Monday, December 13, 2004
Winter e-Travel 2004- Beijing (Day 01) / 3:55 pm
12 Dec 2004 (Sunday) - Day 01
10D/9N ~ Beijing-Tianjin-Chengde-Bangkok
10D/9N ~ Beijing-Tianjin-Chengde-Bangkok
*Note: S'pore & Beijing Time-GMT+0800h, Bangkok - GMT+0700h
Finally, after a looooong time debating on either Cheju (Korea)/ Colombo (Sri Lanka)/ Harbin (China), it was decided that 2004 will be a winter trip to Beijing!!!!
Due to late holiday bookings in late nov, there is no more seats left in Air China/ Singapore Airlines, but a few left on China Eastern Airlines (erm....i've heard bad things abt it =O....i prefer better alternatives), so we chose Thai Airways Royal Holidays, whereby transit will take place at Bangkok!!! The Land of Thousand Smiles!!! I love Thailand...the beaches, the charming smile of the people and shoppppinggggg!!!!! *_*
Curse the early flight, bcoz we have to catch the transit flight, we have to pay that urgh...stupid midnite surcharge...(other countries only charge 20% extra, while sg muz charge pple an exorbitant 50% rate). There was heavy downpour when we arrived at the airport. Lady luck was with us...we were fortunate enough to catch a cab the moment we walked towards the road. the driver juz started work and lived in my same estate. hahahas. he's lucky manz! he sure know his job well....was sharing with us that flights from new york & bombay is arriving...can make $$$!!!.
I love cloudy weathers. My mood juz got better! The downpour sure enhanced my excitement. Call mi krazy, but i luv to experience taking a plane departing in heavy thunderstorms.
After the overspeeding cab ride and the fare which was increasingly getting more expensive by the years...we arrived at Terminal 1 at 0555h. Actually we dun hv to check-in so early, but i know the check-in counters open at 0600h so i wanna get the W-I-N-D-O-W seats. hahahax. First-come first served. My parents were complaining and nagging,"You arhz...did u check properly? Why so few people? And i dun see the TV screen (at the counter) displaying our flight number???" "Are you sure is the right queue or not? I dun wanna see the luggage fly to somewhere else you know? ".
All their unnecessary worries....haiz....-_-". I told them history shall not repeat again. Everytime Thai Airways always have extremely looong queue, like last year's incident, causing a chaos & delayed flight. Moreover, this morning there is a direct flight to Bangkok at 0810h & 0820h; 10 minutes apart only!!!! So the queue is gonna be worse!!! Thai Airways allow early check-in, so of curz we muz make use of tt privilege. "I tell you arhz...i still dun wanna see my luggage end up in Bangkok 10 mins earlier...u check cautiously!"
In front of us is this stubborn Indian with overload luggage limits and is still unaware of it. He was wasting everybody's time negotiating with the reluctant officer. "No...no...i say your baggage exceed...exceed ok! no-no! you want...you go somewhere to remove whatever you dun want, then i'll check-in for you. You see the scale here....arh...34kg...no-no ok. muz cut down. otherwise muz pay excess fee...more money. So now no-no ok...you moved aside first alright...come back after you reduced to 30kg." Hahaha....i was giggling to myself.
Finally, for the unprecendented time, there was ample time to slowly explore the transit area and soothe my nerves, not like the previous few years, making a fool running for the gate. My parents took the time to select liquor products they intend to buy when returning to save time. Hahahax....Of curz i was either at the bookshop or at McCafe reading the morning papers & magazines.
Terminal 1 was pretty empty at that time...At 0755h, we entered Gate C13 and omigosh! Finally for the 1st time, i din activate the security detector. Hahahax...dunno how many pple infront of mi had that alarm ringing. I learnt my lesson...no keys, no belts, no metallic watches..blah2. There was still sufficient time enclosed in that gate...i surf the net at the free terminal, before being the 1st few to board the plane. This time there was limited no. of newspapers & magz.
