Day 2: Beijing/Tianjin/Chengde Tour

1st April 2005(Friday) 5.20am. It's April Fool Day. Too bad I didn't fool anybody. Did ya fool anyone ? Back to my story. Wake up call was 6am but we woke up at 5.20am due to my mom's request. She said 'get up early so that you can do business then still have time to eat breakfast and go earlier to eat breakfast so that you can come back to hotel room to do business'. So we were the first one to go into the restaurant which opened at 6.30am. By then I felt my throat sore. Ohh shit! The buffet's menu was apple juice, sky juice, coffee, tea, salad, watermelon, wheat bread, jam, china's type taugeh, kimchi, sausages, fried rice, fried mee, 'arang' egg, pau, tauhu, etc. Only apple juice and sausage was nice.

At 7.25am, we gathered at the lobby and then proceed to Summer Palace which took 30 minutes. Located in Haidian District, some 12 kilometers northwest of the downtown, the Summer Palace is the largest imperial garden in the world. The initial construction of the Summer Palace began in 1750, commissioned by Emperor Qinglong as a gift for his mother's birthday. The construction took 15 years to complete. It had the name "Qingyi Yuan" (Garden of Clear Ripples) at that time. The plundering of foreign troops in 1860 destroyed most of the buildings, but they were renovated in 1888 by Empress Dowager Cixi, who was said to have embezzled the funds of the Imperial Navy to build the garden. After China's liberation, the garden became a park and got the name Yiheyuan (Summer Palace).The landscape architect utilized Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake to create a paradise of hills and waters. Again I was in ewe and exhilarating. Everyone's leg was so tired after that.

At 10.45am we went back to our bus. Near our bus there's many on-foot hawker selling postcard. Previously on our way to Summer Palace, Nelson had asked us who is interested to buy post card. He will buy for us. 5 post cards(Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tiantan and Beijing scenic place) for RMB10(RM4.60). Very very cheap!!! So going back time, Nelson told a few hawker the quantity of the post card we ordered. At first there was only about 2 sellers dealing with Nelson. Then out of nowhere sellers from all direction came running and charging towards Nelson. Ladies hawker too. Wow wow so that's why Nelson help us buy the post card. Even when our bus were starting to move, they run after us.

After the frenzy we headed to a tea house. We were divided into 2 rooms, those who understand English and those who understand Mandarin. Many of us proceed to English room. We tried 5 types of tea and ended up buying 3 types of them(white tea, king of puer tea and empress tea). Costs RMB850 aka RM390 plus free gift-a tea set. And my dad paid for it. Fuiohhh when does he become a tea fanatic? The truth is that those tea really smell great. Some of the tea smells like orchid...hmmmmmmm.

After that we proceed to lunch, Mongolian Buffet. Not my cup of tea. We had never eaten almost all the dishes before except corn in cob which have no taste. Some of the dishes were too salty, some no taste and many of the dishes were lamb. There was several Mongolian performers singing and dancing on the stage and it's very loud. The good news is we will visit Forbidden City after lunch. Yahoooooooo!

At 1.46pm we arrived at north of Forbidden City. Took 3 and 1/2 hours to walk from north to south(Tiannamen Square) but our visit was not thorough. If we were to visit every part of Forbidden City, then we need about 2 days. You see there's about 9,999 buildings. Every building in Forbidden City was built according to Feng Shui. There's the dragon head Zheng Yang Men, dragon body the Forbidden City and dragon tail Tinammen Square. Of all the 3 parts, dragon body is the most important of all. That's why all 24 emperors(14 Ming dynasty & 10 Qing dynasty) reside here and prospered. Nelson said there's a Starbuck hidden somewhere in the Forbidden City but we didn't found it. Forbidden City is now called the Palace Museum. We all listened attentively when Nelson brieft us about the architecture, history, feng shui, etc. We saw some other tourist and locals follow us around because they too want to listen to Nelson. Yeah Nelson is good. We took about 4-5 rollls of film.

