Beijing April 10 2011

This was the most rushing day in our Beijing trip, as we were yet to buy enough souvenirs! We all naturally think that buying souvenirs is the easiest thing to do, but it is never so for me. Imagine you have colleagues, friends and family, each you gotta think what is the most suitable/meaningful for them.. Perhaps it is because I am Taurus, I am down-to-earth, I like to give people something useful (same as I like to get something useful if I were to be given present). So I dragged until the very last day only to get souvenirs for once and for all!

We woke up pretty earlier, and rushed to XiDan after the breakfast. It was a chilling morning and I didn't bring my wind breaker! So I had to walk in the cold to look for souvenirs (so you guys should appreciate me). =.=

XiDan is a modern place in Beijing, famous for shopping complex and the biggest bookstore in China (if not the world).

We saw a mobile blood donation campaign outside the bookstore, but too bad, I just donated my blood before coming to Beijing. So I could only pose a thumb-up like this:

It is said in the website that if the book you wanna find cannot be found in this bookstore, you cannot possibly find elsewhere! It is a complex made up of 4 floors comprising of all genre of books in different languages (of course mostly mandarin still)!

harvest of the day

We then rushed back to the hotel to get our lunch before heading to the airport.

We made our last-last-minute shopping again in the airport to get more souvenir until all our yuan run out!

ignore Alvin's swollen lips please

The reading on the cabin marked the end of Beijing trip...

Conclusion of the trip:
1. We managed to go most of the well-known tourism spots in Beijing.
2. I regretted I didn't go to 2008 Beijing Olympic stadium, Birdnest and swimming stadium, Water Cube. I thought they are just normal stadiums until I came back and saw my friend's pictures of those two stadiums with attractive lighting at night!
3. We found some nice food, yet overall I think I have culture-shock in Beijing, from hygiene to food.
4. Will I go again in the future? Yes, I will, to the stadiums!

Educational Pic from Beijing

This is the way to make hands warm during winter. :)

Funny Picture from Beijing

Notice many small kids in Beijing like to wear this kind of pants!

both girls and boys!!

Beijing April 09 2011

Started Day 4 with a sumptuous breakfast.

Then bid good-bye to the five-star hotel to head to Temple of Heaven.

Finally could not resist the temptation of this dessert and tried it though it was sold by the dusty roadside!

beyond expectation

Again things in China is HUGE. We walked for quite some distance then only reached Temple of Heaven.

Temple of Heaven consists of three parts, The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, The Imperial Vault of Heaven, and The Circular Mound Altar. Practically nothing much to describe for Temple of Heaven, it is a joint series of temples built for Emperors to worship God. By the way, for those who are interested in history or architecture, kindly click on the link above.

We started by stalking in the shady garden and it took us ages to first reach The hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Of course, partly we were stopped by some attractive things along the way.

Nothing much inside The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Indeed we were prohibited to go in the hall, we can just peep see from outside.

The things used to burn offering

Another thing which made us stay long in a place in China is the big throng of visitors! Can hardly find a good spot for photo-taking.

Nice gardens with flowers blossoming everywhere!

It took us another ages to reach The Imperial Vault of Heaven. This building is more interesting, as there is echo when you speak. We did not manage to try, as we just blindly followed the flow to round the building without doing anything!

And lastly we reached The Circular Mound Altar. We took some pictures there by having different kind of poses, as it is again practically nothing for us to see.

Great garden, isn't it?

We were super hungry by the time we finished visiting the three seperate building in Temple of Heaven. We then exited to eat at the shop nearby. However, it was around six and no taxi was willing to take us. They gave all kind of excuses, and the only reason we could think of was that our hotel was quite near to the temple.

So we had to WALK back all the way to the entrance we came in and then made our way back to the hotel. By the time we reached our hotel, we died straight on the bed until supper time!

The delicious and cheap supper we found nearby our hotel marked the end of Day 4 in Beijing.

P/S: This is a lame post, as it was a lame day in Beijing...

Friends Gathering and Monash Charity Dance

Met up with my two secondary friends, Chor Yen and Xuan Jing last Saturday. It has been 4 years we didn't meet! Gossiped a lot a lot as an exchange of information.

After a few hours of chatting, I told them I would be attending a dance concert in Monash, as a support to my bosom friend, Shane. Both Chor Yen and Xuan Jing were interested too, after confirming with Shane that there were still tickets left, they decided to go with us.

The dance was really an eye-opener for us! Though all of them are not professional dancers, they did really dance marvelously and swiftly.

What more, 15% of each ticket is donated to World Vision.

After 2.5 hours of show, the dance concert came to the end. And we didn't miss the chance to take some pictures with Shane, the very outstanding dancer of the night!

Of course, after watching, I was triggered to learn dancing (the same thing after I watched a Hong Kong drama about dancing as well).

Blood Donation

We should donate blood if we are healthy, as blood is precious. Blood saves lives.

It has been quite a while I didn't donate blood as I was always fatigue and deprived of sleep. Now I am back! Will be donating blood four times a year!

Please donate blood if you are healthy!