Pandas

Day 2 of the tour and we were excited as we were going to xiong mao (pandas).

The life span of giant pandas in the wild is approximately 20 years. Captive pandas may live even longer.

The eyespots of a giant panda cub are initially in the shape of a circle. As the cub grows, the circles become shaped like a teardrop.

Giant pandas are on the brink of extinction, with just over 1,000 pandas left in the world. Scientists are hoping to increase the wild panda population to 5,000 by 2025.

The giant panda has been an endangered species list since 1990. The most significant threats to pandas are habitat loss and poaching. 

Pandas have been a symbol of peace in China. For example, hundreds of years ago, warring tribes in China would raise a flag with a picture of a panda on it to stop a battle or call a truce. Today panda diplomacy still exists. China loans its pandas out to other nations as a symbol of friendship and peace.

Pandas evolved between 2-3 million years ago

According to legend, the panda was once an all-white bear. When a small girl tried to save a panda cub from being attacked by a leopard, the leopard killed the girl instead. Pandas came to her funeral wearing armbands of black ashes. As they wiped their eyes, hugged each other, and covered the ears, they smudged the black ashes.

Pandas can stand upright, but their short hind legs aren’t strong enough to support their bodies. A panda’s bones are twice as heavy as the bones of other animals the same size.

Pandas are pigeon-toed; in other words, they walk with their front paws turned inward.

 A baby panda lives with its mother between 18 months to 2 years

Female pandas ovulate only once a year. They are fertile only two or three days of the year. Apparently pandas in captivity lost their natural ability to mate. The Singapore zoo had to "show" a live panda mating session captured on TV to their panda pair in order to "educate" them on mating!

Giant panda cubs are usually born in August or September and are the size of a stick of butter. A cub has pink skin, a thin coat of white fur, a long tail, and no teeth. Its eyes are closed. By the end of the first month, the baby panda has all of its spots. Its eyes open around 4-6 weeks. A baby panda is almost 2 months old before it is the size of an average human newborn baby.

Mother pandas in captivity give birth to twins more often than mothers in the wild do.

The panda’s round head is due to powerful jaw muscles

A giant panda’s face is cute, but it is not chubby. It gets its shape from massive cheek muscles. In fact, a giant panda’s jaw and cheek muscles are so powerful that a panda can easily chew an aluminum dish into tiny pieces. They can also easily bite through a thick bamboo stalk. Humans have trouble cutting the same stalk with an ax.

A panda is a zoo’s most expensive animal

Keeping even a single panda in a zoo is expensive. A panda costs five times more to keep than the next most expensive animal, an elephant.

In China, giant pandas are considered to be national treasures.

To be frank, I was not very impressed with the pandas I saw at the Beijing zoo. Most of the time they were busy eating bamboo and did not even bother to look at the crowds busy taking photos of them! I was also most unimpressed with their dirty coat of fur. Perhaps their caretakers have yet to give them their daily bath.

The only thing I liked about this visit was that I could buy 2 cute panda toys...

Tiananmen Square and Forbidden Palace

Tiananmen Square

The square, named for its Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen), contains the monument to the heroes of the revolution, the Great Hall of the People, the museum of history and revolution, and the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.  Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic in the square on Oct. 1, 1949, an anniversary still observed there.  A massive demonstration for democratic reform, begun there by Chinese students in April 1989, was brutally repressed on June 3 and 4. It was initiated to demand the posthumous rehabilitation of former Communist Party Chairman Hu Yaobang.  The government was tolerant until after his funeral; then Deng Xiaopeng denounced the protests. The demonstrators were joined by workers, intellectuals, and civil servants, until over a million people filled the square.  General Secretary Zhao Ziyang expressed sympathy, but lost out to Deng, who supported the use of military suppression.  Martial law was declared on May 20. The protesters demanded that the leadership resign, but the government answered on the nights of June 3 and 4 with troops and tanks, killing thousands to quell a "counter revolutionary rebellion."

When I stood at the square on June 1 (just 3 days from the anniversary of the massacre) I felt my heart crying for the thousands who had died there.

The square is as plain as a square it can be. It is only the history of the place that brings sadness and grief to the heart. 

Not far from the square is the Forbidden City where the emperors, empresses, concubines and court officials once lived. 

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City (near Tiananmen Square) was the home of 24 Ming and Qing emperors, their families, and their coterie of eunuchs and servants for 600 years from 1406 (when construction began) until 1911, when the Qing dynasty was ousted and the Imperial era ended. 

