Jiunn's Special

ShiChaHai - XiHai, HouHai, QianHai (什刹海 - 西海, 后海, 前海)

2011-08-29T00:55:00.000-07:00

It has been sometime since my last blog. Kind a forget how to write, how to blog. Luckily my busyness never let me forget to visit my blog daily. It has been a year since my last days in Beijing. However, my memories towards Beijing city are still as fresh as it was just yesterday. Today, I am going to introduce more about Beijing’s Lakes – XiHai (西海), HouHai (后海) and QianHai (前海).

ShiChaHai

Lake Scene

After my mother fully satisfied with her admiration on the Xu BeiHong’s paintings and works, we moved our step from XinJieKou North Street into an unknown alley. After not long of walking, a very nice view of lake appears in front of us. My mother got surprised that such an unknown backdoor alley is actually linked to such a nice lake.

The Small Alley

Lake Scene

This historic scenic area is called the ShiChaHai (什刹海). It was called the Riverbank (河沿) during the emperor ruling period and is located to the north-west of the Forbidden City. It consists of three lakes, the Xihai, the Houhai and the Qianhai.

Lake Scene

Tree combined with the rail

Lake Scene

Shichahai is a famous scenic area in the Beijing. These beautiful lakes are surrounded by big trees and some trees are really old that they are already combined with the rail at side of the lake. It is a leisure place to walk, jog, cycling, watching ducks swimming, tours with tricycle and there are also activities like boat peddling and electric-boat boating during summer. According to online information, you can even ice-skating on top of the lake surface in winter time.

Lake Scene

Boating

The tricycle

The Shichahai area used to be one of the important commercial districts. There are ten temples around the lake; this is how Shichahai got its name. Around the lake, there are also formal royal mansions and garden, and formal residences of some famous personages. The most well-known spot are the Price Gong Mansion (恭亲王府), Prince Chun Mansion (醇亲王府), formal residence of Soong ChingLing (宋庆龄故居), and the formal residence of Guo MoRuo (郭沫若故居).

Duck swimming and playing

Taichi

Lake Scene

Xihai is the lake first appears in front of us. There are duck swimming and playing on the water. There are people who doing the “blowing sugar” art called the ChuiTangRen (吹糖人). There are places to practice Taichi (太极拳) around the lake.

Lake Scene

ChuiTangRen Artist

My Little Sugar Cow

We walked along the side of the lake from Xihai all the way down to Qianhai. On the way, I bought the sugar cow made by the “Chui-tang-ren” men. However, this little sugar cow cannot even stay with until back to the hotel; it melted due to the hot weather. We passed by the famous bridge, YinDingQiao (银锭桥) on the way to dinner place.

YinDingQiao

YinDingGuanShan (银锭观山)

Bars Street

KaoRouJi

Around the lakes, besides the historic mansion and temples, there are also a lot of bars and famous old-timer restaurants along the HouHaiBeiYan, HouHaiNanYan, YanDaiXie Street (烟袋斜街), QianHaiDongYan, QianHaiBeiYan, and basically all the street along these lakes. We had our dinner in one of the famous restaurant – KaoRouJi (烤肉季).

Barbeque Lamb

Roasted duck meat slices

Roasted duck set

In Kaorouji, we ordered their famous dish, the barbeque lamb, and a roasted duck. This is still so far the nicest Peking Duck that I have had. Well, it is of cause not comparable to the one I had in KL or Australia Chinatown.

Sources, onion and cucumber

Roasted-duck-bone soup

The big rock - Shichahai

It is almost dark after the dinner. We continued our journey along the Qianhaibeiyan and the QianHaiXiYan towards the Tian’anmen West Street. There is a big rock there with Shichahai crafted on it. Here, there are a lot of tourists around taking photo and the night view of Qianhaixiyan is very beautiful.

The big rock - Shichahai

The Plague – LiangHuaShiChang (莲花市场)

The Price Gong Mansion

Before going back to our hotel, we took a walk to the Price Gong Mansion. Due to tight schedule, we never enter to the mansion, but just take a photo of the front door as remembrance. On the way, we passed by the formal residence of Guo MoRuo. We were so tired that day, really lot of walking. The scenes are so beautiful that we were not even feeling tired while walking.

The formal residence of Guo MoRuo

Reference Map:

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Xu Bei Hong Memorial Hall 徐悲鸿纪念馆

2011-08-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

There are a quite a number of former residences of famous personages (名人故居) in Beijing. During the trip to Beijing, we visited a few of the former residences and some of those are already changed into memorial hall. On the fourth morning in Beijing, we took a visit to the XuBeiHong Memorial Hall (徐悲鸿纪念馆).

Xu Bei Hong Memorial Hall

Xu Beihong Memorial Hall is located at the XinJieKou North Street (新街口北大街) in XiCheng District (西城区) of Beijing. The memorial hall was first built in the Former Residence of Xu Beihong. Due to the development of the subway system, his former residence is demolished and the memorial hall is reconstructed at the current location.

Xu BeiHong’s Statue

They have Audio Guide device provided there. It acts as a tour guide in the memorial hall. It will play the corresponding audio when you are at different exhibition room. Visitor can choose from the available language shown on the information board. The charges for the device are quite affordable.

Memorial Hall Information Board

There are 7 exhibition rooms in the Xu Beihong memorial hall. In these exhibition rooms, they display the color ink paintings, oil paintings and sketches from each period of Xu’s studies till his career. In one of the exhibition room, it displays the photos and documentary of Xu Beihong’s life.

Memorial Hall Front Door

In the memorial hall, it also exhibited the Xu’s collections. The painting includes works from Tang’s dynasty till Qing’s dynasty. In these exhibitions, the most precious collection will be the Tang’s painting, the Eighty-seven Immortals (《八十七神仙图》), by Wu DaoZi (吴道子). There is a story behind about how he purchased this painting. You really have to visit the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall to see this real priceless painting.

Memorial Hall Sign Board

Ink Painting of Horses

Xu Beihong was one of the China’s most renowned modern art artists and educators. He was a master of both oils and Chinese ink paintings. He was expert in drawing galloping horses; his Chinese ink painting “Galloping Horse” (《奔马》) is very famous. His arts and paintings are rare masterpieces in China’s modern art history.

