Beijing Here I Come

During my first week of semester holidays, my family and I went for holidays at the capital of China, Beijing. I was pretty amazed by Beijing. It still remain its cultural heritage despite undergoing rapid development and modenisation. Anyway, my family departed from Malaysia on the 10th of June (Wednesday) at 5.30 in the morning. I was pretty excited as it will be a long flight journey of 6 hours. We arrived at 3 in the evening. Yah, it was troublesome to get a cab because some drivers were trying to cut our throat as we were not following tours. We did not join tour as my dad does not like to be in rush when visiting places and like to enjoy the serene of those palces at his own pace.

First Day

It was pretty late when we reached our hotel. The rest of the night was spent enjoying Beijing finger-licking good Peking Duck, strolling around and bought stuffs for the journey tomorrow. Nothing interesting happened on the first day.

The restaurant we ate Peking Duck

Second Day

We joined a one day tour. The places in the list are Ming Tomb and Great Wall of China. The Ming Tomb was so grand. There were 12 zodiac animals guarding the pathway leading to the tomb. I think the emperor is fear of intruders and disturbance during his afterlife. Haha, even the mighty is fearful after his death. As usual, there was a shrine hall which can fit hundreds of people where ceremonies to pray to heaven god took place.

In front of the shrine hall of the tomb

I think my dad and the Ming emperor look pretty alike.

They have a tummy and a round face.



The funny part was we have to cross this small gate near the exit and say "Wo Men Hui Lai Le". It is a superstitious belief but i just followed as I would not want to leave my soul behind in the 'another' world. The belief was when we enterthe emperor's kingdom in another world we visited his world and before we leave we are supposely to notify him that we are back to our world. That was exactly what i was told by the tour guide.

A family of 5. How lovely!!

China ppl always stare at us and shock that our family has 3 children. Haha, we gained attention everywhere in China

The Great Wall standing firmly after many years of coarsen under the rain and shine.


Aftera filling lunch, the next agenda is Great Wall of China. I laid my foot and trod on one of the seven wonders of the world. Yah, millions of people must have did the same thing to. The sun was glaring as my siblings and I climbed the flights of stairs. I put on my sunglasses and hat as my cheeks were getting red after exposed under the sun. My brother was the superman who was leading. He was overwhelmed to reach one of the watch house. My sister accompanied me and we climbed slowly but not as slow as a tortoise of course. My mum stayed at the hill base while my dad decided that it was enough and stopped when he was at the first watch house. The three of us achieved better that our parents as we stopped at the second watch house. The watch houses are a distant from each other.

They look cute doing the peace sign. Haha

Two stunning lads(perasan)


Late in the evening, the tour van dropped us at Hutong, an ancient street in Beijing. The scenery there was picturesque with alake in the middle and on both sides were old ancient buildings. We visited the entire place by sitting on a trishaws which was good to me as i do not need to walk that much. Dinner was Mongolian foods where the servings are unique in their own way but one thing for sure i was not used eating them.

Third Day

In front of Tianamen Square

The public transport in Beijing is very eficient. Thunbs up for the government. We have no problem in mobility as the the subway reacheds every part of Beijing. Forgotten to mention that 12 millions of people are living in Beijing. So you can imagine us squeezing in the subway with the locals during peak hours. Yah so we took a subway train to Forbidden City. The train ticket only costs RMB 2. How cheap is that?? I was ecstatic to visit Forbiden City because the royals used to live in it many centuries ago and it is located at the centre of the Earth. As a Chinese, of course I am proud with China long history, cultures and traditions. Being able to enter and witness the structure of the palace put me in a state of euphoria. This is my first time to China and I always watch Forbidden City from afar through documentray shows.

Awesome dad to bring us on this trip

There was the major hall where the emperor meets with the misters and advisors early in the morning. It was spacious and the royal emperor's seat was coated with gold and a flight of stairs leading to his seat. It is exactly like what we see on movies. The place is a few acre vast. I have to experince it to believe it. No wonder some concubines did not even meet the emperor their entire life because the whole palace is like a maze. Their is the West Palace, East Palace and etc. One thing for sure i love the weather in Beijing. Even though it is summer, but it is not as hot and humid as Malaysia weather. I didnt even sweat the whole day walking and you don feel sleepy at all. There are cool breeze to ease our journeys of walking.

A picture taken in the garden

At late in the evening, we took the subway once again and headed all the to the North of Beijing to visit the Birdnest and Water Cube which were made well-known after the Olympic in 2008. It was very windy and beside the stadiums is a 7star hotel The shape of the building looks like a dragon flying in midair. How cool is that? A 7star hotel. I will be one the room guest in the future. Definately.

One world, one dream, one family

Taking picture with the Bird Nest stadium



Nice harmony colour of the Water Cube

My dad and mum with the 7star hotel behind them.

I will continue the other remaining 4 days in the next blog. There are lots of things to write for a one week holiday. Lazy to write in details so i guess my description of the trip is pretty conscisely.

Good night then

Equality

I am so frustrated now. There is a ball of fire in me which i can no longer suppress in me. After so many years of revolution, I still cant believe that there is still inequality among men and women!!! What is wrong with the world? We can accept the fact that the earth is round even though people in the early century thought that the earth is square, we can invent planes to fly us way above the ground but we cannot have equality among men and women. Why is that women are always place at disadvantage. Are we wrongly interpreted as weaklings because we are gentle, graceful and not physically strong as men? Or is it because of the custom that girls should always keep their mouth shut and do as what they are told??

After watching a documentary about the life of women in India. I gave a deep thought about this topic. OH my god!! Girls in India are pitiful and live a miserable life to the extreme. As soon as a child is born families and society begin the process of gendering. The birth of the son is celebrated, the birth of a daughter filled with pain; sons are showered with love, respect, better food and proper health care. Boys are encouraged to be tough and outgoing; girls are encouraged to be homebound and shy. Having a daughter in the family is regarded as disgraceful and demeaning. Many infant baby girls are burned to death even before they are one month old. What idiotic parents will do so??

Tears started welling up my eyes when i heard this widow saying this: " I miss my children and I have not seen them for 20 years. Maybe they thought i was dead already. This is life." In India, If your husband died, then you will be totally isolated by the entire society because they regard widows as unlucky, jinx and bring bad luck to anyone who were to approach them. Therefore, all the widows in india will stay together in a centre after being chase out of their homes. They are not finacially independent and thus need to beg on the streets just to earn a living. Some were so desperate to survive that they sell themselves as prostitute just to live from hand to mouth. What hurts more is that there were girls as young as 20 years old being a widow and lost the freedom to lead a normal life. Young girls in India do marry to man as old 60 years old which can be their grandfathers. If they are unlucky and their old husbands passed away, then their fate is sealed. How preposterous and absurd is this?

I do not know whether to admire them or think that they are plain naive because they just accept life and fate as it is without trying fight back. A lady was interviewed to tell more her state of life. And guess what she said.... I am vulnerable and all i can do is to pray to god and accept my life. Thank god I am not born in India where customs and traditions are so strongly rooted in the society. Glad that i was given a fair chance to receive education, voice my opinion, get to day 'I do' to the person I love and not being explioted.

I just pray that those women suffering in silience will get their voices heard soon by the world because no one have the right to treat others at such a cruel and senseless way. In India, borned as a girl means that you will have no say in the society and men can just push you around. That is literally putting an end to a girl's life.

Equality.............How true is it in India??