Beijing Memories Part 4

Fourth day in Beijing....Bangun awal bersemangat sebab today...whole day is shopping day !!! Shop till you drop !!! Had our breakfast, makan kenyang kenyang, dok lepak kat cafe until the time for us to board the bus. Hari ni bertolak lambat sikit dari hotel...Around 10 gitu..Biasa by 9 dah shoot off dah ke our destination. The night before ramai gak tanya pesal lambat na bertolak? Pesal tak kuar kul 9? Tergelak our tourist guides 2 orang tuh...Katanya....Kedai tak bukak lagi kul 9 tuh !!! Ish...terover tau memasing nak tunggu depan kedai, tolong bukakkan pintu kedai !!!

Today's destination? Major shopping areas in Beijing. Our buses will be passing by 3 major areas namely Xidan, WAng Fu Jing and Xiushui Street or famously known as Silk Street. At each point, sesapa yang rasa nak turun, boleh turun. To travel from one place to another, silalah naik teksi sendiri aaaa..hehhehe..Explore !!! A piece of advice from our tourist guide, Faizal.....it is highly not recommended to buy IT stuff/gadgets. If you are lucky, it can lasts a few months. Otherwise, 2 weeks it will be gone, bye bye !!! Dia pesan lagi, please bargain...and do bargain hard !!! Kalau tak, memang kena sembelihlah......

Silk Street ni ada 5 tingkat. Lower Ground semua barangan kulit...kasut, beg, wallet, handbag. Ground floor semua baju baju semata....Kemeja, t-shirt, blouse, winter jaket macam macam design and colour, jeans. Next level, baju ada jugak, kain sutera china, alas meja, patch work, baju baju budak, toys. Next one, pearls, ladies accesories, jam, cermin mata. Atas sekali kedai kedai jewellery yang besar....Yang ni tak ronda aaa...hehehehhe...Tu yang ada participants yang spent the whole day kat situ aje untuk shopping. Rambang mata tauuuu !!!!

Hubby bergambar dengan salesgirl di Silk Market. Ni kedai pertama we all shopping and we spent dekat half an hour bargaining. All the shirts are very nice...Paul Smith, Emmer Zecna and otTau berapa dia bukak harga? RM300 tau !!!! Pitam !!! Tawar punya tawar punya tawar punya tawar, last price dia bagi RM50...Tu pun sebab hubby beli 3 helai. That big a difference, kan !!! Tu yang mesti mesti mesti mesti mesti mesti tawar....

We spent hours kat Silk Market tu...Pukul 4 lebih baru settle....Tu pun sebab hubby dah tak larat dah nak gaduh/bargain each time nak beli barang. Too exhausted dah, dia cakap......Mana tak nyer....semua urusan bargaining dia yang buat. KLM tunjuk je mana yang berkenan, dia pun startlah tawar menawar....KLM kureng sikit bab bab bargain ni.....Mudah sangat give in....Kalau dia, memang dia tawar cukup cukup....Sampaikan every time we all selesai beli kat shops tu, the salesgirl mesti cakap kat KLM....your hubby is a bad man...hehheheheh...Tu yang hubby letih tuh....Yang kelakar tu, kebanyakkan salesgirl, nak tarik perhatian customers masuk kedai dia, asyik dok panggil panggil tourists yang lalu lalang tu..."handome man !! Handsome man !!! Come inside !!!" Hubby dah letih nak layan, jawab " Today I'm not handsome...so cannot buy !!!" Tergelak gelak kitaorang tengok karenah salesgirls kat situ.....

Ni bergambar depan Silk Street lepas dah settle shopping. Beg tu beranak dah tu...Beli kat Lower Ground di Silk Street. Dari Silk Street, hubby ajak pergi ke Wang Fu Jing. Dah alang alang tak jauh kan...bila lagi nak pergi. Lagipun hari masih mudaaaaaaaaaaaa......

