Trip to Beijing

During the Merdeka break we went to Bejing. This is the first time we took a tour package instead of going off on our own. The trip is heavily subsidized where a 5 nights stay only cost us RM200 per person for hotel, transport and food (irfan is free coz he's under 12) and another RM250 per person for entrance fee and tour guide tips to be paid one month before departure. Buy your own flight tickets after you decide which date you wanted to join the tour. The catch? They bring you to a lot of factories with overpriced items for you to spent your money. But was told by a traveler that a similar itinerary cost him more than a thousand ringgit.

We took MAS and reached Beijing slightly after midnite. Our guide was already waiting for us. There were 14 of us including 3 below 12 years old.Reached our hotel at 2am and before 3am I was already asleep. Next morning after breakfast we saw this car and there was a bride and groom at the hotel. We stayed at Taishun Business Hotel, got a triple bed room and was told that this hotel is popular among Muslims coz they serve halal food.

Later on our guide, AhMeng, Indonesian speaking local Chinese took us to a Muslim restaurant for our lunch. Food was great...love the fish dish with szechuan peppers.

 This is probably Beijing's version of  a tuktuk

 After lunch went to Nan Do You Mosque- a 300 yr old mosque

 bergambar dulu sebelum solat

 admiring the artwork

another photo at the signboard before going off to the silk factory.

 at the silk factory..while waiting for the rest of the group to gather

 briefing time...we had  a better explanation of the silk making processes in Cambodia before

yada yada yada...was already bored to hear and just wanted to take a look at their products... went off to explore while she was still talking. I didn't buy anything here, nice silk fabrics but much more expensive than the price in Malaysia.

went out to take photos with this baju and fabric. Love the design of the fabric on the right.

 Next stop- Summer Palace

 another photo while waiting others

 Weather was foggy but temperature was great, not hot and not cold.

 quite breezy

Just look at the weekend crowd

another photo- just a short stop here.. next stop acrobatic show

 enjoyable 1 hour show- ticket price included in the package

Dinner -love this dish...fried long beans with szechuan peppers. All shopping place in Beijing close at 8.30pm, so after dinner terus balik hotel. Malam2 memang tak keluar.

 Next day, waiting for the rest....haih..kalau ikut group ni yang leceh..some people tak punctual

 next stop- Tienanmen Square

 Gambar satu family

 From here there is an underpass to go to the building across the street- Forbidden City

 We are here!

 again, there was a huge crowd, AhMeng told us that this is a normal crowd on  a daily basis. if you look carefully at the path, at the centre the path is smooth while the rest is uneven,. The uneven path is the original ones. When they rebuilt the new path, they realized that the bricks a not just a layer of bricks but consisted of 15 layers of bricks to prevent intruders into the forbidden city.

 when you are travelling in a group, you are as fast as the slowest person in the group. so, with the senior citizens, kids and a baby in the group, we only covered one quarter of forbidden city. But DH and I went slightly further up on our own. We took those stairs up.

 and saw this building, at the side of the building there was a pathway,

 this pathway....if you look real close you'll  notice a small tower far away at the middle of photo- that's how huge forbbiden city is.

 at the side- ada shooting at the background

the guys admiring the East door of forbidden city

 the shorter way out..

after the exit, I saw this scene...love it...so tranquil

In front of the restaurant- my bet is that this guy is from northern part of Xinjiang- his features is quite different from the typical Chinese here. 

 the restaurant where we had our lunch

solat time-- too bad we don't have this chair in Malaysia, here the oldies yang solat duduk use the front part to put their head during sujud. We made a faux pass here- kalau kat Malaysia we  use to stand on the tikar and sujud on the carpet, here it's the other way round - kena tegur sebab pijak tikar- you are not supposed to do that coz that's where you put your head!

 Next stop- Herbal shop

 Indonesian speaking chinese or Indonesian, I'm not sure

we were given a hot water with herbs to soak our feet, got a free foot massage. some of us got conned here. Nanti cerita another entry.

 Next stop Tea factory

 the display

 A 100 year old tea

Tea tasting session. Another overpriced products here.

Last stop before dinner - Wang Fujing-- but it was raining and ended up not buying anything. tomorow-- off to Great wall!