Breakfast in Beijing

The meal I enjoy the most in Singapore is Breakfast. That is especially so during weekends. Normally wake up early around 7:30am and go for a slow jog around the mental institution which is surrounded by tall trees with lots of green. Air quality is fresh and traffic is less. The kuanyin statue at one of the hospital entrance also adds on some serenity and tranquility. Best moment comes after the jog i.e. Breakfast Time !! There are variety of breakfast items at the market near my house such as carrot cake, "wanton mee", "chee-cheongfun", roti-platta or even macdonalds and longjohn silver. Here in Beijing my daily breakfast is merely "Bimbo" brand bread and butter and coffee/tea "3-in-1" type. Nothing more !!

Dinner at home

I normally reach home at about 7pm on weekdays after work. It takes about 45 minutes road journey without jam. But clear road with no jam is a “dream” in Beijing. Even we set off at 5pm from office, I will still reach home after 6:30pm. With much exhaustion, I will normally skip dinner outside and replace it with fruits, salad, bread or just honey drink at home. If I really really need something to munch, the next best alternative will be the instant noodles. These noodles are with curry chicken, laksa or mee goreng flavor which I brought from Singapore. None of this flavor is available in Beijing. Most popular brand here is "Kang Shifu" or "康师傅" in Chinese. Mostly came with beef flavor which I do not like though some said that it tastes equally good.

春运

The hot topic now in town is about "Spring Transfer". There are millions and millions of people will start the "spring transfer" from this week onwards. 春运 refers to the movement back to the home town to celebrate the Lunar New Year with families. In order to manage this huge human movement all around main land, China government has given concession and encourage students to move first. Since the CNY is only less than 2 weeks from now, it is better for citizen to move early in order to avoid the crowd and to risk ticket "sold-out" situation. There are many transport company also starts to mark-up price discreetly even government guarantees that the price will not changed. "黄牛票" will be common and will be popular for the "last minutes" commuters.

Father-to-be

Remember the previous post about the cross-culture wedding between Binu, the only Indian colleague here and his Chinese wife ? He sms me this week (on Monday 29th Jan) with much joy amidst little nervousness from his message. His wife is one month pregnant ! He is rather good and sharp in shooting. I told him that his life-style and living patterns will be changed totally on the arrival of his first child. Focus point will be solely on the baby, even to the extend of starving himself and depriving all of his freedom, money and energy. Congratulations!