Ordinary people were not allowed inside its gates—which is why it was called the Forbidden City—until 1925 when members of the public entered it for the first time.

There are many palaces, halls and gates within the Forbidden City. There are also numerous gardens within the Forbidden City. It would take a day and more to explore all the palaces, halls and gardens. 

Wanfujing

Later in the evening we were taken to a shopping district called Wangfujing. 

This shopping area is interesting because you can actually see live scorpions squirming on satay sticks together with starfishes, seahorses, silkworms and all kinds of bugs (which you would not be able to name when you see them sauteed and marinated) on display at side stalls selling all kinds of traditional Chinese delicacies.

How are they cooked? You choose a stick skewered with these unusual insects and the vendors will barbecue them for you!

Giant splayed sotong are also barbequed on request together with the innards of unidentified meats.

Our tour guide advised us not to buy the things on display to eat as the season was summer and the food had been left in the sun the whole day long. 

Eating them could cause us stomach disorders....perhaps the Chinese have stronger stomach walls as we saw many munching away at the giant sotong!

Of course we also saw vendors selling steamed sweet potatoes...the staple food of the Chinese eaten during times of famine and war.

Dinner was szechuan cuisine which was not exactly to my liking. The fish, the vegetables, the pork, the milky soup (Chinese soups are either too plain or too milky) and the chilli vegetables left a kind of numbing feeling in my mouth! Too hot, too oily!

It was here at the luxurious restaurant that we saw our first mask changing act and a young man dressed like a chef juggling plates!

Bird's nest

"Affectionately known as Bird's Nest, it is situated in Olympic Green Village, Chaoyang District. It was designed as the main stadium of 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

 

It was built at the cost of RM200 million and requires maintenance at about RM5 million a year. Its seating capacity is about 90,000 people.

 

The Olympic events of track and field, football, gavelock, weight throw and discus were held there. It was here that Usain Bolt created the Olympics record in the 100 meters.

However Since October, 2008, after the Olympics ended, it has been opened as a tourist attraction. Now, it is the center of international or domestic sports competition and recreation activities.

The design of this large stadium was accomplished together by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron and Chinese architect Li Xinggang and the others. 

 

The architects brilliantly exposed the steel structures entirely and left them in the most natural appearance. 

 

The form of the stadium looks like a big nest which embraces and nurses human beings. Also it looks rather like a cradle bearing   hope for the future.

 

The construction of this building started on December 24, 2003. On July, 2004, the project was stopped temporarily due to the amendment of the design. 

 

On December 27 of the same year, the construction was resumed and finished in March, 2008....."

National Stadium is like a huge bird's nest.

Inside Scene

- Updates from China Travel Guide

All I can say that this is an iconic building which is really stunning from far off.  However going near it all I could comment was that it needed a good wash.

Apparently in winter, it doubles up as a large ski resort in urban Beijing.

Hutong at Beijing

"People say that the real culture of Beijing is the culture of the Hutong and Courtyards. How true that is. They attract more tourists from China and abroad than the high-rise buildings and large mansions.


The lanes have their own layout and structure, and when viewed from the air the combination of the lanes and courtyards resemble a chessboard with delicate gardens, fine rockeries and ancient ruins this makes them a wonder in the world.

Because of the cross interlacement of the lanes every houses connected to the other, making it easy for local people to keep in touch with their neighbors. Therefore, once one enters any of the lanes, one can feel the deep and warm relationships among people, which is rarely found in this modern world.

In the twisted lanes one can experience the life of the ancient Beijing people. The bathrooms and public toilets can be found in these lanes. Shops sell all kinds of goods that satisfy the local people’s daily needs. It is just like a community. Gossiping in these lanes is a common scene as it is the main way for people to strengthen their relationship. These lanes have witnessed the development of Beijing. Where there is such a lane, there is a story..."

- taken from a website on China.

After a really good and light vegetarian lunch (perhaps one of the best vegetarian lunches I have ever had) we made our way to visit a Hutong.

It was at the start of our trip to one of this Hutongs that we were scolded by a guard at a hospital. While we made a bee-line for the hospital toilets, the security guard stepped forward to scold us and asked us to enter the toilets 2 by 2.

