November, 2011, me and my daughter visit Tianjin and Beijing. I always wanted to see for my self the uniqueness great wall of china.
Our flight from Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur. We had to spend the night in Kuala Lumpur and the next day our flight to Tianjin. We arrive Tianjin at about 5 pm local time.
Our flight from Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur. We had to spend the night in Kuala Lumpur and the next day our flight to Tianjin. We arrive Tianjin at about 5 pm local time.
Tianjin is the third largest city of the People's Republic
of China in terms of urban population. In Tianjin i stayed with my friends who live there. When we arrived he had not yet returned from work, so we had to wait outside the house. The weather outside is very cold, it is winter with 9 C at the moment.
I decided to keep our bags at the security hut near the home of his flat. We walked to Tianjin City and look around urban areas. There is a night market that sells a wide range of goods and food. We can see quite a number of Malaysians who came here on holiday too. After having our dinner we went back to my friend's house. Yes!!!!...... what a relief ... he had gone home. We talked many things and knowing that he can speak very good mandarin, while my daughter was asleep from exhaustion.
Day 2
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| Ancient Culture street |
After
having our breakfast, me and my daughter do some tour around the city
and visit some of the nice spot in Tianjin like Ancient Cultural Street,
well known by locals and overseas tourists for its two attractions,
Yuan Huang Ge and Tian Hou Temple, which are to historic cultural
relics. Teh lanes and houses in the street are almost preserved in a
good condition with Tianjin local feathers. Beside that we visit
Jingyuan Garden, was the residence for the last emperor Puyi in 1920s
and 30s, which is situated in No. 70 Anshan Road, Heping District. He
lived here with the empress Wan Rong.
The last activity for today is going to Local market :-)
Day 3
We
wake up early as i dont want to be arriving late in Beijing so this
morning around 8.00 am, we depart by taxi to the Express Train Station
to Beijing . Ohh ..... the station was so crowded with people ! ! ! ! ! it is to difficult to walk, the situation is very puzzling stations , too many destination. As
usual, I had to ask the people around me where we can buy the train tickets to
Beijing , it is difficult to find the ticket counter , finally i bought our tickets.....!
With
this environment, many people flocked to the bag and lots of items they
carry, you need to come early so you still have time to look for the
counter and the departing gate and not miss your train.  |
| Hai River in Tianjin |
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| City of Tianjin |
What
a luck, while we were searching for the departing gate, we met a nice
lady, she was going to Beijing too and often going to Tianjin. Unfortunately
she did not speak english so I could not have communication with her
so my daughter made the talk, both of them speak Chinese. She
ask us to follower her and remain us to be careful all the time with
our belonging from pick pocket, this make our trip easier with her
company :-).
Using the Express train ride takes about 30 minutes. When we arrived in Beijing, I took a taxi to the house of my friends who hails from Kota Kinabalu. She has lived here for more than 3 years, most of his family has moved to Beijing and have their business here. However, she did not have any business, she's just work with the private sector.
While we arrive at her place, there is some friends that stay with her
too. One is from Belgium and the other person is from Switzerland. We stay in Beijing for 7 nights.
Beijing is One of the most
populous cities in the world, Beijing is a massive and historical
metropolis, as packed with grand history as it is with skyscrapers and
office buildings.
Day 4
It
was very cold outside and warm inside. Last night we had a very good
sleep. This morning after making breakfast, we walk to the train
station. Beijing is a very traveler friendly city, and an ease to navigate. With
an extensive metro system and a plethora of taxis, any place in Beijing
is a quick and cheap trip away.
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| Hai River in Tianjin |
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| Tianjin Radio & TV Tower |
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| in the city of Tianjin |
Through my experience traveling in Beijing, I’d definitely recommend
walking if possible, using the metro/subway if traveling longer
distances, and taking a taxi as a last resort. Always carry a city map
and a subway map with you, and you’ll likely not find yourself lost.The park is massive , with 716 acres and has a beautiful lake known as Kumming Lake located on the South side. We took a boat ride across the lake .It gives a good vantage point to see the willow draped banks and the amazing opulent palaces on
the hill
tops. Located in the lake at the Summer Palace is a strange boat is made
of marble and not Palace (Yihe Yuan) -surprising it can't float .
