an army of Minions, multiple PCR tests, bleached luggage… The story of a long journey to Beijing

The Olympics are worth it. Before arriving at the sites of the next Winter Games in Beijing (but especially around, in Zhangjiakou and Yanqing), it was necessary to be patient for a trip of more than a day, even several weeks because procedures related to Covid-19. Because if the competition officially begins Friday February 4 with the opening ceremony at the “Bird’s Nest” (nickname of the Olympic stadium), it actually started in mid-January for all participants, both for athletes and for journalists and other stakeholders. Story of a unique journey. A Beijing not express.

The journey to the Chinese capital began 14 days before departure, with the daily monitoring of the health status of the members of the delegations via an application designed especially for the occasion. Each day, it was necessary to specify its temperature and answer a questionnaire. As the departure approached, no one was able to avoid the PCR tests, although a complete vaccination is necessary to land in the Middle Kingdom.

Nothing really original so far, of course. That was before discovering the joys of the Green Health QR Code and its little sister, the Customs Declaration. Translation: additional administrative procedures requested by the Chinese authorities to get on the plane. Suffice to say that when boarding one of the flights chartered specifically for the Games, it is relief that predominates, after two weeks of being isolated from the slightest danger, in the middle of an Omicron wave. A wave which has also delayed the departure of several colleagues.

Once on the plane, where wearing the FFP2 mask was compulsory, the noose gradually tightened. After the many anti-Covid-19 prevention messages broadcast by the Chinese authorities on the screens of the Air France Boeing 777, the company’s stewards have turned into apprentice nurses to take the temperature of all passengers in mid-flight. . In a crowded plane, nobody has fortunately exceeded 37.5 degrees, avoiding the scenario so apprehended. Everyone was therefore able to land in Beijing a little more peacefully… for a few moments. The Captain then invited everyone not to get up after the aircraft had stopped: “I ask you to wait until the Chinese authorities allow you to stand up.” The tone was set.

The agreement given, the passengers of Air France flight 128 (which included journalists from different countries, but also French and Austrian athletes, etc.) were able to enter a terminal entirely reserved for this single aircraft. During the two hours spent there, no other landing took place, in a country padlocked in the face of the pandemic. Through the windows of the catwalk, everyone was able to discover (and photograph) these funny silhouettes, white from head to toe, wrapped in anti-Covid-19 suits bearing the Olympic rings. These Beijing version Minions are present on all the Olympic sites. Their nickname owes its origin to their dress but also to their benevolence and their smile which makes forget the strangeness of the situation.

In the middle of the huge “Beijing 2022” tarpaulins then begins a litany of administrative procedures robotized as much as possible, under the gaze of the Minions who swarm and bustle around the airport. In small groups, passengers have their passport checked and get a new QR Code in their collection. It gives the right to be tested. The French then discovered the local PCR, in the nose and in the throat.

After bleeding from the nose or almost vomiting in one of the 50 planned test sheds, once past customs, where the agents spray their gloves with hydroalcoholic gel in their aquarium, and after waiting for the buses for a good hour, the impeccable protocol takes a hit when it comes to picking up the suitcases. All mixed together in a room at the exit of the airport, they create a nice general disorder between athletes and other passengers before boarding the buses in the direction of Yanqing, Beijing or Zhangjiakou. The latter, nestled some 200 km north of the capital, is our destination.

In the bus, social distancing is again in order after being dismissed on the plane. Anyway, now everyone has been tested more than the French before Christmas Eve. As for the driver, he is sheltered behind a huge double glazing at the front. A device that may explain the low speed of the vehicle despite the police escort and deserted highways, where Olympic lanes are reserved for buses.

Interspersed with several breaks in areas reserved for Olympic delegations (and decorated accordingly) and surrounded by police and Minions, the journey will last nearly six hours. Enough to make you almost regret the traffic jams on the Parisian ring road, the day before, towards Roissy. After having split dark rocky mountains, where the whiteness of the snow is rare, the convoy finally arrives on the heights of Zhangjiakou, not without a last control of the passports by a Minion, in full journey. Sometimes…

Dropped off in front of the hotels, we leave our luggage outside. We will find them two hours later, sprayed with a bleach that even crosses the walls. But we also abandon colleagues, trapped by a PCR which will turn out to be a false positive, and who are placed in isolation in a specific wing of the hotel. In the rooms, a packed lunch warms the stomach, even if the body no longer knows what food it is supposed to swallow because of the jet lag.

Once installed, it is time to go out to discover the surroundings. To do this, you have to submit to a search and a scanner by customs officers that would make many airports pale. This is the price to pay to discover the sequel: life under the health bubble of the Beijing 2022 Olympics.