Beijing Itinerary - Day 4 Temple of Heaven

I still remembered the first time I visited this place back in year 1995. It was my first visit to Beijing together with my aunt, her mother-in-law and my cousins. It was during school holiday in summertime. I was dumbfounded when I looked into the magnificent structure in front of me. I saw it once before on the travel booklet but not knowing where exactly it was. I still felt like dreaming to witness that great creation on earth!!!

Temple of Heaven - 8th June 1997

From then onward, I visited the place again during my next stay and I purposely visited the place again before I went back home for good. It was a must visit place if you traveled to Beijing! It's a place where Emperors from the Ming and Qing Dynasty used to visit to offer their prayers for the good harvest. Read more of its history here. So it was in my list, a definitely place to visit and let my son awed in wonder too! :)

We were here finally! ^^

We took metro Line 5 to TianTanDongMen, where the east gate was located. The ticket cost CNY ¥30 (S$6.50) per person, included the entrance to 3 most important places to visit inside.

Places enjoyed most by local elderly :)

It was such a huge area surrounded by parks where local elderly loved visiting to meet friends, to play music instrument, to dance, to exercise, to gamble, to date, to find date for their children, what??? Did I say anything wrong? No, I didn't!

Seven-Star Stone Park - Find a loved one here! ^^

I saw it on TV years before saying that many parents worried that their son or daughter, due to their busy life pursuing their career, had no time in finding their loved one, and therefore, not married yet. So in the park above, they stood there chitchatting, displayed a piece of paper on the floor containing details and description about their son and daughter, such as: birth year, height, weight, education background, current occupation, healthy, had house to stay, etc., plus what kind of person they were looking for, not forgetting their contact number. I didn't know that I could find such thing in real life over there!

Love quote (Source: Google.com)

Hm... to find the right one wasn't easy, was it? It required fate and good karma from past lives. Even if it came, the period would also depending. Some met for short time, and some could remain for a lifetime. Wasn't it a mystery? :)

Temple of Heaven - 4th December 2015

My son and I continued walking and visited the three main areas as per shown above. It was at different places and we had to walk a lot as the distance was quite far from one place to another. That's the main characteristic of visiting places in China. Everything was so big and huge, and you needed strong legs to browse the place around. So if you would love to visit China, do it while you were still young, strong, and healthy! :)

Browsed the surrounding parks - Temple of Heaven 

We were blessed with a beautiful weather and clear blue sky! We continued walking and visiting the surrounded parks. Felt the peace and serenity that it offered. How wonderful it was, especially if you walked there with your loved one, side be side and holding hands together so you wouldn't fall and at the same time, you could enjoy the scenery around you. Many trees were there since hundred over years ago. It was still standing sturdy and texture was smooth.  When tired, we sat at the seat provided under the trees. I filled up my travel journal then chit chatted with my dear son :)

Blessing quote :)

I felt truly blessed la! Never thought that one day I could bring my son there and we spent a great bonding time together, just he and I :)

Christmas mood at KFC Beijing :)

We went back to our hostel to collect the bag and stopped by at KFC to have snack meal. Too bad the Doraemon toy promotion had over, otherwise I could bring some toys back as souvenir :P

Roadside local snack - Kao Leng Mian - Fried cold noodles

We took metro back to my friend's house. While waiting for her, I felt a bit hungry. There was a snack seller at nearby area and I decided to buy one portion to taste as I'd never eaten it before. Hmmm.... not bad. Hot food was always great on such cold winter night! 

Japanese curry rice with love :)

Back home, my friend prepared her delicious Japanese curry rice as requested by son. Haha... Lucky him being able to taste his favourite food even as far as in Beijing! Thank you Hong Mei for the food. We loved it so much! And that was how our fourth day in Beijing went by! :)

Beijing Itinerary - Day 3 YongHeGong or Lama Temple, GuoJiZian St, NanLuoGuXiang or South LuoGu Alley, roasted duck at QianMen

Sorry for a long pause regarding the Beijing itinerary in this blog ^^ Read about our day 1 here and day 2 here :)

It was such a beautiful sunny day! :) My son and I headed to YongHeGong 雍和宫 (Palace of Peace and Harmony) or Lama Temple as our first stop. It was a Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism temple, located conveniently under metro Line 2. The entrance fee cost CNY ¥25 (S$5.50) per person inclusive one box of joystick for us to pray.