Simply put ,it represented we were told the story by our guide about the lady for whom the garden was built . She was the stepmother of the Emperor ,was strong willed and known to many as the Dragon lady. This garden was rebuilt for her around 1860. Its truly lovely with many ancient trees lining passageways and wonderful gardens.
One
of the most beautiful sights at the Summer Palace is the Long
Corridor. The half mile long corridor is painted with different scenes taken from Chinese history and culture. Originally it was painted especially for the Empress when she had grown to old to travel to other parts of China. The thinking was China would be brought to her through this art. We were told there are 10,000 images in all. I was somewhat skeptical about the statistics that came our by
various guides...but none of the less
it was an amazing sight! power.Station And of course there are beautiful
gardens. For me its always about the gardens. Next to traveling,
gardening is my passion. I loved the ancient gardens at the famous
Summer Palace and I especially loved the masses of lotus floating in the
lakes. This was an incredibly rare sight for me to see.
Corridor. The half mile long corridor is painted with different scenes taken from Chinese history and culture. Originally it was painted especially for the Empress when she had grown to old to travel to other parts of China. The thinking was China would be brought to her through this art. We were told there are 10,000 images in all. I was somewhat skeptical about the statistics that came our by
various guides...but none of the less
it was an amazing sight! power.Station And of course there are beautiful
gardens. For me its always about the gardens. Next to traveling,
gardening is my passion. I loved the ancient gardens at the famous
Summer Palace and I especially loved the masses of lotus floating in the
lakes. This was an incredibly rare sight for me to see.- Train station in Beijin
- Person that responsible to make sure all passenger will be on board
- Passenger getting ready for boarding
Day 5
Today we are going to visit The Great Hall on the way we stop at a Jade factory. Actually i don't really fun of jade but i will buy when i like the carving.
- White Jade shape like cabbage. The Chinese believe that when you kept in homes it will bring prosperity. It's root towards inside of home and leave toward the gate of home.
Inside
the factory, we watched a man carving into the hard jade. He was
pretty serious in his job and practically ignored our camera flashes.
Then we entered a room where a the worker told us the stages of making a
Happiness Ball. Yes a happiness ball. Wonder if there's a sadness
ball. This one i really love because it is UNIQUE!!..., AMAZING!!!.. i tell you....... Let me tell you why i say this.  |
| This is how its look when its complete |
Beijing Great Wall - Despite the hundreds of buses that visit daily, the
Great Wall at Mutianyu is not as crowded as the nearby Badaling or
Juyongguan section of the wall. To arrive at Mutianyu Great Wall its
take about 2.30 hrs drive. Since its not to crowded, i choose to visit
Mutianyu Great Wall. Located in Huairou County about 45 miles from
Beijing, Mutianyu Great Wall enjoys a long history and is part of the
glorious culture of China.
The Great Wall at Mutianyu was built and restored in the early Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), on the
remnants of
a Wall originally built in the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577). Reconstruction
took place under the supervision of Xu Da, one of the founding generals of the
Ming Dynasty, who was responsible for building a Wall from Shanhaiguan in the
east to as far as Mutianyu. The Ming pass at Mutianyu was officially proclaimed
in 1404, where is would serve as an important symbol of protection from
marauding nomads to the north.
Reconstruction began in 1568 on
1000km of the Wall including Mutianyu. Responsibility was given to Qi Jiguang,
a general who had built his credentials fighting Japanese pirates, and who took
his
responsibilities as a builder very seriously. Construction continued for
many years, as the fortifications were built up with solid granite blocks, and
included the construction of some of the larger defensive towers.