Duduk berehat kejap amik nafas lepas penat berjalan di Wang Fu Jing. See the streets? So clean tau! The whole stretch of road is closed for vehicles. Ada banyak kedai kedai sepanjang jalan tu. We just bought some souvenirs ajer. Almost 7 pm we all pun chow dah dari situ. Tak daya dah nak meronda lagi. Took a a cab to go back to hotel...Masa untuk berkemas dan bersedia untuk pulang pulak yer....

Among the things we bought during our shop-till-you-drop session in Beijing...Also the certificate kengkononnya dah panjat The Great Wall of China. Padahal tu amik kat entrance jer tuh...tak yah panjat tinggi tinggi pun..Hehehehe...Then the group picture that we took, diaorang letak kat mug and bagi sorang satu buat kenangan. Yang patung maskot Olimpik dalam kotak tu, souvenirs to all participants once we checked in. So we got 2 boxes aaaa....

Beijing Memories Part 3

Third day in Beijing, after breakfast, semua menuju ke bus masing-masing. Weather hari ni not so good. Angin kuat sangat, very the cold. Sandstorm rupanya....Destinasi hari ni? Tiananmen Square dan Forbidden City. Tapi bukan rezeki kamilah this time. Tiananmen Square tutup for public hari ni sebab ada event. So we all snap gambar dari opposite street ajelah...Gambar kabur sebab sandstorm tulah...So we all proceed to Forbidden City je which is entrancenya just opposite Tiananmen Square. Orang memang ramai sungguh kat area situ. Me and hubby posing posing dulu before start jalan menuju ke Forbidden City. Sejuk bangat masa ni weh !!!!!

Masuk aje dalam Forbidden City, looking around, terasa macam berada dalam filem Wong Fei Hong ler plak...Hehehehe...Hero berkungfu dan terbang sana sini sambil berlawan....Pergh !!!! The architectures for the palaces are almost similar to one another. Yang membezakan cuma purposes of the palaces aje and of course, the sizes lah kan...Ada yang untuk Maharaja saja tinggal, untuk Maharani saja, ada untuk gundik gundik sekalian tinggal, ada untuk meeting dan macam macam lagi. Banyak betul kompleks-kompleks istana dalam Forbidden City ni.

Ni bergambar di one of the 3 jambatan dalam Forbidden City. Zaman dolu dolu, jambatan paling besar, yang tengah tengah ni hanya untuk laluan Maharaja...Now ni we all lah pulak yang lalu, kan !!!!!!!

This is the biggest stone carving in the Forbidden City. Gambar naga semua.....

Bergambar in front of one of the many many palaces. Towards the end of the tour di Forbidden City ni, ada satu section/bilik pengantin. Serba merah dan merah menyala sungguh !!! Tak dapek amik gambar sebab tengok dari cermin aje...According to Serena, after the wedding, the newly weds will be staying in this room for 3 days only...wah !!! Bilik punyalah cantik dan luas...3 hari aje dapat duduk ek...Then another interesting thing is, gundik gundik akan layan Maharaja until certain time aje then balik bilik/istana masing-masing sebab Maharaja kena bangun awal pagi, seawal 5 pagi according to Serena, sebab nak bermeeting dengan menteri menteri kabinet dia...Kalau tidur lena diulit gundik, chances are the Maharaja takleh nak bangun pagiler kan...Tu yang tidur asing asing....

Penat berjalan setengah hari di Forbidden City, menempuh sandstorm dan kesejukan , lunch memang we all bantai cukup cukup...Macam naga kelaparan semua dah...Apa yang dihidang semua licin...Sehingga menjilat pinggan...Tengok atas meja we all tu, tinggal pinggan ajer dah...Food dah langsai !!! Lunch this time we were brought to a neighbourhood called Hutong. Di sini memang kawasan penempatan yang ada kat China sejak sekian lama....Memang ancient lah kat area sini. Lorong lorong kecil dan bangunan/rumah ikut arkitektur lama. Lepas makan, semua naik beca ronda ronda sekitar Hutong...

