Its already December

And I have not posted a single thing last month.

Many things happened over the past month. I was very busy with many things to do and yet my mind was filled with too many things to post on the blog. But now when it is all said and done, there is nothign left in my memory.

Its like November just flew past me without me having done anything at all. Maybe I was occupied with a lot of unimportant things. Maybe they were important, but too many of them didnt make them any less important, just that being plain forgetful me, I forget how important each of them are to me (I would understand if you are already lost after that last sentence ;-p).

Well, I spent the last week of November in China for 8 days. I will do up a trvaelougue on that soon with pictures on Facebook. But at the moment, I'll just briefly state what we did while we were there.

Day 1: Arrived in Tianjin. Checked into hotel in the morning. Had Breakfast in the ultra cold weather. It was about 4 Celcius on the 1st day. Then walked all the way to the Drum Tower of Tianjin. Walked the huge square that was filled with touristy shops and then walked to GuWenHuaJie (Ancient Cultural Street). Headed back to hetol for a good rest aftera long day of walking and facing the blistering cold winter winds for the 1st time in our lives.

Day 2: Had breakfast literally on the streets, Temperature was about -6 to 7 celcius throughout the trip, so you can imagine how cold it is. Sitting by the roadside whiel trying to stuff hot food in your mouth in freezing cold weather is a crazy experience. Took a cab to Dabei Monastery. Then saw a relatively new attraction nearby, the Eye of Tianjin. Bought tickets in the afternoon and decided that it would be better if we took the ride at night. So we killed time by walking to a nearby shopping area with lots of wholesale clothing and accessories. Reminded me of Pratunam in Bangkok. However, bargaining skills are required here. Had lunch by buying street food again and ate in the cold air.

Went to the Eye of Tianjin at about 5pm and waited till 6pm (the sun sets earlier in winter) to take a ride. 1 ride is about 30 minutes and the cabins were huge and clean. Price: About RM 40 per person. After that walked to a restaurant for dinner before taking a cab to Heping Road, the main shopping street in Tianjin. Super long road and is closed to cars and has shops on boths sides. Can literally walk till ur legs break over there, esp in the cold weather. On the way back to the hotel that night, I was careless and forgetful enough to have left our dear Sony A300 in the cab. Said goodbye to it forever :-(

Day 3: Woke up to have breakfast, this time going inside the shop we went on the 1st day. Then slowly wlaked back to the hotel to pack up and head to Beijing. Left contact details just in case the cab driver is honest enough to return it to us.

Took a cab to the train station and bout our Tickets to Beijing for about rm40 each from a ticket vending machine. Train left every 15- 20 minutes. The first class seats very spacious and comfy. Travelling at speeds of 325kmph, we arrived in Beijing in only about 35 minutes. Took a cab to our hotel in downtown Beijing. Took almost an hour to find our hotel as it was located in a small hutong right behind WangFuJing (the main shopping district of Beijing, kinda like our Bukit Bintang, Sg Wang, Pavillion area, but much much bigger) area.

After checking into our hotel we walked to a WangFuJing attraction, an old Catholic church. It seems to be a hangout spot for teens as there was plenty of place to sit with lots of trees. We then Scouted about for lunch before spending the rest of the day (Window) shopping there.
After dinner, we booked a day trip to Great Wall Mutianyu and Ming Tombs for about RM70 each.

Day 4: Woke up early as we had to leave the hotel at 7 in the morning to head towards the Great Wall. The journey there by our mini tour would take us about 2 hours drive from Beijing. Arrived at about 9am and we took a cable car up to the middle part of the Wall. The wall was literally ours as there were hardly any tourists there that early! Spent about 2 hours wandering along the Wall and was awed every moment we were there. Later we left for lunch at a Jade factory before heading towards the Ming Tombs.

The Ming Tombs was the burial ground a 13 Chinese emperors. We were allowed to visit one only as 1 was only opened to the public. Each tomb has very very vast grounds. It stretches as far as the eye could see. And the gardens around it there has been around for hundreds of years and it is very well maintained. After that we dropped by a Silk factory to see how silk clothing was made. We then returned back to our hotel before heading out for dinner and a quick trip to Wu-Mart, the local equivalent of Wal Mart.