The most recent renovation of the Wall at Mutianyu took place from 1982-1986, at the direction of the Beijing government. Rather than a defensive fortification, the Mutianyu Great Wall Park has been designated a national tourist attraction, where it attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Mutianyu is a bit more rugged and
slightly less crowded than the more famous Badaling. There are abundant natural
springs which feed a great variety of plants and trees. Over 96% of Mutianyu is
covered by trees and orchards, keeping the air fragrant with chestnut blossoms
in the spring and fresh all year long.There is cable car going up to a higher level and you can walk up too it you like. But i prefer to go with the cable car but i petty my daughter because she is afraid of heights so on our ride to the top by the cable car she was crying :-)
What a wonderful view on the top of the great wall, we walk through the stapes and enjoy the amazing great wall of China.
We spent about 2 hours enjoying the walk and the view. The weather was
very cold lucky there still no snow falling other wise i dont think we
can stand walking here as this place is quite high. I wonder how those soldiers before during their duty on guard at the Great Wall. On the way down we try using the slade way down from the top of the great wall to the station below. It was fun
Down you go!!!!!............
Day 6
After breakfast we are ready to continue our journey and today we are going to Temple of Heaven is located in southern
Beijing. As usual we took train from one stop to another till we reach our distination.Temple of Heaven it was first constructed in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of Ming emperor Yongle，and was extended and renovated during the reigns of Ming emperor Jiajing and Qing emperor Qianlong．It was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties would worship the god of heaven and pray for good harvest. Covering an area of 273 hectares，it is the largest architectural complex in the world for rituals to pay homage to heaven.
In 1918，The Temple of Heaven was turn into a park it attracted masses of visitors from home and
abroad by the grand scales unique buildings and
profound connotation of historic culture of offering sacrifices to Heaven. After New China was founded in 1949，the central government invested large amounts of
capital in the protection and maintenance of the historical and cultural sites
inside the temple．In 1998, the Temple
of Heaven was inscribed on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO. With profound
cultural connotations and imposing architectural styles the Temple of Heaven is considered a reflection
of the ancient civilization of the Orient．The spacious Temple of Heaven is well-afforested. When going into the Temple，a feeling of solemnity， respectfulness holiness and quietness will well up in the mind． When looking at the beautiful sacrificial altars one will feel the his soul is purified and his thoughts sublimed．
The five architecture groups in the Temple are given respective features while the magnificent Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the major symbol．The temple is divided by two enclosed walls into inner altar and outer altar. To better symbolize heaven and earth, the northern part of the temple is circular while the southern part is square, which reflect the ancient Chinese belief that Heaven is round and Earth is square.
Located in the northern part of the temple is the Altar of Prayer for Good Harvests, where the emperors sacrificed animals and burned incense sticks to pray for good weather for the crops; while in the southern part is the Circular Mound Altar where emperors held ceremonies for worshipping the Heaven. Two principle clusters of worshipping buildings are connected by the Red Stairway Bridge. Additionally, in the temple are the Hall of Abstinence where emperors held fasts before the ceremony and the Divine Music Hall, an imperial organization in charge of performing during the ceremonies. The Temple
architecture，aesthetics，acoustics，astronomy，calendar，music and dancing into an integral whole．It is an important window through which we can learn the history of China.
It's really fun walking through the hall, watching all the community consisting of retirees relax, exercise, dancing and playing their game. Everybody can join if you want too, i did some exercise heheheh.....
On the way back we stop at
Shopping spree at the Yashow market and Silk street. You will get crazy
to see how many things that is nice and cheap. My daughter this is her
fun, she really enjoy looking and buying all what she see. Hooooo!!!
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| Summer Palace |
This morning i fry noodle, i bought some prawn, meat slice and vegetable on my way back to the house yesterday.
It was nice to eat noodle that we cook ourselves :-) after breakfast as usual we when to the train station and today we are heading to Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace, northwest of Beijing, is said to be the best preserved imperial garden in the world, and the largest of its kind still in existence in China. It is only a short drive (15 km) from central Beijing but seems like another world.
