Thursday, July 23, 2009

PEK : Istana Terlarang...

Secara kasarnya bandaraya metropolis beijing ni berpusatkan forbidden palace/city (istana terlarang ikut bahasa aku). maksud aku... orientation bandar ni, dgn forbidden palace ni kat tgh2... dan ring 2, 3, 4 - 6 adalah expressway mengelilingi palace ni... the first 2 ring mmg central lah... and office selalunya between ring 3 - 5.
So setelah aku menjejak great wall, hari ahad tu, aku g pulang the 2nd best thing kat beijing... the forbidden palace ni.. huge magnificent palace... katanya forbidden sbb masa dulu hanya raja2 je boleh masuk... pekerja2 istana dan org2 berkaitan ngan istana je blh... rakyat2 tak blh (perhaps boleh kalau ada occassion kot... tak ingat)you can read the whole history about this palace kat wikipedia... so i shall not elaborate more abt this palace... for me it is a huge palace yg mengagungkan raja... dan kebanggaan utamanya n yg disebut ramai tentang banyak nya gundik nya... :-) tp yg lebih mengagumkan aku, betapa ramai nya pelancong, who were mostly local tourist or at least look so chinese... tak ramai sgt pelancong asing...tempat ni buka jam 8.30am and tutup around 4.30... aku cadangnya nak test camera je dtg sini... tp since dah sampai, kena gak lah tahu the history. so aku sewa the audio guide (setelah aku tgk citer slumdog millionaire, aku agak suspicious ngan guide2 persendirian yg blh diambil kat depan pintu masuk). for me the guide tu bagus, full of information. tp kenkadang agak laju, sampai kita tak sempat follow, bila ramai org, kita jalan slow skit... so tak dpt catch up. n kenkadang sbb censor detect awal, kita tak naik tangga lagi, dia dah citer pasal dlm hall... tp for a brief citer ok lah... :-)


walaupun ramai... there is still some space that u can find no one... ooh didn't i said i came here just to try out my camera... these are some pics that i took... trying very hard to be creative and full use of the camera (up to the knowledge aku ada lah) very amateurish...
it's a huge complex... kalau rajin tgk each n every room and small palace meant for the concubines... mau ambik masa 4 jam at least... aku yg jump here and there and getting tired... pun abis 4 jam... and tak g semua tempat pun.. but snap loads of pictures lah... nasib baik aku g sorang, kalau dengan member... sure bosan dia...

for this trip, aku cuma g palace ni je, ada 2 lagi tempat/historical building yg interesting, the summer palace and temple of heaven... save for later dates, insyaAllah... for those yg g trip package tour akan dpt g tempat2 lain lagi....
this palace is seriously a must visit definitely!!!

btw.... at the south gate tempat ni terletaknya tiannamen square yg famous tu. aku tak rajin nak bgn pagi tgk depa naikkan bendera... or perhaps ada taichi... hehehe

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

PEK : The greatness of Tembok Besar China...

Alhamdulillah... aku berpeluang utk rehat2 on the weekends while my business trip kali ni... dpt rezeki utk extend... and aku ambil time ni nak tgk salah satu daripada 7 keajaiban dunia... Tembok Besar China... yg mmg mengagumkan...
aku lambat buat decision utk ke tembok ni, jam 11pm mlm sebelumnya br aku decide. kat beijing ni ada beberapa tempat yg sesuai tgk tembok ni... among others:

1. Badaling - ni bahagian tembok yg paling dekat ngan beijing. approx. 70km dr utara beijing. selalunya tour agent/travel package akan g tempat ni. oleh sbb tu, mmg ramai tourist kat sini... dan mmg bahagian tembok ni well preserved. and cantik pun. n kat sini lah yg nak dpt sijil etc.

2. Mutianyu - a bit further compared to badaling. still ada gak ramai tourist (kata org lah)... stil ada keunikan tersendiri...

3. Simatai (pic above, the hiking towards near simatai) - the furthest... 3 jam dr beijing... tak ramai sangat tourist. some say, kat sini view tembok ni paling cantik among all... jarang big travel tours dtg sini. kalau ada pun mostly local tour.

therefore, aku pilih simatai... so bila dah set mlm tu. katanya dia akan pick me up from hotel at 6,45am and charge RMB280 (termasuk pengangkutan, entrance fee and lunch + english speaking guide.. thats a must)
guide arrived around the agreed time... and sbb nak ambik org2 lain (14 org semuanya) we tour around beijing dulu... and around 10.30am sampai kat Jinshangling. rupanya most of group member tu start hiking dr Jinshangling 9km hike utk sampai ke Simatai.. aku pun terasa lah nak hike... tp tourist guide tu convince aku, view kat Simatai lagi cantik sbb kena panjat bukit.. better than hiking... so aku tak jadi hike (aku pun tak prepare sgt nak hike.. sure pancit!!!)
so setelah letak org kat Jinshangling... van menuju ke Simatai... we were given 3 jam setengah utk menjelajah Simatai... boleh nak hike panjat bukit... or blh gak nak naik cable car n furnicular... and aku decided menggunakan semua kemudahan... aku fikir, lebih baik aku sampai atas cepat, so aku blh enjoy the view and the tembok to the max... hiking2 panjat ni penat je (read: malas.. n takut pancit!!!)
tp weather hari tu tak lah bagus sgt... bila aku tiba kat atas tembok (setelah pancit gak memanjat tangga) aku tak dpt tgk jauh... putih... jerebu or fog aku pun tak tahu... tp yg best... mmg tak ramai org... setelah berehat... aku menuju ke post paling hujung yg boleh... :-) kalau ikut map atas tu, setelah naik cable car tu, akan sampai ke stesen kuning ke 5 dr kanan... so aku menapak sampai ke stesen terakhir tu lah...
some of the view on the way up...
tp bila sampai 2nd last tower... hari makin mendung n macam nak hujan... n masa tu... memang aku sorang je kat area tu.. aku takut plak trap dlm hujan... so aku decided utk descend balik ke bawah n habiskan sampai ujung tak ikut cable car...
tapi yg aku bersyukur, Alhamdulillah... hujan tu tak jadi... tp angin kuat je... angin kuat tu dah bawak all the fog and jerebu and awan away.. so aku boleh lah dpt ambik gambar yg lebih cantik (rasanya lah) dan dpt tgk langit biru.. magnificent!!!

and perjalanan ke bawah mmg best.. byk view2 cantik although it is the same tembok lah... but still mengagumkan... if you read and dpt relate ngan sejarah pembinaan tembok ni.... br dapat rasakan kenapa ia layak utk join 7 wonders of the world...
sampai ujung.. aku decided utk berfirefox turun ke bawah... dan naik boat utk sampai ke restoran for lunch... a simple lunch, aku makan veggie je.. :-) and later back to Beijing... jam 6.30pm aku sampai semula hotel...
although tiring... but it was really worth it... luckily i decided utk naik cable car ke atas and turun ke bawah... aku blh buat trip ni dgn lebih mudah.. kalau aku panjat... mmg patah pinggang... and aku dpt enjoy tembok ni by my own... mmg at times, mmg aku sorang je kat tembok tu... totally no one else!!!
p/s - additional charges - cable car 1 way RMB30 (return RMB50), furnicular (RMB20 kot one way), firefox+boat RMB40.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

PEK : Makan...

Aku tak sure kenapa lah kita ni suka sangat nak tahu pasal bab makan... i can say more than 70% org yg tanya pengalaman aku kat beijing will start with these 2 questions:

1. Amacam beijing best? i would say..... bla bla bla...

2. Senang tak makan kat sana?.... hmmm....

ok. utk makan kat sana... ada beberapa style makanan yg blh makan... and its pretty easy...

1. Vegetarian... mcm kat ipoh, vegetarian chinese mmg sedap. we've tried once kat kedai nama dia pure lotus. (later that week aku dpt tahu it's the Beijing's best vegetarian restaurant 2009) we ordered based on suggestion dr waiter... really sedap!!! for 3 person RMB580 (RM100 per pax lebih kurang)... and obviously presentation mmg superb... and nama makanan lagi lah kelakar... tak ingat lah exactly apa nama food dia... but the name kelakar n romantik...
2. Xin Jiang... ni kes yg org riot kat xin jiang tu.. ramai muslim kat area tu. so kalau ada xin jiang restaurant mostly halal.... i've tried one restaurant called red roses, around workers stadium. sedap food situ, and named the 2009 best xin jiang restaurant from the same magazine chose pure lotus. tp walaupun namanya islamik.. tp suasana dlm restoran tak langsung.... (tak de pic lah) xin jiang food ni byk daging2 esp. kambing/mutton/lamb...

3. arabic food... we've tried 1001 restaurant... ok lah.. not too bad... but again it's lebanese food... yg senang2 dapat kat doha... nothing to shout out.... (cuma kat sini ada best belly dancer... hehehee.. berselera makan hahhaa)

4. Mat3am islami... merata2 dlm town centre blh jumpa mat3am islami ni... even kat tianammen square pun ada... kat wang fu jing, a big restaurant dkt ngna McD yg near oriental plaza... although namanya restoran islam (famous for steamboat kedai ni) kedai ni penuh ngan org... bukan semua muslim pun, rasanya lah...
therefore, pada aku makan tak lah susah... but jgn lah cari makanan melayu... apa halal bedal je lah :-) lucky me i love chinese food and i can eat loads of meat.... :-)

Monday, July 20, 2009

PEK : Getting around...

banyak mode of transportation kat sini... yg paling mudah naik teksi... tp ada gak beca utk jalan2 dlm town and ada gak subway. Teksi merata-rata... mmg senang dapat dan semua bermeter RMB10 first 3km, RMB2 for the next 1 km... kiranya selamat lah, takkan jadi terlebih mahallah... dan selalunya teksi ni jujur and blh dipercayai, plus kat receipt teksi tu siap ada nombor teksi tu, kalau ada apa2 tertinggal atau x elok, call saja n report. mmg dea takut kalau dpt report, terus kena gantung lesen. and kalau sesetengah hotel, org hotel tu akan jot down nombor teksi for future reference.

tp yg tak best nya teksi ni, none of them blh paham english. so agak susah nak communicate. and although depa akan hantar ke mana je kita nak, i.e. kena lah sediakan map/address in chinese character, tak semua tahu segenap pelosok beijing. so... depa akan bertanya2 lah ngan org mana tpt tu... tp, yg geram nya depa ni blh show tantrum n merungut2 dlm kereta tu... mcm kita ni minta tolong dia hantar n tak bayar... serius... at time aku rasa mcm aku beggar plak, minta belas kasihan... but otherwise, ok je teksi sana... :-) another good thing, depa tak accept tips.. hahaha...
apart from teksi, kalau kat central, around tempat2 tourist ni, banyak beca... kalau nak try blh je... tp since aku rasa aku ni gemuk, tak sesuai lah nak naik beca... hahaha... i think the cost mmg murah... aku tak try.

in beijing ada jugak system subway. and surprisingly bagus and bersih... especially yg menghala ke stadium olimpik. sungguh tersusun dan semua line linked between each other... the best part... g mana je cuma RMB2... so selagi tak keluar dr train station RMB2 je... thats Ringgit Malaysia 1... sungguh murah!!! ni lah baru dikatakan usaha mengurangkan kereta kat atas jalanraya...

bila aku tgk sistem subway kat sini... dan aku dah g few other places like NY, DC, London, S'pore, Rome, Paris, bangkok... aku rasa, sistem subway kat malaysia lah the worst among all... hmm... main reason... tak connected between several lines... kesian betul...




p/s - bas pun banyak... i think lg murah dr subway... tak try pun

Saturday, July 18, 2009

PEK : skyline...

Antara benda yg aku amat tension kat beijing adalah weather dia... very humid (actually sama je mcm malaysia.. hahaha) tp yg paling tak best kat sana adalah langit dia yg sentiasa putih.. mcm ada fog or jerebu yg gile2 tebal... selama 10 hari kat sana... cuma 8 hari je ada langit color biru n dpt tgk matahari... ntah mcm mana... aku rasa down bila tgk langit penuh jerebu ni... total white!!!
on good days... mcm ni lah skyline beijing... (both pics/view taken dr office aku)