Hey, it’s your boy Jeffrey with all the covid information you need to know in order to travel to Hong Kong as of December 2022.

First, in order to get on your flight, you’ll need a GREEN QR code. You can fill out the information in https://www.chp.gov.hk/hdf/ in order to get this QR code by first selecting “Select Health Declaration Form” and filling out the form. When you finish submitting the form, you should take a screenshot or picture of the website with the QR code so you can show it to the airline attendants.

Second, in order to eat at restaurants, you’ll need a BLUE QR code. You can fill out the information in https://www.chp.gov.hk/vac-df/# in order to get the blue QR code, which is the vaccine pass. You’ll need to show this to all restaurants when you want to dine in. You can choose to download the LeaveHomeSafe mobile app from the Google Play or App Store to help you store that QR code. One thing to note is that you need at least 3 doses of a covid vaccine in order to get the blue QR code.

Great, that’s all you need to know about QR codes. In terms of the covid testing you need to do, it gets a little bit more confusing. Here’s the official guidance by Hong Kong https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/inbound-travel.html

Basically, you’ll need to take a self administered covid tests for 5 days after you arrive in Hong Kong. On the second day after arriving, you’ll need to take a PCR covid test at a government affiliated site. This PCR covid test will can be scheduled through this website https://booking.communitytest.gov.hk/form/index.jsp . In order to schedule the PCR test, make sure you have a phone that can receive text messages from Hong Kong. You’ll need to bring your identification and the PCR test schedule confirmation when you actually go to the location to get tested. The self administered testing information should be uploaded to https://www.chp.gov.hk/ecmss . You should receive an email from eCMSS@dh.gov.hk after you arrive in Hong Kong with some additional details. In that email titled “[不要回覆]關於抵達香港後的注意事項及強制檢測的規定[DO NOT REPLY]Points to Note after Arrival to Hong Kong”, you’ll find the Reference number needed for uploading your test results online. One thing to note, you’ll need to check your temperature as part of uploading your test results, so having a thermometer will be helpful. You can also buy a thermometer in Hong Kong.

Finally, it is mandatory to wear a mask in public.

For a TLDR:

GREEN QR code: needed for flight

BLUE QR code: needed for dining in restaurants

6 at home tests have to be done once per day (day 0 – day 5)

A PCR test will have to be scheduled and taken on Day 2.

Wear a mask in public places

Cool, that’s the bulk of the information you need to know as of now. Hopefully the guidelines get even easier to follow in the future!

I visited Vietnam for the first time and during the trip, I saw some “interesting” aspects of the country piqued my interest.

1. Motorbikes are popular

In Vietnam, it seems like there are a lot more motorbikes and mopeds than cars. Everyone drives motorbikes including students and adults. Motorbikes can fit up to 4 people (2 adults and 2 children). Some of the students driving the motorbikes looked pretty young, like in middle school.

I think one consequence of this is that the driving is a bit hectic. However, the people use honking as communication to let other motorists know that they intend to pass, which helps improve road safety.

2. Growing vegetables in countryside

While driving in the countryside, I noticed that the majority of the greenhouses have a roof with an opening. Imagine the roof is a semi circle – half of the roof has a different height than the other half of the roof, so the top of the building has a long opening. It seems like this may have something to do with air circulation. Another thing I noticed was that people set up makeshift gardens in their concrete driveways. They put out tarp on top of the driveway and then laid out dirt in rows. I couldn’t tell what they planned to grow in these gardens, but I suspect that they would be used to grow small vegetables, like baby tomatoes or small greens.

3. License plates have punctuation

I noticed that there are license plates that have dashes and decimal points. A few examples:

• ###-####
• ###-###.##
• ##-## ####
• ##-## ###.##

I’m not sure if there are meanings behind the dashes or the decimal points, but the dash only exists if there are 4 digits in the first section and the decimal point only exists if there are 5 digits in the second section. There is no indication for city or state as far as I could tell.

4. Pink hand soap

I feel like over half of the bathrooms I visited over my Vietnam trip had the same pink hand soap. I don’t know if they have a monopoly on the hand soap market or if this brand is just the cheapest option, but I thought it was pretty shocking.

5. Random animals walking around

During this trip, I saw a bunch of random animals walking around the streets and highway. Chicken, lizards, flies, mosquitoes, cats, dogs, oxen, and perhaps some more. Most of them seemed to just be chilling and trying to find food – these animals seemed to either be wild or stray.

