We were a bit disappointed with Beijing’s metro. Beijing railway station was situated in probably 2 of the oldest line of Beijing’s subway so there were moments that we carry our luggage up/down the stairs. After a gruelling morning, we finally arrived at Dongsi station. While going to our hotel, we were surprised by the bustling market that we need to cross. The crowd was so boisterous. We actually thought that our hotel would be worse. Thank God we’re wrong. When we got to Happy Dragon Hostel, we were immediately greeted by Katie and handed us free iced teas. She found out that for some reason, they don’t have extra room, so they transferred us to a nearby hotel (Fu Yuan Hotel). She was so friendly, that she accompanied us while smiling and carrying my luggage. She said that we could stay at that hotel for our entire stay, or probably return to Happy Dragon Hostel the next day.

We went outside the hotel just before lunch. We had trouble finding restaurants with pictures beside their Chinese names, so this restaurant near our area was a welcome-relief especially to xty, who serves as our interpreter.J We ate a very sumptuous meal composed of chicken and tofu that Anton kept babbling of eating again in this restaurant. I guess he’s so frustrated that we were not eating regularly, or as often as he liked. After hearing what meals Xty always order for us, I’ve learned that mei-ruo means pork and zi-ruo means chicken. Don’t want spicy is bu yao la de, according to our interpereter. :)

Visiting the pandas

We are to travel Haidian province this day. We first proceeded to the Beijing zoo (Beijing zoo station). I was not really interested with the zoo, but since Anton would like to see the pandas, we went there anyway. There were only four pandas in the Beijing zoo. Each had a huge cage. It was posted that pandas were solitary animals, hence, one cage, one panda. We didn’t check all the animals in the zoo, but walked a lot anyway. Families with children will like Beijing zoo because of its cleanliness and great view, and cute animals. Plus there’s a boat ride inside that children will surely enjoy.

Summer Palace (YiHeHuan)

Again, by metro, we got off at Beigongmen station. The Summer Palace is one of Unesco’s World heritage site. It was built in 1750 and later rebuilt in 1888. It’s 300.59 hectares long (including the lakes inside it). Normal tours took about 4 hours to explore this. The summer palace was so huge that we’re not able to see the lake after more than an hour of walking (and climbing staircases). The summer palace was a mixture of temples, gardens, stone walls and old Chinese buildings (palaces). It’s fun to view all of these if you have a lot of time in your hand. After more or less 2 hours, we went out to check the old summer palace.

Old Summer Palace (YuanMingYuan)

We hurried off Summer Palace since entrance to YuanMingyuan is upto 530pm only (according to our research). We got off at YuanMingYuan station. Fatigue started to set in when we got here and we immediately look for a bench to rest. The 17-hour train ride and our long walks were taking its toll. YuanMingyuan was another place to behold. There was a big lagoon, similar to Hangzhou’s West Lake. There was a sign of black swans swimming, but I guess the swans were on a break so we never see that.hehe. YuanMingyuan was basically a huge park with old ruins (bridges and statues) that were marvellous to look at. If you want to relax, it would be better to visit this place than the Summer Palace. Just a fact, Summer Palace is older than Old Summer Palace.

Since it’s still early (around 7pm and the sky isn’t dark yet), we decided to add the Olympic Complex to our itinerary. While on the street, we saw a crepe-pancake-like vendor selling his delicacy at RMB3. We tried one, and it was delicious. If you saw one, try one. We were surprised when we saw him hurrying off the area. We were joking that perhaps he put something in our food.hehe

The Olympic Stadiums

Off we went to Olympic Sports Centre station. When we got off, we were surprised with the throng of people surrounding the area. Since it was a weekday, we thought that there would only be a few people visiting. To describe it, it’s like the Bund in Shanghai at night. The only difference was that, the Olympic Sports Centre had a wider platform that it could accommodate millions of people at once. We marvel at the stunning Bird’s nest and Water Cube. It was magnificent, a modern statement that Beijing’s not just about old stuff. They could do whatever they want. We didn’t bother to enter the stadiums, looking at it from the outside feasted our eyes already. Besides, our feet couldn’t handle any more walking.hehe

Fact: We learned that the Olympic Sports Complex is built in-line with Changling Ming Tomb and the Forbidden City. In feng-shui, it is said that this straight line is powerful.

Entrance fees:

Beijing zoo: 20 (visiting the panda included)

Summer Palace: 30

Old Summer Palace:  10

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