YongHeGong or Lama Temple - Beijing

The temple was built in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. The building structure was a mixture of Han Chinese and Tibetan style. It became the national centre of Lama administration (source: Wikipedia).

We visited every prayer altars available and offered our prayers there. It felt good being able to visit the place again. I used to come here once in a while during my school time back in 1996-97. Being far away from home, the sight of Buddha statue offered me comfort and a great deal of peacefulness inside my heart. I was glad that I could bring my son here :) Hope he felt the same! ^^

Lama Temple Youth Hostel :)

We checked in to a youth hostel nearby, called Lama Youth Hostel. My bestie recommended me this place. It located not far from metro station and many other scenic area around the temple. It too my son's first experience staying at youth hostel, a cheaper alternative accommodation when traveling abroad. We chose the room for two and it cost us CNY ¥220 (S$50) with toilet inside. The room was so so, but the heater worked well so we both could sleep comfortably that night :)

My favorite snack in Beijing - Jian Bing or scallions pancake

We put our bag inside the room and went out again. Our stomach had growled! We wanted to eat steamed dumpling at nearby area. However, it turned up to be the place for cooking lesson :P Luckily on our way, I found my favorite snack, the scallions pancake, and steamed meat bun to warm our stomach temporarily.

Guojizian and Juer Hutong - small alleys near YongHeGong Lama Temple

We continued walking and passed by small alleys at Guojizian St, where you could find Confusius Temple. The houses, cafés, and museum on the left and right of the alley were antique and beautiful. It's worth having a walk there as it brought us back to the life many years back. As we walked, it led us to a big street, called AnDingMen St. And there, we decided to have a proper lunch at Lao Beijing Restaurant :)

Our lunch at Lao Beijing Restaurant :)

Hm.... I managed to let Baobei trying the authentic ZhaJiang noodle (soya paste sauce noodles) plus JiaoZi (steamed dumpling) - both were the famous local Beijing delicacies :) Both dishes cost us CNY ¥56 (S$12).

While eating, I chit chatted with my son. I told him this trip would be my birthday present for him. One day, when he reached  30 years old, would it be possible that both of us be here again, sitting at the same seat and enjoying the same food. But by that time, it would be him the one who said, "Ma, this trip would be my birthday present for you," and he could only smile without agreeing. Lol! :P

Nan Luo Gu Xiang, Beijing - China

After lunch we continued walking to many other famous and well-preserved alley, still with traditional Chinese architecture in the area, and it led us to Nan Luo Gu Xiang - at DongCheng District.  It was a long stretch road with many shops and restaurants on its left and right.

Took rest and had coffee - Nan Luo Gu Xiang :)

Both of us walked and shopped until our legs were so tired! We decided to enter a café and took a rest there. Btw, the coffee price in Beijing didn't come cheap you know! It's price could fight with Starbucks in Singapore. E.g. this cup of cappuccino of mine cost CNY ¥30 (S$6.50) per glass and a normal cup of coffee cost CNY ¥25 (S$5.50).

Baobei with frosted cream above his lips ^^

In the evening we met up with my cousin. We were having the famous Beijing roasted duck together at Qian Men. The restaurant name was Si Ji Min Fu. According to her, this place was usually visited by her school mates as the price was reasonable, CNY ¥188 (S$40) per piece, the taste was equally delicious, and the duck bones could be deep fried and eaten there with a small charge. At other restaurants, the price per duck would usually cost above CNY ¥220 (S$50) and the guest could bring the bones back home or they would cook the soup using it and served it there after meal.

Si Ji Min Fu - Delicious roasted Beijing duck in Qian Men

Hmmm... True enough! It tasted delicious. We ordered one piece of duck for 3 of us with pancakes and condiments to be eaten together plus another meat dish. Nyummy!!! I could still remember its taste even now! :P Altogether we paid CNY ¥279 (S$60) for 3 of us (inclusive 1 big bottle of YanJing Beer - the local produced Beijing beer). ^^

The place was not so big but consisted of two storey. It was in the alley but easy to find, within walking distance from Qian Men metro station. When you saw Madame Tussauds building, there was an alley on the right. The restaurant was just within 20 meters walk. Well, people's taste bud might be different from one to another but for me I loved it and would come back for more! :)

So that was how we spent our 3rd day in Beijing. Food, sightseeing, prayer, coffee time, what a great combination to spend your day with. Try it yourself if you visit the city! :)

Beijing Itinerary - Day 2 Visit my old school at BLCU or Beijing Language and Culture University

早上好! Means "Good morning!" :) We woke up quite late at about 8.30am when the sun had already shined bright up in the sky! What? Sun shone bright up in the sky? Yes! You didn't hear it wrongly!

