Quarantine in Shanghai (Jun 2021)

I was so sad to see Shanghai going to lockdown for the recent flare of Omicron cases. I was there twice in 2021. Everything was so efficient, and the country was looking like a role model for the rest of the world.

Day 0 – Going to Shanghai

When I went to Shanghai in Nov 2021, there was very few people in the airport. The flight was flying at half capacity. This time, the flight was full. You can see the long queue for economy as kids fly back for the June holidays break.

The lounge was opened, but the same restricted as Nov applied. No buffet lines, we had to order our food from the online menu, but this time we had more choices.

But unlike the first trip when I could have a proper meal, the Chinese side had requested to stop the meal service going to Shanghai. We were only given a snack bag with dry food.

Arriving in Pudong

And the inflight service was stopped, and the inflight entertainment was limited. I was glad it was not a long flight. Finally, the announcement over the PA came about our descent into Pudong Airport. Usually the approach was quite smoggy. I had the best views in years of travel to Shanghai.

Doing for the second time, I was rather good at the procedures which, btw, had become more efficient as well. We were in and out of the immigration within 30 mins, but then the long wait for allocating the quarantine hotel remained. I was sent to quarantine hotel only 4 hours later.

Checking In

Finally I arrived at the quarantine hotel that was located in Jinshan after sitting in the shuttle bus for 2.5 hours. Jinshan is almost the border to Jiangsu. And the condition of the room! Compared with the first time, I was so disappointed by the standard of the room. Many in my group were asking for a change, but alas there would not be any changes allowed. Many were families coming home for the holidays, you can imagine why they would want to change.

Well, 既来之 则安之, since life gives you lemon, might as well make lemonade. Then the second shocker – the catered dinner was so horrible. The chicken was all bones, and you cannot order food delivery and there’s no room service. Sigh!

Luckily the internet connectivity in this place was very good. I could stream Class 95 most of time in the room to provide some music and catch up with the news from Singapore. The TV was all local channels, but luckily European Cup was on, so I was watching it for free.

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