After the release, the first tourists who traveled abroad are ready to return.
This past New Year's Day, as well as the upcoming Spring Festival, many people have restarted their overseas travel that has been on hold for three years, "wanting to cross these three years." Most visitors go through this mental journey – nervousness, worry, gradual relaxation, complete forgetfulness, until finally, drowning in a joyful atmosphere.
New Year restart
This Spring Festival, many people plan to restart overseas travel that has been on hold for three years. And for the past half month, some people are already on the way. The time, departure location, destination, and mode of transportation need to be carefully chosen, and with a little extra luck, you can get a silky outbound tour. After letting go, Su Ruiyang was very early, she immediately began to buy a ticket, planning to fly from Wuhan to Thailand at the end of December and return on January 17. At that time, there were not many flights, there was a direct flight every Tuesday, and the price was similar to the previous peak season in Thailand, fluctuating between 4,000 and 8,000. Prices in various aspects such as hotels in Thailand have skyrocketed, and she spent two full days booking the corresponding hotels. A week before leaving, she made an appointment to go to the bank to exchange Thai baht. On December 27, she officially embarked on her trip to Thailand.
Beijing Daxing International Airport officially resumes international and regional routes © to Vision China
Entry and exit policies for Chinese tourists are changing rapidly, habits and experiences lose their effectiveness, and flexibility has become the "way to pass the border". When Su Rui cleared customs, the reason she used was self-media shooting, and she also prepared an invitation letter from a local company (although she didn't read it in the end). She told me that at that time, the reason for traveling was basically not to allow customs clearance – last year, Su Rui's friend wanted to fly from Kunming to Thailand, but was refused to cross the border, on the grounds that some cities were classified as sensitive areas and required proof from the local anti-fraud center to pass. However, Su Rui also saw that some people said that from Shanghai or Nanjing, the reason for traveling can also be.
After landing in Bangkok, Suri queued up to apply for a visa on arrival, and she prepared the printed visa on arrival form, return ticket, hotel list for each day, 2,000 baht on arrival fee and 4,000 yuan. The processing speed is very fast, and at this time, you do not need a 48-hour negative nucleic acid certificate, vaccination certificate and insurance containing new crown infection, you can successfully get a visa on arrival and take a taxi at the airport to the hotel.
January 8 is a node, Hong Kong and Macao customs clearance, unrestricted entry, foreign policy adjustment, many tourists choose to fly from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, and then from Hong Kong to Thailand, the number of tourists from the mainland to Thailand soared. Tourists in most places can use the reason of "tourism" to pass the border, but the purchase of insurance (such as Ping An Overseas Insurance) and the proof of vaccination are still controversial.
Many bloggers who have recently traveled have landed in Thailand, but have not checked anything for nucleic acid, vaccines, insurance or even hotels. On the 9th, Thailand's deputy prime minister personally went to Bangkok Airport to welcome the first batch of Chinese tourists to Thailand, announcing that vaccination certificates were no longer needed. Another blogger who went to Thailand mentioned that "before entering the country, you need to buy insurance with an insured amount of 10,000 US dollars to cover the cost of new crown treatment, although Thailand does not check anything, but the airline will check." But no matter what, many Asian countries are "huddling" to welcome Chinese tourists. According to Fliggy travel data, the number of visa applications in Thailand increased by 3 times year-on-year, and the number of purchases of destination tourism products in Thailand increased by 10 times year-on-year.
Thailand multi-department held a ceremony at the airport to welcome Chinese tourists © Visual China
Other countries, such as the United States, Britain, Japan and South Korea, have chosen to scale back their policies and strengthen the detection of tourists from China because they are worried about the new variants. Tokyo, Japan is another popular destination. Lin's five-year Japanese visa is still valid, and on Christmas Day 2022, she flew from Beijing to Tokyo, and the fare almost doubled, with a round trip of about 6,000. At that time, Japan had not tightened its policies and did not require on-site saliva nucleic acid testing. Lin Lin can pass the country with a negative nucleic acid certificate and other materials within 48 hours. However, starting from December 30, Chinese tourists who test positive for nucleic acid at the airport will be sent directly to local hotels for seven days.
Lin Lin was very glad that she left a few days earlier, "before they could react." But compared with passing through customs and leaving the country, Lin Lin is more worried about returning to China and entering the country later. She specially booked a ticket on January 9, and the day after the official release, she flew back to Tianjin, and then returned from Tianjin to Beijing.
