Beijing trip~ day 1 & 2

the first day was uneventful as we travelled from taiping to penang by bus, flew to singapore from there, then only to beijing. Seems that this trip only consisted of 15 tourists, who are mostly senior citizens excluding me and Mom. haiz.. I was the youngest among all, but i dun feel particularly happy about it TT_TT cos was thinking i might get to know some cute guys in town. bleh.. now all i got is old married couples and uncles old enuf to be my grandpa. ish.. our tour guide called Kumar Loh, was surprisingly a Chinese, cos judging by the name, anyone would have thought he's a mix or an Indian :p. He's short and stout, (i'm taller than him XD) and funny. Later found out that he's my Driving Instructor's big bro and i should have noticed earlier cos they had the same features :p Mr. Loh briefed us thoroughly about stuff to take note like our passport n money during the bus ride.

then when we reached penang airport, we went into the duty free area and bought chocolate. i got a tube of toblerone dark chocolate and daim sweets. happily we walked to the gate to wait for our flight. we departed and after 45 mins or so, we touched down in changi airport, which, to my delight, had free internet access! XD we had to wait there for 3 hours cos it was still 11pm, and our next flight to beijing is not until 1am. So i hogged over a com there as long as i could. Mom was browsing around the duty free shops aimlessly (sorry mom >"<) while i read manga, chatted using e-messenger and checked my mails. haha.. the connection was damn fast summore. After chatting with my taiwanese fren using online translator (yes, i'm too free XD) Mom came around, so i started to chat with my younger sis at home, to Mom's amazement. Mom asked if Dad's around, but the answer's no cos he's still repairing fridge in the shop. later on Mom went to the waiting lounge nearby and i continued browsing net until it's time to board the plane. [some kid at the com beside: Bro, that girl had been using the com for so long.. and she's giggling to the screen.. bro: ...]

In the plane, guess wat i watched? Densha Otoko the movie! hehe.. it was really good and i liked the densha here better than yamada-san. i can't believed that i saw jinkama-san in the show as a cameo! At the end i dun quite get it but yamada-san appeared, as well as Aoyama-san in the train scene, with the densha in movie as the cool guy hand locking the drunkard *_* Then i dropped dead at 3am after finishing the movie. Jz when i was starting to sleep better, i was waken up by the stewardess cos it's time for breakfast.. i check the time, and it's jz freakin 5am! it was the first time ever i'd eat breakfast this early. While eating and half sleeping, my flu came back! I can't believe that before reaching beijing i'm already like this. This is baaaaad.. Trying to get rid of the flu as i breathe in the hot steam from my tea, i saw the sun rising up amidst the cloud of melting red and yellow.. It was nice, with a wide spread of orange on the horizon, getting brighter and brighter. But before long the sun was glaring at us and i pity the passangers sitting near the side window ==|||

25 mins later we touched down in China Capital Airport (中国首都机场). the outside temperature was 16 degree Celsius, which was freezingly cold to us at first. my lips started to get really dry, and was forced to use lip gloss Mom brought along. Once we passed all the customs we were greeted by our beijing tour guide, Mr. Wang. He's a middle-aged guy and looked slightly plump cos of the thick jacket he's wearing. After everyone'd gathered, he led us to our bus. On the bus, i was busy trying to snap a pic of the airport but failed >"< *curse the moving bus* while our tour guide started to intro himself and then briefed us again about our belongings' as well as our own's safety. The drone goes on as i became more and more groggy with sleepiness. Before we proceed to our first tourist spot, we went for a light breakfast in the urban city. It was really good and of course after some food i've rejuvenated and ever ready to go XD. After this, we went to Tian An Square (天安广场) which was a vast clearing filled with sea of heads. At the square's south is president Mao's Memorial Hall (毛泽东纪念馆) which we din visit as the queue was from one corner to the other of the square =_=|||. To the West is a government building used by president mao before, and the North is the Emperor's palace (紫禁城), where we are heading after this. In the square we took a group picture, and were persuaded to buy it from the photographer as well as the album with beautiful scenic pictures. the tour guide was really persistant about this so we jz had to buy it to stop him nagging :p. [Mom: cincai la.. me: ...]

