The Breakfast

Breakfast is different here.

No coffee. Not sure, if this is a general habit. Maybe some of my Chinese readers can comment on this? For the fact, no beverage but flavoured (blueberry, strawberry …) milk was served. But this I knew already and got used to it, when I packed my Nespresso 2 weeks before the flight already (!) – I was having 2 or 3 Coffees since with the neighbours when I longed for the smell of it in the morning! I was too lazy to go to the backer next door to get one every morning! So, no, I don’t mind not having coffee every morning.


So… what is “served”???

a) Hard boiled egg and pickled cabbage

These two are always there, always the same – at least I did not notice any difference, but the packaging (red, green, blue, yellow – any meaning in it??) of the pickled cabbage, which may include some other veggies as well, I believe.

It is something between pickled cabbage (Sauerkraut) as we know it in Europe and Korean kimchi – spicy and smelly :-).

b) Buns

There are always 2 buns in the breakfast package. And you do not know which one will it be today – which makes it interesting to cut them in half: some are filled with sweet, some with savoury stuffings (spinach was very good, and meat as well), some are empty.

I always got steamed buns, not baked. So, not the consistency of what we know under ‘Brötchen’ in Germany. More sticky and moist.

At least one of them was always white. Sometimes yellowish (corn??) or brownish (wholegrain).

I liked the savoury ones better – I ate them with egg and cabbage.

c) Pancake

mmmm – very delicious!

Never sweet (the way I typically eat pancakes).

Sometimes they look like American pancake (you get 1 think piece). The first time I was surprised, as there is always some type of stuffing in it! Vegetables mostly – I do not remember until now to get a meaty one.

The others were more like french crepes, always with some herbs, once the dough was more fluffy (like pastry).

d) Porridge or congee

I am not really sure if this two words are synonyms – I could not find the “real difference” description yet…

Porridge is actually not really my preferred dish. I met it first time in Singapore already and was not convinced.

I prefer the rise to be cooked in milk, not sweet (I am the one who adds tons of sweetened cacao on the plate, when it’s served!) and it needs to have some consistency – the porridge is just too liquid and overcooked for my taste.

BUT: I must admit, I really liked one version: it seems it was some kind of whole grained rise with red beans (dark looking one on the pic). Num-num!

Oh, I nearly forgot: once I got the White fungus thick soup! I could not detect what I am eating, so my Chinese friend Mengyuan explained what it could be. So cool 🙂

e) Packed sweet biscuit

Well, not to my taste. Maybe with coffee…. and if you have nothing else on the table…. OK, when there was a munch-mallow kind of one – I ate it 🙂 it was goooood 🙂 I needed no coffee!

f) Drink

In my case there was always a pack of flavoured milk. A bit too sweet most of the times. Sometimes the fruit (flavour) was a bit weird combination: I never before had the milk with the taste of an apple… But. New is NEW!

That’s it until today…. If anything will be served even more interesting then what I described here – you’ll find out! Don’t worry!

How do you like it:

A day in the room

Curious?

Time fixed events

  • breakfast is served between 7-8
  • temperature measurement
  • lunch is served between 11-12
  • temperature measurement
  • dinner is served between 17-18

That’s it, pretty much.

I did not hear knocking on the door for breakfast nor dinner, sometimes they knock when the lunch is placed on the table outside the door. You get trained to hear the sound of the plastic bag 🙂 – I remember our cat was responding very enthusiastically when the dried food bag was rustling.

I had a PCR test done in the room on the 3rd day of the stay. I expect at least one more on the day before they will release us from the hotel. So this is the no. 3 since the beginning of the journey to Beijing (1 on both airports, Frankfurt and Shanghai).

What about the rest?

