Trip To Beijing Day 2

The next morning, we woke up and went to the lobby to had breakfast, but in order to go to the lobby, we had to go down to the ground floor of the building which is open, so it's gonna be cold, then we had to cross this corridor which is also open, and it's freezing outside early in the morning at 6.30 a.m.

Master and Kai Zhi observing "Air Pollution"

We had breakfast at a restaurant next to the hotel's main building lobby. Then we went outside to wait for the bus door to open, while there, we saw this huge factory pipe outside the hotel releasing tons of smoke, which Master and Kai Zhi calls it The Air Pollution, plus it runs 24 hours non stop, and keeps on releasing smoke day and night, which is very common in cities like this… Then we head of for the trip for day 2!

First, we went to this place called 什刹海 (Shi Sha Hai) which isn't really a sea, but a lake. The story of how it was called that is very interesting, you see, last time, the Mongolians, they live in grass fields in mountain ranges, far from the sea, so they have never seen an ocean before, but when they discovered this lake, because of it's size, they assumed that it was a sea, so they called it 什刹海. And there's a Starbucks there which they bought some coffee, and went walking around 烟袋斜街 (YanDaiXie Byway), and saw some dogs wearing t-shirts running around freely, these dogs are very good, why? because they're scared that their owners will eat them… nah~ just kidding, but seriously, these people eat dogs! and birds! and Zoe and I are birds!

Starbucks!

Doggieeees!!!

Then we went to the Pipe Street Silk Factory, where we learn about the history of silk clothing in China, and how it came to be, so common in many furnitures and clothings these days. There we saw how silk clothings are made, layer by layer with silkworm cocoons, and outside, people selling nuts.. mmm.. nuts~ and more dogs running around freely. Then back to the bus, and we're off for lunch!

The Army of Insects, silkworm cocoons

Dead Silkworm Bodies

Nut Brittles!!!

At lunch, they had a steamboat, there was BBQ goat, some vegetables and meatballs. Of course, Master kept some vegetables for Zoe and I.

After lunch we went to the famous 天安门 Tian An Men Square, the Parlimen of China.. something like our Merdeka Square.. but you get the point, we walked around for a while, took some pictures, took a group picture of our tour group, then crossed the underway to the Forbidden City 紫禁城, it's a very interesting and historical place more than six centuries old. Before entering the main entrance, we had to walk through a huge park which took us around 10 minutes from the gate of the palace to the entrance of the so called Forbidden city. These huge red gates with some… erm.. "knobs" made of pure Gold!

Inside the palace, we went to a four star toilet with unlockable doors! how luxurious! yes, I was being sarcastic.. Then we head off deeper into the Forbidden City, with some interesting buildings built for the emperor last time… and we kept on walking for like an hour and a half….? Wow, that's one biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig house.. literally. During that time, there's this giant golden water tank, which was once golden and filled with water, but not anymore after the World War. The reason it came to be it that last time the emperor thought that as long as the tank is filled, his empire will live forever in peace. And there's also some large stone carvings along the stairs up every level of building around the palace, and there's this special building which happens to be the emperor's… toilet….? it's huge! and no doors!? Then there's the many different houses for the emperor and empress to stay every night, you don't expect them to stay in the same place every night, if enemies find out, they'll kill the emperor and empress! And at last, we exit at the emperor's garden, huge place.. And saw the emperor and empress' collection of rare lime stone sculptures and trees. Outside the palace, there's a huge river that goes around the palace for like kilometres long..

Kai Zhi in front of the Grand Theatre

Group pic!

After that, it's already like 5p.m. and we went to the Tea Factory, where we learn the many types of delicious tea and aromatic tealeaves which are famous all around the world. Then it's off to dinner at a buffet restaurant, with…. more… roast… ducks~~ and some beer!

 Then it's back to the hotel to watch TV.