At 0810h, the plane was still sitting at the airport, curse it! The whole plane is waiting for a business class passenger transitting from elsewhere and they cannot seem to trace his baggage. Hurry up!!! Goodness me!! 300+ pple waiting for one guy! Well ok, he paid the premium price, he deserves the wait. At Gate C12, the flight TG 422, 10mins b4 us left punctually. Our Thai captain was apologising for the delay.
0908:32h - Thai-Austrian Airways Flight TG 0402/OS 8612 (code-shared) departs from SIN Terminal1.
It was cool seeing the raindrops flowing rapidly on the windows. The view was spectacular! For a moment, i thought i was unlucky as the inflight entertainment system was down. The chief steward was apologising that the engineer could not fix the problem b4 departure. I deliberately chose this 0820h flight as i preferred Boeing777 planes as they were the newer fleets for Thai.
Yupx..for a B777-300 plane, at least they had tvs not only in the middle, but also at the aisle so i dun have to strain my neck. its the longest passenger plane in aviation industry. And its defintely much stable as the route to Bangkok never fail to shake the plane like a grandmother's rocking chair.
Finally the S'pore catering kitchen whipped out something unique from all the mundane & predictable breakfasts. Chicken Sausage + Omelette-potato pie OR fish noodle with vegetables.
Side-dish: Sunflower seed bun (HA! Finally not some rock-bun not only hv-ing difficulty piercing it, but oso usually ending up in the bin.) It was sure aromatic! I could have 10 of all those buns manz! Shockingly, it was accompanied with Switzerland Yoghurt and tropical fruits. Hmmm....that was a succulent meal!
Finally, after a looooong time debating on either Cheju (Korea)/ Colombo (Sri Lanka)/ Harbin (China), it was decided that 2004 will be a winter trip to Beijing!!!!
Due to late holiday bookings in late nov, there is no more seats left in Air China/ Singapore Airlines, but a few left on China Eastern Airlines (erm....i've heard bad things abt it =O....i prefer better alternatives), so we chose Thai Airways Royal Holidays, whereby transit will take place at Bangkok!!! The Land of Thousand Smiles!!! I love Thailand...the beaches, the charming smile of the people and shoppppinggggg!!!!! *_*
Curse the early flight, bcoz we have to catch the transit flight, we have to pay that urgh...stupid midnite surcharge...(other countries only charge 20% extra, while sg muz charge pple an exorbitant 50% rate). There was heavy downpour when we arrived at the airport. Lady luck was with us...we were fortunate enough to catch a cab the moment we walked towards the road. the driver juz started work and lived in my same estate. hahahas. he's lucky manz! he sure know his job well....was sharing with us that flights from new york & bombay is arriving...can make $$$!!!.
I love cloudy weathers. My mood juz got better! The downpour sure enhanced my excitement. Call mi krazy, but i luv to experience taking a plane departing in heavy thunderstorms.
After the overspeeding cab ride and the fare which was increasingly getting more expensive by the years...we arrived at Terminal 1 at 0555h. Actually we dun hv to check-in so early, but i know the check-in counters open at 0600h so i wanna get the W-I-N-D-O-W seats. hahahax. First-come first served. My parents were complaining and nagging,"You arhz...did u check properly? Why so few people? And i dun see the TV screen (at the counter) displaying our flight number???" "Are you sure is the right queue or not? I dun wanna see the luggage fly to somewhere else you know? ".
All their unnecessary worries....haiz....-_-". I told them history shall not repeat again. Everytime Thai Airways always have extremely looong queue, like last year's incident, causing a chaos & delayed flight. Moreover, this morning there is a direct flight to Bangkok at 0810h & 0820h; 10 minutes apart only!!!! So the queue is gonna be worse!!! Thai Airways allow early check-in, so of curz we muz make use of tt privilege. "I tell you arhz...i still dun wanna see my luggage end up in Bangkok 10 mins earlier...u check cautiously!"
In front of us is this stubborn Indian with overload luggage limits and is still unaware of it. He was wasting everybody's time negotiating with the reluctant officer. "No...no...i say your baggage exceed...exceed ok! no-no! you want...you go somewhere to remove whatever you dun want, then i'll check-in for you. You see the scale here....arh...34kg...no-no ok. muz cut down. otherwise muz pay excess fee...more money. So now no-no ok...you moved aside first alright...come back after you reduced to 30kg." Hahaha....i was giggling to myself.