Steam Bun

The Making of Bun

Lamb Skewer

There are some restaurants along the XinJieKou North Street. We took bus from DengShiKou Steet to XinJieKouBei Bus Stop (新街口北站). We had lunch in one of the shop, they sell steam bun and roasted lamb skewer.

Travel Tips:

Xu Beihong Memorial Hall entrance fee: RMB 5

Address: No. 53 Xijiekou North Street, Xicheng District, Beijing China.

(中国北京市西城区新街口北大街53号)

Opening time: 9.00 – 16.00 (closed on Monday)

Nearby Xu Beihong Memorial Hall

Xihai (西海 “West Lake”), Houhai (后海),

Guo Shoujing Memorial Hall (郭守敬纪念馆),

Former Residence of Soong Ching Ling (宋庆龄故居)

Reference Map:

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Olympic Green Beijing 北京奥林匹克公园

2011-06-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

On the late afternoon of our third day in Beijing, we took a visit to the Olympic Park. It is formally known as the Olympic Green (北京奥林匹克公园) in English. This Olympic park is constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics Games hosted in Beijing.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Ling Long Pagoda

Olympic Green is located about 8km away at the North on the center axis (中轴线) of Beijing city. It can be reached by Beijing subway Line 8, which is also known as the Olympic Branch Line (奥运支线). The subway Line 8 starts at BeiTuCheng Station (北土城站) which is connected to the subway Line 10. From south to north of subway Line 8, the stations in sequence are Beitucheng (北土城站), Olympic Sports Center (奥体中心站), Olympic Green (奥林匹克公园站) and Forest Park South Gate (森林公园南门站). It is very convenience to get to the Olympic Green as the line 10 is joined to most of the subway lines, i.e. line 1, line 4, line 5 & line 13.

Bird's-Nest Walking Path Light Design

The subway system in Beijing is growing fast in these few years. There are numbers of new subway lines which are coming up in the future years. To be safe, log on to the Beijing Subway official website for updated information, subway maps and travel tips.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium

There are a few signature buildings in the Olympic Green. The most popular one will be the Bird’s Nest (鸟巢). It is officially known as the Beijing National Stadium (国家体育场). The opening and closing ceremonies, Athletics, and football finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics are hosted here.

“Beijing Welcomes You”

(北京欢迎你)

The Bird’s Nest Stadium

Once exited from the Olympic Green Station, I can already see the Bird’s Nest. It is one of the magnificent structural designs of the 21st century. It looks just like a huge bird’s nest sitting on the ground. Visitors are allowed to go into the stadium for a visit with ticket. However, I feel it is enough to just walk around the square and get impressed by the buildings in the Olympic Green. It is impressive that Beijing had presented a grand Olympic Games with surprises to the whole world.

The Water Cube

- Behind is the PanGu 7 Star Hotel (盘古七星酒店) -

The Water Cube (水立方) is another signature attraction in the Olympic Green. It is also known as the Beijing National Aquatics Center (国家游泳中心). During the Games, most of the swimming and diving events were hosted here. It is located next to the Bird’s Nest on the west side. The Water Cube is nicer at night with the light effect. It is like a huge model of water molecule.

Water Cube at night

Bird’s Nest at night

As a suggestion, you should stay at the Olympic Green until the evening or make a visit at the evening, to take a look at the night light around the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. It is definitely worth visiting.

Ling Long Pagoda

Ling Long Pagoda at night

Ling Long Pagoda (玲珑塔) is another attraction in Olympic Green. During the Summer Olympics, it is used as a broadcasting device. It is a Multifunctional Studio Tower located on the northwest side of the Bird’s Nest. At night, the Ling Long Pagoda is lighted up and it is changing color. It is definitely a must see attraction in Beijing too.

Changing Color of the Ling Long Pagoda

Beijing National Indoor Stadium (国家体育馆)

Olympic Green Convention Center (国家会议中心)

The walking square

The square between the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube is a board and long walking plaza. It has strong wind at most of the time. With this superiority, kitting is one of the activities here. Kites with FuWa (福娃) printing, the mascots of the 2008 Olympics, are sold around the square. There are a couple of young men connected together a few string of the kites; they bind the kites with a long string; they let the kites flied up very high on the sky. I saw another group of people at the other side of the square near to the subway station; the women were dancing on the square whereas the men were playing the drum. People in Beijing really have their very unique and fascinating leisure activities.

Me kitting

High up in the sky

Security is very tight basically around everywhere in Beijing city. Security posts with metal detector and beg scanner are set at every entrance to the Olympic Green. It creates a save and secure environment for visitor as well as protection to the buildings and attractions from vandalism. The preventive action is very well done in Olympic Green.

Drum Deco near the Subway Station Entrance

The area developed for the Olympic Games is really very big. There are some other parts besides the stadiums, such as the Olympic Village (奥运村), a place for the athletes to stay, and the Forest Park (森林公园). They have their value of visiting for different people and purposes. In one word, Olympic Green is a recommended and a must-go location in Beijing.

Hope you like the way I shared the information and look up for my next blog for more on Former Residence of the Personage (名人故居).

Travel Tips:

Bird’s Nest entrance ticket price: RMB 50

Water Cube entrance ticket price: RMB 30

Beijing National Indoor Stadium ticket price: RMB 20

*reference price from 百度百科

Around Olympic Green:

Southern Area:

National Olympi Sports Center (国家奥林匹克体育中心),

Chinese Ethnic Culture Park (中华民族园),

Western Area:

Pangu Plaza (盘古大观),

Pangu 7 Star Hotel (盘古七星酒店),

Northern Area:

Olympic Village (奥运村),

Olympics Forest Park (奥林匹克森林公园),

Green Jade Park (碧玉公园),

National Zoological Museum (国家动物博物馆)

Reference Website:

Beijing Subway Official Website:

www.bjsubway.com

Reference Map:

View Larger Map

Great Wall of China - Ba Da Ling Portion 八达岭长城

2011-05-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

The third day in Beijing, we visited the Great Wall of China in the morning and the Olympic Sport Center in the evening. Early morning, we took subway line 5 from Dengshikou Station (灯市口站) and changed to line 2 at YongHeGong Lama Temple Station (雍和宫站) to go to the XiZhiMen Station (西直门站). From there, we walked to the Beijing North Railway Station (北京北站) to catch a train to BaDaLing (八达岭).

