travelswithalice

July 31, 2021

Hong Kong Quarantine and At Home in Grand Hyatt

There are very few passengers on the flight, maybe less than 50. In Business class only 12 including a family of 4. Stuart and I are by ourselves in the second section.

Our flight touches down in Hong Kong at 9:15pm, a full 12 hours since leaving our Sydney apartment.

Another surreal scene at this airport, only more so. On arrival, a guard checks our QR code.

We snake through miles of walkways delineated by ubiquitous queue barriers in huge deserted halls. At every turn, somber-faced guards wave us through with both arms, like airport marshallers directing airplane traffic.

At the first checkpoint, we are given cards on lanyards we are to wear around our necks. Mine has a yellow sticker matching the one stuck on my hand.

We are interviewed separately and then briefed about what is required of us during our 7-day quarantine. We’re each given a pamphlet of instructions which includes a schedule of twice daily body temperature readings for the next 14 days. A digital thermometer is provided. There’s also a “deep throat saliva” test kit; the collected specimen to be picked up from our hotel room by health officials on Sunday.

Our QR codes are verified to ensure we can be reached while in quarantine.

We then proceed to have our PCR tests. We arrive at the testing site just as the shift is changing. A swarm of enthusiastic fresh-faced youngsters get swabbed, then hustled off into the “Gowning Room” from which they quickly emerge to man the testing booths wearing long blue plastic surgical gowns and full PPE.

The swabs don’t take long; we are given our collected specimens in sealed containers for us to hand to health officials at the exit.

Our cards get stickers with room and seat assignments where we wait for our test results.

It’s a long wait. (Stuart tells me later that it was an hour but it seemed much much longer to me.) There are charging stations and free sandwiches and cookies.

Our negative test results finally come and we are cleared to go.

Our hotel reservation is verified and we’re escorted into the lift and onto a departure gate where we board a shuttle bus to take us to the main arrival hall.

The long circuitous drive gives me an idea of how big this airport really is. It is massive. At the arrival hall, we take the shuttle train to Immigration.

Our luggage has already been unloaded from the carousel in the baggage reclaim area. We have 7 pieces including a large cardboard box hastily and rather untidily packed to make room for food items liberally distributed among random suitcases. Nuts, dried fruits, cheese, caviar, tinned oysters, crackers, coffee pods, etc. We have clothes for all kinds of weather and food to last us at least a year on any desert island.

We breeze through customs- no one even bothers to look in our direction- then another sticker and we’re finally outside.

We’re told to board our bus while they deal with our luggage. The whole lot is doused in clouds of disinfectant dispensed by a spray gun from a large canister. A whiff of industrial grade antiseptic permeates the bus as it’s hefted on board.

Apart from Stuart and me, there’s only one other traveller seated all the way in the back with his one suitcase. Seated up front is a government health official all decked out in blue plastic surgical gown, mask, and face shield. He’s in charge of transporting us directly to our quarantine hotel.

It’s past 2am when we check in to the Landmark Mandarin Oriental. It’s 17 hours since we left our Sydney apartment.

We order a late supper and browse through the hotel guidelines. Most notable is a warning that should we step out of our room, the hotel will be obliged to inform the police who will then come to collect us and take us to a quarantine camp where we are to stay for 21 days. To date, already 10 hotel guests have been so transferred. We may also be looking at fines of up to HK$25,000 for breaching the government quarantine mandate and maybe also 6 months in jail.

At the moment, I am cocooned in a plush dressing robe, my feet in silk satin bed slippers. A steaming bowl of aromatic wanton noodle soup welcomes me back to Hong Kong.

_____

Quarantine here is no hardship at all.

Not being able to step outside or open a window may seem like being in prison for some, but not for me. It’s a small price to pay for being kept in isolation in great style.

Having all meals delivered on time without having to make decisions or even to call room service may be too much like a hospital stay for some, but not for me. I welcome the reprieve from kitchen duty. I think this is marvellous, especially since the food here is fabulous.

We’ve even managed to keep to a daily exercise schedule.

DISCO FUNK 3

The downside? I have yet to find any.

Sunday, 25th.

Our G7 video call, the last for the month, is a riot. All because Avin asked Edwin a very provocative question.

Tuesday, 27th.

On the 5th day of quarantine, HK Health officials come to our door to do a second PCR test. They have some kind of industrial type blowing machine behind them designed I guess to decontaminate the air and to blow our breath away from them.

Rustica’s electric fan was a precursor of this cutting edge technology. She certainly was way ahead of her time! 🤣

Friday, July 30.

Rike and Winnie greet us warmly at the door. The car they’ve very thoughtfully sent to pick us up from Landmark Mandarin is quickly surrounded by smiling porters welcoming us back. It feels like a homecoming.

We’ve escaped lockdown, survived quarantine, and are now happily back in Grand Hyatt, our HongKong home.

Labels: Rike, Winnie

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones # July 31, 2021

travelswithalice

July 31, 2021

Hong Kong Quarantine and At Home in Grand Hyatt

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