I probably shouldn’t have gone, but it was a small vacation and Japan was not level 3 by any means when I left…
Also in regards to organization, I was just saying those on the same planes or from the same departure location should be in one area or handled together, not put everyone in a big herd.
This is all I was saying. I had no feeling of having the virus until I had stood in the group for so long and the closer we got to the end, the more it became like cramming to the front of a concert.
Hope those get viral (no pun intended) soon, so that we know the reality. But I believe ‘they’ will make all efforts necessary for it not to be of public awareness otherwise Taiwanese folks get desperate and we are next with no food to buy at the supermarkets
Popcorn is on the stove.
Did you enter as visa free? We’re there any other issues getting in? Did they ask about your trip in Japan?
I assume if everyone follows the quarantine it won’t be too bad for the whole of Taiwan. My commentary was more on the “why the fuck are all of these different locations being slammed together for so long?”. I became most paranoid when one guy from Thailand got sent to the back of the line coughing by everyone. Turned out he was English but had come from Bangkok and was supposed to have another transfer tonight but they weren’t going to let him so he had to get some shit reprocessed or something. It was all a bit confusing as they haven’t really ironed out the process yet. I am sure it will get better. They had ad hoc stations set up, just tables with monitors and laptops, and as we were there carts and carts and carts of more laptops and monitors were being shuffled by, I assume for other terminal/gate entrances to be set up.
How long did the whole thing take since your landing until being finally processed?
A bit over 3.5 hours.
I also only had about 700NT on me and had cracked my debit card, so when we were told we had to get private rides home I knew I was fuuucked. Taxi stand laughed at me saying it would be double that and I don’t have a credit card so I was a bit frustrated. I was like “hey what about those black car guys, where are they? I’ve bargained with them before” and the taxi stand lady said no no they don’t exist…lo and behold. I found one and asked him how much to my place and he said 1k. I was like eh, I’ve only got 700 on me but I can give you the rest when I get home. He said “ok you look tired, I’ll take you”. We got to my place and I gave him the 700 and told him to wait a minute and he said nah, you may be hungry, I’ll just take 500. Dude is a fucking saint.
That would have made headlines. In the US it became international headlines because several thousands of people were being processed in 5 hours. For 200 people 3.5 hours is pretty bad. The population deserves to know about this.
nah I have an ARC. They asked about my trip yea, but nothing out of the ordinary, just normal check in as they had 3 manual desks you had to stop at before you got to actual immigration lines. (These were the CDC desks that created the jam)
To note, it probably wasn’t so long for others, I was about 2/3 or 3/4 back in the line. When we arrived (my plane of 5) there was already a massive line and I think only one or two other planes came in after us.
What was scary is as I walked out I saw all of the luggage coming in for 5 other flights and I asked customs if all of them had to do the 14 day quarantine and he said he thought so. I was just like “fuuuuuuuck”. Those CDC employees are probably stressed as fuck. Also one of their data input methods was a simple Excel spreadsheet they had a monitor showing so you could see everyone’s information (name, contact number, nation)…and it was literally just a spreadsheet one person was using to copy after another entered it into a seemingly online database…it was a bit odd. I don’t think anyone took pictures of that, but that would piss some people off I am sure.
Thanks. What were the lines like at the Okinawa airport? Did they have extensive health screening?
There were no lines at Okinawa. The flight before mine was to Koahsiung and it seemed like only 15 or 20 people were on the flight. They also did 0 health screening to be honest. Just had alcohol spray available.
Also, this whole CDC thing, they didn’t even check people’s temperatures. I thought at least they would have one person walking down the line checking everyone lol.
Thanks a bunch for this info. I have to go there and back today and am worried.
ouch. Good luck sir. Naha is fine, it’ll just be the return that sucks. And have your ducks in a row. People who didn’t have proper addresses, ARC, etc definitely got thrown around a bit.
I assume they will continue to improve the process as well. I was in the first wave and it was buuuusted lol
I thought they had put in place special “quarantine” taxi’s that had to be taken and not ordinary taxi’s or public transport? Did anyone mention those?
I’m coming back as visa-exempt and really hope that won’t be an issue. Japan’s level 3 designation doesn’t kick in until midnight so I should theoretically be okay getting back, I hope.
They never mentioned that. Just an add in Mandarin for the taxi service and the lady kept asking me if I knew how to get a taxi after I had told her I’ve lived here for years. I still can’t read Mandarin though… And no vouchers or anything like that. You just have to drive yourself, have a friend get you, take a taxi or private car.
I arrived from California yesterday. The CDC had set up desks at the corridor leading to immigration. There were three poorly formed lines, apparently for different purposes, but no staff were giving directions and the signs were next to useless. One line went back down the hallway as far as the eye could see. I hopped into the shortest line, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake. We had filled out health questionnaire forms on the plane, but we were given totally new forms. The line moved agonizingly slowly. They were sorely understaffed. The filing system was ridiculous. Some staffers were even putting papers on the chair under their butts. It’s as if they had made up the protocols at the last minute and had just slapped together this checkpoint that day. When I finally got through, I headed to the e-gate, but they weren’t accepting foreigners. So I had to go in the normal immigration line. Fortunately it was short. Unfortunately, they were taking a long time for each person. One person took five minutes. Finally I got through. At least I didn’t have to wait for my bags… They were on the carousel.
Poorly done, CDC. The crowded lines only caused more people to be crammed together, thereby increasing risk of exposure. Here’s what you need to do: give us the PROPER forms on the plane (and exempt people from rule changes mid flight), have staff directing the lines, and SPEED THE PROCESS UP.