Badaling Great Wall

Beijing North Railway Station

Badaling is a mountain located about 70km northwest of Beijing city. The Great Wall of China is built on the ridge of the mountain. Badaling Great Wall (八达岭长城) is the earliest section of the Great Wall of China (万里长城) which opened to visitors in 1957. Most of the existing Great Walls in China nowadays were built during Ming’s Dynasty. It is named the Ming’s Great Wall (明长城). Its total length is about 8851.8 km.

Ming’s Great Wall Total Length

Altitude 616 meters

There are a few ways tourists can travel to Badaling from Beijing city. Travel by train is fastest and most convenience choice. Tourists can take Line S2, Beijing Suburban Railway, from Beijing North Railway Station to Badaling Station. Some tourists might prefer to drive to Badaling for flexible timing. Badaling Expressway connecting Badaling with Beijing city is a good choice for driver. Besides this, there are buses travel to Badaling frequently from Beijing city too. It is very convenience for tourists to travel to Badaling according to their location, timing, and budget.

Route Y567, Platform 5

There are about 6 runs every day from Beijing North Station to YanQing (延庆) which passes by Badaling Station start at 7.26am. The reference route numbers are Y563, Y565, Y567 & Y573 in the morning and Y575 & Y581 in the afternoon. Whereas for the return route, there are 7 runs a day start at 10.13am from Badaling. The reference route numbers are Y570 & Y572 in the morning; Y578, Y580 & Y584 in the afternoon and Y586 & Y588 after 6pm. For more detailed, timing and updated information, you can always visit the official website of China Railway.

Train to Badaling, named “HeXie” (和谐号)

Tourists can buy the train ticket at the Beijing North Railway Station or any of the railway ticket counters around the city. The crowd condition in train station was very bad when I was there that morning. Luckily I got my ticket at one of the ticket counter located at Baishu Hutong (柏树胡同); else I might miss my train at 9.33am that morning. I am not sure about the crowd condition during normal day in Beijing; but I presume that the condition will be bad during peak season especially school holiday. As an advice, get your ticket ready if possible before going to the station.

JuYongGuan Great Wall (view from train)

The journey from Beijing city to Badaling is about an hour plus. On the way, we passed by the JuYongGuan (居庸关), another famous portion of Ming’s Great Wall. Along the journey to Badaling, the train management will have people to walk from seat to seat to sell the entrance ticket for the Great Wall. They have promotion price for purchasing the Great Wall entrance ticket together with the Great Wall Full View Cinema ticket. You might want to get those to avoid long queue at the Great Wall ticket counter.

JuYongGuan Great Wall (view from train)

Badaling Station

The Badaling Station is quite small. It will be crowded during peak season too. You should get your return ticket together when you purchase the depart ticket. Or you might want to get your return ticket at the Badaling Station once you reach the station before going to the attraction. This helps you to plan your time on the Great Wall and surrounding attraction.

QiJiGuang Sculpture

ZhanTianYou Memorial Hall

The Great Wall is located approximately 1km away from the Badaling Station. Turn left after you exit the station and walk along the 216 Provincial Road. You will first pass by a sculpture of QiJiGuang(戚继光) on horse not far away from the station. Then, you will reach the ZhanTianYou Memorial Hall (詹天佑纪念馆) on the left not far after the sculpture. Continue walking, you will see a bus station of the right and a road junction on the left with parking area and rows of restaurants. There are row of shops of hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and more in front of you along the 216 Provincial Road. Walk towards the end of the shops, you find the entrance to the Great Wall of Badaling.

Heritage – Badaling, Great Wall of China

Great Wall Gate Area

The Wall Gate is sitting at the center. The wall extended towards the North and the South. There are about 12 watch towers on each side. More people are climbing the South portion compared to the North portion. Perhaps this due to the scenery at the Southern side is nicer than the North. Anyway, no matter from which side, the Great Wall is really hard to be conquered.

North Portion

South Portion

(3rd tower if not mistaken)

Climbing up to the Great Wall is really hard. My mother and I choose to follow the crowd. We went up to the wall at the Southern side. The watch tower is different from each other, none is the same. Some are big and some are small. Walking path on the wall between two towers is also varying from portion to portion. Some are very steep with stair; some are steep with slope only. Climbers are really required to have a pair of comfortable shoes and a very good stamina for climbing the Great Wall.

Watch Tower

On 3rd tower finally

(if not mistaken is the 3rd one)

I can still remember I start giving up after the second tower after looking at the tall and complicated stair toward the third tower. I believe you will be the same under the hot summer weather. But at last, under my mum’s persistence, we finally make it to go up to that third tower. (Cannot really remember is that the third one or the fourth one.) Drinking water is another thing to be prepared before your visit. You are going to need that if you plan to pass more of the tower.

Exit stair to the path

Olympic 2008 was here

There is another option if you found it difficult to walk on the wall. There is a small path under and along the inner side of the Great Wall. You can actually use that path way to bypass some steep and difficult stair on the way. There are exit stairs on the wall to excess to the path walk at each wall portion. We used this path to go back down to the watch tower 1 bypassing the slope and steep step.

Drainage on the watch tower

The Powerful General-Ancient Cannon

(神威大建军炮)

Description board of Powerful General Ancient Cannon

We get some souvenirs at the stall on the gate area. There are quite some choices of restaurant around the shop area, i.e. fast food, café, and local favorites. We had our lunch at KFC. If you would like to stay a night at Badaling, hotels and motels are available around there.

Cannon

Great Wall Full View Cinema

After lunch, we took a visit to the Great Wall Full View Cinema (长城全周影院). It is a 360-degree-full-screened cinema, playing the documentary of Great Wall of China. You can see the 360 view of Great Wall in the cinema. It feels like you are at the real location of the Great Wall. One show is about 15min long and it repeats every 15min until closing. You go in any time, stay as long as you wish, and leave any time when you feel bored.

Great Wall Museum of China

The Great Wall Museum of China (中国长城博物馆) is not far next to the cinema. The entrance is free and it is closed on Monday. The models of the famous Great Wall gates are displayed in the museum. There are also descriptions and information on the function of each building structure.

Logo of Great Wall

The Great Wall is a must go attraction in Beijing. I agreed with this saying: “You are not a true man if you never been to the Great Wall” (不到长城非好汉).

