BEIJING | Tons of paperwork to read and forms to fill out, over and over again, until the start last Thursday. QR codes to obtain at key points in the journey. Decidedly, it was necessary to be patient, show resourcefulness and organization to finally fly to China. From Quebec and Montreal, with a good dose of determination: destination Beijing.
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“Do you have the health QR code?” Do you have customs QR code? Have you completed the daily health declaration questionnaire? Did you receive the result of COVID-19 screening tests carried out at 96 hours and 72 hours from the last flight segment between Tokyo and Beijing?
“Do you have your accreditation card, photos of your card, your passport, your vaccination passport, your test results in laboratories certified by the Chinese Embassy, in JPEG format, both on computer and mobile ? »
The situation and the proliferation of papers would have driven anyone completely crazy.
These phrases resonated in our small team at Newspaper from the departure from Montreal to the flight connecting Vancouver to Tokyo. Because without all these mandatory documents to be transmitted on the various Chinese and Olympic platforms, it was impossible to return to the country organizing the Games.
Protected from head to toe
Once landed in Beijing in the wee hours of the morning (see other text below), it is as if we had arrived on another planet.
We are not dreaming, our guests wear coveralls and sanitary protection equipment from head to toe. Whether at the airport, at the hotel or at the competition venues. They are everywhere.
Long equation
Organizing an Olympic trip is already complicated enough. If we add the pandemic and China to the equation, it is a veritable, almost indecipherable integral calculus that could drive any scientist crazy.
And there, we spare the authentication process to access the various Olympic data transfer websites. And countless emails with the branches of the organizing committee.
Asterix and Obelix would have capitulated with their form in the madhouse.
This is without counting the perpetual fight to find plane tickets with our travel agent, Yan Michaud. Patience personified! He had to succeed in getting hold of the sought-after tickets for temporary flights specially marketed and reserved for Games participants. The ones taking us from Tokyo to Beijing and the ones that would take us out three weeks later.
In short, this destination represented everything, except simplicity.
360 degree security
Among the issues to be taken into consideration as highly: computer security. Faced with the weaknesses of the mandatory Olympic applications exposed in broad daylight and government espionage on public networks, The newspaper provided its “special envoys” with new computers and mobile phones.
No question of putting the internal network at risk. It will therefore have been necessary to create a secondary virtual identity in order to avoid trouble. The procedure to follow is clear and must be respected like the health protocol during this trip. The devices will then be “cleaned” and refurbished upon return.
When you think about it, the Olympics are synonymous with peace. But they are held in a country with an authoritarian regime that has nothing to do with human rights, freedom of the press and privacy.
Equipped for war
For these Olympics, you almost have to equip yourself as a reporter leaving for the battlefield.
With an IT strategy, bulletproof jackets are replaced by a boatload of masks and protective gear.
Despite all the commotion caused, the pitfalls and fears related to COVID-19, there was no question of abandoning Quebec and Canadian athletes.
The newspaper wanted to follow them in their quest for Olympic excellence in order to tell their dreams, their stories and their performances in China.
Happy Games!
Welcome to the Games!
Leaving the plane
Photo François-David Rouleau
As the aircraft door opens at Beijing Capital International Airport, passengers on the flight reserved for Olympic participants are greeted by an army of men dressed in hazmat-like coveralls. . Both in the specially equipped terminal and on the tarmac, all staff wear overalls without letting a millimeter of skin protrude.
Chinese customs
It’s time to use all the QR codes accumulated in the last 24 hours. Of the lot, the one for customs and the green health code that we were told were essential. But no, everything was already recorded in our files when we hit the disinfected terminals. These spit out another QR code summarizing all the documents, which must be presented to the customs officer in order to enter China.
Screening test
In a large cold, gloomy and dark room, cubicles are equipped with a table, a small chair and a lamp whose bulb is oriented towards the “traveling patient”. It looks like an old police investigator’s office. A nurse (hard to tell with the combinations) scans the travel documents and binds them with the test vial. We tilt our heads and open our mouths for the oro-nasopharyngeal sample without love or gentleness. Moans echo as the invasive procedure, more than usual, bothers many travelers.
Olympic Host Committee
Behind the first Olympic counter covered by Plexiglas screens, we perceive a first warm welcome from the volunteers of the organizing committee, also dressed in the full protective suit. They activate our accreditations.
Baggage claim
After waiting half an hour, we can finally get our luggage. They don’t spin on a carousel, but are grouped in rows near the terminal’s exit door. This is when a real game of seek and find begins for the passengers. A Boeing 787-8 can accommodate up to 240 passengers. Even though it’s two-thirds full, you can imagine the mess in a cramped place at 2am.
Directions to hotel
Escorted by cars with flashing lights, our bus dropped us off at our hotel around 2:45 am We were given the keys to the rooms and we could only leave after the negative results had been transmitted. What was supposed to take 4-6 hours at most turned into a wait of almost 18 hours.
life in the bubble
Life in the Olympic bubble runs smoothly between hotels and competition venues. Wearing the N95 mask is mandatory at all times, even outdoors. Body temperatures are frequently taken by infrared, especially at the entrance to sports facilities and large public centres. Every morning, one must submit to a nasopharyngeal test.
Beijing Express
$50 lunch, $70 spaghat
Photo François-David Rouleau
Erased by the 9 p.m. trip, entering the hotel in the middle of the night and the lack of sleep, I thought I was dreaming Sunday morning when I ordered lunch. Impossible to leave the room, because it was necessary to respect the isolation while waiting for the results of the screening test at customs. Ordering the American breakfast over the phone took more than five minutes. With the language barrier, I had misunderstood the amount of 240 yuan, or about $50 Canadian for “2 eggs, sausages and untoasted white bread”! In the cabaret served by an attendant dressed in the protective suit in the Olympic colors, I was not fooled when I grabbed the bill. A real bargain considering half a cup of coffee!
Before receiving the results in the evening, colleague Didier Debusschère ordered soup and spaghetti for the tidy sum of approximately $70. Expensive Covid wait.
Food processors and servers
Photo François-David Rouleau
In the enormous cafeteria of the media center, robotic arms do the cooking! Whether it’s preparing a hamburger, dumplings or wonton noodles, it’s a robot that prepares the food in front of the amazed eyes of customers. The dish can then be served by another robot moving on overhead rails, placing it gently on the table using a system of pulleys.