Beijing, China April 14-20, 2011

Wow! Thanks to Honey's courage and will to start and finish off an entry about her trip to epic Beijing, China. This is written "on" and "off" because her time doesn't permit her to do it continuously. And why the hell I am speaking in 3rd person LOL. 

April 15-20 was my first trip to this massive, huge city. I was told it was cold there and it's way true. It's around 10C-15C all the time when we were there. It's Spring already but I just love love the cold wind. I know it's sounds dorky or something but from a girl who is living in 30C and up all year round, it's an "experience." There's a lot of things to say about my trip but I LOVE, LOVE EVERYTHING about it. First thing, our accommodation there is FREE, yes you heard it right, it's FREE because my friend works for the 5-star Peninsula Manila and she got perks on every Peninsula outlets in the world. So we stayed there. Sweet!

We did DIY tour there, except for the Great Wall of China, it's soo convenient roaming around the city because they have this efficient subway that will take you everywhere you wanna go. And it's totally cheap, super duper cheap. 

Since I did the itinerary, I almost memorized all the lanes and exits. We get lost a few times but we didn't care because that added to the fun that we experienced.

 

On our first day, we headed to the Forbidden City, the imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty. In the center of that is the Grand Palace where it used to be the home of the emperors. It has a lot like more than 900 of rooms for the emperor's family and wives and mistresses. 

This is the  Hall of Supreme Harmony. As you can see there's a lot of tourists from all of the world who came that day. And the queu for the tickets was way too box-office too!

The exteriors of the National Center for the Performing Arts. This opera house is also called "The Egg" and designed by French architect Paul Andreu. There's a "water lake" around that and of course we checked what's in the inside. 

This is the entrance to the three opera houses inside. This is massive that I can't even wonder why they came up with that shit LOL. PS: You can see the waters above there.

This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest inside the Temple of Heaven. This temple complex is said to be the place where the emperors of Ming Dynasty offered their prayers for good harvest.

The Great of Wall of China. Mutianyu side, 70kms north of Beijing. We decided to book a tour with the local travel agency there because we really want to go on this part of Great Wall. I heard this is one of the most beautiful part because the other one in Badaling (which is just an hour away from the city) is crowded during the season. Although it was like 2 hours travel, it was worth it. We took a cable car all the way up to the top and from there we started hiking some parts of that Great Wall. As I've said on my facebook, the feeling is surreal. It was like I wanna scream "ARRGGHH I'm here! I can't believe it! I just can't!!" The steps are way too steep and "irregular." And just after a few minutes of walking you could feel the "tightening" of your thighs already. And what fun about that is that all of the people were stopping in the middle of their walking to catch some breathe. When we get into our second watchtower we decided that "okay, this is it we're done!"

When I get to see the pictures again, I was amazed that we actually walked through that long steep walkway. And the funny thing about was my friend admitted that she gets giddy when she saw how far we had gone and she's having hard time stepping down because she feels like she's going to fall. It was funny because I was the one who at first who said "holy shit I can't do this, it's too steep and!" and she was like "Of course, we CAN do this, this is once of a lifetime!" and when we're at the second watchtower and decided to go down, I had to hold her hand and guide her to walk down while she has to close her eyes. LMAO! That was really fun of her! And she knows I'm not the adventurous type of person. Super memorable! 

Also, we went to see the Bird's Nest, the Beijing National Olympic Stadium. It is where the 2008 Olympics was held. It was constructed in this HUGE (I could say everything in Beijing is huge) open space and when I saw it, I was only like "WOW!!!" The architecture detail of the stadium is flawless and stand out!                       

And the most fun about roaming and walking near that Bird's Nest was that we were literally blown away! Seriously! Wind were really that strong that me and my friend had to held with each other tightly. We're laughing because our hair got all over our face hence no "decent" photos taken here. LOL

Here's the interior of the Bird's Nest: By the way it could sit 80,000+ people! 

Adjacent to the Bird's Nest is the Water Cube or the Beijing National Aquatics Center. This is the aquatic center during the Olympics.

Our last day was spent roaming around the Bejing Zoo where the Panda House can be found. It's my first time to see  pandas and they're super cute! Also, we were able to see "bibong bibong" grizzly bears! They're huge and scary to look at!

We also went to this Summer Palace, a UNESCO Heritage site. If it's cold in the city, then it's much colder here. I don't know maybe because it's in the higher part or something or the because of the lake around it. Mesmerized with the a lot of "small" palaces and gardens around it. 

Also, I'm posting random photos I took while we were strolling around the famous Wangfujing Street. This street which is just a few steps away from the hotel, is one of the famous shopping street in the city, and they have this Wangfujing Night Market where they sell exotic food, from insects, scorpions and other "sea creatures." I believe I'm a picky eater. Mcdonald's and KFC saved me during that trip because I can't eat their local food. Okay food at the hotel was way better because they have Western and other Asian food similar to ours here. In that night market, I tried the fried shrimp or something, kebab and the super chilly penne-shaped noodles, unfortunately, I'm not satisfied, it didn't taste good at all for me and I've wasted 40 Yuan for that. 

So here, see it for yourself. My camera isn't good at night so I apologize for the poor quality of the photos.

I guess that's all about it. Words that can describe my trip? Epic. Huge. Massive. Unforgettable.  Unbelievable. Super Memorable. =) 

I apologize it took me too long to post this entry. It is on my drafts since May 8 *rolls eyes* And sorry, photos are not that good quality. I just took them from my digital camera.


Thank you for reading! <3 Very much appreciated! <3