The reason why we had to use the hospital toilet was because the tour guide told us that the toilets at the Hutong have no doors. Further they were squat toilets thus making it tough for those of us with weak knees.

Anyway our tour leader calmed down the Chinese guide. It was our first experienced with a "rude" Chinese person although at most of our shopping trips the sales people were friendly and helpful.

The first thing we saw at this Hutong which we visited were rows and rows of red rickshaws. Rickshaw pullers dressed in white uniform of the same design sat around talking while waiting for passengers.

There could be a hundred or more of them. Anyway we boarded the rickshaw at 2 per rickshaw.

It was amazing to see our rickshaw rider pitting all his strength in cycling the rickshaw we boarded to take us on a trip around the Hutong.

Surely these men worked really hard for a living and for that I asked the Lord to bless him and give him even more customers!

The rickshaw contingent stopped in front of a courtyard home. We went in to have a look.

Although I could not understand the explanation in Mandarin, I knew that this was the home of a family who actually lived there. The rooms were built around a square. There were bedrooms for the just married, the single son or daughter for the family, the elderly folks and a library cum art studio.

Antique furniture decorated the rooms. Perhaps the only thing modern about the home was the kitchen!

We asked the young man who gave us a tour of the rooms and he told us that this is his home.

Wondering around the Hutong we realized that this is a community or neighborhood of old Beijing preserved for tourists and a remembrance of the heritage of China.

Narrow alleyways and low houses dotted the streets. The homes were inhabited but with modern amenities like air-cons. The architecture of the houses reflected China in the olden days.

The houses had the look and feel of houses in ancient China.

There was also an area in the Hutong of bars and small open stalls.

Magnificent Longqing Gorge

The magnificent Longqing Gorge is a must see when in Beijing. It is a lake among majestic mountains and simply astounding in beauty and quiet serenity of its waters.

It is located at the mouth of the Yanqing Old City River, in the northeast of Yanqing County approximately 85 kilometers away from Beijing. 

The scenic spot is famous for its gorge. Visitors compare the scenery of the gorge to the Three Gorges of the river Yangtze, but its mountains are much steeper than those along the Yangtze. The scenery also resembles the river Li in Guilin, but the water here is much clearer.


When we arrived at the spot, the first thing we saw was the Longqing Dam. The seventy-meter-high dam is inset between hills. Looking to the north side from the dam, the picturesque scenery of hills and white clouds reflected in deep green water can be appreciated.

To get to the cruise at the top of the gorge, we had to step inside the highest escalator in the world, an escalator with several levels inside the body of an artificial dragon. 

The escalator is about 258 meters long and can take people to a height of 90 meters.

We got to the top of the escalator and boarded a boat to enjoy the beauty of the gorge by cruise. Every turn around the hills in the gorge astounds in beauty and serenity.

The scenery here combines the charm of rivers in southern China and the magnificence of mountains in northern China. Along the river we saw heavily forested steep cliffs and the bare limestone in different shapes, eroded by the constant splashing of the water. 

The most important spot to look out for is the Comb Hill, also known as Solitary Beauty Peak, which is a hill of 70 meters high and surrounded by water. It is the landmark in this scenic spot.

Flowers Cave is another must-see spot, which covers 3,000 square meters. There are more than 1,650 kinds of artificial trees and flowers decorated with birds and other animals in the cave (although we did not get to see this cave).

In addition, the Longqing Gorge is famous for its ice lantern show in winter from January to February. Although every year, the lantern show has its own theme, but the spectacular ice-fall against the dam wall is something to be admired.

Ice-carvings abound during winter and the place is gloriously lighted at night (we saw some beautiful photos of the ice-carvings and the festivities around the gorge during winter)!

Truly another of China's natural wonders!

Golden Mask Dynasty

I cannot recall the date or day we saw this show but this is really an awesome show and worthy of mention.

Of all the shows we saw in China, this show is really the most colorful, the most lavish in terms of costume, the most inspiring in terms of its music, the most difficult in execution in terms of its acrobatic content and the most unique in terms of its stage presentation.

Built at a cost of RM100 million by Overseas Chinese Town, the theater features  rotating stage behind a stage. The theater itself could be rotated to different heights and angles. 200 actors and dancers from China and abroad made up the cast of this famous show.

The story depicts the success of the golden mask queen of the golden mask dynasty who repelled and captured the blue mask king of the blue kingdom. 

