Day 4: Summer Palace & Panda!

It's strange how a long weekend usually makes us more exhausted than well rested.  Just had a long weekend here in Malaysia for we had Tuesday off as a public holiday; Sat, Sun, Mon (took off) & Tue.  And, I felt like dozing off while driving to work this morning!  It was so hard to keep my eyes open plus the gloomy weather outside is not helping at all.

Let's see, besides the exciting Friday 'Fuel-less' experience, participated a two day course for something interesting (shhhh.... secret) on Sat & Sun, attended a colleague's wedding dinner and got most of the boys drunk on Sunday night, had a mild hangover myself the next day and still went for 3 hours dance practice at night and followed by an outing to the elephants sanctuary on Tuesday.  Seriously, is this normal?  What do you guys do usually?  Is it all packed like our's?

Back to Day 4 in Beijing after a short interval of two non-related post.  ;)  Was outside the hotel people watching second thing in morning (first thing being breakfast) while waiting for the rest of the group to finish their breakfast.  It was interesting.  For those of you who doesn't know yet, 'people watching' has been one of my favourite pastimes. :)  

I simply love this people watching thingy especially in this cold weather.  It makes the whole experience, hmmm... cooling?  Lols... hehehe... See people from all walks of life going about their life on a usual Tuesday morning.  In cars, bicycles and even in tricycles.  Some just walk.  When I am at it, I like to wonder, where are they going?  What do they do?  Observed their fashion sense and imagine the life they might be living in.  And if there is any interesting character that caught my attention, I would just watch at her/him until he/she is out of my view.  Lols...  I know, mundane hor?  Hahahaha...

First on our itinerary for the day was to visit the famous Summer Palace (颐和园), another UNESCO world heritage, which served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi in 1888.  The palace was commissioned to be built by QianLong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in celebration of his mother's 60th birthday.  It was built on a 60m high hill, known as the Longevity Hill, which was built from the soil excavated while making the Kunming Lake which cover 3 quarters of the palace. Years later, Empress Cixi actually diverted 30million taels (which was originally designated for the  Navy) for renovations and enlargement of the palace despite of downhilling economy... tsk! tsk! *shaking head* such extravagance!

It was indeed a very nice place indeed.  As what Unesco said, a masterpiece of chinese landscape design.  Truly.

Engraved more than a 120 years ago.  

Dried out water lilies on Kunming Lake.  I can imagine how it look like in full bloom.  Green leaves, pink flowers filled the edge of the pond.  Breathtaking!

Another shot omitting the lilies.  Nice right?  Very zen-tifying.  Apparently one of the excuse Empress Cixi used for diverting the 30million taels from the Navy was that the lake was built for the Navy as a training ground.  Unbelievable. The lake was too shallow for the navy junk-ship to even be in it.

An old man practising chinese calligraphy with a big fat brush and water (as ink) in the garden.  His strokes were so beautiful.  There were so many onlookers marveling at his work.  I don't know what he wrote. :p

An ancient tree in the garden.

Plenty of willows too all over the palace.

Here's picture taken as we walking back to our bus after the Summer Palace. ;)  There were plenty of houses outside of it.  I guess over time, these people have set up businesses outside the palace to cater for the imperial palaces or tourists (later years).

Our next stop was the silk factory.  :)  Standard la... everyone who visited China surely will visit one of this and brings back together with them, silk quilt, sheets, pillows and etc.  Hahahaha...  And I, brings back none.  I am just not so interested with all these things.  I am still very much happy with my quilt at home that is filled with duck's down. Lols...

 Remember my entry on Cambodia prior to this one?  The Cambodian's silk cocoon is yellow in colour whereas the Chinese' ones are white in colour.  Strange eh?  Different breed of silk worm perhaps.  Or different kind of mulberry leafs.

Here, they show us how a silk quilt are made.

And I took a picture of the prices for you guys in case you are visiting China next and are interested in getting one.  The prices goes by weight!  And they would throw in lots of freebies too if you are interested.  And as usual, the more you buy, the more freebies you get! :)  Of course that depends on your haggling skills too.  :p

The husband and I decided to head outside have a breather.  The whole haggling process inside was just too suffocating.  Even if you tell them politely that you will not be buying anything, they will just keep persuading and follows you around. Lols, very persistent!  In the end, we just have to pretend we are deaf or something and ignore everyone as we walk out... hahaha.  

