Alpha's Summer Adventure

You couldn't just push the beds together? :lol:

Turtle soup and Shark Fin Soup?

You should be ashamed.

Looks like Beijing could do with a good 'ol fashioned bit of British Imperialism.

So, why did you think a 5 Star Hotel would be a grotty little hovel? How much was the Beijing trip by the way? Looks coooool.

That looks like two double beds to me, but if they're singles... I bet the double is massive.

Sports university looked good. No wonder they kick our arses.

Also why the feck are you wearing jeans in that heat. Get some shorts on!

Good report though Alpha!

How come trips to the airport nearly always end badly? :lol:

I see they have a statue of Pudding in Beijing.

It's odd seeing pictures of the summer palace actually in summer. We went there in January and the whole lake was frozen over and people were walking on the ice from one side of the lake to the other.

That room looks amazing, the double bed must be gigantic. Out of interest, I assume her parents think your sleeping in single beds?

Jim wrote: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!

I'll keep an eye out for it, cheers!

DaLax wrote:Looks like Beijing could do with a good 'ol fashioned bit of British Imperialism.

So, why did you think a 5 Star Hotel would be a grotty little hovel? How much was the Beijing trip by the way? Looks coooool.

The whole trip was £280 so I didn't think the hotel would be that great, I was told 5 star is not always the case so just expected something more like a motel. The trip was far too cheap in my opinion, wait till you see some of the places we went. For the price, we got flights, the hotel, all travel, tourist attration fees and meals. The only thing we had to pay for was things we wanted like snacks or gifts.

rogwilco wrote:Also why the feck are you wearing jeans in that heat. Get some shorts on!

I didn't expect to go straight from airport onto the tour so I assumed I could get back to the room and change. :fp:

Deception wrote:That room looks amazing, the double bed must be gigantic. Out of interest, I assume her parents think your sleeping in single beds?

You're right, the double bed was HUGE, about the size of the two if we could have pushed them together but we couldn't because of a desk stuck in the middle. We didn't tell the parents about the double bed situation so they just assumed we had single beds.

--

Got another update coming in a few hours, hoping to get at least two of the four remaining updates done so we're all upto date in the thread.

I keep saying it ... but it deserves to keep being said ... this is by far the best thread going on GR! Awesome stuff Alpha

Jim wrote:I keep saying it ... but it deserves to keep being said ... this is by far the best thread going on GR! Awesome stuff Alpha

This.

I want a picture of the mondo bed...

Amazing.

tnman wrote:I want a picture of the mondo bed...

Just checked and this is the only one I took of it.

Aren't they thoughtful, you can stay in bed cranking one off while your mrs showers.

Last edited by Alpha eX on Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Beijing - The Forbidden City
28-06-09

Waking up early was going to be difficult for us, we're a lazy couple who enjoy laying in for a long time in the morning before finally getting up so try to imagine how we were feeling when the alarm went off at 6.15am. We had to be up early as we were off to the Forbidden City today and the bus was due to leave at 8.30am sharp.

As usual, we had a short lay in and finally crawled out of bed closer to 7, by the time we was ready it was 8 and we hurried down to the breakfast hall. To eat in the Breakfast Hall, you have to give a meal token, we was given a big wad of these when we got to the hotel. The Breakfast Hall was huge and had 3 areas for foods, one area had chefs on hand to cook things for you. I didn't have time to take photos in here but the food is a mix of Eastern and Western, Corn Flakes, Full English, Dumplings, Noodles and a healthy variety of fruit and vegetables. I decided to have sausages, bacon, an apple cake and a yoghurt while Antonia settled for a large portion of fruit and Western foods.

The tour bus was mostly empty when we got on it close to the departure time, shortly after the rest of the tour group hurried onto the bus. The bus took off and one passenger shouted for it to stop, he had left his keycard in the Breakfast Hall, I took the opportunity to make sure I had everything.

The sky was clear blue today and I didn't feel a lot of heat when boarding the bus but then that was because it was behind the hotel covered in a lot of shade. I read the temperature reading on the bus as 26 degrees but then noticed the word, "IN" next to it, looking at the other temperature reading I felt like staying on the bus, 37 degrees.

It took us about 20 minutes to get to our first destination. I was tempted to sleep but kept awake by Mr Tsui, the local tour guide who was enthusiastically telling everyone about our plan today. He seems to make a lot of jokes which Antonia kindly translates for me, he seems quite professional but likes to joke around.

The bus pulled up around the side of the main enterance to cut crowds. It was a short walk through intense heat to the main enterance. Thankfully, I had brought my (Antonia's) trusty sun visor which protects my whole face when pulled down, she says I look like Darth Vader but it's nice protection from the sun, a pain in the arse to take off and put back on for photos. Antonia took her sun visor off shortly after setting off and opted for an umbrella which offers a lot more protection, especially on top of your head. Of course, we both used lots of sun cream.

Photos of the Walk to the Main Enterance

The first thing I noticed when getting to the main entrance wasn't the huge walls and buildings across the tops, it was the large amount of people, Victor told us that 100,000 people visit their everyday, impressive. We was given 10 minutes to look around here and take photos, Victor, the non-local tour guide, was kind enough to take some photos of us. It's really handy having someone trust worthy to take photos of us together, he's not a bad photographer either. When the time was up Mr Tsui had paid for our entrance fee and we all went in.

Photos of the Main Enterance

Through the main entrance are courtyards leading through buildings that act as gates, we didn’t have much time to stop and take photos here but there wasn’t much to see, we had to meet at the last one with the tour guide before going off to explore the Forbidden City.