We were then given 10 minutes to walk around the square and snap pics. From the square there is this subway path for pedestrians to cross under the deadly highway in order to reach the palace's entrance, which is called suzuka door (朱雀门). Said that last time it's only the Emporor and higher rank officers can go pass it. others have to go in thru the side doors; on the left is the white tiger door (白虎门)for criminals, on the right is the dragon door（青龙门）, which is for the lower rank officers. Once inside the vicinity, i was awed. it was so wide and vast that i can't imagine how long it took to build the whole palace.. Now i know how filthy rich the emperor is, and how well he knew to enjoy life to the fullest. by jz looking at the ground, it was laid with almost hundred layers of stone bricks jz to prevent ppl digging a tunnel up the palace precinct. then there's numerous regal palaces in it, until there's an enormous palace, bigger than my whole house plus backyard jz for the emperor to change his clothes... *faints* See the pics, you'll be cursing him for wasting so much material+man power. This is the palace that all the emperor in Qing and Ming dynasty lived in. Besides, those HK movies also take their scenes here. At the end there's a garden with coral rocks piled up artistically as a back drop for the scenic view. it was really beautiful but my camera jz have to die on me at that moment.*grr..* grudgingly, we exited the palace through the genbu door （玄武门） on the south. We walked back to the bus, and felt like dying. I've never walked that long (3 hours of walking >"<) ever since my last visit to Shanghai. So when we were on the bus going towards lunch, i was dozing on and off, only remembering Mr. Wang emphasizing a zillion time about Beijing being a city full of Fengshui buildings and ornaments.

After lunch, which was only so-so, we were taken to shi cha hai(什刹海), one of the huge lakes in beijing. We sat on trishaw and went along the lakeside, which was said the olden part of beijing. it was very soothing, with the chilly wind blowing towards us and the weeping willows swaying gently along the lake. Luckily an uncle from our group help me and mom took a few pics. along the narrow paths called hu tong, there were shop lots with their ancient facade turned into pubs to attract foreigners. Before long, the ride ended, and we headed to our next destination, which was a shopping mall! haha.. there, Mom had fun bargaining and choosing branded imitations for dad and her frens. She bought 2 polo shirts and 4 tommy, at a total price of 280RMB (140 ringgit, so about 25 each @_@). After shedding blood and sweat over the bargain, we move on and it's my turn XD. i saw some really cool pants and tried them on. Suddenly i heard a loud Thump. Mom dropped the camera from my pouch, which i handed over to her! shit!! i was so dumbstruck that i almost forgot to put on my pants, and i broke my nail while buttoning up >"<. When we were told of the price, Mom practically glared at the salesgirl. 700RMB for imitation?! sial a? so we went off, after failing to bargain them into 100 RMB. Anyway, my mind was full of worry about the camera. Dad's gonna kill me if it's broken >_<|||

We went back to the bus and again i slept until we arrived in a restaurant for dinner, which was awful. So i jz stuff myself with rice and some vege and off we go to see Kung Fu performance at the cultural Opera. The performance was really impressive and i was in awe all the while, as the performers are using real Kung Fu 0_0||| they did really cool stunts like fly kicking, extreme break dancing, breaking wooden plank and metal sticks with their head and even swirling around in the air clinging on to nothing but jz a long piece of cloth hanging at the top. I'd never ever underestimate these ppl doing martial arts on TV again, cos it's so real.. and the performers are all teens and even primary school kids! sugoi desu!! Not to mention the lighting effects on stage was superb too. All in all it was worth us spending 90 ringgit for the ticket.


