Beijing & Tianjin in Winter

14th December 2011

The long waited trip has finally begun. My travel buddy, Onah, and I finally fulfilled our wish to visit Beijing, especially the Great Wall of China. I just couldn't believe that I was already arriving Tianjin Binhai Airport at noon. Oh by the way, we purchased this trip with AirAsiaGo which was cheap and worth the money spent. There were 30 people in this trip and our tour guide, Aron (not Aaron Kwok OK!!) was a good tour guide and his English was good and clear. It was very cold in the arrival hall, and even colder when we got out from the hall. I think the temperature must be below 5'C. Glad that I have everything prepared, though I need something to warm my hands better than the layers of acrylic glove and mum's leather glove. We got into a bus and head to Beijing. That took around 2 hours, due to the traffic on the expressway.

When we arrived Beijing, we were taken to a Chinese restaurant. We were separated from the others as we requested for vegetarian food. All dishes were vegetables, mustards, brinjals, celeries and a few others. I have no complain on the cooking because I just love any vegetable dishes. It was weird though to be a strict vegetarian for dinner of that day. After dinner, we were brought to the City Inn hotel and checked-in.

15th December 2011

Good morning Beijing!! The temperature for this morning was below 0'C. We put on our warm clothing and as I expected, I have problem warming my hands and my fingertips started to numb. But that didn't prevent me from taking some pictures around the hotel. We had breakfast (horrible one) in the hotel cafe before we boarded the bus. Today, we were taken first to the Jade factory, the amazing Great Wall of China (Juyongguan pass), Summer Palace and Beijing Acrobatic Show.

One of the watchtowers/barracks of the Great Wall

Our first stop was the jade factory, which was
actually a government outlet selling jades and various other souvenirs at sky-high prices. I was told that all tour packages to any part of China must include visits to government-owned outlets, be it jade factory, silk factory, pearl market and traditional medicine outlets. However, the best thing to do is, never ever buy anything from these outlets if you think you can get the same item but far a lot cheaper outside. This may sound harsh but my Chinese friends have approved on this matter. Don't get easily conned especially at the traditional medicine outlets (known as Bao Shutang) or massage centres where the workers there are very convincing in promoting their products. At some places, one will be approached by a 'shaman' or their own version of medical practitioners, requested to check the palms or neck for free, and come out with their own diagnosis on your health problem (if you know you are healthy, ignore whatever they may say about your unreal problem).

After an hour or so, we departed for the most awaited site to be visited, the Juyongguan Great Wall of China, or Badaling. Weather was sunny with a clear, cloudless sky. It was just perfect for my photography minus the coldness that numbing part of my face. The route to the entrance gate was awesome, something that I have never seen before. Landscape appeared like golden carpet, which made me thought it was summer, instead of winter. By the way, Great Wall of China is one of 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, and I am glad that I finally get the chance to be here.

It was built during the Qin dynasty to protect the northern Chinese empire from intrusions of various groups. However, most of the remaining sections of the Great Wall were built during Ming Dynasty. According to what I have read from Wikipedia, this Great Wall measures 8,851.8 km long. There are actually 4 sections that are regularly visited 1) the Juyongguan Pass, 2) the Jiayuguan Pass 3) the Shanhaiguan Pass and 4) the Jinshanling Pass. The nearest to Beijing is of course the Juyongguan (Badaling) Pass. Great Wall were built from rammed earth, lime, tiles, stones wood and bricks.

There are shops selling various souvenirs, of course at a excessively marked up price and coffee shops which are more expensive than Starbucks. There was a moment where I couldn't handle the freezing of my fingers, so we entered the coffee shop and get a cup of hot chocolate, while warming ourselves for awhile. Of course, I was more than happy to take pictures at this place and this was the most expensive moment to be kept in my photo album. I didn't explore hte Great Wall as most of the visitors did. It was not easy to walk about the wall while bringing my tripod and on top of that, the steps  were irregular and steep that if I didn't be careful, I might slip and fall. The cold weather did not trigger my mood to walk and stroll around Great Wall. Most of the time was used to snap pictures. I prefer neat and clear pictures, so I have to wait until other tourists were not visible on my camera viewfinder. I thought there wouldn't be many people visiting China during winter but clearly I was wrong. Russians, Indians, British, Indonesians...you name it, all were there to visit this ancient structure. After about an hour and a half, we got back to the best and it was time to say goodbye to Great Wall of China. I am not sure if I can return in other season, but I hope I can return.

