A great 3rd day at the Wall and Tomb

“Wang Li Chang Chen” (translated as 10s thousands miles long city), famously known as The Great Wall of China is located out of Beijing. We booked an English guided tour, thanks to PurpleMushroom’s recommendation. It was a good choice.

We departed from the hotel an hour before the meeting time but the morning traffic chaos is akin to KL, we were late, albeit just a little. Glad they waited for us. We were they only Asians in the tour.

The guide, Iris; gave us a brief introduction of the Great Wall before telling us to take a nap for the 1 hour+ journey.

We opted for “Mutianyu”, the most scenic part of the Wall. There are other more challenging parts where it was said that one has to literally “climb” up the wall. Me and Jules were not feeling that adventurous. Well, it’s supposed to be a holiday; I don’t intend to tire myself. Hence, we opted for the cable car.

Scenic view from the cable car / Wall…





It is not easy to walk from one tower to another. The steps are huge and some stretches can be very steep. It makes me wonder, how did the soldiers during ancient times run up and down the wall? They must be quite well built and have extremely strong leg muscles. Hats off to them!


A few options to get down from the Wall, we chose the most intriguing one… via the Tobagan. It’s roller coaster ala Great Wall! It was one helluvan experience!



After the Great Wall, we had lunch and headed to the Ming Tombs. As the name suggests, these are the tombs of former emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The structure there pretty much resembles the Forbidden City.
This piece of monument is very unique. On one side, the glory of the Ming Dynasty is written on it. When the Qing Dynasty took over from Ming Dynasty, the Qing people wrote about the stupidity and wastefulness of the Ming people on the other side of the monument. If only I could read Chinese…
Having been here, I believe Rome comes out on top in terms of monuments and culture. The entire city of Rome is well preserved while most part of Beijing has been turned into a metropolitan city, thus making Beijing losses that bit of magic. Nevertheless, it is still a must-visit for everyone. If you have not been, you should consider making a trip there.


1 year ago… Uri-update… A new trend with the couples

2 years ago… Significance of non-voters

3 years ago… A very close encounter with the rempit kind

Of temple and palace on the second day

AZAIG’s first multitude of photos post…

We made our way on foot to “Tiantan”, a.k.a. The Temple of Heaven, which was rather near our hotel. It was a pleasant walk.

Upon entering the west gate of the vicinity, I was greeted with the sight of a host of people engaging in very interesting activities. There were people dancing to all sorts of music, including waltz/disco; there were people practising martial arts; and there people playing Tai-Chi ball. Not an easy feat as some tourists tried and could not return the ball at all.




The trees are known as “Trees of the Scholars”; and an American once claimed the world can never reproduce these trees. There were speakers hidden within the trees playing smoothing traditional Chinese music. The presence these trees together with traditional Chinese music in the background made the path towards Tiantan a very serene one.




3 main architectural wonders formed Tiantan; with Hall of Prayer of Good Harvest being the main attraction. I was actually quite disappointed that we are not allowed to go into the building. But then again, the sight outside the Hall is already quite incredible.

The other 2 elements of Tiantan are the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Circular Mound Altar (no picture). There is a stone right in the middle of the Altar where they said that anyone standing there will sound extraordinary. I didn’t bother as the queue to step on it to give it a try was already quite… extraordinary.

After lunch, we went to the Pearl Market which was nothing overly spectacular. Thereafter, we headed to YiHeYuan a.k.a. The Summer Palace.

It’s located quite out of town, but still accessible via subway. It’s said the emperors would come here to get away from the summer heat. Thus, it is known as The Summer Palace.

There is a lake next to the palace. The climb up to the palace is an excruciating experience. I really wonder whether the emperors got people to carry them up. But it was good for me, strengthened my leg for the up coming marathon.

I don’t usually pose up a lot of pictures, even after my Italy trip. For this one, I shall let the pictures do the talking though I don’t really have a sophisticated camera.

Up next… the WangLiChangChen a.k.a. Great Wall…


1 year ago… Any difference?

2 years ago… If you think you’re ugly… Don’t ever let this happen to you… And she placed her hands on your inner thigh

Maiden encounter of the city

“How was Beijing?” has been the most frequent question posed to me in the course of last week. Well, I must say I enjoyed my trip a lot. You may not like the people for their rude and often unhygienic antics, but I would consider Beijing as a city that one should not miss.

Upon landing, I was greeted with a first glance on Chinese efficiency. Initially, there were only 2 counters opened at the immigration checkpoint for foreign passport holders. Within minutes, there were officers appearing from nowhere and suddenly, all counters were operational.