The Summer Palace is one of the loveliest spots in Beijing. Not all the buildings are open to the public, but many are, and the others continue to enhance the park with their design and decoration, nestled into the landscape.
The arched bridges, pretty promenades, decorated corridors, and ‘breezeways’
(a hallway that allows the passage of a breeze between structures) lead
visitors through ever-changing views and scenery. The Chinese call it Yihe Yuan (Garden of Restful Peace), and the landscaped gardens, temples, and pavilions were designed to achieve harmony with nature, to soothe, and to please the eye.
During the hot Beijing summers, the Imperial Family preferred the beautiful
gardens and airy pavilions of the Summer Palace to the walled-in Forbidden
City. Infamous Dowager Empress Cixi took up permanent residence here for a
time, giving rise to some wonderful tales of extravagance and excess. Longevity Hill rises beside the lake, dotted with superb halls and temples and wonderfully decorated gates. The energetic can climb the hill to the Buddhist Temple overlooking the entire area.
We
enjoy the view, there is a beautiful lake normally you can go by boat
ride to enjoy the scenery but an fortunately we cannot do that as it
was winter, all the water in the lake frozen and in few days time there
will be a lot of people play ski on it. Can u imagine during winter you
can walk on the frozen water in the hugh lake.We really enjoy the view and i beat it will be most beautiful during Autumn and Spring.
Today a bit leisure, the weather today was really cold and we arrive at the view point about noon, took some picture of the Stadium Bird's Nest Beijing.
The design is so beautiful, not really much to see during the day but at night its look more beautiful with all the lights on.
Look at my daughter!!.... she took this picture without her winter jacket and pertain that she can stand the cold, heeeemmm...... only me know hahahahaha........ how long she can stand ....
The design combines modern technologies with Chinese traditional values.
In tradition, Chinese conceptualized a square Earth and a round Heaven,
and this formed the design's central theme. Moreover, the cube shape
dominates ancient urban buildings. Its design is of traditional style to
meet all its functional requirements.The Blend of Architecture & Advanced Technology
Designed by Chinese and Australian, it is the first building in the world built upon "the soap bubble" theory, and sports a polyhedral steel-framed structure.
The ETFE (the
ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer) membrane insulates it. This
advanced membrane structure is formed by 3,065 bubble-like pneumatic
cushions of all sizes. It becomes the first large-scale public project
coated with the membrane, and it also has set up a new world record for
its massive deployment.
It looks like a huge blue
box, from which it takes its nickname: the Water Cube. It is blue in
order to reflect sunlight. It shines in the sunlight like a pearl in
water. From the inside, you may discover that the pneumatic cushions of
all sizes are just like sea bubbles.
Various high
technology and green technology are present in its construction. Popular
Science magazine chose it the Best of What’s New of 2006.Then we proceed by train to Purple Bamboo Park located in Haidian Districk of northwestern Beijing. We visit the Panda Zoo
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Purple Bamboo Park is just behide of Panda Zoo, this park is is one of the seven largest parks in Beijing.
The park is so beautiful and it is also a place for people to exercise
Wild cat, look so beautiful
Hutong this
is a preserved area of the city where people live just as they have for
hundreds of year . The low rows of houses line narrow passageways.Hutongs are a type of narrow streets or Alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of Siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. Many neighbour hoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbour hoods.
Since the mid-20th century, the number of Beijing hutongs has dropped
dramatically as they are demolished to make way for new roads and
buildings. More recently, some hutongs have been designated as protected
areas in an attempt to preserve this aspect of Chinese cultural
history.
Its
nice to visit Beijing during cold weather but then it's become very
hard to walk in the freezing weather. Just like us, my daughter cannot
stand the cold and i cannot breath, so we have to close our nose with
our scarf, then you feel better.This is a public toilet, so lady's do you think you can pee at this toilet that without any door? Ohhh.... i was shack when i enter this toilet, i told my daughter about this toilet and she was shack too hahahhahahah so both of us pass this toilet, we only use toilet in the restaurant where we have our lunch in Hutong area.