Semi frozen lake at Summer Palace

 Next, we had our lunch at a restaurant where I could only see Malaysians left, right, behind and front of me. This restaurant served halal food and they were really nice for hungry people craving for food. I couldn't remember the dishes served but I ate a lot to restore the energy used to overcome the winter coldness.After lunch, we were brought to Bao Shutang, listened to whatever the staff have to convey and wait for other tour members to shop. I didn't buy anything except for two reusable hot packs costing RMB 5 each. It will be very useful for my next trip to cold places. The next attraction for this day was the Summer Palace.

Wrapping nose to avoid excessive dryness

The Summer Palace was inaccessible and we can only view it from across the semi-frozen lake. It was almost dark, which means the temperature was getting lower, and to add the 'flavor' to the readily unbearable coldness, wind blow so strongly. By the way, the pinkish-orange sky at the horizon was really beautiful. I started to snap the nicest view possible without thinking too much on the ice cold breeze.

It was getting colder, and colder, and colder. I was fortunate to put on 2 layers of snow cap, or else I might suffer brain-freeze. But I still need another pair of gloves to reduce 'finger freeze'. So I bought a pair of over sized purple glove. A lesson to learn was, be careful when you buy anything from the street vendor. They may cause you to lose some money if they get the chance. Please remember to check the balance they give you because it appeared that they may give you either fake money of other countries notes which are easily devalued (i.e Taiwan notes, Russian notes). Don't ever let them see you holding RMB100 notes because they will try to change them with other notes they have in many ways possible.

We had dinner at a Muslim restaurant. The dishes were nice but a few of them were salty. I thought it was not too bad, so I ate till full, and drank lots of water to remove excessive salt from blood. After dinner, we went to see the Beijing Acrobatic Performance. It started at 7.30 pm. Awesome!!! That is the only word

Temple of Heaven (Tiantan)

 I can say about this performance. The kids and teenagers must have been trained since they were small. They were amazing not only for their ability to control their physical movement, but also they were very focused, accurate and precise. One small mistake may lead to serious injury. They have a good teamwork too.

I thought it might be better to record this performance on my camera. But funnily, I couldn't figure out how to change my camera setting to movie mode. So I have no choice but to get still pictures of this performance. It was quite easy though the composition of the pictures were not so good. I increased the ISO (3200) and shutter speed to freeze the performers actions. On top of that, I set the camera to multiple shots. The show lasted for 1 hour, and we returned to the hotel.

16th December 2011
The tour for today started with a visit to the Temple of Heaven. It is a temple where the Emperor will go on his way to Summer Palace, and pray for a better harvest during the harvesting season. The morning temperature was even colder than the day before and scattered of ice were found on the compound heading to the temple. It was another lovely day though, sunny and cloudless sky. After the visit to Temple of Heaven, we went to the Silk factory. I have no idea that a set of pure washable silk bedsheets (they claim it's pure) costs up to thousands of ringgit. For those who do not

know, there is no way you can wash 100% pure silk, unless you send them for dry-clean, but sometimes they can't be washed at all. That's the fact you must keep in mind. Everything in the outlet was expensive. When we about to get on to the bus, there was a guy selling silk (at least he didn't say it's pure) totebags, 10 for RMB100 and free 1 bag. That was a great deal but I didn't buy it. It occurred to me that the next time I come to China, I will definitely bring more money for this kind of thing.
Next, we went to Tiananmen Square. It is the 3rd largest square in the world after Merdeka Square in Jakarta and Square of the Sunflowers in Brazil. The Tiananmen gate separates Forbidden City from Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square holds a significant history where hundreds of protesters died in a pro-democracy movement in 1989. The gate was built in 1415, during the era of Ming Dynasty, but the square was only designed in 1651. Mao Zedong mausoleum was built near the Tiananmen gate after the demised of President Mao in 1976. Besides the Tiananmen gate, there were also other iconic buildings within this square. This include the National Museum, National Grand Theater and a few others, which I can't recall. 