  • On Thursday I arrived to the room late evening and nothing much happened besides what I already described in my first post.
  • Friday felt like “I am only eating the whole time” day. As I was sleeping for nearly 12 hours straight, I woke up at about 9:30 – and the breakfast was of course waiting in front of my room since 7 – so I ate it. I ‘just’ finished eating…. already the lunch was put on the table in front of the door…. I left it stay for a while and ate it between 1 and 2pm. Only few hours later – guess what: dinner. I said to myself: set the clock! Do not postpone the breakfast too much! But it is getting better now as I am getting used to the fixed meal schedule :-).
  • I started to write the blog on Friday as well 🙂
  • Saturday was my “first yoga” practice day.
  • Sunday was a “stay in the bad & in pyjama and watch the series” day. You have to have such day now and then as well and believe me, quarantine time is much better then watching the series up to 2-3 am and having a normal working day the next day!
  • I also had a nice bath and the facial mask on Sunday evening and I made some pictures 🙂 so in a post to follow you might expect something “interesting”.
  • today is a Monday and I pulled out my water-colour sets. Finally. Experimenting a bit, selecting the motives… something to show in a day or two, I hope!
How do you like it:

5th day of the 5th month = Dragon Boat Festival

Today is a holiday!

Well, I wouldn’t notice it actually (as the days are very much alike here in my room), but Bobi has a work free day today. I am also not (yet) watching the Chinese TV here in the room – maybe it would be good to check it a bit today! The festivities organised on the day & weekend are splendid!!

There was one more sign the dragon festival is in town: ZongZi was served!

As Wikipedia explains: “Modern media has printed a version of the legend which says that the locals had rushed out in dragonboats to try retrieve his (poet Qu Yuan) body and threw packets of rice into the river to distract the fish from eating the poet’s body.”

This is a dish I’ve met when we were living in Singapore already. It is made of sticky rise and some kind of a filling (which is optional) – in my case above: red beans. Then it is wrapped in the leaves (many options are possible there) and steamed/ cooked.

For me (already in SG) not something I would crave for, but it is a tradition dish in many asian countries and there are definitely many who really like it!

p.s. The inspiration for the Catching up (Dragon Boat ) painting came from my encounter with the dragon boat festivities in Singapore.

How do you like it:

Arriving in Shanghai

… do you remember: I was spending a day in Frankfurt drinking Aperolspritz? So here is what happened next…

  • Taking the S-Bahn back to the airport hotel
  • Fetching a trolley (on regional train station below the hotel)
  • Loading ALL (!) my luggage
  • … which I needed to repack again in the hotel lobby after I checked out from my room at 2pm as 1 suitcase had 38!! kg – I think this was already a 3rd time I was repacking the suitcases (!) – I tell you, I was sweating a lot on this day – I am very grateful for the lady at the hotel who had the patience with me (I was not allowed to go to the room with the scale)
  • heading to the drop-off, where I was hoping to get through with now “only a bit” overweight luggage – and I did – what a relief (otherwise I would need to repack AGAIN!)
  • no business lounge. closed. “closes at 2pm already” – where are all the privileges of having a business ticket when you need them?
  • as my phone with all the codes was dead I desperately needed to charge it…. and finally the 3rd socket WAS WORKING! (sweating again – I must say as – no code no boarding!)
  • finally on my seat!
  • I am grateful to be able to travel business, where you can stretch your body nearly flat…
    • these last (for about 2 weeks) nights before departure were not too resting for me
    • and this is a night flight starting at 10pm!
  • the plane is quite full
  • some passengers with head to toe protecting gear (overall, mask, glasses…)
  • oh. did I mention I had a little problem? My screen was too far away for my reading glasses. So flying economy would be better – there you have it on your lap (nearly) 🙂

  • no service before take off (!?!) – which is a nice treat in normal cases
    • I saw that in the 1st class they did offer drinks before take off – if only I took the “special offer to upgrade from Business to 1st class for only 850 EUR”! 🙂
  • dinner, 2 movies, some sleep, measuring the temperature by the crew, filling in the China Customs Entry Form (in paper)…
  • enjoying the last “western” breakfast – with a glass of Champagne.
  • Cheers to the new adventures!!

When I saw the land through the window, I became emotional. The new chapter of my life starts with the touch down. I hope it will be a good one!

