Breakfast at Beijing - China Tour IV

Jai Gurudev !!



Vegetable Salad varieties tasting more non veg & Fish Fry without oil (?!)

Thinking of the  Breakfast  we had at the hotel ..

Ah ! What a variety of  food served in the buffet style !! Though it's Lip smacking at the first glance of it , but it's not so ,if we have to taste .



BOILED EGGS WITH SHELL & MAIDA DISCS

Spread across the full length of 2 tables is numerous dishes . How I wish , I were a Chinese or atleast a non-vegetarian so that I can taste each dish and appreciate the recipe  !!
 

Actually one cannot resist the temptation  of tasting the colorful display of the food items !!

As in any other breakfast menu , the Bread, butter and Jam was included along with fruits like Watermelon , Oranges etc apart from the Boiled Egg  and thick warm Milk , Black Coffee and Black Tea and warm juices like apple extract juice , Lemon juice etc.



Initial days Breakfast menu - Baby Potatoes,
boiled sweet pumpkins, watermelons etc

The eggs were not removed off its shell , only we need to do it ourselves . The Egg yellow was not looking yellow in colour but green in colour !!

And Black tea served was of different variety , as one day Jasmine Tea, the other day Chrysanthum tea , Black Tea etc , but everything sugarless and milkless.
Also some plain boiled sweet pumpkin pieces and sweet potato pieces were also part of the breakfast buffet . Then there was Plum like fruit was kept and eagerly we took it and tasted , after which we came to know it's all Tomatoes ...Baby tomatoes looking like plums.

Our initial days of breakfast included only any of the above items except Egg . But , u see , we did not want to really give a try of the strange food , which we had already had the warning information in India before leaving to China ,ike the Chinese menu item would consist of snakes , reptiles, worms etc.. The very thought of those words created a sort of initial aversion towards the Chinese food items.

As days passed  , slightly I was drawn by the looks of the other stuffs placed there and took pains to know if it’s a vegetarian food . Learnt that “Tsu shei “  is the Chinese equivalent for vegetarian and used to point at the food stuff and ask the waitress , “Tsu shei ?!”

She used to nod her head and say  “Tsu Shei ..Tsu shei “ if it’s veg and if it’s not she used to nod in other direction. After confirmation, I was attempting to taste and started having a liking towards those food when we were approaching towards  the end of the trip !! Strange are our taste buds, I feel.



No idea about this food item not tasted

Somedays ,fried veg noodles , with only cabbage  was kept , which I liked and even went for a second serving at times !!

A chocolate cream stuffed tiny sweet puffs was there . The taste was not bad !!

 

Then the other stuffs namely ( The Chinese names I don’t know, so I had given my own names )

·         Ragi cones - steamed ragi flour mixed with slight sugar in conical shapes

·         Maida Discs – steamed maida flour mixed with slight sugar once again.

·         Onion coriander salad – White onion and coriander with Red Chilly

·         Momos ( Believed to be Chinese name here) – Steamed maida with stuffed beef

·         Fried Fish – Looks like fried fish with less or no oil , I guess



Chocalate cream stuffed Tiny samosas & Beef Momos

·        


 Varieties of vegetable salads (?!) – The question mark is because the taste is something strange ..tasted like non vegetarian, I believe the oil used for mixing is different perhaps non veg oil  , the smell is unbearable .

·         Egg Fried Rice

·         Rice Porridge – Plain Kanji with no sugar/salt

·         Porridge with Egg /Non veg stuff

·         2 to 3 types of Plum Cakes

·         Twisted Biscuits

·         Fried sticks of Urad Dhaal  - A stuff made of Urad Dhal , similar to our Ulunda Vada of Taminadu , but the shape is not round, but rectangular in shape like a stick . Good taste !!

·         Ragi and Maida Rolls – Colourful steamed Maida  mixed with ragi rolls with slight sugar !!



Cakes , Biscuits

·         And some items which cannot be described at all , because I don’t know how to describe it !!

People eat those Ragi Cones and maida discs plain and the taste is so bland !!

But one thing I noticed is the chinese food does not consist of oil at all and with only very less of sugar and salt. And literally no masala items at all !! No doubt it's a healthy food !!

That's the reason , hardly I can spot the people with big tummy or pot belly !!
The secret of their looks is their food recipe ?!!

Ragi & Maida mixed Roll , sweet potato pieces

  Love & smiles...



Beijing - A Home away from Bangalore !! - China Tour III

Jai Gurudev !!

Beijing Aiport

  

We were the odd ones out in China Dragon Airlines flight in the midst of  Chinese crowd. But, me and my colleague differed in one more way too. We got the special guest treatment .Guess what ? We were served the food first in flight. Because only ours was the only vegetarian food in the whole flight specially prepared .



Veg Food (?!) served at Dragon Airlines



The menu included the bread , butter , rice with some strange vegetables & mushrooms, Boiled Kabuli Channa Daal and  fruits & Tea etc.





Waiting at Immigration Cell at Beijing



The flight journey took about 4 hrs and when we reached Beijing airport, the first thing I noticed was more and more number of people . We can say that the airport is flooded with people everywhere .

 



Kids on Sports tour

 
Beijing is second highly populated city in China with a population exceeding 22 millions , records say.
Sports gain a major importance in China !! We can see may sports related scenes at many places .

Electric Train to reach exit at airport


  Beijing airport is  incredibly larger and so modern buildings and posh too. We ought to catch a bus , followed by escalators then an electric train followed by an elevator, within the airport to reach the exit door of the airport. With this , you can imagine, how big the airport is !! Amazing !!






