Beijing Day 3

C and I woke up at 5.00 a.m. We took our time to get ourselves ready, and went downstairs to have breakfast at 6.30 a.m.

My sandwich platter  

I made a sandwich with a slice of bread, cheese, bacon and the cold cuts, and salad; also on my plate was a piece of banana cake and a steamed sweet potato

The bread seemed really stale - so dry it was that it seemed difficult to swallow. The cheese and meats and salad did not seem to make my sandwich tasty at all ... 

I tried the fried rice with preserved olive vegetable, but found it tasteless; I had fried dace in a bowl of millet porridge but too bad, the porridge was not hot enough; the pumpkin croquette was quite nice though

Jianbing 煎饼

It's a savoury crepe with egg; I did not quite like it, most probably because I'm not accustomed to eating it.

We stepped outside the hotel to find it drizzling and really chilly. I debated about whether I should go back to my room to grab my jacket ... my friend C said it was not necessary. She was in shorts, by the way. Lol. At least I had my legs covered up. Lol.

We were going to the Forbidden City that morning. The bus dropped us off a distance away from the Tiananmen Square. I got down the bus and shivered as the cold hit me. Where's your jacket? The Australian-Taiwanese Auntie asked me as she shielded me with her umbrella from the drizzle. I'd forgotten to bring it. You'd better not catch a cold, she advised.

There were lots of peddlers around us, selling disposable rain coats and umbrellas. I contemplated whether I should get a poncho to keep me dry and warm .... hmn .... but in the end I did not. Apple walked really fast that we hardly had time to appreciate the surroundings ..

Zhenyangmen 正陽門 or Qianmen 前门

Archery tower in the distance and the gatehouse

Beijing's central north-south axis psases through the main gate, and a long time ago in the dynasties past, this gate guarded the entry into the city. There's a pedestrian street at Qianmen, and darn! I should have the time to explore the shops of local and international brands here ... it would have been great to soak up the atmosphere at the street ....

Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Great Hall of the People at the distant

Tianamen Gate - entry to the Forbidden City 

National Museum of China in the background

It's summer and there were plenty of beautiful blooms at the Square

Tiananmen Square was massive! One of the ten largest squares in the world. And there were lots of people there and so it would be easy to get lost in the crowd. Once we stopped for photographs and selfies, we had to run to catch up with our group. Apple hardly waited for us. 

Our group posed for a group photo with Tiananmen Gate as the background. RMB100 for the photo, a CD and a booklet about the attractions around Beijing. Cutthroat price. I did not buy it. 

After that, we got across the road via an underground pass and found ourselves right in front of the Tiananmen Gate. 

Tiananmen Gate 

This was the entry to the Forbidden City 

From there it was a short walk to the Meridien Gate .... 

 Meridian Gate 午門;

An overwhelmingly huge structure; we needed to have our bags scanned before we were allowed to enter; and all of us entered through the centre arch; Heh, formerly, only the Emperor could enter via the centre arch .... 

 The crowd too, was overwhelming .... 

Walking towards the Gate of Supreme Harmony 太和門

So crowded and we could not even take a good shot of the place .... 

Past the Gate of Supreme Harmony and walking towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony

The hall is said to be one the largest wooden structures win China; The emperors were said to hold court, host their enthronement and wedding ceremonies in the hall

The Dragon Throne

The Emperor's throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony has elaborate dragon motifs

After that, we visited the Palace of Gathered Elegance or Chuxiugong 储秀宫, the former residence of Empress Dowager Cixi.

A few buildings at Chuxiugong 

Some better-looking exhibits inside one the buildings

We could peek through the glass to see the bedchambers and lounge areas ... but the furniture looked worn and dusty and not maintained or well-preserved at all; What a pity. 

After Chuxiugong, we made our way to the Imperial Gardens .. 

 Beautiful landscaped Chinese garden 

A pavillion within the garden 

The exit : Gate of Divine Prowess 

Hmn .... I think I saw about 3% of the Forbidden City .... sigh .... it was a mad rush through the crowds. Scary. 

Lunch was next .... 

Lunch

Egg-drop soup, cabbage, baby bokchoy, shredded potato, cucumber with eggs and woodear mushrooms, Kungpao chicken dices, pork with sweet chillies, chicken fillet with tomato sauce, and a plate of roasted duck 

The duck platter and its thin paper-like pancake;

I did roll the a piece of pancake with a piece of meat, a sliver of cucumber, spring onion, and the sweet sauce, and I thought it tasted pretty good. Well, when in Beijing, eat Peking Duck ...

After lunch, it was just a short drive away to Temple of Heaven or Tian Tan 天坛, a place where the Emperors worship the heaven for good harvest. 

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

This majestic circular building was build without nails, and was the centrepiece of this place

I quite enjoyed myself here. The rain had stopped, the weather was so pleasant, and the crowd was not as big as it was at the Forbidden City that morning. We spent about an hour here and then were brought to buy tea. 

Check out this website. We were sold the same type of tea as was described by this blogger. The pretty girls who worked here said they came from Yunnan

1) Snow Tea - small tin for RMB200, big tin for RMB400. 

2) Tie Guan Yin - small tin for RMB300, big tin for RMB500

3) Tianqi Flower tea - small tin for RMB400, big tin for RMB600 

4) Puer Tea - very expensive, I did not register the price as I hadn't plan to buy 

At this outlet, many of my tour mates bought thousands of RMB worth of tea. I hadn't planned to buy anything though I was interested in the Tianqi Flower tea. I just did not agree with their pricing. So finally, when the girls approached us to offer us 2 small tins of tea for RMB200, my friend W and I decided to share to purchase. I wanted the Snow Tea and he did not mind the Tie Guan Yin .... so each of us forked out RMB100 to buy. 

I've been drinking the Snow Tea for 2 days now - it tasted good, but it did not taste like it did when the girls brewed it for us at the outlet. It was supposed to be for detox, and for soothing for the throat .... but heck ... I would never know if the tea would really work such wonders on my body .....

After shopping for tea, we went to watch a show - mainly acrobatics performances. We were all amazed by the motorcycle performance though ...

After that, it was dinner time ....

Dinner time
Egg drop soup, baby bokchoy, cucumber, some kind of gourd, deep-fried oyster mushroom, cucumber and chicken dices, egg, roasted chicken, fish
For tonight's dinner, I liked the deep-fried mushrooms and the fish ...

We were driven back to our hotel. There were 2 convenience stores and a few eateries about 5 minutes walk away from our hotel .... so once we alighted from the bus, we ventured to the shop. We were happy to see McDonald's there and we decided to come back for supper the next day.

My friend C bought a packet of stewed pig's ears from 7-11, and she was going to eat it with Maggi Hot Cup when we get back to the hotel room. Heh, we'd actually brought along cup noodles from Malaysia in case we could not eat the food in Beijing. I'd actually survived on cup noodles in Chengdu. 

I bought an ice-cream to munch on as we made our way back to the hotel ...