not far from the transfer desk and is sign posted. When I got there, I headed down the stairs and was told that they weren't open yet and to wait upstairs. As more people arrived they roped off the entrance and then told us it would be about half an hour until they were ready, that would make it about 11:25 pm. A bit annoying, but we all just had to wait. Also realised that there was a back to the form that I hadn't filled out. They let us down to get tested about 11:30 pm. The process was simple. You registered at a desk with your passport and form and then you were sent along to be tested. The woman took my blood first and then shoved a thing up my nose. That one was a proper brain scraper. The ones I'd had in England, they stop when they meet the natural resistance in your nose, but she kept on going.

All done, I headed back upstairs to collect my comfort kit and try and get some sleep. I found a spot that was next to a phone charger and snuggled up with my blanket and pillow. I do like that Finnair gives you these along with some slippers and the usual little amenity kit they give you on the plane. I was worried that I was going to be freezing, as I felt really, really cold at first, but I was fine. I read for a while and then tried to sleep. I had chose the wrong place to try and sleep as there was some kind of sound and light show going on all night. I wouldn't have minded if it had all been relaxing music, but some of it was really loud and kept interrupting my sleep. Note to self, pick a spot far away from the transfer desk to get better sleep. I must have been properly awake from about sixish, but didn't move until around eight. Another win for masks, they cover so much of my face that no one could see how horrific my under eye bags were due to lack of sleep.

I headed over to the transfer desk about half eight to see if there was any sign of the test results, the woman said that they should be in soonish, but that they would announce when you could come and collect them. I was starting to feel hungry so went off in search of some breakfast. There really isn't a lot open in Helsinki airport, so I just went to one of the convenience stores to get some breakfast. I had to use all of one of the vouchers as they don't give change. I ended up with a filled croissant, a large coffee, two cans of red bull and a rocky road protein bar. I drank the coffee and ate the croissant for my breakfast. The croissant was better than I expected it to be. I just ended up sitting near the transfer desk waiting for them to announce that the results were in. 10 o'clock came and went as did 11 o'clock, I was getting a bit antsy by this point, but at about 11:15, they announced, in Chinese, that you could come and collect your results. Once I collected them, I headed off to a quiet spot to redo the HDC form, this was much simpler this time. I think it was because I had less stuff to upload and that was submitted to the embassy in Finland as they would check with the lab to verify my tests results. I also had to fill in the entry/exit form on the Customs WeChat mini program. That was really easy to do, one the info sheet the woman had given me the night before was my seat number, so although I didn't have my flight ticket yet, I was able to complete the form. Once you submit that one, you are given a QR code and bar code straight away, which you need on arrival in China.

With more time to fill, I had a wander, looked around the duty free, drank the red bull to perk me up, went for lunch and obsessively checked my phone to see if my green code was in. There still wasn't much open in the airport, but there was an Asian place that I think was called Two Tigers so I went there and had a yummy sushi set to use up my other voucher. It was expensive though and the voucher didn't cover the whole cost. After lunch, I drifted back towards the transfer desk and waited and waited for my QR code to turn green. There was less than two hours to take off and I was getting a bit anxious. Anyway, around 3:20 pm, my QR code changed to green. I headed over to the desk to get my flight ticket, I had to show the woman my green QR code and my completed customs entry/exit form. Ticket in hand, I made my way to the duty free shop to pick up a bottle of dark gin made by a Finnish distilling company, Kyro. I had bought their whisky cream when I'd been in Helsinki before and was curious to try this dark gin.



Arrival at Pudong Airport, Shanghai

The flight to Shanghai was about 9 hours, not too long. The plane wasn't full, I don't think the Chinese authorities would allow a full planeload of passengers to arrive. We were served a Massaman vegetable curry for dinner which was pretty tasty and I drank quite a bit of red wine, I wanted to recoup some of the extortionate fare price. I had tried to sleep but was too restless and uncomfortable so decided to watch films for the whole flight. I enjoyed 'No Sudden Move', which I'd never heard of and was quite quirky. Then I just watched things I had already seen so I could zone out if needed. The flight was smooth apart from the usual turbulence when going over the desert. I'm sure the breakfast was the same as the last one I'd had on Finnair. The sunrise looked glorious, such a deep red, and I was gutted that I didn't have a window seat. The crew had also come around and taken our temperatures during the night, I think this is so that the airport workers in Pudong don't have to get on the plane to do it.