We walk and walk and walk until we were outside of Tianammen Square(Heavenly Peace Gate). Then we went underground to go out to the other side. There we took group photo infront of Mao Ze Dong's big potrait. In front of Tianammen Square is Mao's Mausoleum(not opened on the day we visit;usually loads of people stand in long lines for a peek) but Nelson told us that the 'body' was not the real body. Also infront is an obelisk remembering all the people who died in the revolution. On the square's left is National Museum and Parlimen(People's Hall) on the square's right.

Near the National Museum there's a medicine shop named 'Tong Ren Tang'. This shop is very famous in China. Last time famous people and before that royals only can come here for check-up. After some picketing then only this medicine shop opened to public. All the doctors in Tong Ren Tang are descendent from the royal emperor bloodline sensei. A senior doctor brieft us in a room regarding the history and the effectiveness of the pulse checking. Afterthat several doctor came in to help us check our pulse. We all tried, quite true so we bought the medicine. About RM500 per month. We bought for 3 months in order for the medicine to show effect.

We then proceed to Beijing Underground City in the evening but too bad no camera or photo allowed. Located in a small lane, or hutong, in Chongwen District, the place is seldom heard of by local tourists. Even among Beijingers, few people know the place exists. During conflict with Soviet, Mao Ze Dong ordered the construction of the underground bomb shelters in the event of a Soviet attack. This Underground City is extremely long(like great wall of China; thus also known as Underground Great Wall) and linked places in Beijing(claimed to have ninety entrances) to Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Beijing Railway Station, famous shopping streets(Wangfujing), modified shops, theaters, roller skating rinks, hotels, restaurants, schools reading rooms, factories, warehouse (even mushroom cultivation units and barber shops). You may ask why ? It was because in the event of war time locals still need to shop and entertain. *Chuckle. Nelson took us to a relatively quiet street with an ordinary shop carrying the signs "Underground City" in both Chinese and English. Through the small shop we immediately descended into a subterranean entrance with different passage-ways capable of taking three to four people abreast. There were quarters for soldiers, hospital, store rooms, theater, conference rooms and other room.

The end point of the tour was a silk factory making quilts. At the silk factory we saw how silk is spun from the cocoon and also pulled and stretched out to lengths to make quilts. Several of us(including me) tried to pulled and stretched the cocoon. It's very hard man, bravo to those ladies. Mom and myself each bought a silk quilt with free gift 1 silk bedsheet and 1 cotton bedsheet. Cost me RMB1000(RM459). It's worth it cause I felt wonderful using the silk quilt. It isn't as hot as quilt and feel cooling.

On our way back to bus while walking down a stair along a dark alley, I felt down. My dad almost miss a step as well. I was looking at him then I was imagining myself falling. Less than a second afterwards I was falling. I tried to held out my 2 hands to lessen the impact on my body and face but my hand didn't move an inch. Alas my face and body felt on the floor. My spec were broken and I felt pained at my forehead, jaws and mouth. I suspected a teeth in my mouth had fallen out or broken into half because I tasted blood in my mouth and there was a small particle about the size of small rock in my mouth. I can't even get up. At that time I was thinking if my mouth or forehead need stiches then be it. There was some heavy tears stuck at my eyes. I felt 2 hands hold me up. Later I found out it was my parents' hand. I spited out the small particle and thank God it was just a small rock. I asked my mom whether my teeth is broken and she said no. My tour group's ladies also help me by giving me tissues and water to wash my wound. So many blood. I cleaned my face but was still red in color but luckily the blood had stopped.

Drizzling...Emil took my spec and told me after dinner he will bring me to make new spec. My mom guide me to the bus. Actually we were to have a family dinner with the local at Hutong(Liu Ying Street) and I was very interested to see the hutong street. Too bad I can't see well and it was night. We ride on a trishaw to go there. The word "hutong" originates from the word "hottog" which means "well" in Mongolian. Villagers dig out a well and inhabited there. Hutong means a lane or alley, in fact the passage formed by lines of siheyuan (a compound with houses around a courtyard) where old Beijing residents live.

