The bus journey to the hotel took about an hour to an hour and a half. Im glad that there was only eight of us on the bus as it meant we got to spread out. The driver was in full hazmat gear and roped off from us. It was weird leaving the airport and driving along the empty roads. Traffic must have really dropped off now there are so few international flights and I presume domestic flights still arent at levels. Looking at the slightly hazy sky, I was thinking yes I am back. The nice empty roads didnt last too long and as we got further into central Shanghai, we met up with plenty of traffic. I was starting to get a bit travel sick on the bus as I was so tired and there was this ringing/buzzing noise going off on the bus which was sending me insane. We came off the motorway and into district. I was trying to follow along on my map app where we were, but since it is all in Chinese I was clueless. Later, I found out that I was staying in Minhang District. Every time we
passed a hotel I was sad if it looked nice and happy if it looked crappy. I have to say I didnt really have that high expectations when we finally pulled up to our hotel, the Home Inn Selected.
The bus pulled up in the car park around the back. We were greeted by people in hazmat suits shouting at us. I had no clue what they were saying, so I just followed the others. We had to get our bags from under the bus and then piled all our luggage up so that they could be sprayed with disinfectant. We had to stand at the other side while this was being done. Then we collected our bags and walked round to the entrance. We lined up, were given an information sheet and once again shouted at in Chinese. I only got a few things; the room price, the food price and that we couldnt use the air con (for heat). A nice bloke (passenger from my flight) asked if I had understood, so I said not really and he went over some of the points I hadnt understood. There were some QR codes that
I had to scan and add the accounts to my WeChat. These were for the hotel and the hotels medical team. He also told me when we could check out, the same time we had checked in in two weeks time. Also he explained the pills that the staff were giving us were for the toilet. You had to put 2 tablets down the toilet when you have a number one and ten when you have a number two. Then leave it all to brew for 30 minutes before flushing. Next up was payment. Luckily, the hotel accepted credit cards as I would have been screwed if they didnt. I have heard that some places only accept Chinese forms of payment i.e. WeChat and Alipay. The total fee was 5,600 RMB; 4,200 RMB was the room fee and 1,400 RMB was the food fee. I know in some places you can skip paying for food and just order in your own, but for ease I couldnt be bothered to find out if that was possible here and just paid it. Then I was given my bag of toilet pills, a mask and a thermometer and led to my room by
Im happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised by my room. The brief outside glimpse I got of the hotel didnt look great and the corridors looked like they were undergoing renovation, I think it was that the original flooring was covered with lino and the walls were a bit scruffy because everything is sprayed with disinfectant daily and it just dries in big white clumps. Anyway, back to the room. I have seen some shockers of rooms that people have had to quarantine in and was mentally prepared for the worst. Ive also seen some really nice hotel quarantine rooms, but didnt think I would be lucky enough to get one of those, not unless I was forking out big bucks. There were pros and cons for the room, which I will go over. Pros - The room was nice and modern. There were loads of plugs and USB charging points. The big windows let in plenty of natural light, which was great on non overcast days. Since the room was on the back of the hotel, there was little noise. The bed and the duvet was
super thick so you could get nice and snuggly.
Characters
Write Comment