Closing thoughts

I think Vietnam is a good country to visit. The food is tasty and relatively inexpensive. There are a number of activities for people to enjoy in the cities. The range of temperatures between morning and night can be large depending on where you are in the country, so looking up the weather forecast is helpful to determine how to dress for the day. One aspect I didn’t realize until this trip was that Vietnam is a large country in terms amount of land so traveling from one city to another can take a long time.

I have some more minor observations from the trip that I can talk about in the comments or in another blog post, but I think these 5 points are good enough for now.

Took a flight on Alaska Airlines recently. I arrived at the airport from the metro, which was pretty convenient. The ticketing area was a bit of a walk – I should’ve taken a different exit from the metro, but I just listened to the sign. Got the ticket and the employee near the self service kiosk was pretty helpful. Interestingly enough, I didn’t need to provide any ID to print my boarding pass. Went down to the security check and the line was relatively long. Much longer than TSA precheck and Clear. I feel like the more people who get TSA precheck and Clear, the slower those services will become haha. Perhaps if 100% of people have TSA precheck, people will start going back to the normal security check line. Got through the security check without any issues. I was an hour and a half early for the boarding so I had to find some stuff to do. Thankfully there were some restaurants, so I ate some food and tracked my fantasy football teams’ status. Doing ok this week, but we’ll see what happens on Monday. Boarded the flight and I was seated relatively far back. I was one of the first in my row, so I didn’t need to fight for overhead baggage space. The employee at the gate asked for 20 volunteers to check the bags. I don’t know if I heard her correctly, but I think that she said that they will delay boarding until they got 20 volunteers to check bags in. A bit odd. But for a 100% full flight, I guess that’s what happens.

Sat at my seat and I got the window seat. The two seats next to me were young children. They weren’t too noisy and thankfully their parents were seated close by. These children devoured movies. Set up with a couple large iPads, I watched as they went through at least 5 movies. One of them was so hungry for movies, that they rewatched their Barbie Mermaid movie and Aladdin movie. I’m convinced they didn’t watch some of the movies all the way through since I don’t think the flight is long enough to support watching so many movies. Apparently one of the plot points of the Barbie movie was that there was a mean mom that kidnapped the main character and threw her in jail and the child asked her friend what she thought about that. The friend didn’t answer. The child who watched the movie thought it was crazy especially since the main character was so pretty and nice.

I watched a movie myself. The free in-flight wifi was decent for the movie. No interruptions, except for when the pilot had an announcement. I guess that makes sense since it’s a local network, but still really smooth experience. The snacks were fine. Got some vegan pretzels that were made by a mother and daughter company. Tasted just like normal pretzels. One thing that was funny to me was the onboard refreshments. The onboard water is supplied by Boxed Water. So, it was served in paper cups. The other cold drinks were served in plastic cups. The paper cups seemed intentional because the Boxed Water company has a goal to reduce the plastic waste. I would’ve thought that the airline might as well use paper cups for all their drinks. But, it doesn’t seem like that is one of their goals.

Listened to my music. Watched as one of the children needed to charge their iPad, so they watched their movie with the screen rotated to the side since the charging cord wasn’t long enough. So the picture was facing right. Not sure if that visual makes much sense.. I wanted to help set it up so they could watch it normally, but I don’t think I should interact with strangers. Eventually the child realized that they can have the video rotated so they finally were watching the movie properly. The person in front of me was watching something. I think it was the show Burn Notice or something with the same actor – like the character who talks in a super monotone voice. I didn’t realize people like that show, but it has multiple seasons so I guess people must. I’d imagine that actor is in different shows as well, so they could’ve been watching one of those.

Eventually got to the airport and was able to get to the hotel through a cab.

Hey, I’ve been exercising recently. I started playing some sports recreationally such as spike ball, soccer, and basketball. Also, I now live in an apartment with a gym, so I’ve been using that on occasion. I recently found out about the 2024 Paris Olympics Mass Participation Marathon https://www.paris2024.org/en/paris-2024-marathon/ . For those who don’t know, the organizers of the Paris Olympics have created a marathon course that will be used for the actual Olympic marathon race. However, at a separate time from the real event, they will allow the public to run the course as well. I thought this was a neat way to experience the Games, so I downloaded the mobile app and started participating in challenges in order to get the chance to win a bib to run in the public marathon. Hopefully I’ll be able to participate in 2024 and visit Paris. If I do get the opportunity to go, I really hope I’ll be able to complete the marathon… I am not fit enough to run for multiple hours without stop so that will be a big challenge. Until next time.