Day 3~

i was waken up by mom at 7am and washed up groggily. As we went down the hotel room for breakfast, mom told me that when she woke up at 6sth, she was shocked cos it's too late to prepare to work, and then mystified when she saw she's not on her own bedroom. then only she remembers she's in beijing. what can i say.. like mother like daughter? :p So i told her about the incident the other day when Dex came to our house. He slept until evening after test, and thought it's morning already, and rush up to my room asking me why i din wake him up for the night to study. Me was equally blur at that time and din know wat dex was talking about. so in the end, i realized that he'd thought like i did when i first woke up in the evening too, thinking it's already the next day XD. Anyway, back to breakfast. i can't believe that the buffet had nothing much left for us, even though it's jz 7.40am! Damn.. hungrily i jz grabbed some edible leftovers and gobbled them down with a cup of diluted milk.

Our first destination for the day was Beijing's underwater world. Thought it'd be some awesome place but it proved me wrong. If you have been to the one in Singapore Sentosa Island, what awaited me will be sheer disappointment. There is this underwater tunnel no doubt, with the escalator along, but there isn't much underwater creature to behold, which should be the main attraction! haiz.. so we went out of the tunnel and see colourful fishes in aquariums instead. there's even penguins! kinda cute and energetic they were. Before the scheduled time, we've already finish sightseeing. So we walked back to our bus, but before that, we saw some hawkers selling fruits, to be exact, fresh dates (the dried up ones we use to cook soup). Curious, Mom bought half a kilo of it and we munched all teh way in the bus. They were very crispy and crunchy, like a limau sized apple. XD

We finished the dates before reaching our next spot, which is heaven's palace (天坛). It is a place there the emperor used to held prayers and ceremony to the heaven god. Around the palace the precinct was made into a garden for public, where we can see old ppl exercising and even playing music like flute and erhu. It was a really pleasant place to take walks, among the pine trees, willows and other greenary. The weather was cooling and refreshing too. Later on we went into the compounds of the palace and listen to the historical stuff told by Mr. Wang. Took a few pics and then we went back into the warm bus. It was jz 11.15am, so before lunch, our tour guide brought us to the official shop selling enamel ornaments that are really famous in ancient Beijing, and even now. We were briefed about the process of making it and then led to the stall. Mom chose the souvenirs for her friends and i jz looked around with her, feeling kinda bored cos the ornaments are old fashioned.











Finally when she got wat she wanted, we left for lunch. although the food was jz ok, the restaurant was situated at a really scenic spot, at the bei hai（北海） lakeside. At about 2pm, we went to another shopping mall selling fake stuff. There we search around for dad's backpack and we found it, only after asking one of the stall owners. They din dare to display it cos that time there were raids going on. Dad wanted North Face brand and they have them, so mom bargain again, for about 20 minutes i guess @__@ at the end, we got 2 backpacks plus a genuine leather purse for 340RMB. If i'm in my mom's place, i'd die of embarrassment. After the great haul, we headed to an official tea selling shop near the outskirt of town. The tea was nice with soothing fragrant to warm our dry cold throats. yet, after the salesgirl had done promoting all the famous types of tea and finished letting us taste a couple of cups, mom din budge to even approach the samples. At the end almost all our ppl bought, except us cos Mom had bought tons of them when she last visited Yun Nam.^_^;

By then i can't wait for dinner, which was really delicious and i swear my judgement is not misleaded by hunger. When we were heading back to hotel, the traffic was congested with buses moving bumper to bumper, cos it's friday and everyone's heading home. Wasted an hour on the road but i've slept thru it again.. think i'm getting more like a pig everyday... *shivers*


Day 4~

After waking up at 7am, we went down quite early compared to yesterday, but the food was already scarce... damn. Same old food and was awful as yesterday's. Oily and super salty fried mee, fried rice, boiled egg and a cup of milk. getting sick of them =_=

Before long we were in our bus ready to go to our first stop- pearls breading & selling shop. The promoter there led us to an aquarium of clamps, and then fished out one while explaining how pearls are formed. Then she open up one for us to see. I can't believe that inside the palmsized 5-year-old clamp were 29 tiny pearls! @__@ Amazing.. Hence we browsed around looking at the pearl accessories and products. Bought the pearl daily facial cream, pearl bracelets for souvenirs and a ring for Mom.