Finally, for the unprecendented time, there was ample time to slowly explore the transit area and soothe my nerves, not like the previous few years, making a fool running for the gate. My parents took the time to select liquor products they intend to buy when returning to save time. Hahahax....Of curz i was either at the bookshop or at McCafe reading the morning papers & magazines.
Terminal 1 was pretty empty at that time...At 0755h, we entered Gate C13 and omigosh! Finally for the 1st time, i din activate the security detector. Hahahax...dunno how many pple infront of mi had that alarm ringing. I learnt my lesson...no keys, no belts, no metallic watches..blah2. There was still sufficient time enclosed in that gate...i surf the net at the free terminal, before being the 1st few to board the plane. This time there was limited no. of newspapers & magz.
At 0810h, the plane was still sitting at the airport, curse it! The whole plane is waiting for a business class passenger transitting from elsewhere and they cannot seem to trace his baggage. Hurry up!!! Goodness me!! 300+ pple waiting for one guy! Well ok, he paid the premium price, he deserves the wait. At Gate C12, the flight TG 422, 10mins b4 us left punctually. Our Thai captain was apologising for the delay.
0908:32h - Thai-Austrian Airways Flight TG 0402/OS 8612 (code-shared) departs from SIN Terminal1.
It was cool seeing the raindrops flowing rapidly on the windows. The view was spectacular! For a moment, i thought i was unlucky as the inflight entertainment system was down. The chief steward was apologising that the engineer could not fix the problem b4 departure. I deliberately chose this 0820h flight as i preferred Boeing777 planes as they were the newer fleets for Thai.
Yupx..for a B777-300 plane, at least they had tvs not only in the middle, but also at the aisle so i dun have to strain my neck. its the longest passenger plane in aviation industry. And its defintely much stable as the route to Bangkok never fail to shake the plane like a grandmother's rocking chair.
Finally the S'pore catering kitchen whipped out something unique from all the mundane & predictable breakfasts. Chicken Sausage + Omelette-potato pie OR fish noodle with vegetables.
Side-dish: Sunflower seed bun (HA! Finally not some rock-bun not only hv-ing difficulty piercing it, but oso usually ending up in the bin.) It was sure aromatic! I could have 10 of all those buns manz! Shockingly, it was accompanied with Switzerland Yoghurt and tropical fruits. Hmmm....that was a succulent meal!
Grading: 4.5/5.0 (Main dish)
The entertainment system revived out of the blue. There was a mini-air turbulence as usual, but at least not that time a few screamed and everybody's drinks spilled. Thai Airways was improving i should say, there was a customer feedback form at every seat pocket that'll entitle you to a chance to win free flights to Thailand when u submit it. I was too lazy to get it filled up. I listened to J-pop music while reading the mags for the rest of the time.
At 1106h (1006h - BKK time), Flight TG 0402/OS 8612 arrived safely at Don Muang Bangkok Int'l Airport. I recently found out that infamous golf course that alot pple have been wondering; and is directly next to the runway with no barriers is only for the elite Thai military pple. How pathetic! As usual again, the plane muz still travel from one end to the other to get to the gate which so happened to be the last one at Terminal1. Well, at least it'll be the last year i'll see Don Muang, from 2005, the new modern Suvarnabhumi airport will be ready that'll make Changi inferior soon.
1120h (1020h-BKK Time) - Exited Gate 12 then made a loooooooooooooong walk all the way to the transit area. I looked at the display board......OmG!!! Gate 02! It gave me a mixed feeling of both disappointment and excitement. Gate 01-09 is just a bus terminal whereby a bus fetches you to the plane parked somewhere bcos of insufficient gates.
Luckily the earlier flight din delayed too much tho' it was scheduled to arrive at 0940h; BKK Time. The 'bus-terminal' area was crowded. Of curz its air-con! Come on...everybody paid for it.... Bcos of the peak hour, there are alot of planes sharing the same gate in the area, so muz make sure to sit the correct bus. At 1050h when the plasma-tv display board displayed Gate open for Flight TG 0614 to Beijing, all the 'kiasu' Chinese people rushed foward. There is a huge variety of people. Since this flight has 3 sectors, there were neatly-dressed elegant business people, Thai workers, Chinese natives, a bunch of noisy parakeets (okok...China school students who participated some competition in Thailand i suppose...they were wearing a jacket with a huge word 'CHINA' behind them.) In contrast to the other flights next to us, most, if not all, were already wearing long sleeves/jackets.
