My Trip to Beijing 28 Sept - 4 Oct 2012

Dear Friends,

I came back from Beijing 2 weeks ago. I planned to go on a free and easy back packing trip to Beijing but it turned out to be otherwise due to the unbelievably huge crowd of tourists from all parts of China flocking to the capital city. Why the huge crowd? It was their independence week that also coincides with the mid-autumn festival (more commonly known as Moon Cake festival in Malaysia).

I did not check the date before booking the flight. You must be thinking "What type of traveller is she?". Yes, I admit that I am not good at planning just like my Krabi trip early this year. Anyway, God had protected me throughout my journey and I came back safe and sound even though I travelled alone in Beijing using public transport. I flew with Air AsiaX. It was not a very pleasant journey as there was a delayed flight and some inconsiderate passengers. However, I thank God for the safe journey.

I have never been to Beijing before this and I had never travel alone before. However, I am not worried because I stayed with my friend who is working there. Unfortunately, she could not take leave to join me for the sight seeing. Therefore, I had to put my Mandarin into good use. Fortunately, I am still able to read the Chinese characters well apart from speaking the language fluently. The local tourists in Beijing were really impressed and thought that I came from China too. Ha..ha...I felt really happy to be able to communicate with them. At least, now I know that I did not waste my time studying Mandarin for 11 years!

Now, lets see the pics.

Day 1- The Amazing Great Wall of China - Mutianyu (29-09-2012)
This was an unplanned trip. Again, God really knew my heart's desire to visit the Great Wall. As I said, I did not have a planned trip. I did not even booked any local tour before flying there. Yeah, that's me. You may not believe me but that's true. I simply go with the flow.

My walking partner

I had no idea that I would be visiting the Great Wall on the first day of my holiday. I had my monthly blues and only 5 hours of sleep. Amazingly, I was able to finish the whole stretch within 3 hours and surviving only on some biscuits and water. I climbed from 2 to 5pm (up and down). The experience was .....indescribable. It was such a long walk but thank God that I had a walking partner, Monica Yap whom I just knew on that very day was very determined and motivated to complete the walk. She was the angel that God has sent to accompany me. I did not feel tired at all. Thanks to my regular exercise.

And on that day, we were really fortunate because there was no crowd yet.

Day 2 - Rest and Relax
I did not go to any places but went to visit my friend's restaurant which I will elaborate in my next post.

Having breakfast in the park

 

The place where I stayed - Olympic Garden

Fresh Hawthorn (san cha)

 
Day 3 - went shopping at Sanlitun with my friend (she took one day off from work)

Day 4 - Summer Palace and Forbidden City
I booked a local tour by phone and went to these places. The crowd was really huge and I could hardly walk.

Summer Palace

Forbidden City

At the entrance of Forbidden City - can u see the crowd?

Forbidden City - I had no idea that it is super huge

A local tourist from Guilin - Madam Xiong Yan & son

 

 I had to find my way back to my friend's apartment from Forbidden City. Thankfully, my friend gave me some information. I took bus 82 to Olympic Park and took the Subway line no 8 and 10. I changed another bus 406 and reached home safely.

Day 5 - Tiananmen Square
I travelled by bus and Subway and reached Tiananmen Square at 1.30pm. I saw the huge crowd and did not feel like travelling. However, I met a lovely couple (local tourist from Suzhou) and tagged along with them. 

Pic with a local tourist from Suzhou - Madam Soong

Day 6 - went ChaoYang Park and Sanlitun

Chao Yang Park

This is a clothing market but the people are very impolite and quote very high prices for low quality products

Overall, I am happy with my trip except the crowd and the super dirty toilet. You can never imagine the state of the public toilet in Beijing. Our public toilet in Malaysia is way much better. I learn to appreciate Malaysia more after visiting Beijing.

Have you been to Beijing before?

Lavender♥