“Bu Dao Chang Cheng Fei Hao Han”

Welcome to the Great Wall

One more achievement in Beijing, I have been to the Great Wall. We left Badaling around 3.22pm with the train route Y580 and continued our journey to the Olympic Sport Center.

Travel Tips:

First-class seat train ticket price (one way): RMB 17

Second-class seat train ticket price (one way): RMB 14

Great Wall entrance ticket price: RMB 45

Full View Cinema ticket price: RMB 40

Together Promotion price: RMB 80

Great Wall Museum entrance fee: Free

Around Badaling:

ChaDao Village (岔道村), City God Temple (城隍庙),

Badaling Wildlife World (八达岭野生动物世界),

ZhanTianYou Memorial Hall (詹天佑纪念馆),

The Great Wall Museum of China (中国长城博物馆),

Great Wall Full View Cinema (长城全周影院),

Badaling Bear Paradise (八达岭熊乐园),

Ming’s Tomb (明十三陵)

Reference Website:

Badaling Official Website:

http://www.badaling.org/language/en.asp

China Railway Official Website:

http://www.tielu.org/

Reference Map:

View Larger Map

Lu Gou Qiao 卢沟桥 - the Marco Polo Bridge

2011-05-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

LuGouQiao (卢沟桥) is one of the Beijing’s oldest bridges; it was built in 1189 during Jin’s Dynasty. It is located about 15km away at the south-west of Beijing town city. However, it was damaged and re-built for quite a number of times ever since 1189. Luckily, the structure and its signature lion sculptures are maintained even after so many times of renovation.

Lu Gou Qiao

Lu Gou Xiao Yue (卢沟晓月)

Qiao Tou Xiao Wei (桥头小韦)

Lugouqiao information board

The history of Lugouqiao is very interesting. It is also known as the Marco Polo Bridge in English because it was described in Marco Polo’s travel note. It is listed as one of the Beijing 8 Scenes (燕京八景 – 卢沟晓月) since Jin Dynasty. It is said that the moon at Lugouqiao is more charming.

Bridge Monument by Qing’s Emperor

Bridge Monument information board

Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War Sculpture Park

In the Sculpture Park

In 1973, the Japanese attacked on the bridge and started Japanese invasion of China, this incident is well known as Macro Polo Bridge Incident (七七事变). Anti Japanese War started here in WanPing City (宛平城). The artillery hold is still maintained on the wall of Wanping City along the Chengnan St. (城南街). Memorial monuments are along the road to grieve over the anti-war soldiers. The Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War Sculpture Park (中国人民抗日战争纪念雕塑园) is next to the Wanping City. Visitors can get a ticket and visit the park and understand more about the history of the Anti-Japanese War.

Cheng Nan Street

Memorial monuments along the road

Artillery Hold on the Wanping’s City wall.

Stone Lions on bridge

The stone Lion sculptures are the most interesting feature on the bridge. There are about 496 big and small stone lions with different posture and expression sitting on 281 balusters. According to the information, there are a few sayings about the exact number of lions. Peoples saying that the stone lions on Lugouqiao hard to be count clearly. As I walked along the bridge, I realized the stones or marbles used for the lion sculptures are different. I believe that this is due to its several renovations along different dynasty. As the dynasty change, the material and the handwork skill varied too.

Lion sculptures on bridge

With different posture and expression

During the renovation on 1986, portion of the bridge old surface are remained and maintained on the bridge for visit. You will really feel the magnificent of the bridge when u walk along it. Non of the lion is similar to each other, and each with different expression; some with angry face, some look serious and guarding the bridge; some are happy and play around with small lions; some are fierce and bullying small lions. There are a lot more, you should really take a look yourself here on this bridge if you like stone lions.

Old Bridge Surface

Bridge surface information board

The journey to Lugouqiao from Beijing city is actually quite far. We took bus from one of the bus stop along ZhuShiKou Street (珠市口大街) to KangZhanDiaoSuYuan Stop (抗战雕塑园站). It took us about 1 hour plus to reach there. My mother felt dizzy after the long distance travel on bus. So we went into one of the restaurant along the XiaoYue Mid Road (晓月中路) for some food. At last, my mother still gave up walking over to the bridge.

Nice Food

From the bus stop, you need to walk across the flyover (the G4 Jinggang’ao Expressway) to the DongGuan South Street (东关南街). Walking along the Dongguan S. St, you will reach to a parking lot on left, and there is the Sculpture Park I mentioned above. Take a left turn into the Chengnan St next to the Sculpture Park; on your right, that is wall for the Wanping City. Along the road is the Anti-Japanese War Relic area. To go to the Lugouqiao, you got to walk all the way to the end of the Chengnan St and turn right. You should see the bridge heritage area not far away on your left.

Wan Ping Cheng

Sunset at Lugouqiao

There is some display sculptures and information about the bridge building history at the entrance of the Lugouqiao Heritage Area.

Sculpture

Cannon

Sculpture

This is definitely a worth-to-go attraction in Beijing. The bridge and the heritage are well protected. Besides the history, sunset at Lugouqiao is also quite nice.

Travel Tips:

Lugouqiao entrance ticket price: RMB 20

Opening Hours:
7 .00 - 19.00, 1st April - 31th October
8.00 - 17.00, 1st November - 31th March

Around Lugouqiao:

WanpingCity (宛平城),

Display Hall of Historical Information of Lugouqiao (卢沟桥史料陈列馆),

Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall (中国人民抗日战争纪念馆),

Macro Polo Bridge Incident Relic Site (七七事变弹坑遗址),

Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese War Sculpture Park (中国人民抗日战争纪念雕塑园)

Reference Maps:

View Larger Map

Qian Men Street 前门大街

2011-05-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

QianMen Street (前门大街) is one of the famous streets in Beijing. Here, you can find a lot of the Beijing’s old-timer restaurants, all kind of Beijing snacks (北京小吃) and many of the local souvenir gifts.

Qian Men Street Plague

One of the representative structures of Qianmen Street is the street plaque (街匾). It is called the ZhengYangQiaoFang (正阳桥坊) or WuPaiLou (五牌楼) in common. It is titled with “ZhengYangQiao” on the center plaque. It is called the Wupailou because of its structure consist of five tablets.

