Arrival in China

Finally back to China! Even though my last trip to China was only 8 months ago, I am looking forward to the Middle Kingdom again. However, the start is quite tedious because the online check-in for the flight isn't working. Although the countdown for check-in appears in the Austrian Airlines app, which is part of Lufthansa, and I click the button at the exact second, I am redirected to the Chinese website of Air China. Naturally, check-in doesn't work there because we purchased the ticket from Austrian Airlines and only the flight is operated by Air China. Even phone calls provide no solution – a disappointing performance by the Lufthansa subsidiary, and as a result, this is guaranteed to be our last ticket with the Lufthansa group. However, check-in at Vienna Airport goes smoothly, and the landing in Beijing (the Chinese original name for Peking) is an hour earlier than planned after nearly 9 hours of flight. The large suitcase is slightly damaged, but Air China quickly takes a picture of the damaged corner and hands us a new suitcase. Nevertheless, we now have to trudge through Beijing with all our bags. Unfortunately, I then encounter a mishap with my smartphone. I am unable to unlock the metro function in the Alipay app as I have already used the metro with my passport number in another account. Last year, I foolishly created a new account with my Chinese phone number while I already had an account with my German phone number. Therefore, I delete my metro usage in my old account, which I initiate, but it takes some processing time due to potential balance checks. Now I find myself in a trap: The metro function for the old account is deactivated, the new account references my passport number in the old account, and the other payment function from Weixin (WeChat) requires registration with a local ID. Fortunately, one can quickly and easily buy a plastic card as a ticket for each trip at the machine, and it is possible to pay with a smartphone, but it is easier if one just needs to hold the smartphone to the station gates. After exhausting errands in the Yansha Business District, we go into a pork knuckle restaurant. Of course, I have something else on my plate, but I can read the menu in German via a QR code with the translation function in my smartphone's browser. Naturally, orders and payments are made via smartphone. At 7.50 euros for two people, including drinks and soup, it is already quite expensive for us. But now, onward to the South Station, as we just want to go home; the long flight and the entire morning in the capital have drained our energy. There are many routes with various subways to the South Station, but with transfer stations that lack escalators and elevators, making it difficult to carry luggage up the stairs. This time, we hit a better transfer station. At Shilihe station (from Sanyuanqiao, take line 10 and then line 14), there are only a few troublesome steps; otherwise, an elevator brings us to the platforms. The South Station is packed. Even though three to four high-speed trains depart to Cangzhou every hour, many trains are fully booked. As a result, we wait in the seating area of the station for 1.5 hours and doze off. In 50 minutes of travel time, we then speed to Cangzhou at 300 km/h and take a taxi home. However, the long-unused apartment is dusty again, and despite our great fatigue, we start cleaning the house. Dinner is ordered from MediaMarkt - just kidding, of course, it's from JD.com, a well-known food delivery service in China (see also my LionPost 2025/14), which will soon be the main owner of the MediaMarkt group in Germany. This costs 3 euros for two people, including delivery, but excluding drinks and soup. The food is tasty, and afterwards, we collapse into bed, totally exhausted. A tiring first day of vacation.