Passing through the Tiananmen Gate, we headed to Forbidden City, another UNESCO World Heritage. It was a huge complex consisted of several halls.

At dusk, we proceed to Wangfujing shoping street, a place where shopping malls selling original branded items were located. We were a little confused, having thought that this was the place where we can shop for dirty cheap items. Unfortunately, this is not the place. The two of us were the earliest to return to the bus and while walking along Donghuamen food street, I saw a stall with Muslim/Halal written on the display. From the look of the seller, I know they are Uygur so I have no doubt on the status of the food sold. Despite the warning by our tour guide on the cleanliness and hygiene on the sold food, we didn't really take it too deeply and decided to buy the tempting kebabs. After all, microbes are killed during the grilling. We approached that stall and ordered 6 pieces of lamb kebabs and 2 pieces of chicken kebabs. They were perfect to ease our hunger and delicious too. After an hour or so, we were brought to a halal restaurant, serving spicy food (most probably Sichuan food). They were really nice. That was double dinner for me. Hehe....

17th December 2011

A panda was about to have a nap after series of scratchings

View at the lake in Beijing Zoo

Our day started with a visit to Panda Garden which is located at the Beijing Zoo itself. The lake at the zoo was frozen but small birds and a pair of white swan wandered on the icy smooth surface. The beautiful scenery around the small lake/pond was really nice and breathtaking. And we went to see cuddly, cute and plushy Giant Pandas. According to the information board, pandas are active in the morning. They are fed in the morning and later they become less active and sleep most of the time. No wonder there were not many pandas on display as they have gone for long, or short nap. I took many pictures of these cute creatures but quite disappointed that I missed the baby pandas when they were playing among them. It was really cool to look at pandas here, but would be more interesting if I could get a picture of me holding baby panda.

Infamous Bird's Nest Olympic stadium

Next, another time wasting activity and pocket damaging event at Pearl market/factory/outlet...whichever word you prefer. This place is located near to the Bird's Nest stadium. The pearls sold here were freshwater pearls. There were some useful knowledge I have gained. I now know how to differentiate between freshwater oyster and saltwater oyster. how to differentiate between the fake and real pearls, types and qualities of pearls produced. Well, thank you for that. On top of selling jeweleries made of pearl, there were also skincare products derived from pearl. Oh, by the way, this place used different strategy in attracting us to purchase items here. Each of us were given a pearl ring. I'm not sure if it is real, but it didn't fit my finger, so I gave it to my sister-in-law.

The Water Cube

Actually, I just couldn't wait to photo-shoot at the Bird's Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. So I finally got the shots that I want. In less than 1 hour at these two modern structures, we were brought to a Massage Centre which is within the old stadium near the Bird's Nest stadium. The massage was free but we didn't want it because it would be a hassle for us to remove layers of socks and leg warmers. Another possibilities to get conned here!! At dusk, we were taken to the most awaited activity of the day that is shopping at Qianmen Street, or also known as Silk Street. It was a 6 storey building selling various items from souvenirs to imitation of branded items (clothing, bags,gadgets etc). My mission was to get silk tote-bag for my sister and painting in the bottles for myself (psssttt...would have more missions if i have more money on hand...hehe). The best person to have at this place would be my darling, or his mum. Ngeeeeee......they can bargain extremely well that the sellers may end up loosing. After doing some small shopping, we had dinner at the same restaurant on the first day we arrived Beijing. That's the end of the day.

Cherry trees by the road side

18th December 2011

This is the final day for our trip. We checked out from City Inn and the bus took us Tianjin city. There was nothing much to see (there must be more but we were not informed about it) but we had awesome lunch at a Muslim restaurant. We were served with Tianjin style steamboat. It was tasteless according to some of the group members but I have no problem with that. That's what we call healthy (unfortunately, this can be accepted only for a limited time). After lunch, we thought of surveying any shops selling souvenirs but we couldn't find any except for shops selling local product like sweets, liquors etc. A few photos of the place would do. At 1.15 pm, we were already at the airport and it was time to say 'adios' to China.