Originally posted on Thu, 9 June 2005.
~~~~~
just want to share my trip to beijing. actually i was supposed to go with mummy, lin and her sister, but things happened. mummy had to undergo surgery in early april. 2 weeks before our departure date, the agent called to say that they could only offer us beijing/tianjin/chengde trip [instead of beijing/shanghai and a few other towns thrown in which we initially signed up for] as some people had withdrawn from the tour and that the trip dates would be a few days later than planned.
lin & her sister had no problems with the new dates but i wasn't comfortable. so i spent the remainder of the friday afternoon finding other agents and alhamdulillah managed to find one organising a muslim tour [our 1st agent does not offer a muslim tour]. so i joined this tour bymyself; lin & her sister proceeded with the 1st agency. although it's a muslim tour, there were 5 chinese and 2 indian ladies joining the tour.
left KUL just after midnight on thursday [so it was technically already friday,20 may 2005]. we flew air china. funny folks they have on board there as cabin crew. the 'economoney' class somehow seemed smaller in comparison to MAS and they tried serving us some meal [supper, i shd think] an hour after take-off. at that hour of the day, sleep was foremost in my mind... the crew also quietly went about with the drinks and if you were halfway into slumberland, you'd miss them. they must have made two trips up and down the aisle, once after take-off and once before. alhamdulillah i brought some mineral water or i would have arrived dehydrated!
arrived at 6.30 am and it was so bright already! cleared through customs and retrieved bags. the tour guide met us at the arrival hall, introducing himself as nicholas. he spoke quite good english. apparently may is the best time to visit beijing as it gets too hot fr june onwards [also rainy season falls in summer] and other months nov-april could be too cold [travel agent told me the same when i asked why june tour prices looked so cheap]. we then boarded a coach and went to a muslim restaurant for breakfast. the traffic was already building and the roads were filled with cars - loads of them with VWs being the firm favourites, all made in china; bicycles [abt 11 million of them in a city of 13 million people!]; buses - some looking so not road-worthy, most looking ok, the city is after all preparing for the 2008 olympics; taxis [same as buses, some very modern, some quite drab] and people, people everywhere. beijing is eight times the size of Hong Kong.
after breakfast, went to the summer
palace. the area's quite massive. it has a man-made lake and we took a boat across the lake. i remember wondering why i couldn't seem to see any fish in the lake. i could see lots of algae-like plants though. the breezy boat-ride was comfortable and sure did wonders for appetite.
went to another muslim restaurant for lunch. we were besieged by street peddlers as we waited for the bus to get to the restaurants and also when we arrived at the restaurant. i felt bad for not purchasing anything but whatever they were selling didn't look particularly appealing or useful, at least to me. we were then ferried to our hotel [phew!] for a brief rest. that evening, we convened at the lobby, went for dinner at yet another muslim restaurant and then went for an acrobatic show. i didn't think i
would enjoy it that much and i was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be very entertaining. in short, i was mesmerised! but my soft side again prevailed -couldn't help feeling sad for the small girls [about 3 of them, roughly abt 6/7years of age]. somehow seemed like child abuse to me! i mean, what kind of life do they lead anyway, practising by day and performing by night, every day of their short childhood? my consolation is if they don't know what they're missing, then they probably [and hopefully] won't miss it.
day two [saturday]: cloudy start to the day. after breakfast [mainly porridge and if one's lucky, some fried rice], went to the Government Jade Factory. apparently this is the best place to buy jade [and where you can purchase jade at the lowest price. it supplies to other private shops and we were told that it would cost us more if we purchase jade at private shops]. now, there are three classes of hard jade: A, B and C. A is the most expensive but according to nicholas, not necessarily the most beautiful pieces. you can tell the difference by holding a piece of jade against the light or by beating against it. if it has a clear sound, it is of A class.
we then went to a Crystal Factory [aka Crystal Palace...haha!], surprise, surprise it's also Govt-owned. i wasn't too impressed with the items on display; i'm sure that we have better ones in KL. the non-muslims then went to the Ming Tomb; the muslims went for lunch and there's a prayer room near the restaurant [they even provided slippers to enable us perform our ablutions!]. the group reassembled at 2 pm and we then left for the Juyongguan Great Wall.