I kept track of the time. We landed at 6.30am (thank God for MAS and on-time flights)… me and Jules got out from the plane, settled immigration, collected our baggage and got into the taxi… all before 6.50am. I find that quite amazing.

The hotel we stayed in was fantastic. If there’s anyone heading to Beijing, drop me a mail and I will tell which hotel it is. They allowed us to checked in at 7.30am and we had a nap till 11am before beginning out adventure.

Our first destination… Qianmen, which means “Front Gate”. It’s located to the south of Tian’anmen Square. By the way, Chinese are obsessed with the 4 winds. If you are heading there soon, bring a compass.

And to the north of Qianmen… Tian’anmen Square.

Nothing overly spectacular except the fact that they have security checkpoint for every entry. They x-ray all your bags. X-ray machines are also located at the entry of all subway station. I was stopped a few times because I had my tri-pot in my bag. They thought it was some kind of weapon.

To the north of Tian’anmen, it’s the great Forbidden City.

I think the Forbidden City has gone through quite substantial restoration work, which made it more magnificent. It is truly a structure of ultimate Chinese grandeur. It is always a great feeling to see ancient monuments such as these. It really makes you wonder, how in the world do they manage such feat without modern technology. The amount of thinking involved is just too mind-boggling.

We didn’t manage to cover the whole city. It was just too big, and just too much walking to do.

We went to the National Centre for Performing Arts a.k.a. The Egg. You have to pay to go in and I think that was a mistake. Nothing to see inside structure and so, if you do go, there is no need to go inside.

We went to a nice Sichuan restaurant for dinner. Let’s save that for food post, shall we?


1 year ago… More keywords splendour

2 years ago… What would you do?

What China doesn’t have and why you are not…

Most people answered “public toilet” to the riddle (more like a question) that I asked the other day. Well, there are quite a number of public toilets everywhere; just that you wouldn’t want to use them unless it’s an ultimate emergency. Know what I mean?

In order to answer the question, let me share some part of my short working stint in China with you…

I was briefly attached to a telecommunication company which was based in this huge complex. It’s like a township by itself. It’s not feasible to go out of the complex for lunch so most days, I will have lunch at the canteen.

Food was subsidised so it’s cheap. Hence, everyone will grab a few dishes and a bowl of rice. Now, this is no ordinary bowl of rice. Trust me when I say it’s a BIG bowl of rice. I am a big eater but on some days, I am not able to finish a bowl myself. But ya’ know what? Those China girls will eat the bowl clean. Some even had 2 bowls!!!!!

Similarly, when I was in Beijing last week, everyone eats tonnes of rice, porridge (it’s called congee in Beijing) and “lai-mien” (noodles).

What I am trying to say is that, mainland Chinese eats a lot of what Malaysians deem as weight contributor… carbohydrates.

How many times have you heard of people saying… “less rice please” and when you give them the look, their response will be … “eat so much rice will make you fat”. The funny thing is, most of such people aren’t exactly… thin.

Back to my question…

I noticed this and so did my ex-colleague who was there with me in China. Another friend who visited China concurred this. It is very rare… and close to impossible… to see such in China… fat people (no offence to anyone).

Yes, there are no fat people in China. Or at least, I couldn’t see any of them. And I don’t mean obese type of fat. I am referring to reasonable fat type people. In fact, most mainland Chinese are rather slim.

But then again… they eat so much… so much… rice… carbo!!!

My fellow Malaysians, the reason why we are fat is not because we eat a full plate of rice instead of half.

The reason why most Malaysians are fat is because the distance between your home and your office is 5 steps from your door to your car and maybe another 20 steps from your car to the lift… the distance between Sungei Wang and Times Square is 2 minutes on the monorail… you prefer call pizza instead of walking out to the shop down the road for lunch because it’s too sunny, or no parking… you have no time to exercise because you are such a hardworking employee… etc. etc.

And of course, many ask for less rice and then stuff your face with Baskin Robins or Haagan Dazs…

Don’t blame the rice…

P/S: So now you know what China doesn’t have…

Back from China with a China riddle

Yo! I am back!

It was a fantastic trip, blessed with the perfect timing and weather, except perhaps for the last day. But I am not complaining, because…
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… … snow is always beautiful!

It delayed my flight for a couple of hours but it’s certainly a nice feeling to see snow again.

Anyone care to use your brain juice?

When I spent a few months working in ShenZhen and now about a week holiday-ing in Beijing, I noticed that China doesn’t have one particular thing… can you guess what it is?


1 year ago… Tuesday reflection on a recession… I have not made it

2 years ago… Are you part of the mess?… The mess continues… Wednesday blues… Appreciating life