I'M BACK FROM

BEIJING, CHINA!

for your information, Beijing is 26 times the size of small litte S ingapore! haha.

seriously, Beijing is a great city and because my expectations were very low, i was greatly surprised by the wonders China brought. i cannot put into words how beautiful Beijing is, so go visit it youself one day!

the weather was cold, but i love it! i mean, singapore is so hot, the cold weather was a great change. the toilets were not as dirty as i've expected, maybe because of the Olympics. and also, the roads and infrastructure in Beijing are well developed. so really, this city, with such a rich history, culture and heritage, yet very modernised at the same time, is a place definitely worth visiting. whats more, as a chinese, we've got to see the country where our ancestors come from!

well, of course, thats not to say China doesnt have its bad habits. like for example, % of Chinese nationals are smokers. and everywhere, people smoke. the toilets are heavily polluted with the suffocating cigarrette smoke, and even in air conditioned restaurants, people smoke. yes, despite the "no smoking" sign there too. haha. and despite Beijing's highly developed roads, traffic problems are rather serious during peak hours. but hey, Beijing do not have COEs and ERPs like Singapore. there's no control over the number of cars on the roads, and coupled with the fact that the population there is in millions, traffic problems are inevitable. but on the weekends, traffic flows are alright.

also, i've made alot of friends in my tour group. something i've never done before in other trips. although they are all younger than me, all under 16, i feel so happy being around them. like i'm a kid again, or like i'm taking care of my brothers. i've always wished for a brother you see. haha maybe i've never really grown up. i'm young at heart! even i dont look 18! and i dont want to grow up :(

ohhk, in a nutshell,

I LOVE BJ.

HAHAHAHA.

we saw a tshirt that had those words printed on it.

so anyway, to take everybody's mind off the horrible fuck up radical terrorists attacks in mumbai and the fucking crazy thais who occupy the bangkok airport, let me share with you my Beijing trip and hopefully, it would make you happy :)

Day 1: Midnight flight from Changi Airport T3













Reached Beijing International Airport at about 7am the next day, and we started the tour immediately.













Beijing International Airport, really nice. Took the skytrain from T3 to the arrival hall. about 7 mins ride.



my tour leader, candy and tour guide, linda. linda's the one that you know, speaks with the mic in the bus and introduce to us China's places of interests. she's super good, the best tour leader and most entertaining one too.




























Beihai Park, the former playground of the emperors and is one of China's best example of a classical garden.







you can see many old people doing chinese calligraphy on the ground, with a huge brush and water. something really interesting. and their chinese writings are really beautiful.



daddy doing chinese calligraphy on the ground. he wrote: "wo men dao chi yi you", means "we've been here" haha. some of the china man commended on my dad's writing! so proud of him!:D







china's old people are always having fun, unlike those in singapore. they would often gather together to play cards, dance, sing songs, play chapteh etc. active cute little senior citizens!

























next, we took a trishaw ride along Hutongs, Courtyar and Shishahai Pub Street, where we got to witness the culture, history and lifestyle of old Beijing.



this is our trishaw puller. he was really great, chatting with us and telling us about Beijing. HE ASKED IF IT SNOWS IN SINGAPORE! haha.





we saw many old people dancing and having fun on our way to Tian Tan





























Tian Tan, Temple of Heaven, where the Ming and Qing emperors used to go to pray to heaven. not one single nail is used to build the majestic temple.











next, we went to one of Beijing's largest theme park- Happy Valley. Not very crowded because it was the winter season. i sat 3 super exciting rides all by myself cause daddy, mommy and sis all scaredy cats. hahaha.



ride 1: Octopus. it turns you upside down. made my head so painful as all the blood gush into it.





ride 2: hanging rollar coaster! love this one. super exhilariting and i took it with glenn and his daddy, uncle ken. (my friends from the tour group :)).













ride 3: this swinging thingy that goes really high up. i felt like a bird haha.







geese and ducks swimming in the almost frozen pond





afterwhich, we watched a dance performance called the "Golden Mask Dynasty", which was spectacular. the props, costumes, dance... woah. unfortunately, photography was not allowed. i slept halfway through though cause was so tired!





on our way back to the hotel, we pass by Beijing's railway station.



here is the place where daddy brought sis and me to enjoy dou jiang you tiao at night (soya bean drink with you tiao). we brought glenn along on the 2nd night! yummy!

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Day 2: We started off the day by going to Tiananmen Square (History Students!!!) :D
































Tiananmen Square is one of the largest square in the world, and this square witnessed the ceremony of the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1st October 1949. And opposite the square, there's the huge photo of Mao Zedong! the one which we always see on tv. it was super cool! i couldnt help exclaiming!









walking towards the Forbidden City, where we can have a closer view of mao Zedong's photo.








































Gu Gong, or else known as the Forbidden City, was the residence of the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynastieslocated at the heart of beijing, the imperial Palace covers an area of 1012 hectares!



the chinese characters on the huge tablet was written by Emperor Qianlong! AMAZING!







the chair which the past emperors sat on.



see the small area behind the emperor seat, with the rolled up curtain? that was where empress dowager CiXi, sat, to manipulate the emperor.







the emperor's bed!