The difference of the sky on our first and second day in Beijing!!!

See it for yourself the picture above! The above picture was taken from the airport with hazy and cloudy sky when I first reached and the below photo was taken that morning from my friend's housing complex. Photo courtesy: Hong Mei :)

She couldn't believe it as well and she posted her comment in WeChat Moments as per follow:

My friend's post about the weather ^^

Translation: Ten over years has passed! Finally I'm meeting my BLCU ex-schoolmate, RimaReyka from Singapore. Beijing welcomed her with a very serious hazy weather, but today it has turned into a very bright blue sky! She said, because Beijing knew that she was coming, so it changes to a blue sky! I curiously asked her, "Then yesterday, how are you going to explain?" She remarked wittily, "Because I plan to take a rest and sleep, so I didn't need a blue sky." :P Hahahaha.... Yeah, my optimism and positivity had chased the haze away and attracted the sun to shine the earth ^^

Inside the new metro cabin at Line 15 - Beijing Metro

We had breakfast at her house and at 10 am we left. She dropped us to the nearest metro station - ShunYi station, which took us about fifteen to twenty minutes to reach. From there, we took metro and changed once towards WuDaoKou station. To my horror, OMG, the whole journey took us two hours to reach!!! Check out the metro map here so you can get the picture about the connection and distance.

Beijing city was too big! There were total of 15 metro lines plus 4 extension lines in total so far. From ShunYi station to WangJingXi station itself (the point that connected us to city area) took 45 mins to reach, not yet changing the lines (with long walking distance and waiting time) and to reach other destination. From my friend's house to city I needed at least 1.5 to 2 hours average to reach. So one day, we required at least 3 hours and more transport time to go and back home. Well, at least now, we could take metro, which was still rather fast and convenient compared with taking public bus or cheaper than taking a cab.

Drastic change of Wu Dao Kou

Once coming out, I was awed with my surrounding! The last time I visited my school was in 2001. Within 14 years, it had changed tremendously!!! The whole stretch of metro station there, it used to be the market complex where I used to shop all my food ingredients and other necessities. There used to be whole stretch of Korean and other restaurants too where I sometimes had my lunch or dinner there.

BLCU map located near the South gate

I couldn't recognise the place until I had to ask people for direction. Slowly we walked towards south gate then west gate entrance (in China it's common to say the place using north, south, east, and west direction). Oh, when walking towards west gate, I saw many motorised carts stopping at the side of the road. Parcels range in size were put on the roadside waiting for the owners to collect (online shopping was taking over the usual shopping means in China with more varieties of goods available, faster shipping time, and most importantly - very convenient as you didn't have to squeeze with the crowds and avoid bargaining with owners who might open a very high price at the first place. Of course, the quality and size of the goods received might not be the same as what you'd seen in the pictures). This was one of few changes that I noticed.

Common kitchen and washing area plus student's room

There were more dormitories built to accommodate the fluctuated number of local and oversea students. The electronic key cards were also used for the dormitory entrance and when pressing the lift to the floor you were staying. Cameras were seen in every corner of the buildings and lifts to ensure the security of the people who lived there. Common kitchen, washing machines and dryers were now found in each floor of the dormitory's building. Unlike before, where we would secretly cook inside our room and wash clothes mostly with hands.

Transport used nowadays

Students were no longer riding the conventional bicycle. It had been now replaced with a chic, stylo, soundless, electronic scooter, just like what you saw at the above photo. The battery charging points were also provided at the dormitories so they didn't have to illegally charging inside the room nor they had to carry it all the way up. How life there now was so much easy, convenient and spoiled with choices!

My class building

Many school's buildings remained the same. I visited my previous class building and it was with no changes except that they now used projector when teaching and most teachers stayed oversea before for few years before coming back here to teach (most of them were capable in English, unlike before where my own teachers were only fluent in their own language and no oversea stay experience).