Imagine this, while one sales person explaining the process to us, 10-15 others will be waiting outside ready to attack anytime.  Scary huh?  Lols...  I tell you, they are so good that they will assign the right sales people to tackle the right country.  They speaks in your lingo and slang which somehow will make you feel comfortable talking and buying from them.  Remember the teahouse we visited the day before this?  I saw a young pretty chinese sales girl  speaks in fluent Russian or something.... amazing!

The husband and I found something else better to do outside.  We found an old man pushing a cart of hot freshly roasted sweet potatoes.  YUMMEH!  I don't remember how much exactly but it was cheap la... hehehe...  Picture above shows the potatoes being roasted in the drum.  :)  Happily we sat outside, munching down, enjoying the coolness the weather has to offer.  Nice!

If I remembered correctly, it was 'pearl' after that before it was lunch and later, the Pandas!  At the pearl's outlet, others in our group stocked up so many of their 'pearl cream' which apparently was extremely good.  No, I didn't buy too.  :p  I don't know.  I simply do not have much faith in products of China for I am very doubtful of the ingredients they used.  And secondly, especially at places like these where tourist buses arrives in throngs.  The samples may be fantastic, but what we bring home may not be.  They know we won't be complain when we gets back to our country. So what's the big deal of swapping the genuine thing with a fake?  Well, this is just my perception la.  If any of you had bought anything like these, do share with me on your experiences so next time I can buy too if it is really genuinely good!  Hehehe...

So, it was Panda next.  The official mascot of China!  No, not my husband.  The 'Panda' really.  Lols...  We were pretty lucky for we caught the Pandas in their 'active' mode that afternoon.  They were all snoozing lazily when we arrived but just before we were about to leave, they woke up!  It is interesting to see a real panda in it's habitat for once (besides on tv).  A black & white bear with prominent dark patches over it's eyes.  Super cute when they start rolling around in the yard too.... *love*.  The credit for such luck, again, has to go to our guide who reshuffled our itinerary cause he finds that pandas are usually active-er in the late afternoon and he was right!

Check out the amazing colours of autumn that was still very much visible everywhere we go when we were there.  Love!  And from this picture, I suddenly realized that I am almost a head shorter than the husband. ;)  I know I am shorter, but I didn't know I was that much shorter.  Lols... Probably cause I was in heels most of the time, that's why!  I like standing next to him.  He makes me look petite, small and cute (hahaha) which I would never be, standing at 1.66m in height and weighing 57kg.  I am, most of the time, the one who makes my friends look petite, small and cute... hehehehe....

Beautiful bamboo bushes all over the vicinity of the panda zoo.  The pandas feed on them.

Another picture of a gingko tree and this is a really huge one.  If you click on it for the bigger picture, you might be able to spot some gingkos.  I think I had fell in love with gingko trees.  Simply love the vibrant yellow colour of it's leafs!  I even brought back some leafs as memento!  Hehehe...

We left for Chengde after dinner that night.  It was a crazy cold place.  Now that the rain had stopped, I need to go home already.  Will write them in another entry.  Tata!

A New Experience Gained - Fuel-less

Friday morning

Woke up groggily and told the husband to take my car to work instead cause I need to pick a good friend from the airport and needed the extra space his car can offer.  

Friday afternoon

Drove to the airport via MEX (highway).  The immigration queue was exceptionally long and slow that afternoon.  Waited for an hour before my girlfriend appear at the arrival gate.  Happily off we went, downtown thru MEX again.  Stopover at  an incense shop along the way to grab some prayer's stuff for the house (me), and her, for a temple she planned to visit.

Spent and hour and a half catching up at FullHouse in town, while chomping down our late lunches.  It was good.  In fact, always good catching up with her.