the Great Wall spans 6700km and if i'm not mistaken, it was built by the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty to prevent attacks from enemies from the north. there's a watching tower every 400m. from afar, i could see it was going to be a steep climb. thankfully, our group spent 3 hours there, allowing those who wanted to climb to the top ample time to do. nicholas said it takes him an average of an hour to climb and it took us exactly that! good thing too that it wasn't too hot then, the clouds were only starting to clear from the morning rain.
day three [sunday]: went to the beijing zoo early in the morning to see the panda. pandas normally get up around 8 or so, are fed their breakfast of bamboo shoots and after that they have a long nap. so it's essential, according to nicholas, that we arrive early to see them, otherwise, they'd already be sleeping off their breakfast.
next, we headed for the China Preserving Health Training Centre where we each got a free health check [just by checking our pulses and palms! but still amazingly accurate!] following which we were recommended pills. they don't come cheap though, ranging from 520 yuan [~RM260] to thousands of yuan! after that we were given a brief massage followed by a longer foot massage. after the Great Wall climb, this was a welcome. spent a good part of the morning there. all the massaging made us very hungry so we proceeded to lunch and after that, to a nearby masjid. it looked like any traditional chinese structure, save for the spire.
Forbidden City was our next destination, we entered it from the North Gate and walked across it to the South Gate. some facts about the Forbidden City: distance from one end to another - 960 metres[!] from East to West, it is 750 metres wide. total size: about 72 hectares. built in 1406-1420 during the third emperor. a total of 24 emperors [or 500 years] lived there. a few of my fellow travellers were already complaining by the time we exited the South Gate. they never imagined they'd be walking so much in beijing!
we then passed the Mao Zedong [sp?] Gate and crossed the road to Tianenmen Square. it's massive! the body of the great Chairman Mao lies in a mausoleum behind the monument and according to nicholas, his coffin is made of cystal. after all those walk above the ground, we then went to the Underground City [aka Great Wall City, so called bcos the length of the entire underground city is longer than the Great Wall!!]. it was constructed, by hand [china didn't have modern machinery then and very little money too], in the late 1960s to house citizens in case of attack from the Soviets [as it was known then]. it could accommodate up to 100, 000 people down there and besides houses, it also has hospitals, theatres, factories, schools... we were not allowed to take pictures or capture images on video down there. very strict! most sections of the u/ground city have been blocked but the guide explained that one could actually walk along a corridor all the way to the great wall [3 days' walk], another corridor to tianjin [a city 1.5 hours' drive away - this could take 7 days & 7 nights of walking], and yet another leading to the forbidden city. we were led down one corridor and we found ourselves in a minisilk-factory [we were no longer surprised].
day four [monday]: the morning traffic was back again! this morning, we went to the Bang Fa Chun Pearl Store, and yes, you guess it, another Govt-owned factory.[i was beginning to wonder if our itinerary was also drawn up by the Govt]. the pearl all come from fresh-water oysters, which they apparently breed in the lake of the summer palace. aha! that was probably why i didn't see any fish at all in the lake. i love pearl and the jewellery displays were just amazing. however, i read previously that salt-water pearls are more exclusive than fresh-water pearls as the former are harder to obtain.
we were then taken to the bell museum [which as the name suggests, is a museum for bells of all sizes. it also houses the largets bell in the world]. there's this one gigantic bell which they ring every New Year [not Lunar NewYear/chinese new year]. one could, if so wish, pay thousands of yuan for the privilege of ringing this bell [it costs more the first time, and the cost reduces with every successful attempt to ring the bell]. we next visited Dr Tea, a tea house [and yes, owned by the Govt] selling all kinds of tea, very expensive too! we were given samples of each tea. after lunch, we went to Tianjin. after solat at a masjid, we went to the cultural street [literally just a strip of lane with peddlers lining up the street selling antiques, souvenirs, trinkets...] and to the food street. a few stores are muslim-owned so boleh membeli tanpa was was. if i'm not mistaken,some olympic games will be held in this city too. we returned to beijing after dinner.
day five [tuesday]: this morning, the muslims went to a cloissone or enamel factory [nicholas didn't mention it but i'm sure it's Govt-owned]. it looked like a dilapidated building from outside but it housed wonderful enamel pieces like gigantic vases, lion statues, jewellery etc etc. the non-muslims went to a temple nearby. after an hour or so, we reassembled and were taken to Old Beijing where we had a tricycle ride around the narrow streets of old beijing before heading for beihai park [also has a man-made lake], which is just across the 
street from the north gate end of the forbidden city. next destination is the sanli tun ya show market [aka silk street]. it's actually a mall-version of petaling street with 6 levels: the basement is where the shoes, belts & bag sare sold; the 1st and 2nd floors [or ground and 1st floors to us] are where the clothes are; the 3rd floor specialises in silk, bed & table linen, children's clothing; 4th flooor - pearls, crystal jewellery, cloissone products; and 5th floor food hall - with food stalls andshops selling snacks. the ladies all went crazy here, picking up bargains. i was more interested in tablelinen stuff.