School's Canteen

What surprised me again was that the school invested a lot of money to build this giant canteen consisting of 3 floors for common share food stalls and 2 floors for mostly independent restaurants (Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian food) plus one luxury Café with plush sofa, European lighting and decor, and free WiFi. It's packed with students but of course, it came with a high price. Their coffee price was comparable with Starbucks price or sometimes even higher (average cup of coffee was Rmb 30 or Sgd 6.50).

In front of the BLCU main building

My son and I browsed the area and I was excitingly telling my son what I used to do before when studying here. We were enjoying the place while waiting for my cousin who was studying there to finish her class. When done, three of us went for lunch. I told her I missed the Korean food there and she brought me to the one located outside, still within walking distance. According to Korean students, this was the best selling the a la carte type of food :)

Korean food for lunch - BLCU China

Fyi, majority students learning Chinese language there were Korean. That's why there were many Korean restaurants and shops nearby the school. Three of us enjoyed our food so much and very full. Time to have a walk and shop! ^^ This time we walked to LiuDaoKou. There was a building with many stalls inside. I bought my winter necessities there such as: gloves, shawl, boots, socks, etc. Nice buy as they offered cheaper price for regular customers and students :D After shopping, it was time to say goodbye to my cousin.

This time, from LiuDaoKou station, we didn't have to change metro line. It's under the same one line and we took only one hour to reach. Yayy!!! Hong Mei fetched us and later at night we had dinner together. It was her birthday and we had sliced lamb meat hotpot at her home :)

Sliced lamb hot pot

That's how the dinner looked like. The frozen slice meat was poured inside the pot, let it boiled and cooked. Lift it up using chopstick, dip it into a saucer filled with mixture of peanut paste, sesame paste, and coriander leaves, and you could put it inside your mouth. Aaaa....emm..... :P Vegetables could be added too. However, they didn't drink the stock (soup). They just used it to boil the meat and vegetables. Unlike us, we ate the food and drank the soup.

East gate of Beijing Language and Culture University - China :)

So that's how our second day in Beijing passed by. I was very happy being able to visit my school again. I was teenager and now I managed to bring my teenager son there. I was telling him, let's dream big that one day I'd bring you to my school in Switzerland too! Hahaha.... Yeah, one day! Let's hope and pray! ;) Oh, and if you are interested to study Chinese language in China, click here about the school information. You can even apply online :) So, good luck and all the best! ^^

Beijing Itinerary - Day 1 Stay, relax, and warm up our engine to eat!!!

Our Air China flight from Singapore to Beijing

My dear son and I took a direct Air China flight from Singapore to Beijing that night. We spent our time watching movie from each personalized screen in front of us, had our late meal served inside the plane, and slept only for few hours before we finally reached Beijing early in the morning.

Took the shuttle train to the collecting luggage area at Beijing Capital International Airport 

We sat in the middle of the plane. Therefore, we couldn't see the view outside. However, the pilot announced that the temperature outside was at 2 degree Celcius and we could feel that we both shivered despite wearing a piece of sweater on top of our shirt and the cold penetrated to our skin and bones after getting out from the plane. We walked faster trying to reach the warmer area of the building.

Baobei in full gear :)

After collecting our luggage, I opened my bag and took our winter clothes out. We equipped ourselves with warm feather jacket, gloves, shawl and hat and wore it immediately, then went out to the arrival hall, looking for my Beijing friend, Hong Mei, who had agreed to pick me up from the airport. However, after walking few rounds in the arrival hall, I hadn't seen her single shadow yet. "Hmm... it can't be that she forgets that I reach Beijing today ba??" mumbled me.

I saw public phone not far from the arrival's exit door. Next to it, there was a machine selling varieties of phone cards. Few people were seen standing around it. I walked towards the machine. With my limited knowledge of the Chinese language, I touched the screen here and there, and tried to understand the varieties of cards available. Still wondering around, I overheard a Chinese lady assisting a non-Chinese nationality lady about the sim card. Eh?? Sim card?? 

I immediately approached the lady, who I found to be the seller of the sim card. She said she would assist me once she was done with her customer. Wah... I didn't expect I could get my prepaid sim card that fast. Indeed I needed one to contact my friend while staying there, also to browse data and local map online. After some time waiting, it was my turn and it was done! I called my friend immediately and she said she was stuck in the traffic jam due to a heavy haze. Haze??? 

Outside the Beijing Capital International Airport - Heavy haze surrounding us!!!

