Motorbike rider finally back home amid pandemic

Starting from China, traveling through 24 countries and clocking up more than 28,000 kilometers, Li Shaoying, a 35-year-old designer, faced the long road alone on her motorbike. But her adventure abruptly stopped in Morocco as the African country has been practically in lockdown since mid-March due to the global novel coronavirus outbreak.

After being stranded in the country for more than a month, she finally arrived by chartered flight at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou province on April 10.

"I cannot believe that I got home on a chartered flight arranged by the Chinese Embassy in Morocco," Li says.

About 200 other stranded Chinese in Morocco were on the flight, which took off on April 9 from Casablanca, the country's largest city.

After receiving a nucleic acid test at the airport, Li is on a 14-day quarantine at a hotel in Guangzhou. It is expected to end on April 24. However, bad news came a day after she arrived. A man on her flight was confirmed to be infected and some of the plane's passengers were categorized as being in "close contact". Li, although testing negative, was taken by ambulance, the first time she had been in one, to another hotel.

A close contact receives five tests during their isolation period, which are all paid for by the government.

"When I heard of the infected case, I was frustrated and felt dizzy that night," Li from Chengdu, Sichuan province, says, adding that now she feels good and quite optimistic about her health status.

"The lesson here is always keep social distance and wear a mask during this special period," Li suggests.

"Thanks to the efforts from our government and embassy and the support from the Moroccan government, the flight was made possible. We are the lucky ones," Li says. She also expresses her gratitude to all the workers at the airports in Casablanca and Guangzhou, who stuck to their positions, especially for their flight.

"In Casablanca, the closed airport was reopened for us. In Guangzhou, there was only one flight, which was ours, landing that afternoon, which meant that all the airport staff and medics were waiting for us," she says, adding that she was very touched and sorry to put such a heavy burden on them.

Bumpy journey

Always ready to live her dream, she planned a motorbike adventure through Asia, Europe and Africa last year.

Starting from Manzhouli, a border city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in July, she traveled 17,000 kilometers on her BMW R1200GS motorbike, riding across 16 countries in three months.

On Jan 15, Li left Chengdu to continue her adventure with Africa as her final destination. If there had been no virus outbreak, it would be a perfect time for Li to ride across the continent.

But soon Li found that the pandemic had left numerous travelers, like her, stuck across the world, as governments shut down their borders and imposed travel restrictions.

Her scheduled 20-day stay was extended to about three months.

"With the fast spread of the epidemic, the exit and entry policy for Chinese was changed within hours in many countries, which made me quite worried," Li says.

Arriving in Morocco on Feb 28, she didn't realize that she would be stranded in the country. Morocco reported its first coronavirus case on March 2.

Morocco's Ministry of Foreign Affairs imposed an international travel ban on March 15 when the country had 18 infected cases.

As of April 19, the virus has infected more than 2,600 people and caused over 130 deaths in Morocco.

The Moroccan government has decided to extend the lockdown measures for another month to May 20.

To avoid the pandemic being imported to China, the country's Civil Aviation Administration has reduced the number of international flights dramatically since late March.

While preparing for a possible long-term stay in Morocco, Li had also been making every effort to find a way home.

"I booked flight tickets back home three times, all got canceled, and even tried chartered planes, but I did get refunded," she says.

Self-isolation

Knowing that there was little hope in being able to fly back, Li immediately started her self-isolation plan, booking a remote cabin on a Moroccan mountain.

Riding hundreds of kilometers to the cabin, she knew it would be "the safest place to get away from the virus".

"It is the only house on the hill with the landlord delivering meat and necessities every 10 days," Li says, adding that vegetables and fruit were collected in the backyard. Her landlord gave her a good price for the cabin, about 200 yuan ($28) per day.

Morocco imposed a public health state of emergency on March 19, confining everyone to their homes except those with a permit to be out for work. Li's permit allowed her to go as far as the foot of the hill.

"Every morning, birds and animals knocked at my window to wake me up," she says. She cooked, washed and got familiar with housework.

When she was contacted by the Chinese Embassy in Morocco, Li knew that she would be on her way home soon.

"During the past month, I have witnessed the spike in anxiety and depression among overseas Chinese due to the COVID-19 crisis. Taking advantage of the panic, there has been a surge in scams to help people get back home," Li says.

After graduating from Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, Li founded her own design company to build a portable vacation home for travelers. Called Yoohut, the project is part of her aim to explore the world.

"I want to get inspiration from my adventure and put it into my design. You will never know how beautiful roads can be until you ride through on your motorbike," Li says.

She says that her ideal life is simple-"do whatever I like, go wherever I want to".