Day F6: Off to Shenzhen

January 30, 2021

Fitness, Partying, and Covid Testing

The original plan was to stay nearby the Fuzhou train station and take advantage of the free hotel shuttle. Great plan, except that I forgot to book a train ticket. By the time I woke up it was already too late to book, so I needed an alternative. That was found at the south train station which was a 25km bike ride across town. It was not fun fighting all this mayhem traffic on a bike but eventually I made it and then hauled the folding bike through the station to board the train.

Chou dofu, aka smelly tofu. Yes it smells terrible but it tastes delicious

I found a bar and wanted some western food, but none was to be found. So it was spicy chicken, the next best choice

What is that building in the artificial island?

Empty train station. Travel was down at least 75% this year compared to last

The train ride was a pleasant surprise. Normally at this time it is a nightmare to travel around in China, but with so few people doing it this time, it turned out to be one of the best train trips I ever recall. Talk about pleasant by way of contrsat.

I enjoyed my coffee and read an awesome book on why we need to sleep more. How ironically appropriate. The pleasant time passed quickly, then it was a nice breezy arrival into Shenzhen. In actualy fact they were not strit at the entrance with checking codes, etc... which makes me wonder what the point of the travel restrictions were. It's like a dog whose fear is in the bark, not the bite. But what can I say, these restrictions made for an easier trip and with cheaper prices so who could complain.

The hotel staff were very helpful and of course I had to show an app with my travel history that included Shanghai. So why not pick the Shanghai hotel. They had me sign a few forms and said they would call me because of my travel history, but nobody actually did.

The next mission was to apply for a local city health code and it was successful. It was not an easy feat because the entire form was in Chinese and they wanted detailed information on all my travel and residence history since Jan 1 2020. I tried to fill in as much as I could. The system must have accepted the result because I got the green code. This will make life a lot easier for future trips.

[Update November 2022] Because of this and other headaches, I kept on coming back to Guangzhou and Shenzhen for domestic trips since I knew how the system worked and I had these green health codes already applied for. If it was for other unfamiliar provinces then it wouldn't be worth the effort

The green code came in handy right away for an Internations party later. But first I wanted something to eat. All the shops and small restaurants were inside some sort of an alley compound that was blocked off except for one entrance. At the entrance they made me show the green code as well as they wanted me to scan another QR code displaying travel history. The police officers were satisfied with all that, they took my temperature, and I walked in to get some local food.

Later the hotel where the party was at wanted to see the same codes.

There was of course an after-party at some famous bar area, and pretty much everyone attended. I met a lot of cool people there, and it turned out this city was quite a happening place and very enjoyable.

Next order of business, apply for a second covid test. I had been in contact with a lab earlier that said they could schedule an appointment in Shenzhen. It was in an area called Shekou which is where most of the expats live, so I set out to bike there.

Unfortunately, Shenzhen is not very bike friendly and they have literally sidelined all the bikes to the sidewalk. The good news is they don't crack down so hard on bikes as they do in Shanghai, so you can break the rules a little more at ease.

Shekou does seem to be the happening spot around here.

Today's ride: 95 km (59 miles)
Total: 532 km (330 miles)

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