My son and I went outside the building. Woww!!! It's freezing! I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, "Hmmm.... oh winter, here I come!!!" I was so exciting and opening my arms widely! But wait, I smelled something familiar! What's that? Haze! Yeah, it's haze!!! I thought we just got rid from it some time back in Singapore?  And now, here in Beijing??? Omg!! ^^"

It was my son's first time experiencing winter season in his whole life. He was very much exciting with it! He saw the leftover snow at a far - it was snowing just days before we reached there. The coldness that he experienced, was something unexpected. We stood there on the roadside waiting for my friend to come. With miscommunication about the location to pick us up, we only managed to see each other only a while later. But she indeed came together with her husband :)

We chit chatted inside the car. She was explaining to me why they were coming late. The haze that day was unbelievably serious and it caused heavy traffic on the road they took to reach the airport. They worried that the rest of the days would be like that and my holiday would be ruined. I told her not to worry, that tomorrow the sun would come and the sky would turn bright, as they knew that my son and I was coming! Hahaha.. and she was just laughing to my optimism and positive thought :D

Our first meal in Beijing - Steamed vegetable bun and wheat porridge :)

On our way to their house, they were asking us if we were hungry. Well, we were a little bit hungry though. So they stopped at one local food chain selling steamed bun, dumpling, porridge, and so on. We had our first breakfast there :)

When we ate, Hong Mei told me that Xi Jin Ping, their current President, loved eating the steamed bun sold from this food chain. And she proudly recommended me eating this vegetable steamed bun. Only my son and I ate them as she and her husband had already eaten their breakfast at home. 

We would be staying at their rented home most of the nights throughout our journey at the new residential area (Shun Yi District) built only after year 2007. Before that, the place was still plantation area. The development was just too fast as the government had to accommodate their people outside the city area that had already been too packed. 

Dong Dong and Baobei :)

My friend's seven-year old daughter, Dong Dong, was very happy with our arrival. They usually seldom received guests at their home. And I was only among few oversea friends that Hong Mei still contacted from her school time at that period (back in late 1990s).

She was very exciting when unwrapped our little gifts from Singapore. She kept shouting, "Wow... Mama, hen piao liang!!!" which means, "very beautiful!!!" She then went into our room and asked me why I stayed at their home for only ten days? And why not one month? Hahaha... I was laughing listening to her innocent question :D She was a clever and chatty girl. When she was at home, the house was full of her voice. 

In the afternoon, Hong Mei cooked white noodle with tomato and egg - the simple Beijing local dish for lunch. She worried that we got hungry easily so she cooked our portion too despite our stomach were still packed with the bun. I took just a small bowl and let them eating more.

With snow and haze from their house's balcony

After lunch Dong Dong and Baobei went to the balcony and Baobei wanted to touch and play with the snow. It wasn't that much but it was good enough for him to experience the real snow. Just too bad, it wasn't snowing.

I didn't plan to go anywhere on our first day there. Just wanted to take a good rest since we didn't have enough sleep in the airplane. Both of us ended up sleep for few hours before it was time for dinner. And the sky turned dark when it was approaching 5pm in the evening. Oh, welcome back to winter life... It'd really been some time since I had one and I almost forgot about it! 

Happy Birthday Zhi Bu and Hong Mei!!! :)

Coincidentally, the day I arrived was Zhi Bu, Hong Mei's husband's Birthday and the next day was Hong Mei's Birthday. They had planned to celebrate both birthday together that night and inviting us and Hong Mei's parents for dinner at local restaurant not too far from their house and lucky us that on our first night, we managed to eat our first roasted Beijing duck together with many delicious local Chinese dishes on the table!!! - see the photo above :)

Me, Hong Mei, and Dong Dong :)

I was very happy meeting Hong Mei's parents once again. I met them before many years ago and surprisingly they too still remembered me! We had our dinner happily and I managed to taste Yanjing beer - local produced Beijing beer there hehehe... Remember? A bottle of beer was cheaper than a bottle of soft drink in China!!! So, I started ordering beer in most of my dinner during my stay there in Beijing ;D

Hong Mei and her families :)

She ordered a delicious cheese cake too from Wedome, a bakery chain that was quite famous producing delicious and fresh cream cakes. Hmmm.... I felt I already gained two kilos just from my first day there :P So, more story to come! Stay tune on my blog! :)