Soon the country returned to its quiet pastoral life. One day the queen decided to build a tree to symbolize the peace and serenity of the kingdom and released the blue mask king. Grateful for his release and touched by her benevolence, the king fell in love with the queen.

The story is told in moving songs, rich music, 20 over well choreographed dances. Ballet, modern dance and Chinese acrobatic stunts intertwined together were incredible.  The story which was written in English and another language (looks like Korean) was flashed into side screens before each important dance scenes.

The movable stage had at least 3 levels so that dancers were dancing and performing acrobatic stunts upside down and right side up. The choreography of dance and acrobatic stunts is really mind boggling and breath-taking, really like a 3-dimensional performance on stage. Watching the dancing and singing at the front of the stage, one also is constantly conscious of performances right at the back of the stage which opens up to another 2 levels deep into its recesses!

One had to keep one's eyes darting all over the place to truly enjoy this whole show as different things were happening at different part of the stage!

The actors and dancers wore costumes of a by-gone era. There was also an amazing peacock dance to incredibly haunting music and fantastic acoustics and lighting.

Even more incredible was the floor of the stage that opened up to rivers and waterfalls. Halfway through the musical drama, the versatile stage opened up a huge waterfall depicting scenes of a great flood which was part of the story! The waterfall fell from the top of the stage down to the stage at eye-level flowing down a series of staircase-like rocks. Water fell into trenches built into the front and sides of the stage. 

The country of the golden mask queen was badly flooded and she gave her life to save her people. Later she became a sunbird watching over her people whom she loved very much.

All I can say is that this is the artistic capability of Chinese engineering brought into the theater to show-case the huge talents and gifts of the Chinese people.

This trip to China is eye-opening for me. I have begun to appreciate Tim's love for China and why he has such a huge admiration for this nation.

Indeed this is my ancestral heritage too!

Perhaps one day I will visit Fujian, the province of my hock kien speaking ancestors....

Auspicious Business Hotel

It is June 4 and security is tight at Tiananmen Square as it was the anniversary of the massacre. It was a good thing that we had walked the Square on the first day and visited the Forbidden Palace at the same time.

Before checking into the Hotel we were taken to a cultural street called the Liulichang area. Many shops selling Chinese seals carved on jade-like stones, writing inside a bottle, beautiful Chinese paintings and Chinese antique shops lined the streets. Here also for the first time, I had no choice but to use the public toilet that had no doors but were essentially cubicles. Anyway I was thankful that although it was a squatting toilet (most Chinese toilets are squatting toilets thus making it very hard on the knees) the cubicles were low enough for me to place my hands on its top to pull myself. However be ready with tissues as most Chinese toilets do not have tissues nor bidets.

We stayed overnight at Auspicious Hotel at Changping after walking the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall of China. This hotel is truly classic. Its decor and structure is like that of a by-gone era. The era of emperors and empresses, concubines and eunuchs. 

Receptionist wear costumes of an ancient Chinese era. The reception area opens into a palace-like courtyard. Many classical and traditional furniture decorated the hotel making photography ideal.

Our rooms had antique chests, tables and wardrobes. Great effort was made to preserve the classical atmosphere of old China.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Auspicious Hotel was that it faced a huge open space opposite the road. Crossing the road was tricky because we had to look right, look left and look right again to avoid bicycles on the bicycle lanes, buses on the bus lanes and cars on the car lanes. Chinese drivers drive on the left side and most of them drive like Malaysians!

We saw to our amazement many Chinese doing simple exercise to music in this open space, children roller skating, men playing a type of Chinese chess. Certain parts of this space was like an open-air gym!

No wonder Chinese people are so fit and dominate the Olympics and sports events. Their culture is a culture of exercise from the very young to the very old!

34 types of exercise equipment dotted the landscape of this park. Yes, exercise equipment like what you can find in a gym though of a more rudimentary nature and offering all kinds of exercises for every part of the body.

One can stand on a movable discs, hold on to a handle and twist and turn one's bodies as a form of exercise, climb onto a stationary bicycle and start cycling, climb onto a step-up equipment and start imitating a mountain climbing walk, stand on a swing-like structure and start swinging, lean against a circular contraption and hold on to handles with both hands and start moving in circles, lie down on a bed-like equipment and start pulling oneself up and down, play table tennis on several tables set up in the park, play Chinese sepak takraw with shuttlecocks with huge feathers, play Chinese tops with strings, sword-plays, fan-plays and line dancing....