On the evening of the 9th, she successfully arrived at Tianjin Airport, and at the place of entry, there were still blue "relics" of the screening point. But this time, she did not have to quarantine, returned directly to Beijing that night, and then blocked the city for two hours.
A stressful trip at the beginning
For Lin, this is the first outbound trip in three years.
Lin Lin works for an Internet foreign company in Beijing, belonging to the relatively late batch of Yang. Colleagues are all yang, only she and the boss, become the legendary "chosen workers", they worked overtime together for a whole week. Lin Lin was under great pressure throughout December, just at Christmas, the company shut down for a week, she paid for the unused annual leave, and flew to Japan to start a half-month trip.
After Lin Lin was in Yangkang, she slept for more than ten hours every day, often feeling tired and coughing continuously, and her physical condition did not fully recover. She brushed many people on social platforms saying that "there is a lung problem after infection", but it is too difficult to see a doctor in Beijing hospitals now, so she thought, should she go to Japanese internal medicine? Lin Lin had seen a doctor when she was studying in Japan before, and the internal medicine department has always kept her medical record files, which can be directly consulted without an appointment.
At the end of December, there were not many flights to Japan, one flight a day, Lin Lin's trip was about two-thirds full, most of them were dragging families, and Japan's tourist visas were not yet open, they should all go to visit relatives. Lin Lin wore an N95 mask the whole time, breathing was not clear, after getting off the plane to the hotel, moved a few trips of luggage in the middle, just a simple activity, she felt that her heart was pounding, and even a little difficult to breathe, coughing constantly, so the next day rushed into the hospital to see a doctor.
In Japanese Hospital © Lin Lin
Japan is particularly nervous about tourists from China, and doctors specially placed Lin Lin in a separate waiting hall to be disinfected first, and everyone else was in another waiting hall. When it was Lin Lin's turn, the doctor first conducted a basic health consultation, and after she filled out this questionnaire, the doctor used it to determine whether there was a new crown infection or influenza, and then used a stethoscope to check. In the end, the doctor said that there was nothing wrong with her lungs, and she did not need to take CT, but only prescribed some medicine to relieve sore throat and cough.
After seeing the doctor, Lin Lin did not completely relax, worried that she would return to Yang. Japan is now very serious about the new crown and flu, while Tokyo is denser than Beijing, with more Europeans and Americans and they are celebrating the Christmas holiday. Therefore, she deliberately avoids popular spots and crowded people, and focuses on niche places and attractions. With plenty of time and good health, Lin Lin planned a slow and comfortable trip for herself. Go to an exhibition in the morning, have a meal at noon, cut your hair in the afternoon, find a massage shop in the evening, and develop a side business after returning to the hotel - drawing emojis, and the day will pass.
However, Lin Lin still feels that Tokyo has a strong sense of epidemic prevention. Except for a few Europeans and Americans who do not wear masks, as long as Asian faces basically wear masks, many restaurants and stores still use thermometers and require customers to disinfect their hands. There are hardly people coughing on public transportation, and Japanese people are used to social distancing and "feel safe". She has friends who work in Japan, and after contracting fever before, the company will force employees to stay at home, and there will be punishment if they go to the company.
The gate © of Sensoji Temple Hayashi
Lin Lin also went to the local pharmacy to explore. The throat candy, plaster, and eye drops in the store were all very popular, and the shelves selling dragon horns were empty, and she went to ask the salesperson, only the last box remained. Many friends entrusted her to bring medicine back from Japan, and Lin Lin successively bought cough medicine here, "it is really effective for me."
When Su Rui first arrived in Thailand, she was also very worried about Fuyang. There are still quite a few people coughing in Bangkok, and she wears two layers of masks every day, is nervous, and eats at a table with few people. After Yangkang in China, Su Rui still coughed for more than ten days. Two days before arriving in Thailand, she coughed even worse, so she went to the convenience store and saw the local centipede pills, and bought two packs, "Don't lie to you, just drink it on the first day."
It didn't take long for her to completely integrate into the atmosphere of freedom, after all, no one in Thailand cares about prevention and control, people wearing masks are almost invisible on the streets, and there are bustling and noisy crowds everywhere. On the contrary, Su Rui is more worried about Chinese, the tourists who entered the country together are basically over, and a few of them even landed in the sun, going directly from the airport to the hotel to lie down and rest. However, Suri told me that the disease strain in Thailand is not strong, even if it is accidentally infected, you can be revived after two days of rest, and quickly plunge into the unparalleled holiday atmosphere of tropical countries.