At 1100h (BKK Time), it was supposedly the time for the plane to leave the airport, but whats happening? All the passengers is still stuck at the gate02. The Chinese people were frustrated, curious, confused. Everybody was crowding around the counter asking when's the gate opening. The poor counter staff were so busy replying calls from walkie-talkies, printing out the passenger list, blah2.....that they had no time to entertain pple. This irked many people. Everyone's eyes were looking at that plump Thai supervisor yakking and commanding around. At times, you can see people (esp Business class pple) pointing the plasma screen, then showing the counter staff their watch and grumbling away.
No one bothered to explain whats going on. At 1115h, they called out for Business class passengers (finally i tot). "Bis-ness cass! Bis-ness cass! No-no ...Only Bis-ness cass....udders wait wait". They filtered the premium passengers. Now the 'bis-ness cass' pple are in the bus waiting with the doors shut. At least they had some tranquility from the hectic scene. After abt 10 mins, the supervisor went back to the bus, signalling the driver to open the door, then ask all the pple to go back to the gate again.
Everyone's reaction muz be "What???!!!!" Each of those passengers were given a transit card. Then the yakky supervisor announced flight delayed! OmG!!!!! They din even offered an explanation! "怎么回事???"
After some time, the staff came and called out for First class passengers, followed by Business & Royal Thai Excecutive members, passenger with kids/toddlers/elderly. When it was time for Economy class, everybody juz squeezed in like nobody's business. There was a bottleneck jam...abt 6 queues merged into 1 at the end...lol! There were pushing and pullings...one fed-up businessman juz shouted "Can u people STOP PUSHING? How uncivilised! For goodness, queue up in an ORDERLY MANNER! F*** it! What the f*** is going on with you people? Are you all deaf??!!!" I wanna scold this guy as well. Cant he shut his bloody mouth? From his hand-held baggage with all the priority tags, i could see that he often take Business class ....so who ask him to take Econ0my class....queue up and stop complaining lahz!
I managed to squeeze in onboard the 1st Economy class bus leaving the chaotic scene. A good thing being slim. The place we passed by seem very familiar. And omg!!!! It was really the plane next to the plane i juz came from! Juz parked next to it!!!! And i had to go through all the long procedures. i'd rather voluntarily offered to take my baggage, use the stairs, walk across and transfer!
So there we go, there was a flight of sheltered stairway linked to the plane. Well, it was a huge Boeing Jumbo jet B747-300. The engines were roaring and it was all windy. At least the stewardess were much friendlier tis time. Bah...old plane...the baggage cabin up there is small. The walls were pretty 'yellow', muz be a decade-old plane. Nvm...the best thing is that the legroom is incredibly spacious! OmG!!!! For the 1st time in economy class, i could stretch my legs fully!!!! Ahhh...at least i'll have a comfortable journey tis time.
At 1106h (1006h - BKK time), Flight TG 0402/OS 8612 arrived safely at Don Muang Bangkok Int'l Airport. I recently found out that infamous golf course that alot pple have been wondering; and is directly next to the runway with no barriers is only for the elite Thai military pple. How pathetic! As usual again, the plane muz still travel from one end to the other to get to the gate which so happened to be the last one at Terminal1. Well, at least it'll be the last year i'll see Don Muang, from 2005, the new modern Suvarnabhumi airport will be ready that'll make Changi inferior soon.
1120h (1020h-BKK Time) - Exited Gate 12 then made a loooooooooooooong walk all the way to the transit area. I looked at the display board......OmG!!! Gate 02! It gave me a mixed feeling of both disappointment and excitement. Gate 01-09 is just a bus terminal whereby a bus fetches you to the plane parked somewhere bcos of insufficient gates.