The group dancing/exercise in the open air gym continues in the morning with many homemakers, elderly folks and even office workers dressed in their office clothes exercising on the various exercise machines in the park!

I have never seen anything like it!

China is indeed a nation of fit people. Come to think of it I did not see a single overweight person the whole time I was in China.

Apparently this kind of exercise equipment is found all over the various parks and open areas in China cities and towns. 

Later at night we had a palace banquet at the Hotel. A feast fit for emperors no doubt. We had a young lady entertained us playing a typical Chinese instrument, a young man doing the opera-like mask changing act and another young man performing a modern magic show.

At night we were given vouchers to visit the Dazhaimen SPA located right in the hotel. The hot springs spa is really one of its kind.

Women go into the "Area of Women" and men into the "Area of Men".

However I did not stay long in the spa as it felt weird being the only person using the hotspring at about 9 pm! 

I had a dream in this hotel. At night 3 figures from an ancient Chinese dynasty visited me in a dream. Petrified I shouted the name of JESUS and they immediately left. My mistake: I had not prayed for God to cleanse the hotel room before settling in which I would normally do before.

The following day I shared this with the Malaysian tour guide who told me of a weird experience she had the night before. A young lady approached her during the dinner and said that she belonged to our group although she had never seen her before. At about 3 am in the morning, she got a call from the security guard who said that someone was looking for her. He brought up the same lady wearing the same clothes to her room. The same question was asked of her i.e. whether the young lady belonged to our group or not. Of course she replied no and the security took her away.

I realized that I had to keep on praying in the Holy Spirit which I had been doing as much as I possibly can during the long bus journeys. 

This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Great Wall of China

Driving about 2 hours into Beijing's suburbs we reached Changping on June 3rd.

This was the day we had been waiting eagerly for i.e. to see the Great Wall of China. Henry Norman said in 1895 that the Great Wall of China was the only work of human hands on the globe visible from the moon.

Arriving at the Great Wall entrance of Mutianyu, a 1.3 mile walk and the most scenic of all the 5,500 mile wall, this Wall truly earns its name as one of the world's wonders. 
  The Mutianyu entrance is not as popular with tourists as Badaling or the Juyongsuan passes which latter 2 passes offering more shopping stops along the way). However it is the only pass that offers a cable chair ride to the top and the option of taking the cable chair down at RM40 per person or a long winding but steep slide down (like the slide in a theme park scooped out of the sides of the mountains in the shape of a long half opened steel trench). 

This pass is about 2.5 km long with 22 watch towers and a beautiful valley on the sides of the Wall.

One could also walk down  the Wall on a steady pair of legs which walk would take about 45 minutes.

Many many people climbed this part of the Wall due to its beauty and majesty. We opted to take the cable chair both ways but were given time to take photographs of the Wall at the Mutianyu pass. Mutianyu side of the Wall is built on lofty, craggy mountain tops. Standing at one of the watch tower, one can see the imposing structure stretching miles and miles over the mountains. 

The images of the parapets, watch towers, narrow stone staircases, castle-like top edges of the Wall are indeed hard to forget. It would take more than 5 months to walk the this amazing structure from end to end. Vendors dressed in Mao-like uniforms sell drinks and tidbits at certain sections of the Wall calling out "cold", "beer" and offering to take pictures of tourists.

My first impression of seeing this Wall was that the Chinese are truly gifted engineers!

No wonder all over the world today China is building bridges, tunnels and highways. I guessed I have never truly appreciated the greatness of Chinese engineering as I did that day standing on the Great Wall of China and surveying its vast expanse. Now I know why the Penang government awarded the contract to Chinese engineers to build the underground tunnel across the straits of Butterworth. Chinese engineering is something else!

I have seen the leaning tower of Pisa, the Eiffel tower, the Coliseum, the Taj Mahal but I can only say that the Great Wall surpassed them in natural ruggedness and beauty. 

It may be easy to build on flat land but it must have been a difficult and monumental task to build on mountainous terrain.

The Great Wall is made of fortifications of stones, bricks, rammed earth, wood. It spans 8,850 km with 6,259 km of actual wall, 359 km of trenches and 2,232 km of natural defensive areas.

Conceived by Shih Huang Ti around 220 - 206 BC, the Wall was built to protect the Chinese empire against nomads or barbarians. However the Mongols later penetrated into the certain portions of the Wall.