Day 5: We woke up and checked out of our not so fabulous hotel and moved to the hotel next door. Not way much better but it was comfortable enough for us, and even closer to the subway; now located less than 100m from our hotel door. Visited the Confucius Temple and the Imperial Academy before having late lunch. Then headed to the Olympic Games Village to see the world famous Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube. We stayed till dark as we wanted to see both buldings lighted up. We werent spared from the brutal cold winds and we were feeling so cold it actually hurts. Thankfully since it was dark early, the lights went on at 6 and we quickly took some pcitures and made our way back to the hotel at 7. We were so happy just to get into the subway station.

Day 6: On my Itinerary, it was supposed to be Beijing Zoo, then Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. We managed to go to Beijing Zoo to see the In the morning. Then my father friend in Beijing took us out for a lunch of a good Peking Duck. However, our lunch ended late and by the time we got to the Forbidden City, it was closed already at 3.45pm. And since it was a very cloudy day, it was pretty dark around Beijing and we couldnt take much pictures of Tiananmen Square. So we headed back to the hotel a break before going to GuiJie (Ghost Street) for some local Beijing Dinner.

We had the local favourite, Spicy soup Hotpot, which acutally costs us a bomb and super duper spicy. Who ever said that the Chinese cant eat spicy food should try the hotpot!! Lucky for me, i was spared from diarrhoea after the meal unlik several members of my family.

Day 7: Since we missed out Forbidden City and Tainanmen Square, we had to abandon plans to visit the SUmmer Palace, which was located 30 minutes outside the city. SO the Revised Itinerary was Forbidden City, Tiananmen, Ming Dynasty City Wall, Temple of Heaven and shopping at Hongqiao Market.

We arrived at the Forbidden City just as it opened ad 8.30 am and it was a good move as there weren't many ppl at that time. We spent about 2 hours wandering around the huge palace grounds and as we elft there were thousands of visitors streaming in. We then took some more pictures of the Tiananmen Square before having brunch near the Ming Dynasty City Wall.

The City wall is actually what is left after Chairman Mao demolished to expand the ever growing city of Beijing. It used to be the wall that was built around Beijing and any1 who wanted to get into the city then had to pass through the gates. Now only 1.5km stretch of the wall remains as the city is still rapidly growing.

We then moved on to the Temple of Heaven, the temple where only the Emperor would pray for good harvests and etc. Nice place as usual, very serene and green. After that we somehow still had the legs to go to Hongqiao Market for some shopping. Remember to bargain hard 50-60% off the quoted price is alright.

Later we had dinner with my father's friend again and this time we ate somewhere near our hotel. The Peking duck wasnt as nice, and it was more expensive, but it came with a slight performance as the chef sliced the roasted duck in front of us. After dinner, me, my sis and my cousin went to take see the Beijing Centre of Performing Arts near Tiananmen. THough it was freezing outside, the building looked stunning esp when you can see its reflection off the huge waterfront.

Day 8: Our last day in Bejing. Since our flight was 4pm, we had slenty of time to do some last minute things. I left at about 8.30 to wander the streets of Beijing on my own. Managed to find the Bell and Drum Towers, which was located only about 200m apart from each other. Then walked into one of the narrow Hutongs in Bejing, so narrow that at some part i can stretch both my arms i can touch both sides of the walls.

I then went to Chongwenmen area to do some last minute shopping for souvenirs and snacks. Went into Watsons, Mannings (which is Guardian in malaysia), as well as Lotte World supermarket.

I then made my way back to the hotel after buying KFC as my brunch. The rest of my family and relatives went back to hongqiao to do more last minute shopping / bargain hunting. We then checked out and left Beijing city and headed towards the airport. When we touched down in Malaysia the 1st thing that was on my mind is,"Damn its hot here!" LOL


Boodyboy, out!!