me with the weak bladder found to my horror that some toilets at silk street do not have doors and yet people still do their business there oblivious to others! we spent about 1.5 hours at silk street, then we went for lunch before our journey to chengde, about 4.5 hours to the north of beijing. nicholas bade farewell to us before we left beijing and he was replaced by cindy [she didn't speak english as fluently though]. the ride to chengde was a bumpy one at times and our new driver was happy pressing the horn every few hundred metres. we saw some stretches of the great wall remains but mostly it was a poor countryside. agriculture is the main activity for miles. we stopped once for our 'toiletbreak'. finally reached chengde later in the evening. we were told that chengde has a mixed population of han, manchurians and other minorities. hotel chengde, where we spent the night, was better than the hotel in beijing.
day six [wednesday]: went to the summer resort where the royalties used to flock to escape the summer heat. this time, the lake is natural. the resort is also massive. we walked around [refused to take the boat which would cause us to part with yuan which would better be spent on shopping], it was relaxing stroll. a few suggested we leave for beijing earlier so that they could shop again. even cindy commented a few times that muslim tourists like to shop [chinese tourists just like to visit places and eat]. reached beijing, well specifically silk street, at5 pm and shopping spree began again! after dinner, we drove along chong hu street [sp?]. this street is 50 km long and apparently many corporations want to have their address there.
before we went back to the hotel, we stopped at wangfu jin street, i think it's a high class area in beijing. most shops were already closing though. reached hotel close to 11 pm.
seventh and final day [thursday]: went to men's street - also a shopping mall, despite the name. sells things similar to that at silk street. it just opened end of april 2005. not many people about. next to it is another complex called 'alien's street'. finally found artificial flowers that i wanted. after lunch, went to the airport for our journey home. arrived at KLIA 2315 pm, 26 may 2005.
that's all for now.
~~~~~
just want to share my trip to beijing. actually i was supposed to go with mummy, lin and her sister, but things happened. mummy had to undergo surgery in early april. 2 weeks before our departure date, the agent called to say that they could only offer us beijing/tianjin/chengde trip [instead of beijing/shanghai and a few other towns thrown in which we initially signed up for] as some people had withdrawn from the tour and that the trip dates would be a few days later than planned.
lin & her sister had no problems with the new dates but i wasn't comfortable. so i spent the remainder of the friday afternoon finding other agents and alhamdulillah managed to find one organising a muslim tour [our 1st agent does not offer a muslim tour]. so i joined this tour bymyself; lin & her sister proceeded with the 1st agency. although it's a muslim tour, there were 5 chinese and 2 indian ladies joining the tour.
left KUL just after midnight on thursday [so it was technically already friday,20 may 2005]. we flew air china. funny folks they have on board there as cabin crew. the 'economoney' class somehow seemed smaller in comparison to MAS and they tried serving us some meal [supper, i shd think] an hour after take-off. at that hour of the day, sleep was foremost in my mind... the crew also quietly went about with the drinks and if you were halfway into slumberland, you'd miss them. they must have made two trips up and down the aisle, once after take-off and once before. alhamdulillah i brought some mineral water or i would have arrived dehydrated!
arrived at 6.30 am and it was so bright already! cleared through customs and retrieved bags. the tour guide met us at the arrival hall, introducing himself as nicholas. he spoke quite good english. apparently may is the best time to visit beijing as it gets too hot fr june onwards [also rainy season falls in summer] and other months nov-april could be too cold [travel agent told me the same when i asked why june tour prices looked so cheap]. we then boarded a coach and went to a muslim restaurant for breakfast. the traffic was already building and the roads were filled with cars - loads of them with VWs being the firm favourites, all made in china; bicycles [abt 11 million of them in a city of 13 million people!]; buses - some looking so not road-worthy, most looking ok, the city is after all preparing for the 2008 olympics; taxis [same as buses, some very modern, some quite drab] and people, people everywhere. beijing is eight times the size of Hong Kong.
