Alpha's Summer Adventure

God damn I want a pork bun.

Pudding's looking cool after that haircut.

This thread is awesome, refreshing from the mayhem going on elsewhere.

Thanks for the great updates Alpha. I have a few questions:

1. How come your girlfriend and your friends have western names? Is this because of the British occupation of Hong Kong?
2. How do you stay so thin with all these snacks?
3. Where did you meet Antonia and how come you are so lucky with Asian women?

Just got in, a bit drunk, looking at the first update about Ocean World or whatever it's called.

1st video, HOW DOES THE SEALION MOVE?! IT DOESN'T SHIFT ANY PART OF ITS BODY, IT JUST MAGICALLY GLIDES.

Consider my mind blown. I will read the rest of the updates now.

Herr Dark Wolf wrote:Where did you meet Antonia and how come you are so lucky with Asian women?

this.

Last edited by Roonmastor on Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm pretty sure it was during "Alpha's Amazing Party That We Would All Give Our Left Nut To Have Been At"

[quote="Roonmastor"]I'm pretty sure it was during "Alpha's Amazing Party That We Would All Give Our Left Nut To Have Been At"

Edit: quote]

What a bastard.

Bye Alpha, have a great time.

How long are you gonna be in Beijing/China for mate. I'll be in Beijing for a couple of days from the 10th July(ish) onwards before moving on to Tibet if you're still abouts. Take it easy pal.

Kinetic wrote:How long are you gonna be in Beijing/China for mate. I'll be in Beijing for a couple of days from the 10th July(ish) onwards before moving on to Tibet if you're still abouts. Take it easy pal.

I think he's only off for a few days.

PostRe: Alpha's Summer Adventure by **John Galt** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:30 pm

John Galt wrote:I've just applied for a place on a Chinese language/culture course in China this summer, so I too may be going to China. There are about 6 applicants per place though...

I've been offered a place which means I'm almost definitely going to China this August. I've been chatting to a few of the other people going and it looks like we'll be able to get some sort of travelling going as well. The course is in Jinan which s reasonably close to Beijing so that's a definite but I'm also looking in to Shanghai and Hong Kong too. Shanghai was almost a certain until Alpha's blog which has made me want to see HK badly. I'm looking forward to your Beijing suggestions too.

Alpha are these the bad boy M&Ms you were talking about the other day? HERE

Currently sitting at the boarding gate in Beijing Airport waiting for my flight back to Hong Kong, it's been an amazing trip, much better than I expected. I will post an update this evening.

EDIT: Seems like there's a problem with the plane, it was due to leave at 18:00, it's 18:23 now and we've not even started to board the plane. We're not having luck with the airports, a problem at each one and even rumors going around the group of a case of Swine Flu on the plane from Hong Kong that we were all on.

Don't get swine flu, Alpha.

Can we post to get this topic onto a nice fresh new page before Alpha's next update.

How many posts are needed to do that?

This should do it, I think.

EDIT: Yup.

Alpha sorry to keep pimping my website in your thread but you might want to check out these Meiji Shu Cookies that you can get in Japan/Hong Kong/China etc ... I reviewed them today and they were blooming tasty!

Beijing - The Summer Palace
27-06-09

We booked a tour to Beijing last week, we got a great deal, 5 days in a 5 star hotel with all meals and travel included. The only bad thing was that the tour was in Cantonese, a language I have litterally no understanding of, thankfully, Antonia is fluent in Cantonese so that wasn't too much of a problem.

Our flight to Beijing was at 8am, the tour guide called yesterday evening a few times to make sure we got there for 5.30am to meet and get our tickets and check in with the tour. We set our alarms for 3am the night before and managed to wake on time. We got ready around 4am but then Antonia wasn't feeling very well so we waited a bit and then when she was better, she couldn't find her watch. We had both maids and the parents hunting the room for her watch but it was no where to be found, it past 5 so we had to leave without it.

We put our cases in the car and was ready to go but then realised we had some extra baggage that sadly, we couldn't take with us.

It was raining a little on the way to the airport so the driver took drove slowly, as we got onto the motor way we noticed a lot of police then saw two parked cabs, as we passed them we noticed they were totalled, shocking but then we got further ahead and saw another two cabs in the same state, maybe it was lucky Antonia took ages to get ready.

We arrived near 6am, the airport was silent, nothing was open and it seemed like we was the only ones there. We arrived at the airport and went to hunt down the tour group. It took a while but we finally found the place where all the tour groups wait and got our passes from the group. We looked at the tickets, separate seats, we tried to get them changed but couldn't.

Hoping nothing else would go wrong, we went to check in but first we needed our hand luggage scanned. Usually I always manage to get my bag stopped in x-ray or taken aside at the metal detector, thankfully that didn't happen today. The next stop was the check in counters. Antonia went first and had no problems, I handed over my passport and boarding pass and was then asked for my Departure card which I had left back at the house. I didn't know what to do, I was very worried but then I was handed a blank one to fill out, crisis averted, check in done! We didn’t want to do anything else at the airport so just waited at the boarding gate.

