Taoyuan - Shanghai - Hong Kong - Frankfurt: My journey home via China

Yesterday I finally set off towards Germany. My first stopover was Shanghai, as I wanted to pick up my luggage here. So I'll tell you a little bit about what it's like here.

We started with the high-speed train to the airport. Now Thomas and I had to say goodbye after about a month's vacation together.

I wish you all the best Thomas and stay healthy. I wish you good luck with your internship search and if that doesn't work out, we'll meet for a beer in Germany.

Everything went smoothly at the airport, but it was also very empty here and there were few people around. Everyone tried to protect themselves in their own way: Most people just wore a mask, but some wore 2 or 3 masks on top of each other and sometimes even safety glasses and gloves. There were several announcements about behavior in China and a temperature check on the flight, which were to be followed by several more.

Pudong was just as deserted. The staff was minimized and those who had closer contact with the passengers were dressed in full-body suits. You had to provide your data and travel history through an app.

At the exit of the arrival area there were a maximum of 10 people and the hall was incredibly empty. Normally there are at least 100 people here and you are immediately asked if you want a taxi. The picture also shows that a large part of the flights were canceled.

Since I still had to take care of that, I decided to take the Maglev train. This is a magnetic levitation train that is a bit faster than the metro and goes at least part of the way to the center. The train reaches 300 km/h in between, which is really impressive. Then I continued with the metro to Anting and, as expected, there were also a lot fewer people there. Line 2 runs right through the center and there are usually at least 4 times as many people in the metro. In addition, there were movies playing on the monitors everywhere, which provided behavioral guidelines and showed clips from security checks and the fight against the virus.

Those who have read the blog for a longer time will have heard of Anting before. This is a district that is right next to the campus. I had booked a hotel here for one night. I had to register again and provide my travel history. There were also notes in my room with the date of the last disinfection. After check-in, I took a taxi to the campus and met Sebastian. All entrances were fenced off and there were some guards there for access control. The funny thing is that Sebastian is only allowed to go as far as the gate and I am not allowed to enter the premises at all. If he leaves the campus, he is not allowed to enter again. So I can get as close as about 1km to the dormitory, but I am not allowed to enter the premises for a short time, even though there are hardly any people there at the moment, as the lectures have been suspended until further notice and lectures are held in online courses. So I was finally able to pick up my stuff and now hope that it all fits the weight requirements.

A few restaurants were still open and luckily there was one right around the corner where I could finally eat something. There were few people eating there and most of them took their food with them. In addition, the doors were always open to let in fresh air. In general, the current situation in Anting is quite noticeable. There is less traffic and especially the sidewalks are almost empty. The last few times I've been here, there were scooters and bicycles everywhere.

Since I had forgotten to give Sebastian my room key, I jogged back to the campus at 10 p.m. to bring it to him.

Because of the epidemic, I was offered a free breakfast this morning and I was looking forward to a delicious roll. However, I quickly realized that things are a bit different here in China. There was an egg, a sweet potato, a small baozi, a mochi and the typical rice soup, which is just water with rice. All in all, not that great, but luckily I had some gummy bears left.

I'm going to pack my things now and meet another fellow student in the center to take care of some important things there. I'm curious if I'll manage to stay within the 30kg weight limit for my luggage.

+++ Update - 18:22 +++

I'm sitting right in front of my gate now and I finally made it. The last few hours have been quite tense, but it's slowly starting to fade away.

I met a fellow student at People's Square and picked up some documents and a laptop from others that I am taking with me. This made my backpack even heavier and it now weighs around 17kg with 3 laptops and a lot of technology. That's heavier than my big backpack. The rest of my luggage is just over 30kg, but luckily there were no problems at the airport.
I arrived about 5 hours before departure, so luckily I still had some time to rearrange my things a bit, as I had found a few things that are not allowed in my carry-on baggage.

Pudong Airport is incredibly empty. Where there are normally thousands of people, it is dead quiet today and almost all shops are closed. The staff is minimized, as only very few flights are even flying. It's amazing to see how much this pandemic restricts life here on site.

For my part, I'm incredibly happy right now. There are only about 16 hours left on the plane, with a stopover in Hong Kong, and then by train to Jena. So the hardest part is over. I'm really looking forward to finally coming home and being able to stay there.

And just as a note, since I just read this:
I will not be quarantined in Germany. The European countries have not introduced anything like that so far. Here's a brief quote from the Foreign Office:

'Pilots are required to inform the tower about the health of their passengers before landing after flights from China. Travelers from the affected risk areas are obliged to provide information about their flight and their place of residence in the following 30 days after landing. Information on symptoms and risk exposure can also be collected from travelers from China. Suspicious individuals can be questioned further and, if necessary, examined. At the meeting of the EU health ministers, it was also agreed that air travelers can be asked before landing in EU countries whether they have been in coronavirus-infected areas or have had contact with infected persons. Depending on the risk assessment for Germany, further possible measures are continuously reviewed together.'
There are also no large-scale temperature controls. In addition, the risk of infection in Shanghai is currently very low. The number of infected people is around 70 and there has been no or only one new case per day for 6 days. The situation here is under control. That is also one of the reasons why I decided to fly here again. 2 or 3 weeks ago this would have been a completely different story.

+++ Update - 23:10 +++

I'm back at the gate, but this time in Hong Kong. The flight was relaxed and there was enough space on the plane, so you sat far enough away from your neighbor. And now I finally know the 'Joker' movie. Now I'm waiting for the flight to Frankfurt. Next time I'll report from the train to Erfurt.

+++ Update - 8:45 +++

I landed safely in Frankfurt. There were some serious turbulences over Russia, so I couldn't sleep very well. So I'm quite tired. Everything else went really well. There were no health checks in Frankfurt and most people on the plane didn't wear masks, but I wore mine consistently.
It feels good to be home again. Now it's just a short train ride and then I'm finally there :)

++I will post more updates here throughout the day++