Originally Posted by uanj

I really wish you luck. Your base asumption is that "plenty of places" in China will be and remain free of covid in the months to come. Might be worth re-examining that premise.

The recent variants have popped up in Shenzhen, Shenyang, Shanghai and Beijing despite all the best efforts at containment. As they say in the securities industry, recent performance is no indicator of future performance. Maybe things will get better, but maybe things will get worse. It is not inconceivable that you will find yourself in a city where their version of lockdown allows no escape, especially the smaller cities with no international flights. Please be careful, there is a small but not neglible chance you will find yourself in a Wuhan style lockdown in a city even less prepared to deal with it.

A lot of people in China tell me that "this is it", once Shanghai is cleared everything will be fine. Of course that's what we want and everyone thought that after Wuhan, then Ruili (the border town with the Myanmar crossing), then Manzhouli, then Shenzhen, Shenyang and Shanghai. But what I see is a pattern, the big cities have a difficult time dealing with it and smaller cities do much worse. And there is no (dare I say) scientific reason to predict that Shanghai will be the last. Man, I certainly hope so, but I see no medical or sceintific reason to think it necessarily has to be the last.

We are routing for you, but be careful in your choices and be prepared to move on quickly. Your strategy is to outrun the virus and lockdowns, quarantine and travel restrictions as they get imposed. But you know very well how that can happen with little or no warning. So I wish you safe and healthy travels, and also lots of luck! Keep us posted!