Satisfied, off we went to the Summer palace (颐和园). Seems that the emperor came here during summer to get away from the heat. the weather was kinda warm (21oC actually) and the sun was glaring down on us when we went in the garden. Ignoring the shine, we followed our tour guide closed as the garden was seething with tourists of different races.. It wasn't quite enjoyable having to jostle and push against others jz to get a closer look at the antiques in the palaces. After awhile, We reached the longest corridor stretching along the lake side in the garden. it was about 1000 Meters, which leads us to the marble boat built by the emperor to spend time in. Too bad it's too far and we din walk until there. But the corridor itself proved to be very interesting with all the paintings etched inside the rooftop and pillars, which depicts all the legends and stories told in china.


After the long walk, we went back to bus and move to a 貔貅 museum (pronounced pi xiu). It is a mystical animal which looked like a lion without it's mane, but with a horn and wings instead. The manager of the museum who's a fengshui sensei too, explained about the immense influence of Fengshui in Beijing, until the whole city is built up according to Fengshui potisions. Most of the time we can hardly understand wat he's saying but we jz know he's good. every sentence he speaks was like poem. =_=||| Then he showed us a 貔貅 of a size of a real lion, and taught us how to 'touch' it to bring on good luck XD. First we hold the horn and ears, then move down to its beard, then it's front paws, its wings, then at last, its bottom... >"< have to rub it in circle for 3 times, cos supposedly we are gathering all the good luck doing that and keep the 'luck' in our pockets. It was hilarious seeing ppl doing it and me following suit.. bunch of pervs.. :p

At noon, we ate buffet, Mongolian style. there's grill mutton, lamp stick, grilled beef as well as other western and eastern cuisine. There's even performances on stage near the dining room but honestly i was doing more eating than looking XD. Damn repleted as i tried to stuff myself with scoops of icecream for dessert. In the bus, we were told that it cost about 100 ringgit per person for the meal 0_0||| At that time, little that i know the meal's going to be a nightmare to me afterwards...

In the afternoon, we went shopping again (our schedule's arranged like that so that we'll not feel tired, said Mr. Wang). We went to a famous place called 老番街, which means alien street in english.0_0||| it's actually a mall hosting stalls selling fake stuffs again. There were alot of branded shoes and so i got myself a nike sports and a Timberland Hiking shoes for dad. and guess wat? each of them jz cost 30 ringgit XD. We were really glad when we gather back with our group, and were perplexed as everyone's laughing at some kind of joke. Later on Mr. Loh told us that while we were shopping our one of our group mates were insulted behind their back by the salesgirls, thinking that we din know mandarin. They said that we can only afford to window shop cos we are stone broke fellows not having a penny to our names... haiz, so surprised that they'd discriminate their potential income bearers.

Anyway, our groupmates were sporting and took it as a joke, and off we went to 王府井街 (wang fu jin street) and 东华门夜市 (donghuamen market), which are really busy streets seething with tourists. In the latter, there's jz stalls at the roadside welling weird food like grilled larva, animal intestines, starfish (wtf?!), sea urchins and some other unheard of stuff with absurdly high price.
Actually i've seen the pics of that market on internet and already knew its notorious name. So we moved on to wang fu jin street and bought alot of souvenirs there. After that, we ate dinner and then return to hotel. It was jz 7pm when we reached, so mom and I along with some other groupmates went walking around the shop lots near our hotel. saw a internet cafe but din go in *sob* cos mom said it's late already TT_TT. saw the rate.. 3RMB for an hour?! that's so cheap man. haiz..

next post~