Zheng Yang Qiao from Starbuck Coffee

Night at Qianmen

Special Street Light Design

After the 2008 renovation, the Qianmen Street became a walking street and new commercial shopping street. The architecture style of Ming's and Qing's Dynasties is still re-presented in Qianmen St. It is now a good and comfortable street for walking, shopping and eating.

Street view @ Qianmen

Bookstore - Zhong Guo Shu Ju

Yue Sheng Zhai

Most of the Beijing old-timer restaurants’ branches can be found here, such as the QuanJuDe (全聚德), YueShengZhai (月盛斋), DongLaiShun (东来顺) and so many more. Quanjude is one of the famous restaurants for roast duck. You have to be there early to get a queue number in order to dine in the restaurant. I remember I was there at about 3pm, and they have already given out all their queue ticket for dinner that day. However, they also have a more commercial branch for lower cost roast duck. Vacuum packed roast duck is also available there. You can try this if you are under budget. But as an advice, Beijing is a town famous for roast duck, nice and special roast duck can be found everywhere.

There are a lot more famous restaurants along Qianmen Street, I have not tried any of those yet. Please share and feedback you experiences on these restaurant if you have any.

Starbuck Coffee @ Qianmen

Haagen Dazs @ Qianmen

Besides the old-timer restaurants, there are also fast food and café such as Mc Donald’s, Starbucks Coffee in Qianmen Street area. When we were in Beijing, we normally look for fast food restaurants such as McD and KFC for toilet. Although in some tourism places the public toilets are clean and convenience, but there are still some toilet with no water and less clean. So, in this case, look for fast food restaurant, they should have better ones.

All kinds of MaHua

Tang Er Duo

Beijing snacks, food and souvenirs can also be found along the neighbour alleys, Hutongs and streets, for example the DaShiLan Street (大栅栏街). Snacks like TangErDuo (糖耳朵), LvDaGun (驴打滚), AiWoWo (艾窝窝), and BingTangHuLu (冰糖葫芦) are a few common snacks can be found along these streets. There are many packaged snacks which visitors can buy back for souvenirs. The Tang’erduo is also called Honey MaHua (蜜麻花), it is much bigger than those we can find in Malaysia. They also have other flavors such as original and pepper salt.

Sunflower Seed Biscuit

I bough some Lvdagun and Aiwowo back for souvenirs. It is some thing like mochi. There are a few snack shops along the alley, you can easily find these. They come in several flavors too. However, I basically think they are the same thing, cannot really find the differences between Lvdagun and Aiwowo.

Tram - the Dang Dang Che

Tram starts from street plaque

In the tram

Another representative of Qianmen Street is the Dang Dang Che (铛铛车). It is modified tram based on the original tram in Qianmen St. It runs hourly for visitor to travel from the street plaque to the ZhuShiKou Street (珠市口大街).

Dang Dang Che

S. DEER concept shop @ Qianmen

ZARA @ Qianmen

Besides food and souvenirs, Qianmen St is also a shopping street with several brands of fashion wears, bags and shoes.

Ming Fu Ju Restaurant

Food at Ming Fu Ju

In Qianmen Street, we had lunch at MinFuJu Restaurant (民府居) located at one of the alley; walked along the street; bought some paintings and souvenirs; took the Dang Dang Che down to the Zhushikou Street; had dessert in Mc Donald's; and after that we took bus to go to LuGouQiao (卢沟桥). In my next blog, I will share more of the photos and information about this heritage bridge. Stay tune.

Travel Tips:

Dang Dang Che Tram ticket price (per trip): RMB 20

Reference Website:

正阳桥坊:
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A3%E9%98%B3%E6%A1%A5%E5%9D%8A

前门大街:
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%89%8D%E9%96%80%E5%A4%A7%E8%A1%97

Reference Map:

View Larger Map

Tian An Men Square 天安门广场

2011-05-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Second day in Beijing, we spent half day visiting the Tian’anmen (天安门) and walking around the Tian’anmen Square (天安门广场).

Tian An Men

After breakfast in the HangZhou Steam Bun Shop, on the way to the subway station, there is a food stall selling hot egg crepe. I cannot remember what is it called or in fact I ordered it by telling the cook to give me one of this without knowing the name. I can hardly remember what was wrapped inside, there are egg and spring onion for sure, and some kind of braised meat with bean curd skin. You can also order to add in the meat sausage in the crepe. It is really nice and hot, and a common Beijing street food.

The Crepe Stall

Hot and Nice Egg Crepe (煎饼), RMB3

We took subway train from DengShiKou Station (灯市口站) to Tian’anmen Square. It is nearer to National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆) if you exit at Tian’anmen East Station (天安门东站), whereas you are nearer to the Great Hall of the People (人民大会堂) if you exit at Tian’anmen West Station (天安门西站).

National Museum of China

The Great Hall of the People

As we can see from the map, the Tian’anmen Square is at the centre. North of the square is the Tian’anmen. The National Museum and the Great Hall are sitting on east and west respectively. They are facing each other with the Monument to the People’s Heroes (人民英雄纪念碑) at the center. The south of the Tian’anmen Square is the Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall (毛主席纪念堂). You will basically need approximately a day or more to finish visiting everywhere around the Tian’anmen Square.

The Monument to the People Heroes

Light and Speaker Post on the square

I can still remember the crowd and the heat of the summer at the square. Security guards and scanning machines are set at every exit of the subway station, entrances to the square, and all the underpass way entering the main attraction. Patrol polices and patrol posts are everywhere. From these, it can be seen that the government really pay a lot of attentions to protect their heritage.

Patrol police scouting along the Guangchang Side Road

We walked from the East Station towards the National Museum, found our way to cross the road to the Tian’anmen Square. From the square, we used the underpass to cross the Chang’an Ave (长安街) to go to the gate, the Tian’anmen.

Huabiao (华表) at front and back of the Tian’anmen

View of whole Tian’anmen Square from the gatehouse

Window frame of the Tian’anmen gatehouse

Ceiling of the corridor on the gatehouse

Tian’anmen is actually the main gate for the Ming’s and Qing’s Palace City. Tourists are allowed to go up and visit the gatehouse. There is some exhibition about the history of the Tian’anmen, a model of the old Palace City Wall and Gate are placed in the exhibition too. Almost 80% of the walls are removed. There are also stalls in the gatehouse selling souvenir. On top of the Tian’anmen, the view of the whole square can be clearly viewed. From the picture above, it can be seen that air of Beijing is quite polluted.