Emperor Pu Yi, the last Emperor.









outside the Forbidden City.



this is a kind of strange transport/vehicle that China has.







we went to the Summer Palace next, which was further developed by Xi Ci empress dowager.



Javan! the cute little toddler in our tour group, only 2 years old!

































soldiers! they looked so smart!







took a small boat across, to another island. mommy was so scared that it would capsize!



made friends with baby glen! haha. we called him baby glen cause there were two glens in our tour group. one's glenn, the other's glen. baby glen's 10years old but he looked really young for his age! got very close with him during the whole trip because he's like a little brother :)









later, we went to this place that sells pearls, and we bought zhen zhu fen. i bought myself 2 pearl braclets which i feel, are really sweet! but i lost it when i came back from singpaore :( so this lady here is explaining to us about the creation of pearls from the clams.



then, we went to Dr. Tea, a place which sells tea leaves. since my family loves to drink chinese tea, we bought i think, 4 bottles of different tea leaves and a beautiful floral tea setyummy!




















next, we went to watch an acrobatic show. it was exciting, but not very very fantastic.

in the afternoon, we also went to the Ming Tombs, the discovered tombs of the Emperors. but due to superstitions, nobody took any photos!

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Day 3: first up, we went to the Great Wall of China! and i was determined to climb as high as i could! This marvelous man-made structure can be seen even from the moon and it is known as one of the 7 wonders of the world!









friends! sis, me, baby glen, glenn and dyon. glen's 12 and dyon's 13 and hey are brothers! see i'm the oldesthaha.























































sis and mom couldnt climbed up all the way, so dad and i climbed up all the way to the 5th fortress! very tiring! especially cause the stairs are rather steep! and you're sweating despite the cold and it was very tempting to take off the winter clothing, which is wrong cause you could get hypothermia. dad didnt want to climb further so we climbed down after that. my legs were shaking











after we climbed down halfway, met glenn and dyon. i accompanied glenn to climb up to the 5th fortress again cause his brother didnt want to continue! guess what, my legs ached quite after that haha.



next, we went to this chinese medicine shop, which sells chinese medicine (duh). daddy volunteered for the demo. it snowed outside the shop! but just abit, so it was like falling dust!



















then, we went to this country club to watch a called :shen shui guan ying. before that, baby glenn, sis and i played a fun game of table tennisand this very annoying and naughty 5 years old from our tour group came and kajiao us. i think he's called jing yu, or no no no, jian yu, or NO zhen yu! haha. i also dont know. but anyway, he broke the table tennis ball -_- and his mom was like heck care. cant stand the mom anyway. she doesnt give a fuck about her overly hyperactive kid.

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Day 4: we first went to visit another chinese medical hall, the most famous one in China and around the world, called Tong Ren Tang, with 300 years of history! Mommy and daddy bought me chinese medicine for my damn sinus and my sis for erms, some hormones stuff. haha. it costs $2000 plus sing dollars! O.o













mommy with glen and glenn haha.





























after that, we walked over to a shopping area in Beijing, very much like orchard road in singapore, with all those high end malls and boutiques. our family got bored, so we sat and chilled out in starbucks!



















we went for lunch after that, at one of the restaurants along the Shishahai Pub Street. and one of our dishes is, PEKING ROASTED DUCK! its yummy and cripsy and yummy haha. glenn cant stop eating it, and neither can i :D



mommy taking a shot with this cute little china toddler. she thanked mom in chinese "xie xie ah yi", with her sweet little voice. china's children are really adorable, with rosy and chubby cheeks. plus, during winter, they often wear thick fluffy clothings, which makes you feel like hugging and squeezing them! haha. i think if jasmine saw them, she would go crazy!

















then, we went shopping at a mall called, Xiu Shui Jie, where we can bargain and buy cheap stuff. ohh my, how i dreaded shopping in such places! but my mom is certainly a bargain queen, cause even those salegirls praised her! she can cut the offer price by more than half! haha. but i suffered a culture shock because those people were really desperate to sell to you, so thy would pull into their shop, and wouldnt let you go out. and if you do, they would shout across the corridor for you to come back! haha.





and i bought 2 jerseys for S$20 each. but it comes with shorts too! :) germany and barcelona.









after that, we went to another shopping mall, Tian Ya Hong Qiao Jewellery Building, where likewise, you can haggle. here, they mostly sell souvenirs, so sis and i bought a seal with our surname in weird chinese characters. the shifu is now carving onto the seal we've chosen!









at night, after dinner, we went to catch a super exciting Shaolin Kungfu performance at the Red Theatre. This group of kungfu performers have been performing their art and skills around the world as well. the whole performance? 5STARSand they really seemed to be able to fly! so charming :D





they could use their head to break this piece of hard metalscary!









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Day 5: we started off the day by visitng this place which sells silk. but we didnt buy any silk cloth cause daddy said it was too ex :(











silkworms!





experimenting with silk materials.