Third night ni jugak ada Gala Dinner. All the first time starclub kena buat performance and pakai topi tanduk tuh...Diaorang kena nyanyi lagu ajer...Makan? Malam dinner ni tak best tau !!! Eii...balik bilik, hubby kelaparan. Dia merayap pergi bilik bos dia mintak maggie....Aku? Tidur daaaaaaa....Hehehehhe....Esoknya? Shopping whole day !!!!!

Beijing Memories Part 2

Ok...Free sikit after a week Oracle Training. Boleh sambung posting Beijing sikit sementara tunggu sambung training lagi Khamis sampai Rabu minggu depan.

Second day in Beijing...Had our breakfast at one of the cafe in Westin which has been allocated for all muslim participants. The food was lavish. We thought that for the next 4 days in Beijing, we weren't gonna see any Malaysian food. We were wrong !!! Breakfast pagi tu, nasi lemak with the sambal ikan bilis lagi weiiii !!hehehe....Sambal sedap plak tu...ikan bilis pun jenis yang kecik dan rangup..Dengan hashbown lagi. Minum lak dengan kopi panas !!! Pergh !!!!!!! Other food tu standardlah kan, roti, buns and cereals. Lepas geram aaa kan !!! Hehehe...Ropanya one of the chef to Malaysian...Orang Perak...Dapat gak ler merasa masakan Malaysia.

First destination for today is Summer Palace. Posing dulu depan hotel sementara tunggu bus bergerak. Weather was great. Ada matahari tapi sejuk sejuk nice. Hehehe...Summer Palace tak jauh mana pun. Tapi sebab hari tu Isnin, working day, so jalan jam sikit...Nun jauh di atas bukit tulah dia Summer Palace. Our tourist guide, Serena and Faizal bagitau, we're not gonna climb up to the palace sebab nak reserve our energy to climb the Great Wall petang nanti. So we just jalan jalan sekitar the palace. Summer Palace ni adalah istana musim panas/istana hinggap Maharaja China dolu dolulah. Rehat rehat kat situ. The area also very big, mengah gak berjalan. Faizal and Serena told us that there is this saying that goes, it you come to China and you are not walking, then it is not China. Meaning to say, kawasan di China ni memang besar and will definitely take a lot of time untuk berjalan/bersiar. And once you come via one entrance, you will be walking until you see another exit. Tak kan patah balik ke tempat kita masuk tadi.

The lake kat palace ni is man-made lake. Besar sangat !!! The scenery was really gorgeous. Faizal told us that he was there last week and the lake was still frozen. Rezeki kitaorang lah time we all datang, dah tak beku lagi dah....Sila posing posing amik gambar yerrrr..

Among the things to see dalam kawasan Summer Palace. The monument is actually a combination of 5 animals. This area juga banyak monumen monumen batu yang ada sejarah tersendiri dan yang mengikut kepercayaan orang orang China zaman dulu. Batu suwey pun ada tau !!! Hehehhe...Ikut kepercayaan diaorang, kita takleh amik gambar dengan batu tu...Kalau amik gambar batu aje, ok...jangan kita sekali amik dengan batu. Bad luck !!! Disebabkan batu tu tak best dan tak lawo...tak amik ler gambar, yer tak !!!!

Satu lagi aktiviti menarik warga emas di China. Diaorang akan datang ke tepi tasik ni, bawak berus dan bekas isi air and then akan praktis menulis/kaligrafi di area pejalan kaki. Ni just snap one of the Olimpik Maskot yang dilukis oleh one of the senior citizen. Ada ramai sungguh senior citizen China yang spend time praktis kaligrafi ni...Meriah dengan tulisan....

Kapal tu diperbuat daripada batu marmar. Tak ingat dah apa sejarahnyer. Letih berjalan. Ni dah almost the the end kat Summer Palace.
Lunch this time dekat one restaurant located di tingkat atas sebuah shopping mall. Perut lapo, ngap jelah apa yang ada. Some of us bawak serunding and cili padi. Kami tumpang jelah...heheh..Lepas makan, our destination is Great Wall of China. From the main entrance, jauh gak jalan naik bukit before we reach the actual entrance. Tapi bagi sesiapa yang tak larat, ada teksi...no problem...hehheheh....Sesampai kat actual entrance, we took this picture of Olympic 2008 motto..."One World One Dream". Nun sayup jauh kat atas sana....