Tourists with luggage and bags are not allowed to enter the gatehouse. There is a locker rental service nearby the inner side of the Tian’anmen. Camera are allowed on the building, however, photographing in the hall is prohibited.

The Chairman Mao Zhdong Memorial Hall

(Full of visitors queuing to enter)

Sculpture at two side of the Memorial Hall

After visiting the Tian’anmen, we walk around the square and planned to go to the Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall. However, the plan is cancelled due to the long queue. It is free to enter the memorial hall but you got to be there early as first, it is closed early around 12pm and second, there will be long queue.

The National Museum and the Great Hall of the People are also main attraction around Tian’anmen Square. The National Museum of China was closed for maintenance during the time I was in Beijing. Presume that they should have more things for exhibition now. We never go in to the Great Hall of the People, believe that it is one of the valuable places to be visited in Beijing.

Northern view of Zhengyangmen Gatehouse

Description of Zhengyangmen

Zheng Yang Men

We walked down along the Guangchang East Side Road (广场东侧路) to go southern side of the memorial hall. Behind the memorial hall, it is the ZhengYang Gate (正阳门). Zhengyang Gate is commonly called the QianMen (前门). It consists of two buildings, which are the Gatehouse (城楼) and the Archery Tower (箭楼). If not mistaken, Zhengyangmen Gatehouse is also opened for visitor.

Northern view of Zhengyangmen Archery Tower

Zero Point of Highway, China

White stone lion in front of the gatehouse

Zero Point of Highway, China (中国公路零公里点) is placed in front of the Zhengyangmen gatehouse in between the two stone lions. It represents the beginning of the China’s highway. The information about this Zero Point is limited; I believe that it means the “Kilometer Zero” point of a highway or railway.

Description of the Zero Point

Southern view of Archery Tower

The Zhengyangmen gatehouse and the Archery Tower are at the North-South axis of Beijing. However, we cannot walk across the road directly alone the axis. The gatehouse and the Archery tower are separated by Qianmen Street (前门大街). Visitors have to walk alone the Qianmen Street and look for underpass to cross the road to go to the Archery Tower from the gatehouse. If the emperor can travel through time and come back to Beijing, I am sure he will be lost; he cannot go directly from the Qianmen all the way straight back to the Palace.

Southern view of Gatehouse from Archery Tower

Not a stoll but the door bolt of the Zhengyangmen

In front of the Zhengyangmen Archery Tower, it is consider as a main bus station in Qianmen area, most of the buses go around Beijing city will pass by this station. One of the famous streets in Beijing, the Qianmen Street (前门大街) also located at the Southern side of the archery tower. It is a commercial street and most of the famous restaurants in Beijing can be found here. Follow my next blog for more on Qianmen Street.

Travel Tips:

The Tian'anmen Gatehouse entrance ticket price: RMB15
The Memorial Hall entrance is Free
Other attractions price info please see 百度百科 as references.

Notice:
Luggage and Bags are not allowed.

Locker Service Price: RMB3 for small bag.

Reach by subway:
Subway Line No.1 (一号线), exit at Tian’anmen East Station (天安门东站) or Tian’anmen West Station (天安门西站)

Around Tian'anmen Square:

North: Zhongshan Park (中山公园), Taimiao Temple (太庙),

Gate of Heavenly Peace - Tian'anmen (天安门).

South: Chairman Mao Zedong Memorial Hall (毛主席纪念堂),

Zhengyangmen Gatehouse and Archery Tower (正阳门城楼与箭楼),

Qianmen Street (前门大街), China Railway Museum (中国铁道博物馆).

East: National Museum of China (中国国家博物馆).

West: Great Hall of the People (人民大会堂),

National Center of the Performing Arts (国家大剧院).

Reference Map:

View Larger Map

HangZhou Steam Bun Shop 杭州小笼包

2011-04-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

The second day in Beijing, we went back to the HangZhou Steam Bun Shop (杭州小笼包) to try out the other food they have for breakfast. Then we spent our morning on the TianAnMen Square, and then.... but now, I would like to write more about this HangZhou food.

Tiny little shop

This HangZhou snack shop (杭州小吃) has appeared but not really introduced in the previous blog. It is a tiny little shop in Baishu Hotong (柏树胡同), with a small door which one person can hardly pass. It has about 2 tables in the shop: a 2 persons table and a wall linked table; can serve 5 to 6 people in the same time; and a place for two people to sit down to prepare the dumpling. However it is small, but it has everything you like if you like steam bun and dumpling.

Steam Meat Bun

The shop is just one street behind the hotel we stay. Throughout the 9 days in Beijing, we basically had our breakfast there most of the time. We have tried their steam meat bun (小笼包), steam vegi bun, steam dumpling (蒸饺子), soup dumpling (汤饺子), soybean milk (豆浆) and wantan in soup (云吞). It is a highly recommended shop to be tried out in Beijing.

Steam Dumpling

Soup Dumpling

The dumpling come 10 in a tray or in soup. They are the same dumpling, but they taste different when they are cooked in steam or in soup.

Steam Vegi Bun

The buns really are my favorite. They also come 10 in a steam tray. When I see this tray of bun, it reminds me of the movie, KungFu Panda. It is the panda's favorite too. In one of the scene, his master is using the bun to tempt him in order teaching him the KungFu. Now, when I remember this scene in the movie, it reminds me of the HangZhou steam bun.

Wantan Soup

Hot Soybean Milk

I ordered this the first day when I was in Beijing, it come with no sugar normally. Of cause, I request to add in so sugar, however, I still cannot taste any sweetness. Well, this might be a good chance to remind us to reduce the sweetness of food or drink we normally took. It taste bad, but at least it is good for health.

They are opened for breakfast, lunch (not sure), and dinner. Besides the above dishes, they also serve porridge and noodles. We had our dinner there once (too tired at night, have the food without taking the photo). They sell quite some number of local noodle such as ZhaJiang Noodle (炸酱面) . In overall, it is really good place to try and may be for me as a first-time traveler, it tastes really good and unforgettable.

Location: Baishu Hotong (柏树胡同), nearby DengShiKou Subway Station (灯市口站).