Friday evening

Left FullHouse at 6:30pm.   On way to drop her off at her hotel, amidst the crazy Friday traffic, right in front of KLCC, the husband's car died on me.  Only then I realized the fuel needle was pointing at 'E'.  Even that took me a second to digest.  E = Empty? or E = Enough?  :p  

With all the impatient traffics horning at me from left right and center, I called the husband.  Told him not sure if it was empty tank or just malfunction.  Nevertheless, bring a can of fuel.  :p  While waiting, managed to get help from some security guards who were making rounds within the Twin Tower viccinity to push my stalled car to the side of the road, away from the cursing traffic.

My knight in shining armor (can of fuel) arrived 45minutes later with a can of fuel in hand and a smile on his face.  It was more like a snigger than a smile. :p  I think he was enjoying every minute of it.

Friday night
Dropped my girlfriend off at her hotel and hurried over to ex-schoolmates gathering somewhere else.  Was 2.5 hours late.  Still good nevertheless.  Catch up on gossips, exchanged presents (early mini xmas gathering) and finally called it a night at 11 ish.

What a day!

Slave to my dogs.

Today I became slave to my dogs.  I bathed all 3 except 1.  I was too exhausted already.

I've to chase Lucky around the porch before I could get hold of him for the bath.  Circling around my car playing catching *sigh*.  Let him out running under the sun to dry off after that.

Rumba, stared at me when she saw me set up all their bathing stuffs - towels, hair dryers, clippers.  No attempt of running away (she loves to bathe actually).  Swooped her into my arms, sit her on the table for some clipping before bath.  She grumbles after 5 min I started it.  An extreme impatient dog.  After bath and 90% blown dried, left her on the table under the fan for a moment of her 'me time' while I tackles Sunshine next.

Sunshine, found her waiting for me patiently outside the bathroom door for her turn.  Lols...  She is so adorable like that sometimes.   

Day 3 : Beijing (Tian An Men Square, Forbidden City)

My boss just came back from a 2 weeks holiday in Turkey and got me a nice blue pashmina.  These days, I find myself liking blue more and more.  But then again, I never really have a favourite colour to begin with.  For those of you out there who follow my blog later, the reason for 'Redbabe' was not because I like red.  It was a nick I used to use in a car forum to represent my red car.  Don't worry, even if I've changed my car to blue, I've no intention of changing my nick to 'Bluebabe' cause some might accidentally pronounced it as 'Blueblack'.  :p

In the morning of Day 3 in Beijing, we visited the famous landmarks of Beijing - The Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City.  Part of the reason we had such a great time in Beijing was because our Beijing's tourguide, a young lad of 20 something, was a very experience guide.  He reshuffled our original itinerary and because of that, we managed to avoid bad traffics and long queues too (thus saving time plus able to explore at our own pace).

The guide told us that the crowd we saw on that day was just 1-3% of the crowd on a normal day.  He also added that the queue getting into the Forbidden City would zigzagged all the way to the back of Tian An Men Square.  Taking in the vast open space of the square, I thought the guide must have over exaggerated to prevent us from wondering off on our own (which is a specialty of the husband and I). :p  Seriously, how can there be so many people to fill this vast open space (440,000 m² - 880m by 500m)?   Bluffer..!  Not only did we have enough space to jump, we can run around madly or even roll ourselves around crazy. Lols... But, lo and behold, this was what we saw the next morning when we passed by the same place. 

Mad crazy right?  And majority of them are local Chinese!  One thing I learned in China is,  never ever underestimate the power of their populations.  Their populations as of July 2010 is  1,338,612,968 (it took me awhile to figure how much that is :p).  Imagine this, if every person in the 1% of their total populations donates just a dollar to me, I can be a millionaire easily (and not just millionhair!).  Mind blowing right?  So on one of the night when we were back in the hotel, I told the husband this... "Hmmm...I  think I would buy a block of airspace on their national tv, tell some cock and bull story or make some funky performances or even making a fool out of myself (ala William Hung on American Idol) and then convince everybody to donate $1 to me!"... It might just work!  Lols...

Fast fact:
Population of China : 1,338,612,968 (9.6 million km²)
Population of USA : 307,212,123 (9.83 million km²)
Population of Malaysia : 25,715,819 (329,847 km²)

Also in this very square, 400-800 protestors was killed in 4th June 1989 (read a long time ago somewhere else and believe this number has been reduced very much).  