I was suprised when we went inside the family home. They sleep and eat at their hall though they have an air-conditoner and radiator aka heater. There's 10 dishes served such as taugeh, prawn nuggets, tauchu fish, capcisum and chicken, dumpling, mini bun, soup, mandarin orange, etc. I would said that all the dishes tasted very good. Yum yum. My mom passed the dishes to me because I cannot see well. After the meal I really felt that I had to answer 'big' and 'small' nature call no matter what. Earlier Nelson had told us not to go to the toilet at Hutong as there's no door. We all didn't believe him. Now I really had to go, so mom and myself follow Nelson walk some blocks away until we reach the 'Toilet'. There's no toilet in their home.

Eventhough I can't see well, I still can smell well. The moment I went inside with my mom, arggghhh so smelly. In my blurry vision I saw the toilet's shape. The wall (red pinkish color) between 2 toilets are as high as your tights and there's no door!!! On one side is 2 rooms and the other side 4 rooms (rooms=toilet with no door). Then at that moment suddenly I don't feel like going potty anymore. Mom told me every toilet's holes have shit on them. There's no water and no toilet paper. We was getting out of the toilet when 2 young ladies came inside with toilet paper in their hand. They went to the 2 rooms each and starts to pull down their pants and squat under the toilet holes. I was gonna runaway but my mom said I better atleast go for the small potty since I'm gonna make my spec afterwards. So reluctantly I went inside one of the room but my mom stopped me. She said that one have many shits in it. So my mom choose one of the room for me. I quickly squat a little and 'pissssssssssss'. Ahhhhh my bladder felt wonderful. With a thunder speed we managed to get out of there with our mind still thinking of that filthy toilet. All the time in there my mom closed his mouth and nose, only ocassionally open for air. While I don't have to close because my nose was stucked with lots of nose shit since I landed in Beijing. I guess is the cold weather. This is my worst experience ever with a toilet so far.

Nelson, mom and myself walked back to our group area. They was waiting for the bus while Emil, mom and me ride on a taxi to Wangfujing(cum KL golden triangle) to make new spec for me. When we reached there it was around 9am. Emil walk faster than us because he wants to find the optometric quickly. After asking several shop finally he found one which only close at 10am and can collect right away. Guess what ? There's no extra charges if we collect right away unlike Malaysia's and also making spec in China is very cheap. Since my power is very high I was charged RMB400(RM183.60) but if you have low power then they only charged RMB300(137.70). Of course not all spec is that price only limited spec.

We was asked to wait while one of the girls brought my spec to another shop(same branch) at the same floor to make my spec. Mom and myself went searching for a toilet. Well this was the best toilet. Very clean and classy. On our way walking back to the shop we met Emil and the optometrist. He asked us to go to his other shop. My spec will be ready by then. I was suprised. So fast?!!? After collecting my new spec(it works wonderful) we all went to hail a taxi. It was 10pm and many people was waiting for taxis as well. Taxi cannot come into Wangfujing rode so we had to walked quite far. Most of the taxi that passed us were hired. Emil hailed one or two taxis but some people took it. We continue to walk and walk while hailing. Finallly Emil said that now is peak time, so we better take a bus to another area where there's not much traffice. We climbed on a bus and suprised!! the bus did not move crazly like in Malaysia. I've tried the toilet, taxi and bus in one night, how lucky am I ? We climbed down somewhere and not long after that we hailed a taxi. Lucky. By the time we reach our hotel it was 11.30pm. We asked Emil how much is the taxi fare but he said we don't have to pay. Dad and sister were waiting for us in our room. I washed my face and dosen't feel any pained just many bruises. Not long after that I dozed off.