Reference maps:

View Larger Map

LongFu Temple Street 隆福寺街

2011-04-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

Me and my mum left the Beihai Park about 6.50pm. The sky is getting dark and I was wondering how to get back to where I from this afternoon. The trip was actually gone out of my itinerary plan and I have no idea which bus is going to bring me back to my hotel.

There is a bus station right in front of the Beihai Park, so I just crossed the road using a under pass way, and find a bus which passes by the WangFuJing Street (王府井大街). In city center of Beijing, a lot of buses are electric powered (not sure if they are still using petrol on it). It is just like a tram in a bus body, driving on normal road and holding wire on top.

Longfu Temple Street's light board

My destination then was going to the Longfu Temple Street (隆福寺街) for night market and the food. I stopped at the MeiShuGuan bus stop (美术馆站) and walk opposite to the Longfu Temple Street. It took us about 30min from Beihai Park to the LongFu Temple Street.

From my research, not a really good and clear research, there should be a night market and street food at Longfu TS, but what I saw was totally different from my expectation. There are not really many shops for night shopping and in fact most of the shops are closed when I reached. However, quite a number of food stalls are still operating.

SanXi Sliced Noodle Stall

We had our dinner in one of the noodle stall in a street which I cannot recall. I only have a photo of the shop. They serve very good Sliced Noodle (刀削面), the dumpling (水绞) and many other snack foods.

Sliced Noodle RMD8.00

The food portion in Beijing is big. So we shared a bowl of Sliced Noodle, a Egg Tofu soup and 20 dumplings.

Mix Vegi-Meat Dumpling, 20 pieces RMD10.00

Egg Tofu Soup, RMD4.00

After dinner, we spend sometime in the book shop; then we bought some fruit; then we went back to the hotel.

Until here, I have finished the first day of my trip in Beijing. There are more coming up, thank you for catching up.

Reference Map:

View Larger Map

Beihai Park 北海公园

2010-10-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

My mother and I visited the Beihai Park (北海公园) after Forbidden City. Beihai Park is located at North West of the Forbidden City. We walked to the Beihai Park from the Gate of Divine Might. In front of the Gate of Divine Might, tourists can either choose to walk or use the buses, taxi and also tricycles to travel to the Beihai Park.

Lotus Lake Garden

Willow by the Lotus Lake

Bridge to Qionghua Island

The weather of Beijing gets colder during evening. We went in to the Beihai Park through the South Gate. Tourists can buy BBQ Chinese sausages, steam corns and drinks at the entrance of the park. Entrance ticket and Combo ticket can be bought at the South Gate. The Combo ticket includes the entrance ticket, the Qionghua Island (琼华岛) ticket and the Tuancheng City (团城) ticket.

Tuancheng City

Introduction Board for Tuancheng City

Back of White Dagoba

White Dagoba (白塔) is the main focus of Beihai Park. It is a temple located on Qionghua Island. Many tourists come here to visit the White Dagoba. We need to climb up few hundreds steps, passes through Falundian (法轮殿), Zhengjuedian (正觉殿), and Pu’andian (普安殿) to reach the White Dagoba. We can enjoy the nice scenery around the lake on top of the dagoba. It is really a great time to climb up to the White Dagoba during evening.

Falundian

Zhengjuedian

Pu'andian

Long Stair to White Dagoba

Front of White Dagoba

After that, we leave the White Dagoba from the behind entrance of the temple. There is a Qionghua Cave (琼华古洞). The entrance ticket is not included in the Combo ticket. The entrance ticket cost 5RMB per person to visit that cave. From my opinion, this is not worth to visit. There is nothing much to see in the cave unless you are interested to the Chinese Traditional Celestial Stem and Earthly Branches (天干地支).

Huanbilou (环碧楼）

The famous Nine Dragons Wall (九龙壁) is at the north side of the Beihai Park. Tourists can take boat to across the lake to go to the north side of the park from the north point of the Qionghua Island. Tourists can choose to use the north gate to leave the park and continue the journey. Else you can walk back to the south gate along the lake enjoying the view of the Baihai.

Jicui (积翠）

From the Beihai Park, I feel that people in Beijing have a lot of leisure facilities. There are a lot of nice lakes in Beijing, Beihai is one of them. People can choose to walk around the lake, boat on the lake, enjoy the nice scenery or take up a big brush and showing the writing skill.

Shu fa

Po Shi Zha Gen

Writing with brush is a traditional Chinese practice，called Shufa (书法）. Using the big brush is really testing the skill and the strength of hand. In Beihai Park, there are people leisurely writing big words on the floor using water. The nice writing can be kept for few minute and it will be dry after that. Look at one of the writer, he is writing the words that people is asking for; idiom, proverb, saying are written on the floor. These interest and hobby should be our practice in one day.

Looking at Beijing, we should really have more of these leisure facilities instead of building more and more of the shopping center around. Give some time to spend with family and the nature, doing interesting and fun practice just like Beijing’s people do.

Reference Map:

View Larger Map

Travel Tips:

The Beihai Park combo ticket price:
RMB20, include entrance ticket, the Qionghua Island ticket and the Tuancheng City ticket

(Qionghua Island is formally called the Jade Flowery Islet, and Tuancheng City is called the Round City)

Islet Opening hour:
9.00 - 17.00, 1st April - 31th October
9.00 - 16.00, 1st November - 31th March

Entrance:
The South Gate
The East Gate

Little Tips:

The price of F&B in Beihai Park is averagely around 10 to 20 RMB per person, it is quite convenience to get F&B here.
Beihai is a nice lake for boating and a recommended freelancing activities attraction. (Boating price is around 40 to 60 RMB if not mistaken)

Forbidden City 紫禁城 Part2

2010-09-24T03:15:00.000-07:00

I can still remember the crowd on that day in the palace. I gave up on taking the photo of the decoration in the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. Continue walking, behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, it is the Palace of Heavenly Purity (乾清宫), or called the Qianqing Palace. There is a small square in front of the Qianqing Palace; it is the boundary line of the inner and the outer court.

The Square and the Palace of Heavenly Purity

West of the square is the so called RongZongMen (隆宗门), it was one of the important pass ways to the inner court. However, it is now renovated as a restaurant. We have a break here, hot and cold food, drinks and desserts can be found here, but it is expensive to spend around in the palace.