Luckily the earlier flight din delayed too much tho' it was scheduled to arrive at 0940h; BKK Time. The 'bus-terminal' area was crowded. Of curz its air-con! Come on...everybody paid for it.... Bcos of the peak hour, there are alot of planes sharing the same gate in the area, so muz make sure to sit the correct bus. At 1050h when the plasma-tv display board displayed Gate open for Flight TG 0614 to Beijing, all the 'kiasu' Chinese people rushed foward. There is a huge variety of people. Since this flight has 3 sectors, there were neatly-dressed elegant business people, Thai workers, Chinese natives, a bunch of noisy parakeets (okok...China school students who participated some competition in Thailand i suppose...they were wearing a jacket with a huge word 'CHINA' behind them.) In contrast to the other flights next to us, most, if not all, were already wearing long sleeves/jackets.
At 1100h (BKK Time), it was supposedly the time for the plane to leave the airport, but whats happening? All the passengers is still stuck at the gate02. The Chinese people were frustrated, curious, confused. Everybody was crowding around the counter asking when's the gate opening. The poor counter staff were so busy replying calls from walkie-talkies, printing out the passenger list, blah2.....that they had no time to entertain pple. This irked many people. Everyone's eyes were looking at that plump Thai supervisor yakking and commanding around. At times, you can see people (esp Business class pple) pointing the plasma screen, then showing the counter staff their watch and grumbling away.
No one bothered to explain whats going on. At 1115h, they called out for Business class passengers (finally i tot). "Bis-ness cass! Bis-ness cass! No-no ...Only Bis-ness cass....udders wait wait". They filtered the premium passengers. Now the 'bis-ness cass' pple are in the bus waiting with the doors shut. At least they had some tranquility from the hectic scene. After abt 10 mins, the supervisor went back to the bus, signalling the driver to open the door, then ask all the pple to go back to the gate again.
Everyone's reaction muz be "What???!!!!" Each of those passengers were given a transit card. Then the yakky supervisor announced flight delayed! OmG!!!!! They din even offered an explanation! "怎么回事???"
After some time, the staff came and called out for First class passengers, followed by Business & Royal Thai Excecutive members, passenger with kids/toddlers/elderly. When it was time for Economy class, everybody juz squeezed in like nobody's business. There was a bottleneck jam...abt 6 queues merged into 1 at the end...lol! There were pushing and pullings...one fed-up businessman juz shouted "Can u people STOP PUSHING? How uncivilised! For goodness, queue up in an ORDERLY MANNER! F*** it! What the f*** is going on with you people? Are you all deaf??!!!" I wanna scold this guy as well. Cant he shut his bloody mouth? From his hand-held baggage with all the priority tags, i could see that he often take Business class ....so who ask him to take Econ0my class....queue up and stop complaining lahz!
I managed to squeeze in onboard the 1st Economy class bus leaving the chaotic scene. A good thing being slim. The place we passed by seem very familiar. And omg!!!! It was really the plane next to the plane i juz came from! Juz parked next to it!!!! And i had to go through all the long procedures. i'd rather voluntarily offered to take my baggage, use the stairs, walk across and transfer!
So there we go, there was a flight of sheltered stairway linked to the plane. Well, it was a huge Boeing Jumbo jet B747-300. The engines were roaring and it was all windy. At least the stewardess were much friendlier tis time. Bah...old plane...the baggage cabin up there is small. The walls were pretty 'yellow', muz be a decade-old plane. Nvm...the best thing is that the legroom is incredibly spacious! OmG!!!! For the 1st time in economy class, i could stretch my legs fully!!!! Ahhh...at least i'll have a comfortable journey tis time.
The 'parakeets' (bunch of R.O.C sports students were blocking the whole passageway by standing at the aisle trying to squeeze their squash/tennis rackets up there...until the chief steward 'came to their rescue'....he opened a hidden compartment on the ceiling...and boy! it was huge and spacious...could fit 2 human bodies in there!) Finallllllly.....after seeing more & more busloads of passengers arriving....the plane finally head towards the runway. As usual, there is a queue at the runway...but being a 'delayed-flight', we had a bigger priority and went pass all the waiting planes.