Gui Fei



Ci Xi



Qian Long and Kang Xi












next, we sat a hours bus ride to another city, out of Beijing, called Tianjin. we had our lunch here and ate "gou bu li bao zi", directly translated- bao which even a dog doesnt bother about. haha. its a kind of bao with pork inside. afterwhich, we did some shopping at Tianjin.











shifu making animal shapes out of ma ya tang. very skilful!



dyon, glenn and glen, with the ma ya tang of the shape of their zodiac sign.





next, we went to Tianjin's Cultural Street made up of typical Chinese architects. mommy and daddy went into Zhang Clay Figurines Shop and bought a few sets of beautiful clay figurines!



mommy buying comb make up of ox horn.





























after shopping, we towards Tianjin Train station to take the bullet train back to Beijing. on our way, more photo taking!



dogs playing around!





















it takes 30mins for the bullet train to travel back to Beijing, while the coach takes 2 hrs! and there's train stewardess in the comfortable train too :)

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Day 6: the first place we went was the (Front Gate), a famous city gate in Beijing. then when we went inside, and the same thing as i've experienced in taiwan-promotion of fengshui and asking you to buy the pi qiu, a mythical animal for fengshui!















next, we went for lunch and this restaurant has a male seal for a pet! he's 4years old, and poor creature! his swimming area is so small, and he's also half blind!









after lunch, we went for leg massage by therapists who gave therapy to the Olympics atheletes! only girls above 14 and guys above 16 can do! very shiok, and the man who massaged my leg was very friendly it was a heavenly yet painful for me especially since my legs ached after climbing the Great Wall!







after the massage, we had to endure a 3 hours drive to another city, called Chengde. on our way, we had a stopover to use the village toilets haha. rather primitive huh.







some blur photos of Chengde at night.

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Day 7: visit to Chengde's Summer Palace and Potala Palace













cold and beautiful Chengde. its much much colder than Beijing! 2/3 of this city is made up of the Summer Palace!













visit to Chengde's Summer Palace, an imperial garden for the royal family. it is surrounded by 8 temples known as the "Eight Outer Temples."



we're all freezing, so mommy starting dancing to heat up her body! the toes, nose and ears really hurt in the cold!











more rooms of the royal family.







wild deers in the Summer Palace!





we had to take a tram to other parts of the Palace since its so huge!



people iceskating on the frozen lake! so cool!















do you remember the show "huan zhu ge ge"? here's the place where she stayed in the palace called "Shu Fang Zhai", and its where the show was really flimed at!





sweet and loving daddy and mommy! :D





handsome stag, who enjoys human attention ALOT!







walking on thin ice! haha :)









an area where those nomadic tribes stay.









this pond can never be frozen, even during the coldest of winter. this is because the ground of this pond is hot, like a geyser!





this is to allow us to touch the water from the pond. it is said that one can live even longer after touching its water!



















next, we went to the Small Potala Palace. dad and i climbed up to the temple, which offers a breathtaking view of the majestic mountains! and, we bought 2 chaptehs! China people love playing chaptehs :)





















on the way up the temple, with many many steps!



















CENTER>at the top of the templeCENTER>









at Beijing! after another 3 hours drive. had dinner and got to enjoy some shitty performance of those tribes minority groups.












the Bird Nest Stadium and Cubic Swimming Hall! unfortunately, we couldnt go near enough. but both were beautiful at night!



mommy with glen's ah ma.





the children gang! from left: kai wen, hao wen, glenn, jing/zhen/jian yu, glen, qin li, dyon and sis!





mommy took pictures of the 5 star hotel room we were staying at! the hotel is really shiok! haha.

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Day 8(last day!): free and easy! so our family and kaiwen and hao wen's family brought glen, glenn and dyon to witness the flag raising at Tianamen Square and then WE WENT TO SEE THE PRESERVED BODY OF MAO ZEDONG! we didnt bring our camera along cause you have to declare it and they would confiscate. so, we didnt take any photos:( we woke up super early and took cabs to Tianamen. and Mao Zedong looked like he's sleeping. he's in a glass coffin by the way, just like Snow White!











then we went from 12pm to 8pm (!!!), before gathering to head for the airport! we were all super exhausted! the shopping area is just like bugis, where all the havoc teenagers hang out and shop at.









chilling out at some coffee house due to exhuastion!

































eating Beijing's local delicacy, which is most popular during winter time, called "Shua Yang Rou". its basically traditional charcoal steamboat, with ingredients. and the compulsory ingredient is mutton! after cooking them, we have to dip it into seasme paste. quite tasty actually! and i dont fancy mutton, but the mutton taste isnt strong!



from left: qin li, dyon, sis, glen, glenn and me!













aiport, heading home for Singapore. was really sad. didnt want to leave Beijing so quickly, and didnt want to leave my friends too. had a hell of a time!

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yupp! so thats my exciting and fun-filled Beijing trip! haha.

i want to visit China again!

but anyway, would be meeting my friends from the tour group this coming thurs, as they're coming over my house to play! haha. really looking forward! :D

and i apologise for the super small photos!