The RongZongMen

The Qianqing Palace is sitting on the central axis of the palace. To it west is maintaining the original decorations which include the Hall of Mental Cultivation (养心殿), the Emperor’s and his wives’ bedrooms. On the other hand, to the east, it is where most of the exhibition halls are. The exhibited items include clocks and watches, china and ceramics, paintings, and jewelries.

When I was in the inner court, I notice that the painting and the pattern on the beams, and roofs are so much different from the outer court. There are more dragons and complicated drawing at the outer court, whereas more flowers and simple tile design at the inner court.

The Roof on the inner court

The flower tile on the wall (inner court)

I saw a lot of the big size copper tubs all the way from the main gate. At first, I thought it might be the cookers people used to prepare food for big event or some tub to cook criminal during the olden days, until I saw the description board for the tub. It is actually used to store water to put off fire in case of emergency. As in the winter, water will become ice; therefore, it needs to be heated up.

Big copper tub

Small copper tub

Description Board

The Hall of Mental Cultivation is kept very well. The structure and design of the building is very detailed and well presented. The wood craft are so amazing. Look at the window rail, it seem like it is made from metal, but it is actually crafted from wood.

The view of Hall of Mental Cultivation

My mother and I cursory walk though all the bedrooms till the Imperial Garden (御花园). The Imperial Garden is located at the central axis behind the Qianqing Palace. The Hall of Imperial Peace (钦安殿) is located in the garden on the central axis. In front of the hall, there is a significant pine tree. Its root is being separated in to two and being planted back to the floor. It is called the LianLiBo in Chinese (连理柏). There are a few of these pine trees in the Imperial Garden.

The Rock Park (御花园景山公园)

The YuJingTing (御景亭)

The YangXinZhai (养心斋)

The Hall of Imperial Peace

The special pine tree (连理柏)

Behind the Imperial Garden, that is the north gate of the palace, called the Gate of Divine Might (神武门). On top of the gate, it is labeled as GuGong Museum. It is really a hard day walking through this huge palace under hot sun. We left the palace through this gate about 4pm.

The Gate of Divine Might

Knock knock

The dock nail (门钉) on the Gate of Divine Might

After the Forbidden City, we continued the next destination to the Beihai Park (北海公园). Look out for Trip to Beijing – Beihai Park for more photos and tips.

Travel Tips:

Around Forbidden City:

North Gate: Jingshan Park (景山公园), Beihai Park (北海公园);

South Gate: Zhongshan Park (中山公园), Taimiao Temple (太庙),

Gate of Heavenly Peace - Tian'anmen (天安门)

East Gate: East Glorious Gate Street (东华门大街)

Little Tips:

As the palace is huge, choose to visit places you wish to visit first if limited time.

Expenses in the palace for F&B is high, get some water before entering from convenience store.

Forbidden City 紫禁城 Part1

2010-09-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

The first day when my mother and I reached Beijing, we took express train to the city from the airport terminal 3. When I look around the city from the train, it is so beautiful. There are trees along the road, farms located round the countryside. The air in the morning is fresh and mist cover around the earth. Our trip in Beijing started with the well-known Forbidden City (故宫).

We stayed in Golden Palace Silver Street Hotel(金府银街大酒店) for the whole journey in Beijing. The hotel is at the east of the Forbidden City and near by the Wangfujing (王府井) Shopping Street. Before we check in to hotel, we had steamed bun and dumpling for breakfast.

The HangZhou Steam Bun Shop

Steam bun and Dumpling

After checked in to the hotel, we took a walk to the main entrance of the Forbidden City, the Meridian Gate (午门). On the way, we passed by the East Glorious Gate (东华门) of the palace. There are lot of hawkers selling honeydew at this gate. Eating a stick of the long and sweet honeydew in the hot summer day can quench the heat and thirsty.

The East Glorious Gate

Willows by the Moat

Moat is surrounding the palace and willows sleep by the moat. This scenery is beautiful and only can be felt with your own eyes.

The Meridian Gate

In the afternoon, the city gets hot and hazy but the people visiting the Forbidden City do not get reduced. We spent around 20min to get the entrance tickets. The Meridian Gate has five arches. The centre arch is for exit purpose; and the other two next to the centre arch are for entrance. There is security check at the entrance, begs are scanned.

The Gate of Supreme Harmony

Behind the Meridian Gate, that is the Gate of Supreme Harmony (太和门). It is tall and painting is on the ceiling and beam, none of the spot is left blacked. The colour of painting on this gate is well maintained. After this gate, that is the Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿). The hall is a building by itself. It is big and three levels up on the sky. The emperor’s seat is well kept in the hall. I spent tremendous efforts to get myself into the crowd to snap a picture of the seat.

The Emperor's Seat

The three Halls of Harmony

Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there are another two halls, the Hall of Central Harmony (中和殿) and the Hall of Preserving Harmony (保和殿). The paintings on these building are not repainted, and the original colour is almost gone.

The roof is the nicest part of the hall. The speciality is on roof levelling. The outer layers is yellow tile, and then follow by square shape of long wood, then round shape… Under these three layers is few layers of cow-face kind a structure. Then after that is the beam of the building.

The Hall's Roof

Cow-face Structure

The palace is really huge. The previous paragraphs are just about the journey to the outer court (south) of the Forbidden City. In part 2, I will continue on the inner court, north of the palace, goes into the ‘house’ of the emperor and his wives.

Travel Tips:

The entrance ticket price:
RMB60, 1st April - 31th October
RMB40, 1st November - 31th March

Opening hour:
8.30 - 17.00, 1st April - 31th October
8.30 - 16.30, 1st November - 31th March

Last entry:
16.10, 1st April - 31th October
15.40, 1st November - 31th March

Entrance:
The Maridian Gate (South Gate)
The Gate of Divine Might (North Gate)

More History Information can search from wikipedia for english, from BaiDuBaiKe (百度百科) for chinese.

Trip to Beijing 2010 - Intro

2010-09-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

I always see photos or movies about the Forbidden City. This is first time I am in the picture with the background of this mysterious palace.

This summer, I travel to Beijing for 9 days with my mother, we walked over several historical places, fascinating lake gardens, Beijing's special - HuTongs... In the following days, I am going to introduce Beijing place by place following by travel tips. You are not going miss this.