In fact, most visitors go through this mental journey – nervousness, worry, gradual relaxation, and complete forgetfulness. Sugar Candy decided to take her mother to the tropical beach at the end of 2022. The other day, everyone was quite nervous, and Sugar Candy almost never ate in and packed meals back to the hotel to eat. If traveling, the mask is "welded" to the face, and the mask is worn even when playing on the beach. But also not long after, sugar sugar unconsciously integrated into the island environment, the epidemic quickly drowned in happiness, surfing, diving, motorboats occupy all thoughts, "Yang is Yang".
Relax the mind
Imagine what it's like for visitors from all over the world to celebrate together on New Year's Eve. For many traveling Chinese, the three-year epidemic has come to an end, and this year has a strong special meaning - farewell, blessing, wish, and expectation.
Lin Lin wished a kind of comfort. On New Year's Eve, many tourists choose to go to the temple to pray for blessings and ski in Hokkaido, so she went to the temple in advance to ask for a peace charm, and deliberately chose Okinawa Island, which is in the off-season. It was windy and there were fewer tourists on those days. There are basically few families on the island, but there are many cats, and the cats and cats are lying on the beach, she pets the cats, and she is dazed for a while, "listening to the doctor's advice, lying flat on the beach while taking medicine."
There are no people on the island, all cats and cats are walking © Lin Lin
Lin Lin spent a quiet, comfortable and peaceful new Chinese New Year's Eve as she wished. After returning to Tokyo, she lived near Sensoji Temple, and from her window she saw the traffic on the street, "I felt like life in the pre-pandemic era."
Su Rui is looking forward to a recovery, "there is no more disease in the world". Her original profession was to do customized travel services in Thailand, and she stayed in Thailand for eight months every year. After the epidemic, Su Rui returned to China to do self-media, but what she really loves is still tourism services. China is Thailand's largest source of tourists, and 50% of tourists before the pandemic were Chinese, they are willing to spend money, and they are very able to spend money, "so many Thais are very much looking forward to the return of Chinese tourists."
Thailand has always had a very strong festive atmosphere, and festivals such as Christmas and New Year's Day are almost celebrated nationwide. Su Rui was in Pattaya for New Year's Eve this year, and she remembers that there were many Chinese who came here before the epidemic, and there were dragon and lion dances on the bar street at night, which was particularly Chinese.
Thailand crosses Chinese New Year's Eve © Surei
This year, Pattaya's pier has a free electric music festival and fireworks show, and Thailand's more famous stars will come to the venue. That night, the coast was all stuck in traffic, Su Rui took a taxi, about 2 kilometers of road blocked for two hours, all the eyes saw were people, and the warm and vigorous atmosphere infected every friend who came here. There are also many people on the beach side putting on their own small fireworks and Kong Ming lanterns, looking up, the small lanterns dotted with the dark night, "that scene is too dreamy."
Thais are very fond of life, they are happy and easygoing, and they can always be hi as long as there is music. The electric syllables in the open air, the hot dance, the casual swing, Suri saw many Thais carrying straw mats with them, and after the festival ended, they bunked on the ground, slept directly there, and walked after waking up the next morning.
When it was almost midnight that day, Pattaya started setting off fireworks again, and there were still many people on the beach, and everyone gathered around and counted down loudly: 3, 2, 1, wow! Su Rui is surrounded by people of different nationalities, but at this moment, everyone holds a common vision and hope, and people's emotions strangely resonate, "You know what? It's the feeling of a true global village."
Three years ago, Su Rui returned to Wuhan, which was the hardest-hit area, after the New Year in Thailand, to share memories with the lockdown; Three years later, Suri came to Thailand again, with a beginning and an end, "wanting to cross these three years."
Su Rui is visiting the night market in Phuket Old Street, three years ago she often liked to come here to see an uncle playing electric guitar and singing rockingly, now she returns to the familiar street, the uncle is still here, he has not changed, there is another child beside him, is singing intoxicatedly, the two couples slowly dance to the music, the surrounding tourists cheer excitedly, Su Rui tears well, "ordinary, happy and familiar, let's go back to the era without masks, may the world be free of disease again."
Phuket Old Street © Surrey
◦ The characters in the text are pseudonyms.
(Source: Tencent News)