Beijing Free and Easy Blog: Day 1

Getting to Beijing City

 

Sunset from Airasia to Beijing

Booked airasia a year ago. Total for 2, RM1800 (plus taxes & 20kg luggage).
The 旅 tabi journey....Gosh, it seemed never ending.
The seats are so 真っ直ぐ立った massugu tatta upright, and small legroom made it almost impossible to sleep.
Had to endure it for 7 long hours.
Also, arriving at funny hours 1am.
Forget about the express train to the city.
Get a taxi. Ignore anyone inside the terminal trying to get you into their "taxi".
Just walk out of the terminal. Look for the TAXI sign and where everyone 並ぶ narabu queues.
If you got a taxi with a plate starting with 京B, then you are in the right taxi.

Staying in Beijing

 

The lady receptionist was polite and made our stay pleasant.

I wanted a 安くて素敵なところ yasukute suteki na tokoro cheap nice place to stay.
Survey up and downs over the web and found this place.
Bestay Express Tiantan Hotel. www.bestay.com.cn
The light blue lobby was brightly greeting us.
The staff speaks a little English. But I told her it is ok to speak to me in Chinese.

The room was neat with a transparent toilet.
Hahaha...good for couple but not for family.
If you are sharing the room with a normal friend, you might feel 恥ずかしい hazukashii shy.
Anyway, the first night was a little uncomfortable with the smoking smell...despite the "no smoking" sign.
And also, you can`t be soft with the electronic door lock. You have to バタンと閉める batan to shimeru slam the door real hard.

All in all, I would say it is a pretty neat place if you are just looking for a place to bath and 寝るneru sleep.
The location is about 15 minutes walk to the nearest Tiantandongmen Station.

Tiananmen & Forbidden City

Raining Outside the Forbidden City

Raining on my first day in Beijing...sigh.
Exited at Tiananmen East Station.
It was ぬれている nureteiru wet, so I didn't bother to go to the Tiananmen Square for photo.
Went into the Forbidden City.
Paid CNY60. But it was really 価値があった kachi ga atta worth it. I spent my whole daytime there.

Tips: There are tonnes of tour guides. Wait patiently for one that speaks your language.
Follow them. They will tell you some interesting tales & facts about the palace.

Interesting Tales & Facts about the Forbidden City

Forbidden City Outer Court with Five Bridges

Outer court is for big 儀式 gishiki ceremonies. Like for you having parties out in your compound.

Forbidden City Inner Court for Ceremonies

Inner court is for home & ceremonies. Like SOHO (Small Office Home Office) except that this is BOHO (Big Office Home Office).

The middle staircase with a dragon chiseled stone used only by the Emperor

The doors, gateway, bridges, staircases, etc all come in odd numbers. It is either 3, 5, 7 or 9.
The 真ん中 mannaka middle one is always the path only taken by the emperor and its highest ranking ministers.

Visiting the Emperor`s bedroom. You thought it is a bench. In fact, it is a bed. The emperor was only 5 feet plus in height.

The large bucket of water for Fengshui

Big bucket of waters are placed beside the large courts. Just in case of big 火事 kaji fire? No! no! If there was really a big fire, the bucket of water is 足りない tarinai not enough to extinguish the fire on such large court. It is believed, water against wood, wood against gold, gold against fire. Fengshui said putting a bucket there, you won‘t get fire.

Also, there was a time when a few palace maid that were ill treated. Withholding grudge, they sneaked up to the emperors bedroom with a rope. Young and naive, they tried 暗殺する ansatsu suru to assassinate the emperor. Being inexperienced young 16 year old palace maid, killing a human, whats more an Emperor. Frightful, they thought of あきらめる akirameru giving up. Right at this moment, the emperor woke up. Saw what the maids were trying to kill him with a rope, he struggled. That made the rope tighter. Whats worse, the maids made a dead knot. To make it even worse, the maids were panicking and pulling the ropes even tighter. The commotion caught the attention of the guards, and had the maids detained. The emperor survived the clumsy assassination. Meanwhile, the empress were very angry and sentence the maids to 4000 sword slashes. Only on the 4000th slash should be the killing strike.

If you follow the guides, they will tell you the stories. Some you cant find it on the web.
信じるか信じないか shinjiru ka shinjina ka Believe it or not, it is up to you.
But it certainly made the place lively with imaginary images of the ancient time.

Jingshan Park

View of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

After the long walk from the front gate till the back gate, you will see a small hill with a Buddhist temple at the peak.
It is the Jingshan park.
Entrance is only CNY4.
I suggest you to pull yourself up the 階段 kaidan staircases to the top.
The view is breathtaking.
You will oversee the whole forbidden city.

How do I get home from the Forbidden City back gate?

I saw some 看板 kanban signboards that tells you which bus to take that take you back to the front gate or to the nearest subway station.

I suggest you to walk back up to the front gate around its perimeter.

Greyish building besides the Forbidden City River

The water surrounding the forbidden city makes a very nice view with the old 灰色 hai iro grey buildings.

Reflection of the forbidden city borders on the river

The reflection of the trees on the surface of the water makes it a very nice view.

Forbidden City and I

Also, by the time I reach the front gate, the Forbidden City has closed.
It close by 5pm.
No one was there.
I could take as much photo as I like without 邪魔 jama interruption from passing people.

Also, as you continue to walk back, in front of the Forbidden City is the Tiananmen Square.

Flag lowering ceremony at dusk

Around this time, you can stay there for some photos and 目のあたりにする me no atari ni suru witness the flag lowering ceremony.

Wangfujing Street

Wangfujing Street at night

It is the most talked about street in Beijing among foreigners.
Well, I guess that`s why I see a lot of 外国人 gaikokujin foreigners there.

Wangfujing Food Street Entrance

Wangfujing is famous for its food street.
Along this street you will find many stall selling all kinds of food.
Even some 変な hen na weird weird food you don't usually find.

Among the food that I bought includes

Lamb skewer (my top favourite)

Tips: It gets cheaper as you walk deeper into the street.
The stall near the entrance sells 1 skewer for CNY8.
The stall in the middle sells for 5 skewers for CNY10.
計算してみて keisan shite mite You do the maths.

Spring rolls.
CNY8. Expensive for fillings with bean sprouts and carrots. No meat.

Fried cream topped with coarse sugar.
無味 mu aji Tasteless and oily. Not recommended.


Yogurt drink.
Nothing special.


No matter what you go there to eat, don't eat the dandan noodles (dandan mian).
Gosh, I think they were really 強要する kyouyou suru extorting me.
CNY18 for a bowl of noodles with cucumber and carrots, and some salty sauce.
Again not a single piece of meat.
If it tasted good, I'm still ok. But it tasted so ugly and terrible.
I didn't even finished half the bowl.
Yes, it was that bad!!!!

The yellow thing

Another bad experience: I was asking about what is the yellow thing.
The seller explained the 材料 zairyou ingredients.
It cost CNY20 for 5.
I told her I would only like to try 1. How much would it cost?
She said: CNY10.
5 for CNY20, 1 for CNY10. That did not make any sense.
So I walked away.
Suddenly, I'm being attacked by all the people from the stall with 下品な言葉 gehin na kotoba vulgar words.


For me I don't like the Wangfujing Food street.