The majority of the Wall was reconstructed during the Ming dynasty and repaired and reconstructed ruing the Han, Sui and the northern dynasties.

The Wall stretched from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Lake in the West and roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.

About 1 million workers died building the Wall. Many bodies of the dead workers were eventually buried into the Wall. 

If not for my knee guard, I would not have been able to climb the Wall. I had also spent about a month preparing for this climb exercising at least twice a week for 30 minutes in my office gym! 

Certain parts of the small stony stairs are steep and narrow, other parts are steep to climb. The uneven texture of the ground is a challenge to any 'aged' climber like me!

Sanlitun shopping and Peninsula for dinner

Finally we had a chance to go shopping at Sanlitun shopping complex on our last day to buy souvenirs. 

Not unlike Pertama Complex or Campbell Complex, this shopping areas has stalls side by side. The main difference is that in Sanlitun all the sales people were Chinese. However in KL, it is now quite normal to find foreigners manning the stalls!

Clothes being the main items on sale, we were able to buy an imitation Diesel jeans for RM45! We decided to buy from the young man manning the stall as his opening price was 100 yuan (about RM45) which we thought was quite decent for a starting quote. 

Speaking to the young man who sold us the jeans, we found out that most of the sales people were from Anhui province in China. Coming from poor families and a province where they could not find jobs, they decided to move to Beijing to work. 

Their working hours: 9.30 am to 8.30 pm, 7 days a week. Their only annual holiday is 2 weeks during CNY where they make the trip home to Anhui. Their children (one child only) will be looked after by family members in their province as it would be expensive to bring them over to Beijing. 

"Only rich people can afford more than one child as a fine has to be paid" said the salesgirl who spoke to us about her life in China.

"No we do not earn commissions only a salary" was the reply when I asked them why they were so eager to make a sale. I was impressed with their English although they spoke it with an American slang. 

"All of us here have to speak English" was one of the salesgirls reply when I commented on her English. 

It was also at the jeans stall that I distributed some more tracts to the sales persons who took them gratefully and read them on the spot!

It was also here that I found the panda bedroom slippers that I had searched high and low for since coming to Beijing. God heard my prayers!

Amanda specifically wanted a pair of bedroom slippers from China. To find one with panda faces was a bonus! However the opening price was RM75 equivalent (Chinese yuan is twice that of our currency). We asked for RM20. The salesperson said No. We then upped our offer to RM25. Again the salesgirl said No. We were walking away when she said "Come back. Ok" It was a bargain as the bedroom slippers were of a good quality and beautiful to look at.

It was also here that we saw cute panda fridge magnets with 4 magnetic points. Now this was something I could buy for my Malay colleagues without them being afraid of my gifts being "non-halal"!

Again the opening price was RM175 per small panda fridge magnet. We asked for RM5. After buying 10 magnets we went to another stall selling the same magnets and asked for RM4. The salesgirl who also opened with RM175 per magnet finally agreed to sell us for RM4 per piece! 

However I could not find any foodstuffs to buy in Sanlitun as this was basically a clothing and souvenir market spanning 5 floors.

In any event our Chinese tour leader gave us samplings of the Chinese tidbits for which he took orders from us for purchase: chilli nuts with a numbing after-taste like szechuan cuisine, steamed chestnuts, flour fried like nuts, dried apples, sweet nuts biscuits etc, thus further purchase of tidbits were not necessary. 

The final dinner was a lavish Cantonese dinner at the Peninsular Restaurant. This restaurant had waitresses dressed up like the ladies of the palace court wearing ancient Chinese clogs. The entire ambiance of the place also looked like something from the Chinese era of emperors and empresses.

The dishes were typically Cantonese like fatty pork, steamed fish, sotong, snow fungus and vegetables, eggplants, plain tasteless soup, man tou, bamboo shoots, rooster (not chicken) with the rooster head served together and many other dishes. There was also starchy Chinese koay teow which was really unique in taste and texture.

Each meal had typically more than 10 dishes served with quality Chinese tea and Yanjing beer which has a mild taste.

My comments on Chinese meals in China: generally oily, lavished with sauces, tasteless soups, innards of fowls that can be deceptive, starchy, delicious steamed rice, delicious man tou, fatty pork (but delicious), ducks (and so many parts of it cooked up in different ways), some cuisine which were chilli-hot with a numbing after-taste.....you have to try it to experience it....

