China Travel Diary 4: Hail to the Emperor!

After we've seen Chairman Mao's iconic portrait in Tiananmen Square we rushed ourselves to enter the Imperial Palace Grounds. It's 1:00PM already and we haven't eaten lunch yet. All that sustains us during the trip was a bottle of water and some cookies and chocolates. Inuna pa ang pasyal kesa kumain!

Entrance fee to the Imperial Palace cost 60 RMB. Not bad, since you'll get a chance to visit a former forbidden palace in China, and once the seat of power of the whole Chinese kingdom. =D

This is where they sell the tickets, it's near the East Gate of the complex

One happy tourist =P

As you've read in my previous post about San Agustin Church and my love at first sight to the detailed design of the antiques and architecture of the church, well in China they have LOADS of it!!! The building is intricately designed and painted up to the roof of the palace. So many details, so little time to see them all!

Details! Details!! Details!!!!!

After passing thru the Meridian Gate a large open area will greet you. And not too far from the horizon is another gate (ang daming gates dito pramis!) called Gate of Supreme Harmony. Noticed the crowd here, kala nio konti lang noh? Wait till you get inside!

The Lion guard, which is a common fixture in every house/establishment/store and what not, stands majestically in the entrance steps of the gate. I wonder if I get one in our house, swertehin kaya kami? Jejeje. jazz kidding!

And also another common fixtures in the Chinese palaces is these brass urns, where they put fire during ceremonies and winter. In short, isang malaking gasera =D

The courtyard, taken from the steps of the gate

The hall in the Gate of Supreme Harmony is short and narrow, and at the both side of the gate is a souvenir shop.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is on the horizon, and while resting we had a chance to have our picture taken (solo pic pa!), but some rude tourist shove us to have their picture taken din from our resting place. ;(.

Visitor's are not allowed inside the Hall, though there is a viewing area outside the hall. This is what's inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, some antique religious stuff and the throne as well. It's hard to get a picture because almost all people want to see the throne inside!!

Olive brave the throngs of people just to get a picture of the throne, i just contended myself with one photo and that's it. Ayaw ko makipagsisikan at makipagtulakan para lang tignan ang isang bagay na puede namang makita sa internet =P

While the people are more interested on what's inside the hall, this stone carving at the steps of the Hall caught my attention. The design is so intricate and detailed. Super Ganda!!! It reminds me of the stone carvings on the stairs or Persepolis.

If you've seen Kung Fu Panda you might have noticed the animals they use, they are the popular animals in China pala. Some animals have sculptures around the palace just like these turtle and heron.

Lamp Post of the Palace

Vats, in copper and iron, are also located outside of the hall. It's an original vats from the past kingdom in fairness.

A long corridor allows us to breath some fresh air and escape the mad dash of people on the palace.Shown here are the quarters of the palace personnel and concubines (daw!)

Stone carvings are on the rage!!

And after the long corridor we are lead to another Hall of the palace. This place is quiet popular because according to the history this is where one of the empress hang herself, which means the place is cursed from then on. Pity the hall is huge pa naman, but unfortunately the other emperors didn't want to use it.

Gold plated Door design

Rest mode =P

The crowd gets bigger and bigger until the afternoon. We've decided to finish the trip as soon as possible. Though the palace is mesmerizing but the hunger, thirst and fatigue overcome us =(.

Remember the stone carvings earlier? Well here's the history on how the stone carvings was done and how it was brought up at the palace..

And the much decorated Hall of Preserving Harmony..Dami paring tao!

At the back side of the palace lies the Imperial Garden for the emperors. Huge and old cypress trees are planted on these parks. Impressive!

Here I am, hindi halatang pagod na :P

Was surprised to see this golden elephant statue in the Imperial Garden. Teka, do they have elephant in China ba or was it a gift from the Maharajah of India?

At last after spending almost 6 hours inside the Forbidden City we finally made it to the red wall, i.e. the wall that separate the palace from the outside world! Yipee!!

Thank you for Coming!

Oh well hello there Ba-hai park =P

Next stop, the hike to the Great Wall of China..Abangan!

China Travel Diary 3: Lost in Translation at Tiananmen Square!

After settling down at our new hotel (QingFeng Hotel) and freshen up, we hurriedly left the place and proceed to Tiananmen Square and Forbidden Palace. It's a 15 minute drive form our place, which is so cool, but i do recommend to take the subway instead since it is more convenient and much cheaper (they have a fix fare of 2Rmb for all stations in Beijing, cool right?!)

Unfortunately our taxi driver brought us to the South side of Forbidden Palace, i.e. the EXIT portion of the complex!

Huwwaaatttt???!!!

Hello there, I'm the EXIT portion of the Imperial Palace =P

While Olive and Rose where asking a local for directions, i've noticed that there is a park on the opposite side of the road. It was Ba-hai park according to the map. Beijing has numerous large park but still the pollution is still terrible =(.

Entrance to the Ba-hai park

Then we decided to just walk all the way from the south gate to the east gate just to enter the complex.

Whew! No wonder I lost 5 pounds in my China trip, All we did was walk, walk and more walk!!

Walking around outside the Imperial Palace was a breeze, the Palace Moat gives us a serenity and inner peace something to that effect (MGF?! meh ganung factor??)

Water water everywhere!!

What i like about beijing is that not only they have huge parks but also they have lined trees in the streets, which give shades to the pedestrians and makes walking more comfortable. Parang Ayala-Alabang lang =D

Finally after 20 minutes or so of walking, we finally arrived in the East Magnificent Gate of the complex. Yehey!!!

Most doors of the palaces here in China have golden plated balls thingy embedded on it and people touch this balls whenever they pass the door. Shempre ako din nakihawak (sabay pahid ng hand sanitizer na nakasabit sa bag ni olive afterwards jejeje).