1153:01h (BKK Time) - Thai Airways Flight TG 0614 departs from Bangkok Don Muang Int'l Airport.
It was a pretty packed plane. Exotic snacks were served onboard - Salted pumpkin seeds + beverages. Hmmm.....i've never heard of pumpkin seeds as snacks, but they were sure delicious. My mother proclaimed that she muz buy a handful of them in Bangkok. How ironical is the fact that homo sapiens like us are buying seeds when we know we cant digest them (of curz they are still benefits...) -_-".
There were no overhead TVs along the aisle nor the corners, i had to strain my neck again to watch the movie "Elf".
1405h - Lunch was served ~10km above Yunnan. Thai-style Duck rice (Lotsa skin, but since it was embedded in the thick spicy gravy, its hard to differentiate flesh from skin, except to poke it)...i will usually remove the skin and put it aside, bt not this time, i gobble them and wiped every bits off the porcelain dish. The salad was dry - Violet cabbage, kidney beans, tomato & pumpkin cubes. I wonder...is this pumpkin season??? Why on earth i see pumpkin in every dish??? Moreover, it was like rendezvous....i remember eating the exact dish last year...it was excatly the same Thai duck rice.
Grading: 4.3/5.0 (Main dish), 2.8/5.0 (Salad), 2.3/5.0 (Cake - too soggy*can be improved*)
Looks were decieving...the ma-toom mousse cake w/ Doi Tung macadamia nuts seem so appealing until u bite it. How soggy. Most ended up in the thrash. But i was hungry, everything went into my digestive system.
The movie 'Elf' was boring, i fell asleep. My seat 53A was the last sector of the particular cabin, hence i could recline and sleep peacefully. I was too tired to read the stack of newspaper/mags, incl the previous flight.
Upon reaching the destination, the descending plane gave me a glimpse of some barren lands of China. Mostly agricultural plots of land, but since its winter, nothing interesting caught my eye.
1700:55h (Beijing time)- Thai Airways Flight TG 0614 landed safely at Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 2
Tho' it was 5pm, the sun setted already...it juz feels like 1900h!
1708h - Flight TG 0614 berthed at Gate 213; Terminal 2.
***Welcome to Beijing**** Temp: 5C
There was another crowd of pple waiting to board this plane back to Bangkok. Scheduled at 1750h, i doubt it can depart punctually.
First impression counts...the airport seems brand-new...similar to Shanghai's Pudong. Nice modern facade and architectural design. The toilets were freaking spacious and huge! All taps were automated. Gosh...high-tech!
It was a looooong walk towards the immigration area. Seriously long. They ought to install travellators... After the infra-red temperature scans and individually scanning of the 'OAS-like' form abt ur health, it was time to queue at the immigration area. Luckily we were the only flight arrived at that point of time, the officer juz told me to queue up at the 'for chinese residents only'. A beautiful wide Great Wall of China painting was featured at the background...i cant wait till the day i ascend the steps. I was amazed...this is the capital airport of the largest population but it seem so empty. Ironically, a Starbucks chain greeted me the moment i exited from the arrivals area.
We met our guide...a plump friendly lady who informed us that its chilly outside. I was curious to experience wats Beijing weather like. Juz clad in plain thin long-sleeves and wollen pullover(which was considered insufficient), i walked out of the Capital Airport. Its a good thing we have a small tour group, at least things can be done faster. In contrast to most Japanese tour groups i see, we boarded a mini-bus, while the baggages go into another bus.
Off we go....along the Shoudujichang Expressway, the surroundings were somewhat devoid of life....naked trees. It was misty and dark until more developmental areas sprout out as we travelled.
Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. A great metropolis with over 3,000 yrs of history, Beijing was designated China's capital in 1153 by the Jin Dynasty (AD 1115-1234). It is the political, cultural and intellectual centre of the country. It covers 16,808 sq km with mountainous regions in the north and flat land to the south. A municipality, Beijing governs 16 urban districts and 2 rural counties. It has a population of 14.56 million people, of which 3 million pple are floating population. Over 95% are of Han nationality, with 55 miniorites comprising the rest.