We took some group photos before start memanjat the Great Wall. Gambar reramai tu, me and hubby tak ready lagi...Aisey !!! The one yang semua dah ready takde in our camera. Yang elok dah dijadikan gambar kat mug. Later will show the mug...Lepas amik gambar group, barulah we all menapak naik Great Wall tuh...Pergh !!! Ada certain part yang agak landai dan ada yang agak curam beb....Mencungap nak manjat. Sib baikler dah biasa jalan kaki almost everyday merayap ke sekitar Sogo, Jalan TAR dan Masjid India dari office...so gua relaks jelah....kehkehekhehkkhe....

Sampai first station/tower, stop menikmati pemandangan, amik gambar, tengok orang jual souvenirs, sambar souvenirs, lepak lepak before teruskan perjalanan ke next tower. Me and hubby naik sampai second tower jelah...sayup je tengok the other towers tu. Sejuk kemain sebab angin bertiup kuat kat atas tu kan...Ada jugak a few groups yang naik sampai ke tower yang paling dekat dengan motto Olympics tu. Pergh !!! Cayalah !!!! Tu gambar hubby and the other friends tengah nego price untuk ala-ala crystal ball tu...Boleh tulis nama dalam ball tu. Lukisan dalam ball tu, termasuk nama kita, akan dilukis dari lubang kecil...Guna berus kecil dan masukkan ikut lubang kecik pada ball tu and buatlah lukisan or tulisan...We bought one and asked the guy to write "Lan and Syeeda"...hhehehhe...Sib baik tak tulis "Wuz here" sekali...Ala ala zaman sekolah plak kan...

Before balik, singgah lagi kedai kedai souvenirs. Sempat amik gambar and buat cert dah naik Great Wall (walaupun cuma setakat 2 tower ajerrr)...Siap pakai Ancient Chinese traditional costumes lagi untuk buat cert tu..Masa memula nak pakai and amik gambar tu, takde ramai orang...tetiba nak start amik gambar, ramai ler plak geng geng Starclub...Malu weiii !!!! Tak pasal pasal jadi model Maharaja dan Maharani....ada plak buat lawak antarabangsa dok tanya...pesal maharaja dengan maharani China ni kaler gelap????? Ceiiiissss !!!!! Ni Maharaja Maharani suku sakat Kublai Khanlah weiiiiiiii...Dah dekat dekat dengan Aamir Khan dan Shah Rukh Khan tau !!!!!!!!

Lama gak we all kat Great Wall tu...Balik, lalu je depan Stadium Olympic 2008. Cam tak siap sangat lagi...Gambar tu snap dari atas bus aje....Diaorang panggil Birds Nest...Architecture macam sarang burung kan...Bulan 8 nanti ada agents yang dapat cabutan bertuah akan pergi tengok Olympic tuh...Bestnya !!!!

Dinner time !!!! Tu baru starter....belum masuk main dish lagi tuh...hehehhe...Semua kelaparan sebab dah penat manjat Great Wall....This time dinner, siap ada hiburan tarian...Start aje tarian, rasa macam kat Bollywood la plak...siap dengan gelek dan pakaiannya macam filem hindustan weeiiii...Konpius kejap....we all ni kat China ke kat India....hehheheh...Tengah makan sambil tengok persembahan, hubby kena tarik dengan the dancer to join her on the stage...Wah !!!! Sakan member lepas geram bergelek yerr..Bini tukang amik gambar !!!! Takper takper...kasi can....hehehhehe....Second day ni semua retired awal to our rooms...semua dah keletihan berjalan sepanjang hari....Tunggu hari ketiga plak yerrrr....