Talking about food, i dont have problem with it as Beijing still have plenty of Muslim and Halal food. Easy for us to find, delicious, not very expensive and not very cheap too. But be careful when you order one dish, it came with a big size. We don't know about this so we order 3 dish as usual we use to do at our home town, when it came..... looks like 4 persons can eat.
After lunch we start walking again along the Alley in Hutong, all this In the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolians attached great importance to water, so almost every community in the city was designed around a well, which provided the daily water for the locals. Until now, one can still find dry wells in Hutongs.
In the past, Beijing was composed of hundreds of courtyards around the Forbidden City,
and these lanes stretched out in all four directions, connecting the
different kinds of courtyards in the city. Although originally formed in
the Yuan Dynasty, the building of the these developed fast during the
Ming and Qing dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were about 29
Hutongs, while in the Ming Dynasty (1368 –1644), this number increased
to 1,070. In the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), it grew to 2,076. It is said
that by 1949 there were as many as 3,250. But with the passage of time,
and the requirement for city construction, the number of them has fallen
dramatically. In 2003, only 1,500 were left, and now no more than 1,000
remain. Thus, protecting them is an urgent problem for modern people. 
The lanes have their own layout and structure, and when viewed from the
air the combination of the lanes and courtyards resemble a chessboard
with delicate gardens, fine rockeries and ancient ruins this makes them a
wonder in the world. Because of the cross interlacement of the lanes
every houses connected to the other, making it easy for local people to
keep in touch with their neighbors. Therefore, once one enters any of
the lanes, one can feel the deep and warm relationships among people,
which is rarely found in this modern world..
This is what she use to do .... always eat specially with chocolate or Shopping that is her interest
Day 10
Lying at the city center and called Gu Gong in Chinese, it was the
imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing
dynasties. It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign
of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Ancient
Chinese Astronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in the
center of heaven and the Heavenly Emperor lived in the Purple Palace.
The Palace for the emperor on earth was so called the Purple City. It
was forbidden to enter without special permission of the empeor. Hence
its name 'The Purple Forbidden City', usually 'The Forbidden City'.Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tienanmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a 52-meter-wide moat and a 10-meter-high wall are more than 8,700 rooms. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the east and west gates is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside.
Construction of the palace complex began in 1407,
the 5th year of the Yongle reign of the third emperor (Emperor Chengzu,
Zhu Di) of the Ming dynasty. It was completed fourteen years later in
1420, and then the capital city was moved from Nanjing to Beijing the
next year. It was said that a million workers including one hundred
thousand artisans were driven into the long-term hard
labor. Stone needed was quarried from Fangshan District. It was said a
well was dug every fifty meters along the road in order to pour water
onto the road in winter to slide huge stones on ice into the city. Huge
amounts of timber and other materials were freighted from faraway
provinces.
Ancient Chinese people displayed
their very considerable skills in building it. Take the grand red city
wall for example. It has an 8.6 meters wide base reducing to 6.66 meters
wide at the top. The angular shape of the wall totally frustrates
attempts to climb it. The bricks were made from white lime and glutinous
rice while the cement is made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These
incredible materials make the wall extraordinarily strong.
Meeting my new friends from CS, from the left is a sweet girl from Korea, 2nd from Hong Kong and my friend from Beijing. She invited us for hot pot at her house. Enjoy it .......
Having gathering
with all Couch surfing member in Beijing. In the middle is my CS
friend. We stay with her in her house in Beijing, co-indecent she is
from Kota Kinabalu Sabah. Same state where i come from, she has been
staying in Beijing for quite long time already.Day 11
Today around 11.00 am we start to going back to Tianjin by fast train for our flight home tomorrow Day 12.
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SEE YOU AGAIN ON OUR NEXT DESTINATION !!!!.... BYE!!!!!
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