Summer Palace

On Wed, we visited the Summer Palace after lunch at Matsuko.

The Summer Palace is also known as the Museum of Royal Gardens. Built in 1750 during the Qing Dynasty, it was originally known as the Qingyi Garden or Garden of Clear Ripples.

The empress dowager, Cixi built the Summer Palace as a holiday resort. Apparently she embezzled the navy funds to build the resort thus weakening the navy in the process. 

In 1998, the Summer Palace became a World Heritage Site.

The first view of the Summer Palace is this beautiful bridge over the Kunming lake. The bridge is simply stunning in its facade. 

Overhanging willow trees served as an awesome backdrop. Cruising the calm and huge lake on a dragon shaped boat, I wonder how the Chinese managed to build the stone bridge over the lake. Truly Chinese engineering is a marvel to behold! 

Other attractions at the Palace are the Longevity Hill, pavilions  tower bridges, corridors with traditional Chinese architecture, court areas, front hill area, hills area, rear hill area and lake area. The various court areas were well preserved. The court area was where the emperor Guangxu and empress Cixi greeted court officials and conducted state affairs.

Due to the smog over Beijing, we were unable to take clear pictures of this beautiful place.

Silk shop and Matsuko on June 5 2013

When I heard the Chinese tour guide (Mr Wang) told us that it had not rained in 8 months in Beijing, I was really concerned for the city.

For the first 3 days of our tour, the skies were clear but the weather was hot (like Malaysia) but for the last 2 days of the tour, Beijing was shrouded in smog. Watching CCTV in our hotel room at the Marriot, we learnt that the pollution level in Beijing was bad. For a city of over 20 million people, the air quality was worrisome.

I decided to pray for rain. I thought that if Elijah can pray for rain so can I! And rained it did...so much so that the tour leader told me not to pray for rain as she wanted us to have good weather to move around the historical sites! So I prayed that it would only rain when we were indoors and that there would be no rain when we were outdoors. I believe that God heard my prayers as it rained heavily the night when we were in the Auspicious Business Hotel in the outskirts of Beijing.

I will start with my report on the last day as it is still fresh in my memory.

June 5 (Wednesday) started with us going silk shopping. We were taken to a large silk shop. This was one of the 3 "compulsory" shopping tours that we had to attend.

We were shown silk worms in various stages of their growth. The sales person also explained to us how silk was harvested from the silkworms and also asked us to try eating the discharge from the silkworms (I politely declined although some of my tour members did)!

We were then taken to the shopping area where the usual hard-selling began. Silk comforters, silk bed-sheets, silk covered cushions and pillows, silk bedspreads in traditional and modern designs were on display for us to see. 

Most of the time I could not understand a word of their sales pitch (yes...I am Chinese but cannot speak nor understand Mandarin) although I picked up some essential words like toilet, meals, eat, door, how much, thank you).

Selling at RM2000 equivalent, the silk bed-spreads were beyond our budget. (We only brought RM1k with us to spend during the holiday).

However thanks to the overall purchase of our group, we finally bargained for "buy one, free one" silk cushions which was originally quoted at RM190 per cushion! Finally the sales ladies relented but kept on asking us to buy the silk bedspreads even when we had paid for the purchase. The silk cushions were unique cos they opened up to be silk comforters and folded up to be cushions. 

However I did not quite like the silk bedspreads as I am not a fan of silk materials due to its tendency to cling to the skin. 

Some shopping tips in China: try not to separate from the group cos that's where the hard selling can begin and the pressure and coercion will become agressive, try not to ask questions cos that's when they think you are keen, try to walk away when they thrust things into your hand, try to stick to about 70% or 80% discount from the original quoted price and be determined to walk away if they say "No" to  you. Chances are they will call out to you "Come back"!

It was also at this shop that I gave some tracts on "Who is Jesus" to the Chinese salesgirls who were impressed with the English and Mandarin languages in one tract!

I also asked some of the salesgirls about the program "Perfect Match". Surprisingly they told me that they also like to watch the show. I told them that I learnt some Mandarin watching the program. I told the single girls (who spoke to me in English with an American slang) to join the show as I hoped to see them on TV back in Malaysia! I said I will pray for them to find their partners!

