New Friend At The Great Wall

Made a new friend in Beijing.

At the Great Wall to be exact.

When we reached the Great Wall, I see this beautiful cat sitting under the information board.

It’s a black and white Persian.

Its very beautiful.

I patted it and went on our merry ways.

Once we were done with all the climbing and back to square one we needed a break and guess what… the cat was sitting at the bench.

We sat near it and the cat went to Yana and snuggled against her.

After a few minutes, the cat put her paws on Yana and lay on her.

It was soooo cute.

Yana wanted to bring her back to Malaysia but we know that’s not possible.

I will be going back to the Great Wall and I look to seeing the cat again.

Beijing Shopping Havens

Shopping is great in Beijing.

Forget about the shopping complexes or malls.

I only went to three places and spent all my money there!

I went to Panjiayuan, Silk Market and Pearl Market.

Other shopping sites I wanted to go but didn’t is the Russian Market and the Antique Market.

Not enough time or money.

PANJIAYUAN
In Malaysia you can compare it to Central Market. Loads of arts and crafts. Tons of shops and stalls that will sell you all kinds of carvings, drawings, jewellery and what nots. They have at least ten stalls that specialises in stones. Yes…. stones, not precious stones but stones! Gotta say the stones are beautiful but nevertheless stones.

SILK MARKET
Be ready for war! If you are weak, spineless and non confrontational, this place is a nightmare for you. The sales people are very aggressive. They will try their best to close a sale. You need to haggle or you will pay more than necessary. The place has loads of boots, bags, clothes and accessories. The competition is very high, so you can use that as an advantage to get the best bargains.

PEARL MARKET
It is similar to Silk Market but they also have lots of souvenirs, make up and gadgets. Loads of it. A good place for souvenir hunting or get the latest Iphone.

I went to Silk Market three times coz the place is huge!

The price is freakingly cheap if you are willing to haggle.

Example, they will try to sell you a bag for 500Yuan, you can get it for 100Yuan.

If you do not have much time, concentrate on Silk Market.

Drop by Pearl Market for the souvenirs and go to Panjiayuan to experience their culture.

If you love shopping, Silk Market is big enough to satisfy your needs.

I will be going back to Beijing and I definitely will spend at least one whole day there again!

Beijing Trip (Pictorial)

I have more than 500 pics of my shenanigans in Beijing.

I will only upload just a few that shows the whole trip.

In the plane on the way to Beijing.



At the airport in Beijing.



Freezing my ass on the first night night in Beijing.



Admiring my banana split (Don’t forget I am a banana split whore)



Getting ready to enter the Forbidden City



The sun does love me. The Emperors giving me their blessings?



The awesomeness of the Forbidden City!



The historic Tiananmen Square



Some shadow play on the grounds of the Square



Getting close and personal with the Terracotta warriors



Fooling around from my upper bunk in the sleeper train



Bird’s eye view from my “lift” to the wall



Reflection of Diane and me in the “lift”



Finally on the wall!!!



As usual, smoking on the wall



The slow walk back on the wall



Getting ready to toboggan down the mountain



Going crazy on our last night!



It was a great trip with great company.

Cant wait for the next trip!

Beijing Survival Guide

Here are some tips to survive in Beijing.

1. Even if they speak fluent English, double check and ask a few more times to confirm the information received. They consistently misunderstand you and gives wrong info. They sound like they understand, but most of the time they don’t.

2. Learn to use their subways. Their subways only cost 2Yuan to go anywhere. They have 8 lines that are interconnected and is very useful to save money on cab fare.

3. Research where you want to go to ensure you don’t miss out on experiences.

4. When haggling for the best price, if they are not angry with the price you asking for, its not cheap enough. Just ask for dirt cheap prices coz there are lots of shops that sell the same things and they want to make the sale. You don’t like the price…. Move on.

5. Wear thick and comfortable shoes to make sure you enjoy everything. Its cold and walking about is a must.

6. Avoid taking cabs unless necessary coz they have subways, sleeper trains and bullet trains that will take you to places at a fraction of the cab price.

Enjoy!

First Step.... Great Wall

I took my first step to my goal.

I want to see all the wonders of the world.

I was at the Great Wall.

It was an incredible feeling.

To climb the stairs that ancient soldiers was on.

To see where they eat and sat and waited for signs of danger.

The feeling is cannot be described.

I want to go back there.

I want to climb higher.

There are three tourist spots, Badaling, Simatai and Mutianyu.

Badaling is the favourite because there are no stairs between the towers. Just a flat passage that’s easy for the tourist to walk on.

Simatai is the toughest as it is very high and very authentic. It was closed though coz it was too dangerous.

Mutianyu is also high but there is a cable car that brings us up.

And there are only stairs there…. Its tough therefore less tourists.

I want to go to Mutianyu and climb higher.

It would be my challenge.

Need to get fit first.

I only went to 1 tower (Not counting the first tower I started from)

I want to conquer at least 3 towers the next round.

Spoils From Beijing

Here are some visuals from what I got from Beijing.

Luggage bag to bring back all the crap I bought from Beijing.



A pair of shoes. (Both working shoes)



Leather jacket. (It was freakingly cheap, so why not?)



Leather cap to protect my ears. (My ears were freezing)



Leather gloves (My earlier gloves was not good enough)



A knapsack (Need a bag to carry stuff when I am moving about)



I have more stuff that I bought like paper cuttings of dragon, calligraphy, dragon statue, stone carving, lighters and souvenirs.

Need to bring more money for my next round.

Hehehehe…..

4 Hours To Go

In 4 hours Alyssa will be picking us up to go to the airport.

Stupid bitch cant join us.

We would paint Beijing red all four of us, but…. Maybe next time.

Anyways, 6 hours in a plane… not looking forward to it.

Not gonna sleep now so that I can sleep the flight away.

Nothing beats going on a plane, fall asleep and wake up when its ready to land.

8 days away from Malaysia….

Gonna miss everyone here but its only 8 days.

Gonna celebrate Raya Haji in Xian.

Cant wait…..

Until then….

Be prepared for my next post with lots of pics!