So the plan was to try to go to Dayan (大雁) for a few hours before grabbing 2 planes to make it back to Zhejiang before the whole place went on lockdown. Rumour had it that there was 2 positive cases , 1 in Shenyang and 1 in Dalian in the recent past. The initial spread of the disease started in Nanjing so I could not take a train back as it would have passed through this city and nothing was allowed to go through here anymore. As I had passed through both Shenyang and Dalian , my health code mentioned this.On returning from Manzhouli , I bought a ticket at Hailar train station and waited for the train to leave (around 8 A.M.)
Train timetable seen at an ungodly hour
I hopped on the correct train. (Note: To the uniofficiated , getting on a train here involves initially buying the ticket, waiting at the gate in question. Then as the train approaches wait for the queue to slowly morph into an essential free for all (usually with me at the back showing a ticket inspector that I do not have a 身份证 ，only a passport. Usually , the inspector looks at my passport like it is cryptonite , waves his / her head in a manner indicating he/she has never really seen an irish passport before but everything looks OK , so I get waved onto the platform, I find the correct carriage , sit down in my seat whereupon an other inspector checks my ticket again.)) This time it was different. I got to my seat and as the train was about to pull out of the station, the inspector beckoned me to anither carriage that was people free. Then she proceeded to ask me questions such as where was I going? How long was I going there for? When was I coming back to Hailar? Did I have the correct visa stamp? What was I doing in China? etc...... To be honest she was friendly enough and I got the whole carriage to myself for the duration of the journey (about 1 hour) but the continuous asking of the same questions was really starting to grate...(especially the one where I was asked when did I arrive in China and have I been here continuously since that time.)
I wonder if there is always 1 carriage that is left passenger free?
Anyway, the inspector ushered me out of the train at Dayan station , I then realized that another guy was waiting there , ready to ask THE SAME QUESTIONS at the station. I had to wait there for 20 minutes while they needed to do some background checking. They let me leave the station on the proviso that I had to come back to the station at 4 P.M. to take the train back to Hailar. To be honest, at this point, I really had no intention of staying a long time at this place but being warned by about 5 people not to stay convinced me to keep this walk very short!
I started walking and after 10 minutes, I got a call on the phone. The police wanted to know where I was in relation to the train station! Was I north, south , east or west from the station? Now, I really did not have a clue how to answer that one, even in places that I know well. (So I just told them that I was on a small road close to the station.) I waited for the police car to arrive, whereupon they told me that I could not stay in the local hotel (I was super , fine with that. All I wanted to do was have a quick walk around the place!)
The train station was built right in the middle of a field
Nice field, though
How do I know north, south east or west from here?
Hmmmmmm
This is a nice shop ..... for panda's with free time.
I was starting to believe I was a panda right about......now.
Nice wooden store for buying iron pots
I walked for about a half an hour and decided to get some local food with milk tea. As I started eating the food the police called again. They offered to escort me around the place but I was content to just relax for a while.
The beef in the 饺子 tasted like the real deal
It felt like there was a new town and an old town. I walked into what I perceived was the old part of the town and the houses seemed like rows of houses you might see back home. Some of these lookked abandoned. It felt like a bit of a shame as they looked like sturdy abodes.
Old school houses
Eventually I got to the end of the village and decided to rest for a few minutes in the sun. I had not had a massage in years and I thought it might be a good idea to get a neck massage.
Gathering the thoughts
Feels like the countryside back in Ireland.
Now, where is that old pump?
Looks like the center of the old village
I went into a message place where I asked for a neck massage. The guy gave me 30 minutes of a massage to my neck that I had NEVER experienced before. I have had massages in China and Thailand before. The Chinese massages were always calm and relaxed. This one was anything but that! It definately helped my neck though. I guess they guy was trying to get some blood flow to the neck. I reckon he succeeded in doing that.
Anyway, I decided to head back to the
train station. This place was nice to walk around for a few hours but the amount of people that asked me questions was beginning to grate. Also, I started wondering about the journey home and should I get another test before boarding the planes.
The visit to Dayan was short but nice. The people seemed cool and I think the police were glad to see the back of the foreigner. To be honest, they did apologize to me as they said that they had to ask me the questions during this time to protect everyone.
The infamous Dayan sunflower
So I grabbed a train back to Hailar. At the entrance to Hailar station, I tried to explain to the guys at the exit that I was only coming from Dayan. They noticed my health code mentioned that I was in Dalian and told me that I had to go from another test.... I was a bit sad about that. It was very confusing as there were 14 people shouting at 2 guys trying to organize who was doing the test. At the end of this a guy came over to me and asked me where I had been. I saw Dayan and he asked to see my ticket. He just shouted me through the exit. I was free!!!!!! for about 1 day. I started to think if I needed another test anyway as the airport personel could also stop me leaving the province or entering another province.
I decided to book a ticket and then go to the hospital the following day before getting the plane.
A potato cake
I was able to book a ticket from Hailar to Beijing and then from Beijing to Hangzhou. I had a quick check online and I saw that I could get a bus from Hangzhou back to Yiwu (and the grab a local bus back home.) The booking of these tickets was relatively painless. Now all I needed to do was get myself to the hospital!
I knew where the hospital was located due to my initial encounter at the train station (The Baidu maps app. is a lifesaver.) So, I walked to the fever part of the hospital and the woman shoved the cotton bud down my throat as well as up my nose (but not at the same time. That would have been mightily sore.) ) She told me that I had to wait from that time (8:30 A.M.) until at least 5:30 P.M. to receive the results. I wanted to head to the airport as early as possible so I asked her if it could be completed a bit earlier. I might as well have asked her to give me all her money. Her response was ..... are you still here? There are more people outside.
Ah, service with a smile 😁
Anyway, I walked around the place and came back there at 5:30 P.M. Nothing was ready so I had to tell them that I needed the form before I could go to the airport. They politely told me to sit down and wait. So, I waited until 4 others had been seen to. Then the woman gave me the test results ........ of a guy called Jun .....from Korea. I told her to search for my other name (Phelan) Success! And I was on my way.
The first and second test results
Leaving the double horse headed bridge at Hailar for the last time
Nice view from underneath the bridge
Bye bye sweeping landscapes and cool breezes.
Time to head back to the heat.
Not sure if this is a Chinese / Russian / Mongolian tradition.
Hailar airport
I had no problems at Hailar airport. We just needed to obey the 1m rule and everything was fine after that. I waited in Beijing T2 for my bags, grabbed them and there was already a bus there to get me to terminal 3. I had to check in my own bags at Beijing airport. Thank God there wass a woman who was there to help me at the self service desk. I will remember to to check in the next time but it still feels a lot nicer when someone is there to greet you and take your bags. With seld service, everything kind of becomes robotic.
The flight from Beijing to Hangzhou was grand. I got off, grabbed my nags and tried to find the entrance to the bus terminal. It was easy enough to find. Then the journey home on the bus took about two hours. It was a long time ago since I had taken a coach but the road from Hangzhou to Yiwu was mostly highway so it was quick and easy.
It was nice to get home but once I got home I was advised to take my temperature again. Apparently there was now a case in Hailar and Hailar was now a medium risk area so I needed to monitor myself. So, I am in the process of taking my temperature every morning and afternoon as well as giving my location at those times to the local police. Keeping a virus away from people can be a tricky thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment