China - Where to visit in Beijing

Beijing - Dec 2014

Other than the must go place - The Great Wall of China. Below is the list of places that I recommend to go in Beijing for its rich history and culture.

1) Beijing Hutongs

Hutong refers to lane or alley. Beijing Hutongs consists of many rows of old alleys formed by traditional courtyard residences lived by old Beijing residents.

Trishaw services is available to drive visitors around. 

2) Qianmen Street 前门街

Located in between Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven is the oldest and most famous ancient pedestrian shopping street: Qianmen street 前门街.

It has undergone a year of renovation and just reopened before 2008 Beijing Olympics. Although it has many international brand store, there are still many preserved ancient Beijing buildings.

It has been a prosperous area for more than 600 years and has accumulated some long-standing stores like Tong Ren Tang.

Dang dang tram

It has the snowy look right! It gave a very christmasy feeling! WHY DIDNT IT SNOW??

Having matcha ice cream at near 0 degree weather was indescribable.

3) Wang Fu Jing 王府井

Basically this is just like our Orchard Road with all the big international brands.

So pretty at night.

This was the only time we felt so relaxed walking around without time constraint as tour guide gave us all the time to shop, have dinner ourselves and take cab back to hotel as it is very close by. 

I have craving for steamboat because winter is the best time to eat steamboat! So, we went back to our hotel as our tour guide told us there is a famous eating street just a street away from our hotel.

 We over ordered partly because we were too hungry and the waitress didn't warn us about the super big plate of beef. It was too reasonably priced (only around S$10) that we did not think of the size at all. 

4) Wangfujing snack street

This is the street that you must not missed when you are in Wangfujing. 

Wangfujing Snack Street is conveniently located just adjacent to Wangfujing Street. However it is over commercialized and touristy, the prices are not as low as other places. Tons of snacks from all corners of China can be found there.

Even insects...

Just next to Wangfujing snack street is Laobeijing snack street. They pretty much sell the same kind of food. 

They looked so yummy and sinful lol..

4) Beijing National Stadium (Bird's Nest 鸟巢)

Beijing National Stadium was the main venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Tour guide was right. It looks better at night when it lights up.

China - Beijing : Great Wall of China + Nanshan ski resort

Beijing - December 2014

Bf and I were very psyched with today's itinerary and were looking forward since day 1 we booked the tour package! The most highlight of the trip: Great Wall of China and Nanshan ski resort!

That day was the most fun and most frustrating day of the trip. 

Great Wall of China 万里长城

My first one of the eight wonders in the world! Let's get started with a little history of how it came about.

The Great Wall of China was built as early as 7th century BC (I don't even know that's how long ago) and further constructed in 220–206 BC by Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of China who is very infamous about him burning all the books.

The Great Wall was built mainly to protect the Chinese empire from northern invaders and the total length was estimated around 8,850km. I came across one article mentioning one guy took around 9 months to complete.

Initally, I thought I was quite well prepared - brought mask, sunglasses, gloves and three layers. I was wrong. I was freezing to death even in indoor. 

I was very furious when I heard there was only 45 minutes free and easy time for us to explore the Great Wall and report back to the restaurant for lunch. Come on, I spent so long bus journey from town to outskirt just to see this Great Wall and only going to give me less than an hour to explore and take pictures? This is damn ridiculous. 

Perhaps this doesn't earn him any commission. Two hours at silk factory -.-" We practically wasting our precious travelling time. I still remember very vividly that he was so thick skin that he asked one of my tour mate to help support the sales. Not one time but several times. I am not going to expose his nickname but it is a very small size of horse.

million dollars view

During the olden days, they did not have any construction machinery. They built it using their bare hands with sweats and blood. People said that underneath the Great Wall hid countless of corpses who either died of over exhausted or lack of proper nutrition.

A must have "I am here" picture.

Anyway, December is a quiet season as the weather is too cold for people to go anywhere. Imagine this place packing with people during peak season.

My black face when we were rushing down to the restaurant. Of course, we were late. Obviously, 45 minutes was not enough at all.

See you again, Great Wall of China.

We had to say good bye to Great Wall and rushed off to our next destination - Nanshan ski resort where we expected to reach in an hour~ 

This is my closest chance to see and touch snow.

We reached there around 3pm and the mountains back view with gentle sun was exceptional beautiful as if like a painting.

It was quite slippery when I stepped on the hardened snow for the first time.

I was thinking if we need to hire an instructor as the time given us was only 2 hour. We ended up hiring an instructor as skiing can be very dangerous if you do not know how to brake or get up when you fall down. The female instructor was very passionate telling us what equipment to take, where to pay the fee and even offered to help me to take my ski board.

After a few attempts of learning how to move with ski board and to brake on a slightly descended ground level, the instructor led us to the higher hill. 

The conveyor belt for the beginners lol

Ski tow is for the more pro people. 

Bf went first because I was scared. 

The instructor first directed him to hold his ski pole horizontally to strike a balance then position both his legs facing inwards making a V shape as braking mechanism so not to increase his speed while going down the hill. The technique is to bend his legs and lean backwards like sitting down - this is to prevent to fall with face down. Most importantly is to use the same strength on both legs so you will go straight instead of going in zigzag. If you wish to increase your speed, position your ski board parallel to each other. 

I have to admit that bf was doing better than me as I was not able to strike a balance strength on my legs. I have better strength control on my left legs which is damn weird as right leg should be my power leg. If you see the above picture, my V shape was not very nicely positioned. The tip of my ski board kept overlapped each other.

We were totally exhausted after a few attempts of going downhills. We have to control legs strength while skiing downhills and use arm strength on ski pole to push ourselves forwards on a flat ground.

It was near 5.30pm where they were about to close, the female instructor kept rushing us to return their equipment. She kept pushing us to walk faster but obviously we could not as it was very slippery to walk on the snow and the ski board was heavy. She could not take our slowness and decided to help me with the ski board. Her attitude changed totally before and after..

Course fee: ~SGD 50 for 2 hours.