after breakfast, went to the summer
palace. the area's quite massive. it has a man-made lake and we took a boat across the lake. i remember wondering why i couldn't seem to see any fish in the lake. i could see lots of algae-like plants though. the breezy boat-ride was comfortable and sure did wonders for appetite. went to another muslim restaurant for lunch. we were besieged by street peddlers as we waited for the bus to get to the restaurants and also when we arrived at the restaurant. i felt bad for not purchasing anything but whatever they were selling didn't look particularly appealing or useful, at least to me. we were then ferried to our hotel [phew!] for a brief rest. that evening, we convened at the lobby, went for dinner at yet another muslim restaurant and then went for an acrobatic show. i didn't think i
would enjoy it that much and i was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be very entertaining. in short, i was mesmerised! but my soft side again prevailed -couldn't help feeling sad for the small girls [about 3 of them, roughly abt 6/7years of age]. somehow seemed like child abuse to me! i mean, what kind of life do they lead anyway, practising by day and performing by night, every day of their short childhood? my consolation is if they don't know what they're missing, then they probably [and hopefully] won't miss it.day two [saturday]: cloudy start to the day. after breakfast [mainly porridge and if one's lucky, some fried rice], went to the Government Jade Factory. apparently this is the best place to buy jade [and where you can purchase jade at the lowest price. it supplies to other private shops and we were told that it would cost us more if we purchase jade at private shops]. now, there are three classes of hard jade: A, B and C. A is the most expensive but according to nicholas, not necessarily the most beautiful pieces. you can tell the difference by holding a piece of jade against the light or by beating against it. if it has a clear sound, it is of A class.
we then went to a Crystal Factory [aka Crystal Palace...haha!], surprise, surprise it's also Govt-owned. i wasn't too impressed with the items on display; i'm sure that we have better ones in KL. the non-muslims then went to the Ming Tomb; the muslims went for lunch and there's a prayer room near the restaurant [they even provided slippers to enable us perform our ablutions!]. the group reassembled at 2 pm and we then left for the Juyongguan Great Wall.
the Great Wall spans 6700km and if i'm not mistaken, it was built by the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty to prevent attacks from enemies from the north. there's a watching tower every 400m. from afar, i could see it was going to be a steep climb. thankfully, our group spent 3 hours there, allowing those who wanted to climb to the top ample time to do. nicholas said it takes him an average of an hour to climb and it took us exactly that! good thing too that it wasn't too hot then, the clouds were only starting to clear from the morning rain.
day three [sunday]: went to the beijing zoo early in the morning to see the panda. pandas normally get up around 8 or so, are fed their breakfast of bamboo shoots and after that they have a long nap. so it's essential, according to nicholas, that we arrive early to see them, otherwise, they'd already be sleeping off their breakfast.
next, we headed for the China Preserving Health Training Centre where we each got a free health check [just by checking our pulses and palms! but still amazingly accurate!] following which we were recommended pills. they don't come cheap though, ranging from 520 yuan [~RM260] to thousands of yuan! after that we were given a brief massage followed by a longer foot massage. after the Great Wall climb, this was a welcome. spent a good part of the morning there. all the massaging made us very hungry so we proceeded to lunch and after that, to a nearby masjid. it looked like any traditional chinese structure, save for the spire.
Forbidden City was our next destination, we entered it from the North Gate and walked across it to the South Gate. some facts about the Forbidden City: distance from one end to another - 960 metres[!] from East to West, it is 750 metres wide. total size: about 72 hectares. built in 1406-1420 during the third emperor. a total of 24 emperors [or 500 years] lived there. a few of my fellow travellers were already complaining by the time we exited the South Gate. they never imagined they'd be walking so much in beijing!
we then passed the Mao Zedong [sp?] Gate and crossed the road to Tianenmen Square. it's massive! the body of the great Chairman Mao lies in a mausoleum behind the monument and according to nicholas, his coffin is made of cystal. after all those walk above the ground, we then went to the Underground City [aka Great Wall City, so called bcos the length of the entire underground city is longer than the Great Wall!!]. it was constructed, by hand [china didn't have modern machinery then and very little money too], in the late 1960s to house citizens in case of attack from the Soviets [as it was known then]. it could accommodate up to 100, 000 people down there and besides houses, it also has hospitals, theatres, factories, schools... we were not allowed to take pictures or capture images on video down there. very strict! most sections of the u/ground city have been blocked but the guide explained that one could actually walk along a corridor all the way to the great wall [3 days' walk], another corridor to tianjin [a city 1.5 hours' drive away - this could take 7 days & 7 nights of walking], and yet another leading to the forbidden city. we were led down one corridor and we found ourselves in a minisilk-factory [we were no longer surprised].