An Elevator to move between the floors at airport



To me , the airport looked like a busy local Bus stand , except for the fact that it's all flying aeroplanes instead of the Buses. Every 5 minutes ,one aeroplane keeps taking off !!

A very cold evening at Beijing welcomed us and the car booked for us escorted us to the Hotel , Home Inn situated outside the fifth Ring Road. Beijing is so vast that it consists as many as Six Ring roads !! 



Lenova building opposite our hotel





Home Inn is a chain of restaurants spread all over Beijing. The hotel location was in the industrial area  similar to the Electrinics City location of Bangalore, full of industries. And the hotel is situated within about 5 minutes walkable distance to our office location. About 4 buildings belonging to famous Lenova  Company is sitauted adjacent to our hotel.  The room was quite accomodative  for us 2 ladies with facilities like a room heater/Air conditioner and 24 hrs hot water supplyand an electric kettle . Soon we started feeling at home there. For the next fortnight , it indeed was going to be our home , u see ...

Relaxing in room

Love & smiles...

China Tour II - Bangalore to HongKong

 

Jai Gurudev !!

Bangalore to HongKong Flight- Cathay Pacific

When all the hurry burry & tension of packing up subsided , soon we ought to undergo  various formalities like baggage weight check , ticket, Passport verification etc and got the boarding pass , only then we could sigh a big relief and relaxed ,waiting to aboard the flight . That time , happened to meet a college friend accidentally and had a nice chat , reliving our old memories & friends and sharing our present status . Infact my colleague got a bit irritated about our lengthy conversation.

The flight was to Honk Kong and we had to catch a connecting flight to Beijing from there.
It was a first time international flight experience for me and my colleague. We cannot deny , we had a pinch of fear during the flight take off  . The Air Hostesses were looking pretty and when I tried to capture a photograph , she sensed the Flash , immediately she came near me , picked the camera and deleted the capture.
Though their looks were stunning, their smile was only plastic , so artificial !!



Flight GPS

Watching the live status details of flight in the Flight GPS system relayed in the T.V placed in front of each seat was interesting as it continuously monitored the flight altitude, distance covered , the flight position , the prevaling temperature outside the flight , origin place time , destination place time etc.. When the flight was crossing the ocean  , I couldn't prevent the thought  from arising " What will happen if the flight falls into the sea ?!"
Alternately we can switch on to other channels to watch movies, cartons etc..




Bird's Eye View fromFlight

Once when the flight flew over Hong Kong , we were taken aback when we watched through the window - the over view or the bird's eye view of Hon Kong Island  in the night time , it is something very spectacular . The colourful lights illuminating Hong Kong and  different layouts like the decoarted land surrounding the beaches , the Harbor is a feast for the eyes , we can say !! It just seemed like a Sparkling  Jewellery with  a pendant crafted with precious Jems . Not just one type of jewel , but felt like entered a Big Jewellery Shop , wherein exquisite designs of diamonds studded jewellery is placed for the display . Amazing !!
Not only the Creator , but the Creation is amazing as well !!
One should never miss the opportunity of gazing through the aeroplane window , the HongKong view at night !! 




Hong Kong Airport

The Hong Kong airport was very big and a very busy one too . Literally we had to search for our counter to get the boarding pass for the connecting flight to Beijing and we were just in time to aboard the China Dragon Airlines flight . We were marvelled by the looks of shops at the Hong Kong Airport and even the prices of the items are also stunningly high . Not our cup of tea ,ofcourse !!

Love & smiles...
 

China Visit I - Guru's Grace !!

Jai Gurudev !!



Standing amazed at Honkong Airport

It is said , " When we are in the path ...spiritual path we can feel and experience Guru's Grace or God's Grace thoroughly in every moment of our life !!"

And one such moment , which I had come across recently and which I enjoyed and feel grateful for His Grace is my China tour , organised as official tour . Though I was completely busy managing office work with my house work , added to the unexpected commitments at my hometown due to my father's demise , somehow all the things came in place , giving way for the China tour for about 17 days.

Standing a bit far away from the shop which shows
 the warning signal as "No Photography here !"

 It's my first out of India trip and obviously my excitement level was high. I was arranging for the trip all alone by myself as my husband had gone out of station before starting off for the trip.
Right from wardrobes like purchase of thermal wares , dresses to preparing the food , it was really hectic. Because the instructions were pouring from all sides as ,

" It will be very cold in China ( I had google the weather forecast for the next 15 days in Beijing & confirm ), so get ready with thermal wears  "

Food will be a major problem in China, especially if you are a vegetarian, So carry the food !!
( I had to carry the Rice Cooker along with some packed groceries & food stuffs ).It was a great difficulty to bring down the weight of my baggage to less than 23 Kgs with all these stuffs.

You need to walk a lot , so take your shoes and socks ..

The Chinese do not know English , and in case if you fall sick ,you may need Emergency medicine kit to meet your needs. Else you might tell some problem to teh doctor , he might understand something and give some medicine for a different problem.

Also browsed about Chinese language , site seeing places to visit and got myself prepared mentally apart from the hell a lot of official things , which we were engaged.

One instant , which I 'd like to mention His Grace is , I was in need of a pretty good handbag to safguard my passport, dollars ,visa etc. Due to shoratge of time, I couldn't purchase one. But , it so happened that the previous day , a friend of mine asked me willingly if I 'm in need of a handbag by any chance , as she had one for sale .I  just grabbed it , as it was quite sturdy & robust .
Later on, it invited the comments from my colleagues as "The compunder bag"  ..that's a different issue altogether.

So with all the things, got set ready to take off to China via Hong Kong route. Myself along with 2 of my colleagues, one lady and one gentleman .

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  Jai Gurudev !!

Love & smiles...