Me, all puffed up, outside Tian An Men Gate, getting into the Forbidden City, with Chairman Mao kickass huge portrait looking over my back.  I've read some books about Mao's Cultural Revolution and  the damages it has cost to the lives of its' people and economy thru the revolution.  What I don't understand is, why are the Chinese still idolizes him?  Seriously, you see his face everywhere.  Maybe I should dig more reading materials about him. 

Rubbing the many golden knobs as we passing thru the gate.  Heard a long time ago, not sure from where though, such gesture brings good luck!  From the picture, you can tell I am not pulling your legs. :)  The gold layer had long been rubbed off by many others who believed the same thing I did!

From here onwards, my hair practically look like this throughout.  I.e., like a mad woman.  Center parting all the way.  Lols... a result from the strong wind.  

The Forbidden City was actually the main reason the husband and I decided to visit Beijing in the first place.  From a program we watched over in National Geography about 2 years ago, we learned that there was project to restore the palace to its' pre-1912 state and that it will be opened to the public in 2010.  And here we are!

KungFu Panda decided to visit too! :p

Spotted some white birds.  They look shimmering white as the flew, against the bright sun and blue sky.  I thought it was such a pretty sight!

Only 30% of the palace was opened to the public.  The rest are still closed for restoration works.  We were only able to glimpse the inside from the doorway.  Can't go in.  I tell you, in China, they really push and shove *sigh*.  No such thing as 'excuse me', 'after you', 'you first'... I think this 'attitude' have something to do with the over population.  If they don't push or shove, they will never get their chance.  Over time, it became a normal habit.  Really, even in toilets.  They don't queue.  They will just barged in and march straight passed the queue and head straight into the next empty cubicle.  Unbelievable.  At one point, I got so mad that I actually pulled one of them back and screamed down their face that the queue start at the back. :p  Yes, I screamed.  I've tried 'diplomatic' and it ended up as if I am talking to myself.  

Talking about toilet experiences in China, it will never end.  Not only that they don't like to lock the door while doing their 'business' (big or small), most of them don't even bother to close it.  :p  Imagine the sights that greets me when I went to the toilet for the first time in Beijing.  Lols... smooth white butts all over.   Glaring.  Very glaring.  Lols... Smooth white butts are still acceptable.  Imagine those squatting down, facing out.  :p  Hairy.  Errmm... Hahahaha...  There I was, embarrased and kept apologizing for barging into unlock but occupied cubicles while looking for an empty one while the occupant inside seems totally indifference to the intrusion... lols.  After this short toilet experience in China, I began to appreciate our toilets here in Malaysia more.  All this while, I thought we have the dirtiest toilets in the whole wide world.  And now, that title shall go to China.  I consider myself to be pretty immuned to dirty toilets but those in China actually made me gag.  Eww....

Anyway, enough about toilets.  Back to the Forbidden City.  Despite of only 30% of it are opened to the public, the few hours we had was not enough to cover it all.  We hope to be back another time and spend a whole week exploring it's ground and absorbing it's grandeur.

Check out the shimmering golden roof.  What a sight...  and the weather was really nice too.  Though sunny, it was windy and super cold thus making it rather nice walking about the palace ground exploring.

From the program we watched, we also learned that every broken pieces was replaced using materials made with the exact methods used hundreds of years ago.  Paintings on wall too was painted using the exact same strokes.  Stolen artefacts was acquired thru auctions all over the world.  The picture above shown the black floor tile (which is also known as the 'black gold') in one of the hall.  It take years to produce 1 piece of this tiles and it stay shiny forever.   

One of the many pathway connecting to other part of the castle.  I think arr... the emperor himself might not even have explore every nooks and corners of his own palace.  Seriously, life in the imperial palace can be pretty depressing.  With thousands of concubines constantly scheming against each other.  They have to always be on guard.  And despite of all that, most never even get a chance to catch a glimpse of the emperor.

Ancient tree within the palace ground.  Love the lines and ridges on this tree.  I think this tree could easily be hundreds of years old.

Spotted this uncle selling hot maize by the street as we got out of the palace and walking towards our awaiting bus.  In fact, there were lots of people selling similar looking maize.  Both at the entrance and at the exit.  I did not buy.  With all those things we read over on the internet, I really don't trust them.  For all you know, it might actually be god knows what that look like maize.  Errm, no thank you.

That afternoon, we went on a trishaw ride around the older part of Beijing too.  It was nice.  Circling around the old neighbourhood seeing the lifestyles of the locals. 

Thru alleyways.

We get to see the old Beijing-nese going about their daily chores.  Having a meal at the five foot way or just catching up on the latest neighourhood gossips.  The rides lasted for about 20 minutes.  The trishaw was nice.  Very authentic looking.  I like.  

Unlike those we have here in Malacca, most of the time it is very difficult to tell if they are a trishaw or a florist on wheels.  Picture above googled from the net.

Spotted this man here just doze off like that.  In front of a shop, on an uncomfortable chair, under the glaring sun!  He really does look like in deep slumber!

Took photo of this couple from the bus as they were crossing the road.  I thought they look so picture perfect.  The bicycle, the zebra crossing, the red coat, the white boots, arm around her man's waist.  Somewhat romantic.

Somehow, the young chap of a tourguide of ours, insisted to take us for a ride on their subway.  He said we should cramp in as much experiences as possible while we are there.  Cute fella.  So off we went, to the subway for a ride to the next station where our bus will be waiting.  Lols...  One thing I noted is, the ride on a subway in Beijing is super cheap!  It cost only 2yuan (RM1 or US$0.33) per ride to anywhere you wanna go.  Amazingly cheap. 

When we got out at the next station, as we walked towards the bus again, took this picture.  A long train of kite got stuck on one of those gingko trees (yeah.. the yellow trees are gingko trees) and this has so far been one of my favourite photo taken on the trip.

This too my favourite.  Shot by the husband.  It brings about the feeling of autumn with that thick piles of fallen leafs by the road.  For a moment I felt like kicking them up in the air and hear that whish... whish... sound it will make...lols.. Overdosed of coldness.

And next on the list was a visit to a tea house.  A China trip will not be complete without visiting one of this.  :p  The one we visited is called 'Tea Professor', a famous brand in China apparently. Check out the 4 green colour beams protruding right above the door frame, below the signboard.   We learned from the trishaw puller earlier that it actually represent the status of a family.  Those houses with 4 beams means they used to have somebody in the family who served the emperor.  A high ranking officer.  Low ranking officers have 2 beams.  The emperor and his family/relatives have 8 or 12 beams if not mistaken.

A long time ago, marriages only take place between families with same number of beams.   Otherwise, it will be deemed as not of the same status thus complications would set in. 

In the tea house, we sampled lots of tea.  As I am writing, I suddenly remembered the little can of tea I bought.  Totally forgotten about it. :p  Shall have some this evening.  Anyway, the prices of a certain grade of tea can get ridiculously high.  Goodness me.  No, I didnt buy any of those expensive ones.  I am not even a tea coinoisseur to begin with.  No point spending on something that I do not know how to appreciate.  Might as well spend it on a new Canon 7D. :p  Photo above was actually block of tea leafs that has been pressed into words.  I thought it look pretty cool.

The famous birdness we saw during Olympic 2008.  What an architecture!  It looks even nicer at night with all those lightings when we visited on 5th day I think.  But the photos turned out pretty crappy though.

That evening, we went for another stage show.  It was so awesome.  I tell you, there is practically nothing the Chinese can't do.  Picture above was shot using my 55-250mm lens.  Got the expression of the performers so vivid!  This is my favourite pic too. :)

At one part of the show, the dancers actually have real white peacock on their head as the dance.  Seriously.  Very much alive peacocks!

And this is why I said earlier, there is practically nothing the Chinese can't do.  At one part of the show, towards the end, the stage suddenly transformed into a waterfall.  Not only on the stage, but on both left & right of the hall too.  Full fledge water fall.  Amazing not?  

So, next time, if you are buying something that's too good to be true, just ask, "from China?"... :p  They simply can do anything!  At cheaper price too!