Beijing Memories Part 1

Posting basi giler dah...kehkehheh...Takde mood nak mengarang sehhhh..Tapi still nak buat gak sebagai kenangan. jom layan !!!!

Our journey started on the 15th March 2008. Lepas asar, pergi rumah bos hubby kat AU4. Anak-anak dan bakal-bakal menantu diaoffer nak send we all to KLIA. Oraitlah kan..tak yah susah pikir cemana nak pergi sana dah kan. Lepas check-in, lepak McD, makan makan sambil sembang. Our flight around pukul 9 lebih. We all dapat Thai Airways, ada yang naik MAS, China Airways and Singapore Airlines. Dalam sejam terbang, kami transit di Bangkok for about 2 hours. Ngopi dulu sementara tunggu flight ke Beijing. It took about 4 hours plus to reach Beijing from Bangkok. Touched down at about 6.30 am tapi cerah secerah cerahnya dah kat sana tu. The weather was a bit chilly but nice. Baru masuk spring. No time difference between Beijing and KL. Senang aa nak keep track masa nak call the 3D kan...

Sampai airport Beijing, our tourist guides dan bus 10 buah dah sedia menanti. We are in the Group A, ada 10 bus. The Group B and C will be coming a few days after us. So sememangnya ramai betul yang pergi. From Airport, our first stop is a muslim restaurant. Perut dah ler lapo, sepanjang jalan from airport ke restaurant, Serena, our tourist guide dok intro intro pasal Beijing, pun cam ala ala dengar tak dengar...Mata ngantuk lagi and perut dah nyanyi lagu rock kapak. Sampai je restoran tu, yang naik China Airways and Singapore Airlines dah sampai pun, tengah tunggu food. As usual Chinese style, satu persatu food dia keluarkan. The food was quite good, in fact ada yang macam kuih orang Melayu kita...Gambar tak sempat snap sebab semua dah macam naga kelaparan....Masa ni jugak I've learnt something about travelling, pesanan akak akak yang selalu ikut oversea trip as their incentive ni, sentiasa beli Ribena Mobile, lepas kosongkan, lipat semula and simpan yer dalam beg puan puan. Ini adalah kerana di sana, toiletnya takde air, memang lap lap jelah. The sink semua kat luar...So we all kongsi kongsilah guna botol air mineral member member. Otherwise kena basahkan tisu dulu before masuk toilet. Sib baiklah tak period masa tu, kalau tak ish cemanalah main lap lap je...

After breakfast, we headed to Temple of Heaven. Besar sungguh kawasannya and bersih sangat. Takde nampak langsung sampai di mana mana pun. Memang sangat dijaga. Temple of Heaven ni kiranya zaman dulu-dulu tempat Maharaja China buat annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest. Zaman China purba, Maharaja dianggap sebagai Son of Heaven. Rekabentuknya menarik dan ikut kepercayaan dulu, Heaven tu bulat dan Bumi ni empat segi...The history of it, kena google it outlah semula. Tak ingat dah....Kawasan Temple of Heaven ni sangatler besarnya sampai mengah we all berjalan. Keluasannya ialah 273 hectares, 3 kali ganda lebih besar daripada Forbidden City. We all jalan slow slowlah kan sambil amik gambar dan menikmati keindahan tempat tuh....Menariknya di kawasan ni jugak macam tempat orang orang China beriadah di hujung minggu. Ala ala Taman Tasik Titiwangsa lah.....Warga warga emasnya ada yang main board game..tak taulah apa nyer kan..ada yang menyanyi lagu ala ala opera China, ada yang bersukan, memang ramai sungguhlah orang-orang dia berehat dan buat aktiviti...

After lunch, barulah we all dibawa ke hotel untuk check-in. We stayed at The Westin Beijing located at Financial Street. Masuk aje bilik, wow !!! So big and grand...Ni mau tidur tak hengat nih !!! While waiting for dinner, mandi mandi and freshen up ourselves, we went down and strolled along the Financial Street area. Opposite hotel is a shopping complex, Lane Crawford. Ni semua butik je...Ala ala Pavilion lah gitu...Just tumpang amik gambar ajer...tak dapek nak tumpang beli...hehehehhe...And yeah, each and everyone of us dapat gift once we checked in, the 5 mascots of Olympics. Comel ajer tau !!!! Malam lepas dinner, semua tumbang tak hengat....

End of Part 1.....

Birthday Trip for Kakak

We didn't plan it...Hubby blurted out the idea on our way home last Friday...Balik dari Sogo to be exact...That was his idea too.."Jom jenjalan pi Sogo...." He and shopping just cannot be separated...Kalah aku tau !!!

So Saturday, me and Kakak followed him to his office..saja nak tengok dia present/sharing our Beijing experience to the other agents...He even asked me to speak for 10 minutes on how I supported him all these while...Eii..malu tau !!!

Balik dari Damansara Intan after lunch, called First World Hotel and made the reservation. Balik rumah dulu kemas baju and barang barang, baru picked up Dina and Dian...Then we shoot off to Genting. Arrived there around 4.30...Tak sampai sejam pun...Amik no giliran to check in, masuk bilik, mandikan the kids and terus ke Indoor Theme Park First World Hotel. We bought the Family Package for RM95 dan merondalah we all dalam theme park tu. THe girl kat kaunter tu informed yang Sabtu tu theme park bukak sampai kul 1 pagi...Ha amik ko !!!

Kakak really enjoyed herself. Semua ride dia nak naik...Sib baik tak lepas lagi naik roller coaster tu. Dina pun seronok kemain...At first, we were worried dia takut naik ride sebab biasalah naik yang mainan masuk duit kat shopping complex tu, dia hanya suka kalau benda tu tak bergerak. Bila masuk aje duit dan the thing starts to goyang, dia takut and nak keluar. But suprisingly kat Genting tu, she insisted nak naik kereta yang berpusing...And we had to let her took the ride alone sebab Kakak too tall, dah exceed the maximum height for the ride. We, the parents, obviouslylah tak lepas kan...Berdebar je tunggu kat tepi takut dia nangis once the ride start. Tapi bila start pusing jer, dia suka menjerit jerit, siap lambai lambai tangan lagi kat kitaorang...We were impressed and terkejut...Seronok tengok dia dah tak afraid of the ride lagi. She really had fun naik kereta tu sampai tak nak turun, terpaksalah 2 round naik. After the 2nd time tu, hubby had to dukung dia keluarkan dari kereta coz dia tetap tak mau turun...Cepat cepat we all naikkan dia carausel pulak...So happy semula....Dian? Tidur dengan lenanya....Orang bising kemain, dia sedap tul tidur dalam stroller dia...Takperlah. Kecik sangat lagi to appreciate the fun kat situ kan...Next time kita pergi lagi yer baby...

Sunday, semua bangun lambat sebab kepenatan...Even Dian tak bangun susu malam tu...Kul 9 baru dia jaga. So we missed the breakfast kat hotel. Takperlah..small matter. Lepas mandi and kemas barang, terus check out. Had our breakfast at one of the restaurant di First World HOtel then terus ke Outdoor Theme Park. Also bought the Family Package for RM125. The weather was great. Tak sejuk pun...Just nice...Kakak and Adik naik macam macam ride...Hubby and me took turn to temankan Kakak and Adik naik ride. Dian? Tidur lagiiiiii....

Our last ride was the monorail. Masa naik tu pun dah start drizzling. By the time we all turun dari monorail, hujan dah start lebat. Just nice we all dah nak balik dah pun...So dalam 3.30 dari Genting. Around 4 dah sampai UK Perdana pun...Balik, semua pengsan.........

So, Kakak....Happy Birthday yang ke 6 tahun.....Buku cerita BM and English dah dapat, jalan jalan ke Genting pun dapat, kek pun beli buat makan makan kat rumah nenek....Be a good girl, next year we'll go somewhere again, ok !!!!