China China - Day 1 & 2

Ok, so I know this is belated (it really isn't my fault! Silly Blogger photo-uploader.. Thank you YL, for helping me with this!) but I'm here (finally!) to give you my daily (well, almost daily) report of my China trip. Ok, this isn't really to bore you to death, but just to show off my lovely pictures (hehe) and it's also gonna serve as a travel lg for me, as I really couldn't be bothered to write everything down on paper!

We arrived in Beijing early Monday morning (and I mean, really early.. the plane landed at about 6.30-7.00am!). The flight was by far, the worst flight that I've been on in about 10 years, and it was certainly the longest 6 hours of my life! Why? Cos' MAS sucks, that's why.. We flew here in an extremely old and worn-down plane. I'm sure it's the same kind as the one I flew in to this part of the world some 13-14 years ago! The air-conditioning didn't work properly, the seats and plane condition was worn-down, there was only one big screen in the middle with only one movie showing, so if you wanted to watch it, you had to plug in the earphones! In a nutshell, the flight was an absolute nightmare for me, as I had a severe severe headache (took 4 paracetamols and still, it didn't help!) and felt sick all throughout! Sigh... at this point, I was hoping that China was going to be worth all the pain!

Anyhow, it was certainly worth it when we reached Beijing, as I discovered (very happily!) that we were staying in the Grand Hyatt Beijing, which was a 5-star hotel! Whoopdeedoo! I was ecstatic when I found that our room was a suite-type thing which was huge!! No, I'm not trying to brag, but being the poor girl that I am, seeing something like certainly put stars in my eyes! Hehe..

This is my room, yes, I got my very own room in my dad's hotel suite, all equipped with a super-kingsize bed and a private bathroom & shower!

The first thing we did in Beijing (after having breakfast, which was, of course, fantabulastic.. but that's another story!) was go to the Great Wall of China. I must say, they don't call it the Great Wall for nothing! It was absolutely magnificent! Not just huge, gigantic! We were all so amazed at how such a magnificent structure was built/constructed back in the old days..
I wish I could tell you more about the history of the Great Wall. But unfortunately, as we did not have a tour guide nor audio guides. All I can tell you is that the Great Wall was built by the Emperor Shi Huang Ti in the Qin Dynasty and that it is the only man-made structure on Earth that can be seen from its orbit! Hehe.. Other than that, all I have is loads of pretty pictures, so all I can say is..enjoy!

Never thought I'd be here..

One cannot help but be marvelled by this truly amazing architectural wonder..

I climbed all the way up to one of the peaks, the Hero's Stone!

Taking a rest on the wall, it's not that easy a climb!

This makes dad's 3rd time and mum's 2nd!

Look at how the Great Wall stretches before you.. Wow!

So, that's the first day in a nutshell (well, more like a giant prehistoric nutshell. Wait, what the heck am I talking about?)

Ok, 2nd day. My mum and I decided to go for some good ol' retail therapy, especially since everybody knows that China is full of dirt cheap goods! (My dad and his colleagues had to work so we were left alone) But we thought we'd drop by the 'Temple of Heaven' to have a look around. When we got there, we were totally gobsmacked by the sheer vastness of the place. It was huge! Again, I don't know much about the history, just that it was a place of worship that was built by the Emperor of China. The Emperor would frequently visit and stay in the temple to pray, especially in times of need - for e.g. in the harvest season.

This is one of the great halls in which the prayer ceremonies are carried out

One of the many temple gates

We stumbled upon a beautiful and huge rose garden within the grounds of the Temple of Heaven. The roses there were so beautiful - big and of such a remarkable variety of hues. Needless to say, my mum and I got stuck taking loads of pictures and here's the result! :)

Look at how huge and beautiful the roses are!

Beautiful Cyprus trees (which are way past 100 years old) adorn the beautiful gardens of the temple

Hehe, we found a huge (and stable) tree and got a little carried away..

Simply gorgeous! (And the roses & trees are beautiful too! ;) )

See how big they are?

Half a day later, my mum finally went to the all-famous Hongqiao market for shopping. It's not really a market, it's actually a huge building, with floors and floors of shops (or rather stalls).. sorta like a bazaar within a building. Gosh, my eyes were completely zonked out, and after just about half an hour, I decided that I'm not going to buy anything. This is simply because, it's a completely different culture, shopping over there and I certainly got shocked, so to speak. Sales people were accosting you left, right and centre, and shoving their products into your face. If you stopped and showed them a wee bit of interest, they'd persistently pester you until you finally buy it. One lady even resorted to pulling and dragging my mum back to her shop just to make the sale! So yeah, I really didn't like it myself and hardly bought anything (my mum on the other hand..). Apparently, most of the shopping in China was going to be like that, and it was at that point that I made up my mind that shopping was not going to be my main priority in China.

Anyway, that pretty much sums up Day 2. Next update will follow soon so until then, 'zai jian'!!