Corona adjusted routine starts, and you are walking from first to last “station”:

  1. your customs code is checked (mine was valid few more minutes, so the kind lady helped me renew it: she looked a bit puzzled and nervous as I did not had it all in WeChat app like the China travellers do – but somehow she managed to renew it on her laptop – thanks god!)
  2. you receive a paper, where you sign, they are allowed to do a PCR test
  3. with that paper, you get a tube with your name
  4. down the stairs and off you walk to the testing center, where they take a sample from your nose and throat and put all 4 sticks to your tube. (each nostril gets 1 stick and 2 for the throat)
  5. temperature is measured

Then you head to the border control. And as very often: who heard of Slovenia? (we have a joke that from a Chinese point of view – we all live in 1 of the bigger skyscrapers – as we – Slovenian population – are so few compared to BIG cities of China!)

  • and then I finally (4pm) get my suitcases – yes the heavy ones!
  • now you go for the bus shuttle to the quarantine hotel:
    • first you need to fill in a form online
    • then your passport is taken (which will be returned in the hotel)
    • you wait for others to be enough for a (half) full bus
    • and then – off you go 🙂

Timeline: touch-down in Shanghai at 14:45 and at 5 pm I was sitting in the bus, the ride to the hotel took about 1 hour.

How do you like it:

Before boarding the plane

Spending 2 nights on the airport in Frankfurt

After packing it all the night before – Uros helped me to get the suitcases into the car, I arrived to the hotel at the airport later afternoon.

Next morning I need to do the tests (antibody blood test and the PCR test), then waiting for the results, then getting the 2 codes one needs to be able to board the plane. As the results may take a bit longer, it is recommended to do the tests a day before. When the doctor mentioned the results will be available in few hours, I questioned the “1 day before” necessity, but obviously it might get complicated and you might miss the plane – which you do not want to do…


Frankfurt – last walk outside (at least for a while)

ok… I am having problems with photos – my idea was to make a photo-comment kind of a chapter, but most probably, I do not know about (size/ space?) restrictions and probably something else WP related. If any of you are more WP experienced – please let me know, what I need to read/ take note of/ avoid doing…

Anyway: after having all my required codes done (health and customs) and I was checked in to my flight in the evening… and repacked the suitcases once again !!! (to put in all my additional laundry I “found” the morning of my departure from Stuttgart) I took the S-Bahn to stroll the streets and river bank of Frankfurt. And to have an Aperolspritz and Frankfurter Wurst (if in Frankfurt…)!

(and here imagine the photos of the river bank, streets, aperolspritz, dome, 2 green man, a boat in the air – see, without pictures it is not the same!)

How do you like it:

Arriving to the quarantine hotel

hotel corridor

All corona required checks and processes are done and I am already in a bus driving to the hotel for the next 14 days. The weather is so-so. it started to drizzle… The drive into unknown is taking some time. Yes. No-one but the bus driver knows to which hotel we are going.

The check in at the hotel was done quite smoothly:

  1. pay your stay & food so you can get your room number
  2. your data is verified (to match your passport) and the destination for after the quarantine hotel is added (as I need to stay 3 weeks in Shanghai before being allowed to fly to Beijing)
  3. your passport is returned and you are added to the hotel WeChat group, where all the important communication and announcements will take place
  4. you receive also some tablets for the toilet – to be used after you are done with your big business – probably to disinfect it all

My stomach was demanding some food, as the last thing we had was the breakfast in the plane. So you can imagine how pleased I was, that there was some food waiting at the door entry already! (In the queue before, I heard that we are too late to receive dinner, so I was already prepared to “starve” a little but the comment was obviously meant for the room delivery service.)

drive to the hotel
registration process ongoing
dinner is served!
bedroom with 2 beds and enough pillows!
“day” area of the room

I was really pleased to finally be in my room as there was quite some sweating involved during my journey from Frankfurt.

The room is nice!

I have 2 beds, enough room for my yoga mat, a table – maybe a bit too small for what I plan to do – but good enough. Nice bathroom with a shower and a bathtub for my “spoil-yoursel-girl” plans.

Unpacking the luggage – to find the necessary and taking the shower to remove all the stickiness….

…and then the dinner is unpacked!

How do you like it: