Beijing Day 2 -cont’d…Old Summer Palace

I’m wondering how long more can I finish my account with Beijing at the rate I’m going…but there’s just so much to write and so many photos to resize & upload! I must finish writing  before I forget! This is important journal for me as I may want to visit again & make sure I don’t miss out on certain areas and make the same mistakes again..

After the New Summer Palace, we hopped on the bus to the Old Summer Palace. It’s also known as the “Ruins of Yuanmingyuan”. This place is huge and we managed to visit parts of the whole garden which was divided into 4 main gardens!

We entered through the gate where the bus we took from the New Summer Palace stopped. Can’t remember which gate!! Walked a bit and stopped to sitt on a bench and ate our bread. Really enjoyed the cool weather and the view. Since it was winter, the lotus plants have died, the scenery would have been better if the lotus plants were still alive…

After walking for a while we noticed there were rides available and quickly enquired about it. We were getting really tired so RMB10 per ride to the Ruins of Yuanmingyuan was a lifesaver!

Was trying to picture the actual buildings from looking at the ruins and I am sure the architecture was amazing and it was really a pity that the buildings were destroyed by the bloody quai loes!

Again, we ended up in another exit and we asked again how do we get back to the subway. Had to take a bus. On the way to the bus stop we saw a funeral service and it was practically on the side of the road! They actually had a makeshift kitchen to cook for the guests! Notice the drain they dug to allow the water flow! Amazing!

Beijing Day 2-Summer Palace New & Old

We had a good breakfast, really maxed out on the pork bacons…sooooo yummy!! The breakfast spread was pretty good despite it being a tourist class hotel. We ate to our hearts content, or rather it was just me eating away…

We bought some buns from a bakery next to the hotel. I noticed the pricing was not cheap at all, about like Bread Story prices but the quality is like the neighbourhood bakery type!

Off we went to New Summer Palace. We took the subway there but we did not notice any signboards or directions that leads to the Summer Palace. In fact, there was an entrance/exit to the Summer Palace which was just a stone throw’s away from the subway station, which we realised only when we came out from the Palace!! Since we didnt know about that entrance, we were “conned” to take a cab to the main entrance (East Palace Gate) which cost us RMB10 (minimum charge on the meter). No wonder the cab driver pulled a long & black face as the distance was really a short drive! But in actual fact he could have just directed us to the back entrance!

Again there were a few prices on the tickets, since we were not sure which areas we could cover, we bought the basic entrance tickets which was RMB30 each.

Not far from the entrance was the main hall, something like the ones at the Forbidden City where the emperor/Empress Dowager meet with officials for administration matters. Not too far away is the lake. The scenery was simply breathtaking but however, the weather was too kind to us, it was misty and the photos didn’t turn out too good. Ok, probably due to skill also…

Just like the Forbidden City, this place was also swarmed with tourists, mainly local tourists…I would occasionally hang around some tour groups just to eavesdrop on what the tour guide is saying…

We walked along the halls and then the long corridor…wanted to get a descent pix but it was impossible with the throngs of tourists walking up & down…

We climbed up to the temple and it was really tiring. I really cannot imagine doing this during summer!! Thank goodness it was cooling..We had to pay an additional amount to enter the temple, we decided to go in as it was the peak and the view was great.

Up & up & up….*pant…. pant*

Glimpse of the temple halfway up…*pant…pant…thinking of the servants carrying up the Emperor/Empress up…

bumped into it along the way and wanted to take a pix of him but he was running away…*tourist…Roll eyes*

We relaxed and took pictures of course. We really took our time and it was really relaxing. I don’t think I like going on a tour, rushing here and there.

We descended from the temple to the other entrance which was close to the subway (where we arrived). Before exiting, there was a place which the Kangxi or the Qianlong Emperor built which resembled the markets along the river at Suzhou. The market was meant to entertain the people and imperial family while they are confined live in the palace.

Imitation Suzhou market at the Summer Palace

We asked the staff at the exit how to get to the old Summer Palace which was the Yuanmingyuan Gardens. We were told to take a bus. The bus conductor was friendly and advised us where to stop and it was also right in front of the entrance! Next post on Yuanmingyuan…

Beijing Day 1-Forbidden City

The main entrance to the Forbidden City from Tiannamen Square

The entrance itself already took my breath away but the only drawback was the “millions” of tourists getting in and out of that place! Seriously my photos do not do justice to the majestic architecture and beauty of this wondrous and amazing palace! However, I was like kinda put off with that giant poster of Mr Chairman M la. I know with all due respect this guy, he was somebody but the poster should be placed where he was laid to rest which was next door to FC la..

Entrance Tickets cost RMB 60 and that does not include entrance into  various parts of the FC but by just walking around the palace our legs were about to give way, ok maybe only my legs…but we did pay to enter one part where they kept the antiques and treasures..We also paid to get the virtual guide which I thought was pretty cool as the narrator will automatically explain about the location wherever you go to!! However, they charged RMB 40 for English and other languages whereas they charged only RMB 10 for Mandarin!!! NO FAIR!!!

I can imagine those enuchs & maids walking along this place….so lonely & eerie feeling….The walls are so high up and I doubt if any one was able to enter or escape to or from this place! From the history, all maids/eunuchs/concubines who enter the palace will never get to leave the palace….how sad…

One of the rooms used by the Empress/Concubine..forgot ledi…see the wood carvings…so beautiful hor…

There were quite a number of rooms that were opened for viewing only through glass windows. We could peep in and saw so many beautiful treasures and furniture and understand roughly how the imperial family used to live (also from the many Hong Kong TVB drarma series I have watched so far) . We knew for a fact that majority of the treasures in the palace were looted off but there were still a lot left back in the palace! Can you imagine how much they had!

One of the many many halls that the King uses to meet up with officials etc..

There’s just too much to see despite many areas being closed to public. We simply couldn’t finish walking around the palace grounds.  I want to visit this place again but I must read up more on the history in order to fully appreciate the visit.

The toilets were commendable too, with toilet paper and hand dryer that works and there was a lady there constantly mopping and cleaning up. So I was very pleased and there were sitting toilets too!! For a start of my tour, this was really good!

Beijing Day 1

The drama began even before the flight. I bought a new sweater and had it washed last minute. At the same time I had to wash a load for a visiting pastor in my church. So I gave instructions to the maid what to do. However, Apah was the transporter. The maid hung the sweater in a hanger and the pastor’s clothes in a plastic bag. But Apah has to put in my sweater inside the plastic bag thinking the maid must have made a mistake by separating the sweater! Why can’t he call me to verify?? At the end I didn’t bring this sweater along and thank God the pastor was not leaving the same day and we actually managed to talk to him and asked him to leave the sweater with the church staff! I was so mad with Apah I actually asked him to get another room in Beijing!

It was a midnight flight out and coincidentally, Mom to 3 Angels was on the same flight with me to & fro! It was a 6.5 hours flight and when we landed we were immediately greeted with a pleasant looking guy offering his taxi service. Opening price was RMB450 and we started bargaining he went down a mere RMB50!! When we asked him to drop Mom to 3 Angels & her colleague first and then to our hotel he only agreed if the fare was back to RMB450! We didn’t realise he actually slaughtered us till we left our hotel for the Beijing Airport. The fare from our hotel to the airport was only RMB90! I was so happy I actually gave the cabbie RMB100 asked him to keep the change! So remember, if you do take a cab from Beijing airport to a hotel in the city it should not cost more than RMB150!!!!!!!!!!

Upon arrival we were in for another surprise, as the hotel said the fare we booked doesn’t include tax and we had to pay 15% more! Apah better give the agent a good shelling! However, we managed to bargain for an additional breakfast as the original offer was only for 1 free breakfast and the next good thing was they had the room ready for us by 9+am. This was the Novotel Chungwenmen and is very strategically located right in front of the Chongwenmen Subway station.

We quickly freshened up and departed for Qianmen (the next subway station on the same line as Chongwenmen), our first tourist stop. Wanted to look for a tailor but couldn’t find any and ended up shopping for nonsense.

In front of the first gate towards the entrance of the Forbidden City, hence it's called Qianmen (Front door)

Qianmen shopping street (very expensive shopping, so I didn’t buy anything there)

Look at the massive number of tourists! Mostly local China Chinese people!

We ate at a descent looking restaurant (located next to the Qianmen Shopping St) and that was our first try on the Peking Duck. They actually roast the duck in full view for the diners. Taste wise…not fantastic but bearable.

Next stop was Forbidden City which deserves a post of it on its own!

Children activities..

My girl changes her status from time to time..she can be a sweet little vain princess and next a vicious fighter!

She came down with this flower clip on her hair one day…..

She stuck stickers on her fingernails (don’t know where she got this idea from…I hardly do my nails ok..)

A demure lace wearing girl…please don’t be fooled by this look….

Both are chefs in the making…

The latest toy from Ikea….

See…like a real induction cooker!! Like real!! So cool ya???

Next they were sword fighting with Apah’s old toys!!

Fungates

As I was waiting for Kylie to come out from her class, there were a few other mothers around. One mother turned to me suddenly and asked me if my girl can read all the alphabets. I thought only my girl couldn’t read all the alphabets. I have difficulty teaching her how to write her name also.

Then this mother said that the Fungates system is not good, only can hear her daughter making sounds of the alphabets like a mute girl! I didnt agree with her on that part. Learning to pronounce and make sounds from the alphabets is important but the child must also learn which alphabet sounds like wat la…I reckon the teacher didn’t do a good job in teaching but the other mother doesn’t agree. She kept insisting it was the Fungates system. I have seen many schools adopting this system but I reckon the school should not follow the syllabus so rigidly.

Now I am in a dilemma, whether to let her continue with this school or switch….how ah???

Coming Clean

This is the article which I have been waiting for so long…many thanks to Ms Sharmilla Ganesan from the Star who took time to listen to what I had to say.

To read the article please go to this link…

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/6/gogreenlivegreen/4712247&sec=gogreenlivegreen

and

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/6/gogreenlivegreen/4724091&sec=gogreenlivegreen

For your information the other guy (photo in the paper) featured in the article has got nothing to do with me and he is not owner of the laundry which was featured. He was advocating about some other system.

Of Kieran & Kylie…

Last week on the way to church..

It was long sleeve day..I love to see Kieran in long sleeve shirts, makes him look so smart & handsome…Apah complains that Kieran has more shirts than him, and the shirts even look better than his…OF COURSE la…Amah bought em!

As for Kylie, she’s beginning to show signs that she likes only pink…she likes everything in pink…(the shirt does have some pink thread sewed in front..can’t really see clearly in this pic though..Whenever we go clothes shopping, she will pick out items and asks me to buy, really fast! No price for guessing where she got this trait from….

After church we to eat at this coffee shop and we passed by this…

Obviously the occupants knew about the leak and they actually placed containers in a poor attempt to store the leaking water!! Since they took time to place the containers (which I don’t understand why cos how much can they store??) why  cant they just get the leak fixed with some gasket tapes?? Water may come by cheaply here but don’t they realise that they are wasting precious water that may not come by so easily in some parts of the world??? tsk tsk tsk..classic ignorance..

One day in the office….

Kylie gets real bored in the office. After watching DVDs for a while she gets restless and disturbs me and really drives me up the wall. One day I suggested she bring some toys down to play. She brought this cow soft toy and then started making swoosh swoosh sounds…Guess what was she doing??

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She was milking the cow! Hey this beats the FB farming anytime right???

Yesterday we went shopping again…yes O-gain…since it’s school holiday today, we decided to go out for dinner. Kylie was very sleepy. Before she fell asleep we had this conversation..

Me-Since you are sleepy why don’t I drop you in Apoh’s house..

(she loves going to Apoh’s house, never fail to ask me every morning to take her there..)

Kylie-No, it’s dark edi (night time), Apoh wanna (wants to) sleep. So I dun wan (do not want) to go there..

If we were not on our way to the mall, she will definitely jump at the chance to go to Apoh’s house! But as expected, she fell asleep before we reached the mall. It took us about half an hour before getting a car park! While we were waiting for the elevator, she was fast asleep but we tried to wake her up and told her we were at the mall already. She woke up with her eyes opened so wide and she immediately jumped for joy! Tsk tsk tsk….see how she loves going to the mall….

10 years has gone by so quickly..

Dear Loe Dau,

It’s been 10 years. I can’t believe this, but it’s 10 years now. I still miss you and still ask the same questions again and again. But on the other hand I am glad you are not here to see what has happened to us.

However, don’t worry too much, I’m trying or maybe not hard enough, but I am. I will try to keep the business running, with God’s help of course. I am not sure how long, but will do so at least until mom goes to meet you.

You have an additional grandchild and his name is Darren! He is the cutest baby ever! Serious, cutest among the rest and he looks exactly like your youngest son! He’s chubby and is a very happy baby and is very mild mannered, even his cries are gentle. I couldn’t believe my ears when mom actually commented that he looked like your older son! NO WAY ok!

Your other grandchildren are doing ok, they are growing well.

Love the place where your body was laid to rest, that morning we were there, it was peaceful, serene…made me wanting to book a place there too. Should I? However, I’m thinking of the “condo” lots instead of the “semi-ds” cos the price doubled in 10 years!

Anyway, till we meet again…..I will miss you still….

Shopping Rendezvous (super long post)

I don’t know why I keep getting smses telling me here sale there sale? Can someone tell me ah? Do you also get these promotion smses? Ok ok..stupid question..don’t have to be a genius to guess the answer. I should be Laundryamah aka Shopperamah.

I thought after 31 August the shopping season has ended..but nope, obviously it hasn’t. There’s the Raya sale now…so now I have bought enough for Christmas & also the coming Chinese New Year…shoes included, of course for the kids only larrr…

Pumpkin Patch (unfortunately this is not a paid post!) was having special relocation sale at the Gardens. So after picking Kylie up from school then off we went to pick up Kieran from tuition. I packed his clothes in the morning and told him to shower in tuition class, well planned leh..but Kylie had to pee in her pants so I had to shower her too. Tuition teacher was kind enough to allow us to use her bathroom but then do you think she dare to NOT let me meh?? grrrrrrr..I’m not over the last incident and there are new stories about her, always have screaming & shouting arguments with her husband in front of the kids..

After the super duper fast shower, we zoomed off as I was afraid to be caught in the after work “puasa” (fasting period for the Muslims) month horrendous jam. It was only 10 minutes past 5 and I was stuck on Jalan University all the way to Midvalley took us 1 hour when it was actually a less than 10 minute journey!! Kids were complaining they were hungry. The choice of restaurant of course went to Kieran and it was Canton i (I hate going there, no.1 It’s very expensive, No.2 The service is very slow No.3 The service is very bad No.4 The tableware is china and I panic all the time Kylie messes around with the china…). And this comment goes for all the outlets! Well, I guess I can say they are consistent! Why do we keep going there? The food is no doubt the closest to HK style and the kids love the wonton and dim sum…errmmm so do I!!

Dinner was slow despite the fact that it was only 6.30pm with only less than 10 tables occupied. Kylie was a riot as usual, had to warn her so many times and threatened her a million times and finally I had to whack her with chopsticks! Kieran was good throughout and finished his food. However, I have to finish Kylie’s share!

After dinner it was straight to harvesting Pumpkins at the Patch… Bought more t shirts and bottoms for Kylie and also Kieran, plus a t shirt each for my nephew and niece, all in 8 pieces for only RM250.75!! They were all 50% plus additional 15% as I bought more than 4 pieces. Good deal leh..

When I was packing the new clothes into the new clothes box (to keep clothes that are still too big and for use later.. ), I realised I have bought this same pink pants (above) during the August sales! So I have to take this back either later today or tomorrow…and this means…MORE shopping!!

After my harvest at the Patch, I proceeded to Isetan since there were special weekend Raya Sales! Bought 2 more t shirts from Poney for Kylie at 70% off. I don’t remember Poney offering such high discounts before..max ony 50% off….

The kids were playing with the lego toys and I had to scream for them to come try these beauties…

Osh Kosh shoes at RM69 each pair! A steal right??? The biggest size is just right with about 2 cm space for Kieran, hopefully he can still fit the shoes by CNY next year! Kylie has better size choices, so I bought at least 3 sizes bigger!! Kiasuism at its max was practised here!

On top of the kids stuff, I bought bed linen again..yes O-GAIN! But hor, how could I resist the offer? 400thread count full set, comforter cover plus bedsheet plus  2 pillow cases at RM180! Warao…cheap leh…but I had to buy the matching bolster cover at RM26.70 even after 70% discount! Should have left it out and just use a white cover which I already have..but then again..must have matching matching ones right?????? Urggghhhh..all the excuses I have for shopping!

So after the loot, I still wanted to take a peek at the shoes section and it was “buka puasa” (breaking fast) time and it was soooo quiet. I had to look around for someone to serve me. He disappeared into the store for sooo long and came out with the wrong size! Then again off he went and he felt so bad and apologetic and softly told me that there were no more my size!! Uwahhhhhhhh…The kids were playing shoe sales man and Kylie as customer during the time I was trying out shoes.

Since I couldn’t get any shoes, off we went since I was tired also. Lugged my very heavy shopping loot down to the carpark and found a trolley. The moment I dropped the loot in the trolley, Kylie has to go pee! It was P2 ok..so I told Kieran to stand guard the trolley (mistake cos it should be quite risky to leave  a 8 year old kid alone in a quiet car park at basement 2 hor??) and hurried Kylie to the toilet.

After paying for the parking ticket, I walked out and suddenly heard Kieran calling out to me, “Mom, mom, mom…” I turned around and saw his face so worried.

K-”Mom, I left my toy at the place…”

Me-Aiya..forget it la..let’s go..

K-No…I want to get it back.. (eyes red swelled with tears by now)

Me-Where did you leave the toy?

K-There..the shoes there…

Me-Ok then you go back yourself and get it. Go up this escalator & then turn to your left (again very bad mom, but the loot was really heavy and I don’t want to lug them there again!) I repeated the directions at least 3 times..

After a while I saw him coming down, eyes all red and tears all welled up..

K-Mom, I can’t find the place..

Me-Did you turn to the right instead?

K-Yes..

Me-Aiyooo..ok ok let’s go

We rushed back towards Isetan and I told him to run ahead and get it while I wait outside. He finally found the toy and off we went to the carpark. Had to hurry as I already paid for the ticket before the running up and down happened. When we reached the car we were all drenched in sweat…gosh..we were totally beat..but Kieran was so relieved that he found his toy..

K-I asked one security guard but he couldn’t help me

Me-What did you ask him?

K-I asked him where was the place which was right in the end and has lots of shoes..

I laughed out loud and said that at both ends of the mall, meaning Isetan and Robinsons, have their ladies shoe sections at the same place but in opposite directions. No wonder the guard can’t help me la….

We had to go back to the office to pick up the maid so all 3 of us showered again as I knew the kids will fall asleep in the car on the way home. Good thing I still had clothes in the office while we always pack pyjamas for the kids for cases like this! Phew…what a long long day…