day four [monday]: the morning traffic was back again! this morning, we went to the Bang Fa Chun Pearl Store, and yes, you guess it, another Govt-owned factory.[i was beginning to wonder if our itinerary was also drawn up by the Govt]. the pearl all come from fresh-water oysters, which they apparently breed in the lake of the summer palace. aha! that was probably why i didn't see any fish at all in the lake. i love pearl and the jewellery displays were just amazing. however, i read previously that salt-water pearls are more exclusive than fresh-water pearls as the former are harder to obtain.
we were then taken to the bell museum [which as the name suggests, is a museum for bells of all sizes. it also houses the largets bell in the world]. there's this one gigantic bell which they ring every New Year [not Lunar NewYear/chinese new year]. one could, if so wish, pay thousands of yuan for the privilege of ringing this bell [it costs more the first time, and the cost reduces with every successful attempt to ring the bell]. we next visited Dr Tea, a tea house [and yes, owned by the Govt] selling all kinds of tea, very expensive too! we were given samples of each tea. after lunch, we went to Tianjin. after solat at a masjid, we went to the cultural street [literally just a strip of lane with peddlers lining up the street selling antiques, souvenirs, trinkets...] and to the food street. a few stores are muslim-owned so boleh membeli tanpa was was. if i'm not mistaken,some olympic games will be held in this city too. we returned to beijing after dinner.
day five [tuesday]: this morning, the muslims went to a cloissone or enamel factory [nicholas didn't mention it but i'm sure it's Govt-owned]. it looked like a dilapidated building from outside but it housed wonderful enamel pieces like gigantic vases, lion statues, jewellery etc etc. the non-muslims went to a temple nearby. after an hour or so, we reassembled and were taken to Old Beijing where we had a tricycle ride around the narrow streets of old beijing before heading for beihai park [also has a man-made lake], which is just across the 
street from the north gate end of the forbidden city. next destination is the sanli tun ya show market [aka silk street]. it's actually a mall-version of petaling street with 6 levels: the basement is where the shoes, belts & bag sare sold; the 1st and 2nd floors [or ground and 1st floors to us] are where the clothes are; the 3rd floor specialises in silk, bed & table linen, children's clothing; 4th flooor - pearls, crystal jewellery, cloissone products; and 5th floor food hall - with food stalls andshops selling snacks. the ladies all went crazy here, picking up bargains. i was more interested in tablelinen stuff.me with the weak bladder found to my horror that some toilets at silk street do not have doors and yet people still do their business there oblivious to others! we spent about 1.5 hours at silk street, then we went for lunch before our journey to chengde, about 4.5 hours to the north of beijing. nicholas bade farewell to us before we left beijing and he was replaced by cindy [she didn't speak english as fluently though]. the ride to chengde was a bumpy one at times and our new driver was happy pressing the horn every few hundred metres. we saw some stretches of the great wall remains but mostly it was a poor countryside. agriculture is the main activity for miles. we stopped once for our 'toiletbreak'. finally reached chengde later in the evening. we were told that chengde has a mixed population of han, manchurians and other minorities. hotel chengde, where we spent the night, was better than the hotel in beijing.
day six [wednesday]: went to the summer resort where the royalties used to flock to escape the summer heat. this time, the lake is natural. the resort is also massive. we walked around [refused to take the boat which would cause us to part with yuan which would better be spent on shopping], it was relaxing stroll. a few suggested we leave for beijing earlier so that they could shop again. even cindy commented a few times that muslim tourists like to shop [chinese tourists just like to visit places and eat]. reached beijing, well specifically silk street, at5 pm and shopping spree began again! after dinner, we drove along chong hu street [sp?]. this street is 50 km long and apparently many corporations want to have their address there.
before we went back to the hotel, we stopped at wangfu jin street, i think it's a high class area in beijing. most shops were already closing though. reached hotel close to 11 pm.
seventh and final day [thursday]: went to men's street - also a shopping mall, despite the name. sells things similar to that at silk street. it just opened end of april 2005. not many people about. next to it is another complex called 'alien's street'. finally found artificial flowers that i wanted. after lunch, went to the airport for our journey home. arrived at KLIA 2315 pm, 26 may 2005.
that's all for now.
