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| At Lama Temple |
May 10, 2009 - Arrival
A day of hitches!..and blessings!
Left Manila at
11am and arrived Beijing at almost 6pm. Waited for about 2 hours for our
delayed baggage. The Dragonair flight was quiet impressive serving food with rice and Haagen Dazs ice cream for dessert! They even beat Cathay Pacific's pathetic tuna sandwich!
Our
first glimpse of Beijing was that of its humongous airport. 5X London's
Heathrow they say! To go around the airport, you need to take the
train.
Our first impression of Beijing? Well, yes! not everybody
understand and speaks English---so it was sign language most of the time
here. But, we were able to get by taking the airport shuttle to the
City--albeit a little worried if we get lost.
Arrived the City
past 7pm. By this time it was already dark. Sunset in Beijing is around
7pm. Tried to hail a cab but nobody wants to take us, despite a chinese
printout of the name and address and map of the hotel. Either they do
not understand us or they think the hotel's location is just very
near---hmmm, so very Philippines don't you think?
To validate, I
asked a street sweeper who could not understand me. Good thing someone
overheard me and offered his help. Oh what a God send! At first I was
wary but he seems sincere in
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| Comfortable room @ Grand Mercure Xidan |
offering that he walks us to the hotel
because it is really very near. He was the first Beijinger that can
speak
and understand English very well. Thank you, Nick! You are such an
angel...
Another blessing was the upgrade our hotel (Grand
Mercure Xidan) gave me & Gia. We were
given a bigger room with a
living area and a separate bath and shower! It was a great way to end
our stressful yet "fun" day.
May 11, 2009 - First Hand Immersion in the land of Mao
My
good friend Irah and her sister, Tisha, arranged our itinerary while
waiting for me. (Oh! they too had more interesting and funny stories to
tell about their arrival in Beijing!)
We hired a taxi for the
day to take us to sites that were not included in the tours we took.
This is our first glimpse of Beijing...
Places Visited in order:
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| Olympic marker |
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| a 6-star hotel |
1. The 2008 Olympic Village:
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| The Nest |
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| The Cube |
Bird's Nest - the National Stadium, 91,000 seats, used for football and athletics and the host to the opening ceremony.
2.
The Cube - the National Aquatics Center, 6,000 seats but can
accommodate 11,000 more standing, venue for swimming, diving and
synchronized swimming.
3.
Lama Temple - home of the Tibetan monks
and the 18-meter statue of Buddha carved from a single sandalwood tree
(which landed the Guinness Book of World Records).
4.
Lunch at a Hutong area - Beijing's disappearing 700-yr-old alleys and courtyards.
- Where we had a hard time asking for ice for our drinks..hahaha
5.
Bell & Drum Towers - built in 1240 to announce the time (drum at night and bell during daytime)
6.
Beihai Park - surrounded by Beihai Lake, with an island that has a White
Pagoda where Kublai Khan's palace used to be. A refreshing site in the
city.
After the tour, we went to the Silk Market where Irah got
harassed by vendors and where we found bargain costume jewelries. You
have to bargain well though...say, the amount should be at least 15-20%
of the original price only! yes, you read it right!