I later came to learn that matchmaking is big business in China. They are matchmaking fairs much like trade fairs where photos of eligible singles are placed in an exhibition hall for all to see. Singles flock the fairs to register themselves and to meet their potential partners. The surprising thing is that they also visit the fairs with their parents who will also exchange photos of their sons and daughters for potential matchmaking!

After the silk shop, we had a Japanese buffet lunch at Matsuko. A long buffet line of sushi, unagi, salmon, perch, crab soup with noodles, sukiyaki, pumpkin soup, edamane, miso soup, steamed fish, octopus, durian ice-cream and more greeted us the moment we stepped into the restaurant. 

Sitting on cushions at a low rectangular table with our legs dangling in a space beneath the table in a Japanese tatami room, we had a good and hearty Japanese lunch. Although getting up and sitting down posed a challenge for older folks like me, it was interesting nonetheless and an enjoyable experience.....

Next update: Summer Palace.

Holiday in Beijing in review - June 1 to June 5 2013

Amazing and an awesome deal!

That's how we would describe our recent holiday in Beijing.

Its amazing cos its 5-star hotel lodging with 5-star meals and 5-star tourist sites from day one.

One of our tour member told us that he just went into the Matta Fair, looked for the most expensive deal and paid for it! 

I guess this is how we feel about the vacation organized by Apple. 

Its amazing because it is one of the most expensive China holidays organized by a tour agency (at least in the recent Matta fair). Its also amazing because its limited in terms of shopping visits. 


Knowing the infamous shopping visits organized by most China tour companies and stories we heard about "hard-sell", we were wary about shopping trips. 


We heard stories about "fake" fruits (fruits with color sprayed on), "fake" money (fake yuan given back to us in small change), exorbitant prices (to start bargaining at 70% of the quoted price and to walk away if they refuse to budge), angry faces and rude comments if we were to sample their products and walk away without buying! 

We did not want a tour where we had to do a lot of shopping stops and be "pressured" into buying things. Perhaps "cheap" tours carry with it a price - the price of too many shopping stops to make up for the cheap price of the tour!

Anyway at RM 4,000 per person, I would say that it was worth every cent and more.....!

Reasons:

• 5-star accommodation at JW Marriot - Marriot City Hall and Marriot at Beijing Northeast. The other hotel we stayed in was called Auspicious Business Hotel which was built on an area of hot springs at Changping. Amazing hotel but one in which I had a weird dream and our tour leader had a "weird" visitation. More about this later.....

• 5-star breakfasts, lunches and dinners. The top breakfast venue has to be at Marriot at Beijing Northeast and the top lunch venue has to be at Matsuko. The top dinner venue has to be the emperor's meal we had at Auspicious Hotel.

• 5-star tour visits. We visited so many important places in Beijing. More about that later....

• 5-star shows. We saw the famous mask changing opera show (2x), traditional Chinese dancing and singing, traditional Chinese instruments being played, a world famous show called the Legend of Kungfu, Legend of the Mask Dynasty (this is a simply amazing show with many stage effects that really showcased the prowess of Chinese performing arts and theater), traditional Chinese juggling show with plates performed by a Chinese chef and a modern magic show.

• 3 shopping visits only. Silk shop, pixiu shop at the ZhengYangMen Museum and a tea shop. China sales ladies are very aggressive!! Beware the "hard-sell"! As one of our tour member puts it "If you are not interested to buy, don't say anything, don't ask anything". After our first experience at the tea-shop where we bought close to RM150 plus worth of tea and persuaded to buy some more to enable the sales lady to "meet her target" after all our tour members have bought the tea and boarded the bus......we learnt something....how to avoid parting with our money to buy things we don't need! What disturbed me was the way they "pleaded" with me and Tim and the tour guide to buy the tea which was originally quoted at RM600 plus at the price of just RM100 just when we were getting ready to leave the shop! They said that they wanted to make a total sales of RM1000 from our group in order to meet their sales target. She was so convincing! If the sales pitch don't work use the persuasion of the heart! Later one of our experienced tour member told us that such a sales pitch is not uncommon in China! 

Anyway it was also at the tea-shop that I gave away the first of the tracts I brought with me to China and their comments were that they were impressed with the dual languages on the tracts.

O yes at this tea-shop also I "met" a bird in a cage placed near the toilet who greeted me in Mandarin "Nee how mah" (how are you) in both a man's voice and a lady's voice! The salesgirls at the shop later confirmed that the bird in the cage could indeed speak those few Mandarin words!

More to come....