Touch me and you'll be lucky =P

The Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace is so Huge and Awesome!! I so love it! But before we enter the Palace we've decided to visit Tiananmen Square first.

Naks! Ang Gwapo!

The way to Tiananmen Square is kinda controlled. They won't allow tourist to get in converge near the portraint to avoi vandalism (which is a punishable offense which can lead you to jail). Dumaan lang talaga kami sa ilalim ng picture ni Mao!

Just go to the light!

After a couple of minutes walking we finally saw the most iconic photo in the world, Mao's portrait hanging over Gate of Heavenly Peace.

In front of this gate is the infamous Tiananmen Square, where you-know-what-happened occur. It's a wide avenue fronting the People's Square, where most government office is located and also Mao's remain int he museum. Now the area is a busy street with no traces or whatsoever of what happened on June 4, 1989.

Anyhow, due to the large number of tourist visiting the place, it's impossible to get a solo shot with Mao, take for example the picture below where Rose tried to have a solo picture taken but the kid beside her just won't let her, jejeje.

Ayaw paawat ng bagets!

Metal fences are erected to protect these ancient statues, which is cool, so as to avoid vandalism and destruction as well. Gash, wish we could do the same here in the Phils. noh?

After we visit the Square, it's time for us to go back inside the complex and proceed to the majestic Imperial Palace....

Adventure on next blog post =D. Abangan!

China Travel Diary 2: In the Beginning..

Last mid-February while travelling to QC I receive a message from my college friend Rose about the Piso fare promo of Cebu Pac. She asked me if I want to go with him together with another friend Olive. I immideately say yes since:

1). It will be a domestic flight only
2). Cheap fare
3). It's almost summer time so i need a summer destination.

Unfortunately Rose informed me that the flight would happen starting July to September (sort of) and our first priority of destination, which is Boracay, is already full.

Uhmmm, why not try international flight instead? I asked Rose.
"Any suggestion where are we going?" Rose asked.
"Why not Beijing, since Olive had been there last winter why not let's go there on a summer" I replied.

After a couple of minutes, while i was hanging out with my best friend Floro at Greenbelt I received a SMS from Rose: "Got it. Beijing flight is booked".

Nice!

After months of waiting finally the day of our departure arrived. It was my first time to depart from NAIA 3 and I was amazed on how beautiful this airport is! So sosyal! LoL!! We SHOULD make this our new International Airport and turn the NAIA 1 as Domestic Terminal instead. Only comment though is the few choices of food restaurant inside the airport. They should lease more sophisticated restaurant and not like a “food court” style there.

Ready to leave na!!

Oh btw, we ate at this Juma-japanese restaurant in front of a convenience store (im sorry I forgot their name), not only did their food is expensive but the quality of food is not so great at all (that is according to my companions who spent almost half of their career in Japan).

H-U-N-G-R-Y!!

Check-in and Boarding with Cebu Pacific was a breeze. In fairness to them, the Pilot flew the plane smoothly and we we’re ahead of departure (from Manila) and arrival (in Beijing) schedule. Travel time from Manila to Beijing take 4 hours and 20 minutes. Lot’s of time to sleep and to relax at the plane.

Immigration and Custom check-in was fast in Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 2. It only took us 20 minutes to finish all the necessary registration and clearance before we leave the airport. We we’re excited to take a rest in the first hotel we’re living but alas! The driver is nowhere to be found!

Hala!

Olive checking the wi-fi connection at the Airport whiel waiting for the driver

Thank God that China Tourism Council has this efficient customer service attendant who can speak a little bit of English. We asked for her help to contact the hotel for our driver. After 30 minutes of waiting, the attendant came together with the driver/bellman of the hotel (who was very courteous and can speak a little bit of English as well).

According to their website, the travel time from the Airport to FX Airport hotel will take only 5 minutes but for us it is almost 15-20 minutes worth of travel. Tip: if you’re planning to go to this hotel, please make sure to tell the driver the address and exact name of the hotel. They have many branches around Beijing and your taxi driver (who cannot speak English) might bring you to a wrong branch of the hotel.

6th floor hallway of FX Hotel

As I said earlier, the driver/bellman had a good command in English compare to the two attending receptionist at the hotel who cannot speak English at all! What??!!? We just show our booking receipt and they gave us the key, no longer conversation needed. Sayang lang ang effort. Jejeje.

The room that we had is small for 3 persons, and one part of the wall of the shower room is covered only by curtains! Is this really a hotel or a motel? Cable TV only shows Japanese and Korean channels, no Western shows.

After a couple of hours sleeping, we woke up and prepare to leave the hotel, but since it was raining and we’re still not familiar with the transportation system of the city we opt to use the airport transfer car of the hotel to bring us back to the airport and took the Airport Express plus the subway to downtown Beijing.

The "promotor" of Beijing Trip, standing at the Airport Express Station

Boy, it was amazing and super convenient experience!!!


Wish we have the same here in the Philippines noh?


more to follow... =D

China Travel Diary 1: How Mr Mild Mannered got his groove back to travel

Dear China,

Thank you for giving me a excellent vacation last weekend. I was totally amazed on how everything in China is "BIG". I've never been this excited since I visited Persepolis a couple of years ago. After spending some grueling time at the office, a much needed break is really a-must. I'll do travel more and experience more while time still permits, and while the passion is still burning. Strike while the iron is still hot, as they say.


By this experience i'll share with my readers how awesome your country is. Please do welcome me again if time and schedule permits (preferably winter).




From Philippines with love,
Theonoski

Let the Countdown Begins!

Yey! Visa finally received yesterday from the agency. So it's all system go for the first out-of-the-country trip of the year!!!


See you in 13 days!!!!!


image is taken from this site.