Travel Chess Game
With T-minus 19 days until my last working day at Xinhua, I’m working on sorting out my exit plan. Besides trying to figure out flights, when I asked my boss what documents I need to submit before I quit and for me to receive my social insurance money, he said, “It’s still too early.” Umm, ok?
Ultimately, the plan is to get to Singapore to be with my girlfriend. However, Singapore has suspended short-term travel passes (tourist visas) until further notice. The government has been adamant that they aren’t in a lockdown, but have implemented a “circuit breaker.” Hey Singapore, call it what you want to call it, but when you close off the borders, shut down bars, restaurants can only do take out, public gatherings are banned, people can’t go outside after a certain time, and the airport is closed, you’re in lockdown.
So as of now, Singapore is out of the question. Before shutting down, Singapore had closed itself off to people who had been in certain countries for the past two weeks (including China), so even when Singapore opens up, I think they’ll revert to that policy. As such, I need to get out of Beijing. The tricky thing is trying to only spend two weeks in a foreign country before heading to Singapore to avoid paying a ton for a hotel and living expenses. But without any notice on when Singapore will open, it’s a gamble. If I stay in Beijing in my already paid for apartment, and Singapore opens, I’ll have to fly out and do two weeks in a foreign country before I can enter. Or, on May 1, I can immediately fly to a foreign country, but I might end up having to spend more than two weeks there waiting for Singapore to open.
Options at the time of this writing are:
Thailand will resume flights on April 18, but I think they’ll still implement a COVID-19 test signed by a doctor and not issued more than 72 before my flight, plus proof of insurance of minimum $100,000 that also covers COVID-19. After calling several travel insurance companies, I discovered that COVID-19 wasn’t covered. Plus, I’m not sure I can just walk into a hospital in Beijing and get a COVID-19 test.
Cambodia has suspended all visas until April 30.
Hong Kong is open to people who have only been in Mainland China for the past two weeks, but many countries include HK as part of China, so even spending two weeks there wouldn’t help me out.
Malaysia just prolonged their lockdown for another two weeks.
Vietnam has suspended visas for foreigners until further notice.
Macau says that residents of Mainland China can visit. I have a Mainland China resident permit. I called immigration, and they said that they meant to say “citizens” and would not accept anyone that doesn’t have a Mainland China, HK, or Taiwan passport. Well, change the wording on the website then…
Indonesia is closed to foreigners until further notice
The Philippines is closed to anyone who has been in China for the past two weeks. Plus, I don’t want to get shot on the street by Duterte’s thugs if I accidentally break quarantine rules.
So at this point, much like the response to every other question I have these days, all I can do is “WAIT.”
HERE is the website I’ve been using to track border policies. Between trying to figure all this out, I still need to submit documents to Xinhua, deep clean my apartment so I can get my deposit back from landlord, breakdown my workout machine and find someone who wants it, plan a going-away party, buy a plane ticket, get a COVID-19 test, buy travel insurance, donate my remaining clothes, and all the other odds and ends that come with leaving a foreign country after seven years. And all this while Beijing is still in a semi-lockdown. I’m just looking forward to leaving China so I can go to the gym again.
