Beijing, here I come!!! Part 1

1st Day (9th Dec)
Finally its here, this day, I have to fly off to Beijing to work. Its been a long week as I prepare the materials for this trip. I had been apprehensive of the trip, as I'm supposed to be giving training on some software that I'm not even familiar with!! Dun know is it cos of overconfidence or blurness, I didn't object when my boss asked me to do it. Now, I'm here right now at Changi Airport, with all my "preparations" and boarding the plane. And so, off I go.....
(Side Note : All the while thinking what game is the CG playing right now, cos there's a boardgame night today... miss CG already..)

2nd Day (10th Dec)
Touched down at Beijing Airport at around 6. The minute I stepped out of the plane, I can feel the chill already.. Its like opening the non-freezer part of a fridge and going in it! I can also feel my nose starting to have "reactions" to the cold! Did all the arrival procedures and proceeded to collect our baggage. Had difficulty identifying which luggage is mine, cos they all look the same.. hmm.. I was thinking, next time must either mark the luggage bag or buy one that is not so common.

Stepped out of the airport, and wham!! The full force of the minus zero cold hit me.. My colleague and her hubby who was travelling with us walked further down to get a cab. There was a taxi stand there, with Chinese Army soldiers(i assume so, or is it just the uniform) guiding us to our taxi. I noticed they also issue some card to the taxi driver (I guess its some log sheet). Probably they are regulating the taxi drivers in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. Before I got into the taxi, a sudden gust of wind hit us.. wow!! that was sooooooo cold!! I could feel my ears freezing, like alot of needles poking my ears!! I quickly got into the taxi, and immediately felt appreciative of the heater in the car.

Arrived at the hotel (Holiday Inn Lido Beijing) and checked into our rooms.

Look at this hotel door, you know what country is it liao...

Not long after, we took the hotel's shuttle bus. This bus stops at various locations in the city. We stopped at the Oriental Plaza. Went in to take a look. It felt familiar, like a shopping centre in KL.. haha.. had our lunch there, and walked around a little.

shop shop.. but didn't buy anything other than lunch and bing tang hu lu (that lovely stick of red dessert)

Left the shopping centre, and took a long walk towards Tiananmen. Along the way, we took some pics and then took some more pics.. haha.. boliao (nothing to do) mah.. besides, the scenery is good..

cool right?

Finally we reach our target, the Forbidden City.



Tour Time!! Forbidden City

I'm sure most people will recognise this

As we walk through the giant doors, I marvel at the hugeness of it, the gates, the walls, the buildings.. the pillars are basically tree trunks, huge ones.. We had to pass through 2 huge gates like this before we reach the main entrance..

Cold sia...

er.. what can I say? The Entrance? hehe

Walked through the gates and wow!! What a huge place it is!! All the memories of dramas, movies, documentaries that I've watched over my past years came to my mind.. All these look so familiar..


There's this device that I rented that can explain to me the history of the place I'm standing at. It uses a sensor to detect which part of the palace I was in, and then play accordingly.



This place is huge man.. no wonder the emperor can live in here his whole life (by right.. by left they sneak out often, if chinese dramas are true.. hehe)




A show of how cold this place is.. the canal is frozen solid!!




Guess what is this? Its a vat to contain water.. can see this all around the palace.. for fire fighting purposes.. may be heated using charcoal in winter to prevent the water from being frozen solid..



The throne of the Emperor.. wonder how it feels like to sit there.. hmm.. hehe




Actually all the buildings look abt the same to me.. haha.. ok.. this one is the place where the queen sleeps..



Walked around the palace to the imperial gardens, the different buildings where the Emperor lives, hold court, empress's room.. and many other buildings for different purposes. Also went into a small shop for a while to stop for a hot cup of coffee cos it was soooo cold!! considered ordering a hot bowl of instant noodles also.. but decided against it cos its ex and we're going out already...

On the way out, we saw this... What a HUGE door lock!! hehe



Final shot before I left the palace



Went around to shop and just walk along the streets.. interesting things to see... and also got some back alleys selling stuff..




Stopped over at Macs for dinner.. nothing better to do, and so took a photo of myself while waiting for my friends to buy back the food..




Went into a back alley, cos attracted by this.. recognise what is this?




and other creatures that supposedly can eat also.. I didn't test though.. stuck with lamb meat.. hehe




This concludes my first day in Beijing..