Beijing is a city made up of ring roads. Currently 6 ring roads makes up Beijing city...only city. The famous Tiananmen Sq is in the epicentre of the ring roads. Many roads diverge out from the centre linking all the ring roads. Each ring road get bigger. If im not wrong, the 5th Ring Road can cover the whole Singapore. Each Ring Road is divided into North/South/East/West, like Beiwuhuan - North 5th Ring.
Prices of property is dependent on what Ring road it is situated. 3rd Ring road and below is considered premium properties. Most 5* hotels are in 3rd Ring Road, like Hilton.
Dinner was at gongyuan. A Chinese restaurant with an oriental ambience filled with private rooms, bridges, rivers, bamboos. It was the first Beijing meal - a typical oily meal that usually comprises 10 or more dishes.
It was followed by Peking Acrobatic show at Tianqiao Theatre at Xuanwumen District. We were late for the show...it started abt 5mins ago. The theater was huge, like those seen in the 1980s-kind. Throughout the acrobatic show, i was speechless and was full of praise for the acrobats. It was simply fabulous that no words can describe it. I give it full marks for performances!!!! Its the epitome of Chinese Performance Arts....i've never seen performance of pple spiralling 40 hula-hoops round their bodies perfectly, stack of 12 humans on a bicycle, breaking metal pole martial arts, gymnastics like a plasticine model, balancing a human on 8 sword-tips.. blah..blah....It was a fulfilling 1h...the music accompanied was roaring and full of dynamism. Everything was wrap up quickly and efficiently. It was simply unforgettable! i dun mind paying hundred bucks for watching again. =O. Thunderous appaluse was heard continously throughout the show tho' its like ~RMB100 only (~S$ 20.20).
The temperature declined to 1C when we left the theater. In winter, most shops closed at 8-9pm..hence not much nightlife except for the famous pubs at Sanlitun area.
We checked in at Beijing Peixin Hotel off East 2nd Ring Road in Chongwen Disrict. As we S'poreans dont require a visa, they had to make photocopies of all the passports as required by the authorities. This 3* hotel was decorated rather beautifully with all the xmas frizzy stuff.
Spent the next 15 mins trying to open the stubborn door of Room 401. Despite help from the porters, no-one could scan to de-activate the lock till sm1 came with the master-card. Lolx. Then, we found out that the electric h20 heater was so flaky at the metal base. The staff claimed that it was due to the anti-bacterial cleansing process....utter rubbish -_-"...we gt a replacement as we were not convinced. Later, we wasted time observing whether this dumb h20 heater was actually heating the h20 as it wasnt making much noise when it supposed to. Waaah....the h20 was like....urgh....sediments still could be seen with naked eye. Yeah...tts gonna be the h20 for the next 8 days....
Put aside all the unpleasant & insignificant stuff, Day 01 has been an exciting day. Oh boy, i look forward to Day 02 where the imperial Beijing tour begins!!!
..:: Global-Jay ::..
Beijing, China
2355 h (GMT+0800h)
We know life's hard, truth is hard, lies are hard, they are all hard to accept when they have been
found out, and i'm rushing history homework on the Abyissian Crisis about Italy and Abyssia going into war and that the League Of Nations cannot stop this from happening, and beacuse they are formed by means to stop war and
peace-keep the countries together, they have thus failed to achieve that. I think i tend to hold a class for history instead of telling you about me, i'm basically a what subject-realted lover (humanities) and thus
I am more analytical and critical about things, and likes to study about dead people, haha. lol. it's history what can you expect and also geography, it amazes me. I really like it alot, so what have you? Again to find this answer
you need to enter into your own reality and reflect
it's amazing. amzing how people change the way of things, like how I used to hate outdoors in Band
felt it was a complete waste of time, i've acquired to like it more, i guess people change, their thereotical means and applications in life just goes on into a new direction, and see things in another perspective, i guess- it's
all in the mind. It really amazes me how these comes into action, from someone so pessimistic has changed his own view of things, and thus my friend is scoring much better, being more optimisitc and not think of his old way of suicidal
thoughts, which are pretty daunting. and thus we need to see things, in another light, another perspective and another new way, to enable us to open up our minds, and make more new things, the new way it is.