When we landed, we had to wait on the plane. A couple of hazmat suited up people got on and took a couple of people off the plane. I have no idea why and will never find out. After the posh classes disembarked, it was time for us plebs. Since the arrival process is quite involved, they only let two or three rows off at at time. Luckily, I was near the front so got off pretty quickly. After walking up the gangway, an airport worker checked that we had all filled out the entry/exit form. Then there was a longish walk along through the terminal. This is all a bit hazy in my mind now so this might not all be in the right order. First, we had to pick up a for m and sign and date it. Loved using the pen that had been fondled by people before me. Then it was a bit more of a walk to some electronic gates, where you had to scan the QR code on your entry/exit form to pass. I think that was the correct order, but I might have mixed these two steps up. Then it was join a queue and then go to a desk and had over the form and get the bar code on the entry/exit form scanned. Then the person attached some sticky barcodes to my form and gave it me back.

It was quite a long walk to the Covid testing site, which was in a prefab building. After queuing outside, once inside a bloke directed you to a numbered station. You had to wait on a spot until the staff member called you forward. The woman who would be doing my Covid test seemed to be very meticulous as I watched her sanitise the testing area. Once called forward I gave her my form, which got soaked off all the disinfectant on the bench. I think I had to show her my passport too. She took samples from my nose and throat. The nose was a bit of a brain scraper but not as intrusive as in Helsinki. The throat swab was the worst, I didn't even pretend to put a brave face on it, I just gagged through the whole thing. The long walk back at least let me compose myself. Once back upstairs, I had show my form to a bloke behind a desk (I don't know what the purpose of this was) and then join a queue to hand the form in. This was efficient as you place your form on the pile in the basket meaning the man behind the counter didn't have to touch it. Then he took your photo. When he was like look at the camera, I was thinking which one, there were quite a few all at different heights and angles. I also ballsed up my first go as I wasn't standing on the marker.

Immigration was the next step, finally a part of the process I was used to. The guy checking that non Chinese national had filled out a landing card, didn't like the giant one I'd been given on the plane and I had to redo it on a regular sized one. The queue for immigration was nice and small and I only waited a few minutes before being seen. A quick couple of questions, had my photo taken, passport stamped and I was on my merry way. Then it was down to baggage collection. I didn't have to wait long there either as my bag soon came round on the carousel, thanks to the ground crew for putting the handle on the bottom, it made it so easy to lift my case off, oh wait it didn't.

I made my way through the deserted customs area and followed the signs for the buses to the quarantine hotels. Shanghai residents and those in the surrounding provinces do a shorter quarantine in Shanghai before completing it either in their homes or hotels in their home districts or provinces. Since I'll be living in a city pretty far away, I have to do my quarantine for two weeks in one hotel. I followed the signs and came into a space which had spaces sectioned off. I was shown into one section and told to scan a(nother) QR code and fill in the form. I filled in the form but couldn't get it to submit as there was a mistake that I wasn't seeing. My brain was fried by this point. I had to ask one of the guys working there for help, he was great, he sorted it all out for me. I had put that my journey had started in the UK, but I should have put Finland as that was where my flight to China originated from. Once submitted there was another QR code for me to screenshot and then I went to the desk (which I hadn't even noticed) had my QR code and handed over my passport. There were eight of us in this little section. Some of the other sections looked like they had more people in them. When everyone was scanned and sorted were led downstairs to wait for the bus. There was a lot of talking in Chinese so I don't know if the others were told where we were going. We did get told to use the toilet so I suspected that the journey would be a long one. After a short wait, the bus pulled up and we were on our merry way. The process at the airport was fairly quick given all that was involved and it only took about two to two and a half hours. Also since I was continuously moving time went fast.

---

Photos

Testing Site
Helsinki Airport

Sushi
Helsinki Airport

Green Code
No green code no travel

Finnair
Old picture not from this trip

Finnair
Old picture not from this trip

Finnish Dark Gin
Can't wait to try it