We got on the plane but sadly had separate seats. I was sat next to some grumpy kid and while the other passengers was boarding Antonia had the two seats next to her empty. I asked the grumpy kid if she'd mind swapping seats with Antonia and to my surprise, she accepted. Everything was going great, we even got seats together. The journey took 3 hours. On the flight Antonia got a bad headache so slept, along with her stuffy nose (cold from air conditioning at home) it wasn't looking good when we was handed the health declaration cards. While Antonia slept I watched the awful in-flight film, Race to Witch Mountain, I’m not even going to review it, it's just that bad. The food was just as bad as the film, I could only eat the sausage, even the bread tasted weird. As we landed, we were told to wait in our seats while a health check was done, 4 members of staff got on wearing gloves, masks and goggles, just a little short of a biohazard suit. They went down the aisles taking temperatures, Antonia still had a bad headache, we were both worried she'd be quarantined.

Thankfully, she passed the temperature check, it was just a regular headache and we both got stuffy noses from the aircon in her house. We got off the plane and went through immigration. I got through first with no problems, Antonia had to go another way because she has a Hong Kong ID Card. I waited and then saw her escorted through by a member of security, she looked worried as she was led past me to a team of police. Before I could fully understand what was going on she was taken to another part of the airport while I had to wait, turns out her HKID had expired. There was a high chance she'd have to go back, I waited for over half an hour before she got back with a smile and a new Chinese passport.

Pictures of Beijing Airport

We hurried down to baggage collection but had to take a train there. We was worried the tour would have left without us as we were running very late. The train took 5 minutes to arrive and another 5 to get to the baggage collection. On the way the tour guide called Antonia but they couldn't hear each other properly on the train. We got to the baggage and caught up with the group, they even took our bags off for us, how kind. After a long speech in Cantonese we headed off to the bus following the guide.

As we got on the bus we were introduced to the local tour guide who would tell us all about Beijing. The local tour guide can only speak Mandarin and Cantonese, he spoke to everyone in Cantonese, Antonia had to translate and summarise. I didn't pay much attention to the guide for obvious reason so spent the rest of the trip looking out of the window.

Pictures of the Bus Ride

We stopped off at a restaurant along the main road for lunch. I was quite hungry at the time so a lunch break was very welcome. We went to a large Chinese Restaurant to eat, as we got in I felt out of place, the only foreigner there.

There are 37 people on the tour, as expected, I’m the only English person there, everyone else is Chinese, I feel very out of place here. our first stop was lunch. I mentioned before, all of the meals are included in the package deal but I didn’t expect them to be when we were out, I just assumed meals at the hotel. Hopefully this isn’t just a one off. We had lunch in large Chinese Restaurant, we were split into 4 groups to fill the tables.

We shared the table with a large family with 3 kids. The youngest kid was giving me strange looks, I guess it’s understandable as i’m the only foreigner on the tour. The table was laid and there was a bottle of Coca Cola and two bottles of beer along with the cutlery and tea. As we sat the family started using the tea to wash their dishes and cutlery which was odd, they explained it wasn’t so clean so me and Antonia decided to follow their advice. There was so much food for lunch, many dishes were put in the center of the table on a spinning glass top, this is used so you can turn it to get a dish on the other side of the table without reaching over. Before we ate, we was reminded to use the public chopsticks to get our food, these are the ones in the center of the table.

Pictures of Lunch

I really enjoyed the lunch and made sure to try everything as it would be a bit of a waste not to. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. The group members we were seated with seemed friendly, they spoke with Antonia a lot but couldn’t speak to me because of the language barrier. The kid of the group was making me laugh over dinner with his childish antics. We got back on the bus and took a long ride of the next location, The Summer Palace.

By the time we arrived at the palace the temperature had reached an uncomfortable 37 degrees. I made sure to cover my face and arms in sun cream before putting on a full face sun visor. It was a short walk to the entrance of the Palace, street merchants we’re set up along the long road selling water, fruit and cheap souvenirs, thankfully, the tour provides free bottled water. The entrance didn’t seem too busy, we was given a short while to take photos while the guide went and got our tickets.

Pictures of the Summer Palace Enterance

We spent the next hour or so walking through the Palace. The tour guide spoke in Cantonese so Antonia had to translate what was being said, because of the sheer amount of information she couldn’t translate it all so just summarised what we were looking at and other interesting facts. We walked through the alleyways surrounding the buildings before reaching a long tunnel, apparently the longest of it’s kind. We ended up by a lake filled with boats and peddlers.

