Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuffle
Rick, thanks for your China updates.
Got a question for you...when you're walking on those lonely streets in Beijing, whenever you pass strangers going the other way, what's the culture like there? Do you get suspicious and scared glances from eyes behind those masks? Or do people keep their head down and mind their own business? Thanks
walking around people just kind of act normal, it's been several months, we never had an outbreak (500ish cases but nearly all from people flying in)
streets are fairly empty but nobody actively avoids me, however, i live on the top floor so often when leaving elevator stops for others and they'll start to walk onto the elevator, see me and then decide to wait for the next one
i imagine it'd be quite different in hubei
one thing though is you often see people out and about in pajamas, there's a whole lot of idgaf attitude with a lot of people with very little to do each day
i haven't been rejected or turned down as a foreigner from any restaurants (but it was a nightmare booking a cheap hotel room last week), but at a few have been asked to scan an app that'll declare i'm a-ok - basically a clearing list showing if you've bought plane/train tickets recently but this doesn't work for me since i don't have a national id card - i'm sure there's a workaround but honestly not really interested in eating at a restaurant that is afraid of me and only run into it twice and just decided to eat somewhere else
they aren't so worried that I'm a sick foreigner, they're worried that I may have come from a place that's infected, the whole reason of scanning that thing is to prove i've been in beijing long term - ie the first thing people ask if they ask is "how long have you been here" and if i say "oh i haven't left for months" then they chill
if i were working and going downtown regularly i'd probably have to figure out how to register my phone for that barcode thing but out here in the burbs it's never a thing
also, the doorman at my building didn't take my temperature both times i went out and came back in today - unsure if he was just not feeling it or a new policy - the place i ate lunch and the convenience store i went to both took my temp though