Pictures of The Summer Palace

We was given 15 minutes free time to look around while the tour guide sorted out a boat ride for us. We didn’t stray too far in fear of getting lost so just looked around the area and over the lake. Time was up and we boarded the boat with the group, minus an ederly couple who had gotten lost. One of the tour guides stayed behind while we took the boat across the lake.

The boat ride didn’t take too long and we got a good view of the surrounding areas. We reached the other side and thankfully headed back to the bus. The heat was almost too much, despite the thick layer of sun cream and the full face visor I was still burning, it was tiring and painful.

We got back on the bus and took a short trip to the next location, The Beijing Sport University. we got off the bus and was greeted by a student who was going to give us a quick tour of the sport facilities.

We got off the bus and headed for a small building in front of us, an indoor running track. The place was quite empty with just a few students running around the tracks. We stayed in here for a while and the tour guide spoke a lot about the university and how they train.

The next building we went to was the indoor swimming pool. It was far too hot in here so I couldn't stand by the pool side and wait for the tour guide to finish talking so I waited outside the room till he was done.

We got back on the bus after that, it turned out to be a very short tour of the university but I was glad because it wasn't very interesting, especially since I couldn't understand the information. I wasn't sure where we were going next so decided to have a nap. I woke up and we were driving through a built up city central type area with lots of big brand name shops, the bus pulled up close by and we were given free time to look around before meeting for dinner.

Me and Antonia wasn't too interested in looking around a bunch of shops so decided to make good use of our free time. We went to Haagen Dazs.

I have a really sweet tooth, if you've been reading the previous posts you'll know this and of my love for Lemons. I looked through the menu and saw a lemon ice drink, had lemon sorbet and was a nice color, ordered. Antonia went for a fruit smoothie type drink. My desert was a bit of a let down after I ate the lemon sortbet, the juice wasn't very good and tasted a bit bland, like drinking something where all the ice cubes had melted and washed out the flavor. Antonia's desert was better, full of flavor and full of sweet citrus fruit.

Photos of Haagen Dazs Deserts

We had to leave and get to the meeting place which was a restaurant on the second floor of a large building in the distance. We still had a bit of time left so took a slow walk towards it. On the way and going past the building was a long row of food stalls. We got to them and saw a sign telling us what it was, The Donghuamen Night Market. The stalls all sold pretty much the same thing, a variety of strange meats and local snacks. The smell was not good and the food was just bizzare, ranging from Sheep Penis to Deep Fried Beetles, I wasn't in a hurry to try anything.

Pictures of Donghuamen Night Market

After the Night Market, my appetite had died so I wasn't feeling very hungry when we entered the Restaurant. On the way up to the second floor there were pictures on the walls showing some of the dishes, the one that caught my eye was turtle soup. I didn't look good, a smashed up turtle thrown into a pot to boil, my appetite was gone and I was dreading being served the Turtle soup. Despite the strange looking food, the place was nice and clean, seemed almost empty apart from a few people at the other end of the restaurant but me and Antonia were the first to arrive of our group.

The place was much more alive when everyone had arrived, our group took up 4 large tables. We were put intp the same eating groups again, the large family joined us and the food started to arrive.

Pictures of Dinner

Thankfully, I wasn't served up a pot of Turtle Soup but the first dish to arrive was something I had never tried before and was in no hurry to try, Shark Fin Soup. I hesitated a little before trying it, it wasn't too bad, the flavor was good but it was almost like half the soup was just oil, I couldn't eat it and Antonia told me it wasn't good soup. The rest of the food arrived and was a lot better, I really enjoyed the Sweet and Sour Pork and the Scambled Eggs.

We left the restaurant quite full and made our way back to the bus. The Night Market had really come alive at this point, it was a nice walk through the market and busy city center back to the bus. It was dark and the lights made really gave new life to the place.

Pictures of the City Center and Night Market

We got back on the bus and headed to the hotel, I wasn't expecting much as we were on a package deal so was prepared for a cheap motel type place but as we pulled into a towering hotel, The Marriot, I knew I was wrong. We got off the bus and a small army of staff came to take our luggage. Victor handed out room keys and we was in our rooms within 10 minutes.

We got up to our rooms and were instantly impressed by the quality, it was like a mini apartment. We got further into the room and then noticed something was wrong, two single beds.

Pictures of the Room

We wanted a double bed and wasn't very happy with the room. We called up Victor and explained the situation, he told us he would see what he could do. Just a few minutes later Victor called back, he had sorted us a new room with a Double Bed, perfect. Everything was sorted and we could finally rest and relax after a busy day.

My first impressions of Beijing wasn't very good, it seemed heavily poluted and not very clean. It wasn't till we got nearer the central and my impression was raised. The food was surprisingly good, I didn't think I would enjoy it but found myself eating bowls of select dishes. The tour is off to a good start and i'm very happy with the way things are run, even for our first day we managed to pack a lot in. The hotel is great but i'm dreading the 7am wake up call tomorrow.

Alpha's Summer Adventure

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