Photos of the Courtyards

The tour continued through the last gate, a huge building which pretty much everyone tried to get a picture in front of. As me and Antonia tried to do the typical couple shot (close together, one partner takes the photo) one of the other members of the tour offered to take our photo which was nice of them, they mostly are a nice and friendly group. The next key point in the tour was a fairly large building with just one room, the Emperors’ rest house, according to the tour guide and Antonia’s translation, the Emperor came here to rest after breakfast.

Photos of the area around the Rest House

We continued our tour until will reached another large building, The Clock House. This building is now a museum of clocks, what makes this interesting is the size and design each one, some were more like mini clock towers rather than clocks you’d keep on a shelf or mantel piece.

It was dark in the clock house, there was only a small amount of sunlight allowed into the building, I assume this was to help preserve the clocks on display. I really wanted to climb the small staircase on the side of one clock but for obvious reasons, it was closed off to the public to prevent damage. We was given a set time to meet up after the clock house so me and Antonia left a little early, as we got out, we didn’t see anyone, we were worried because we seemed to have been separated from the group and she left her phone at the hotel. Thankfully, we saw an old couple from our tour group, unfortunately, this was the same couple that got lost the other day...

We eventually rejoined the group, turns out they was waiting around the corner in some shade. We left the Clock House area and headed towards the Hall of Jewellery. On the way, we passed the Nine Dragon Screen wall which was built to face a Government Gate.

The Hall of Jewlery was quite small so we stopped outside, thankfully in the shade, for the tour guide to tell us all about the area and it’s history. For me, this seemed to go on forever as I couldn’t understand a word and was being drip fed the good information from Antonia. The tour guide told us all about the Emperor .

Photos of the Buildings Near the Hall of Jewelery

We passed through the Hall of Jewellery and was given another talk about the jewellery here. While everyone stood and listened for a good 10 minutes, I parked myself over the air conditioning unit. I wasn’t really interested in the Jewlery so didn’t ask Antonia to translate much but she did tell me an interesting fact. The Jade bands on display were put on the women and could only be taken off after they had died by cutting them in half. The next stop was the Hall of Longtivty, ABOUT BEILF. There were huge jade carvings in here which were very impressive due to the incredible amount of detail carved into each one, it was like a painting. The most impressive piece was a huge block of jade carved to look like a mountain side with a lot of detail, people and trees carved into it. The pictures don’t do this piece justice.

Photos of Jade Carvings

We walked around a bit more and eventually came to The Well of Concubine Zhen. Concubine Zhen was the beloved concubine of Emperor Guangxu, sadly, she was drowned in the well when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing in 1900. (Good thing I took a photo of the information)

At this point the walking and heat had really taken it’s toll, me and Antonia wanted to leave or just collapse in the shade, what we really needed was an ice pole. We got out of the Forbidden City and had to walk along side a huge wall to the exit. We saw a snack stand but we was slacking behind the tour guide, not wanting to get lost and miss the bus, we chased after them leaving the ice poles behind. We passed a lot of street merchants on the way out finally reaching the bus and it’s glorious air condition.

Photos of the Path to the Exit

The next destination was another Chinese Restaurant for lunch. We was told that this place was cheap and not to get our hopes up, we wasn’t too bothered as we wasn’t that hungry. As we walked up to the building we noticed a huge construction over the doors, I assumed it was under construction until I noticed the floor littered in confetti, what was going on? As we got inside it was obvious, a wedding had taken place and we arrived during the party afterwards. The wedding took up the main part of the restaurant and we were shuffled off into a back room to eat. The tables were laid and the same drinks waited for us, two bottles of beer and a bottle of Coca Cola. We sat with the same groups again, as I sat the young kid waved at me saying hello, I stand out way too much as the only foreigner in the group.

Photos of the Restaurant

The tour guide was right to tell us to keep our expectations low, the food wasn’t that great. The tea tasted far too much like soap, I couldn’t drink it so stuck to the horrible thick and sticky Coca Cola. The food was similar to what we had last time, just not as good. Again, I forgot the names of nearly every dish so just have a look at the pictures.

Photos of Lunch

We left the restaurant and headed back to the bus, on the way we passed an amusing scene, an entire construction crew on the floor sleeping. As we boarded the bus we had to get passed a group of street merchants who had surrounded the bus.

The bus was going to take a while to the next destination so me and Antonia decided to have a nap but not before washing our mouths out with water. The bus pulled over at the side of a main road, I wasn’t sure why we stopped here but the tour guide explained that it was near a long road to give a good view of the Temple of Heaven which we couldn’t visit because our next destination wasn’t going to be open on the 30th. We stopped here for a few minutes to take photos but it was so hot and sunny I just wanted to get back on the cool bus.

The next destination was the Olympic City constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The two main attractions here is the Olympic Stadium, The Birds Nest and the Water Cube which was used for the swimming events. We pulled up outside a hotel while the tour guide ran off to go get tickets for us to get into the Birds Nest. While we waited I took some photos from the bus of the Birds Nest in the distance. As we got moving again I got a better view of both the Birds Nest and the Water Cube.

The first stop was the Water Cube, a huge building built for the water events and now is used for training and in the evening there is a performance of Swan Lake. The building is covered in what looks like huge bubbles made of plastic so they stick out slightly. We had to walk around the building to the enterance, the road was long and filled with street merchants trying to peddle cheap souviners, water and Ice Poles, which we couldn’t find. Before we was allowed near the enterance to the building we had to do a health check and was each given a scratch ticket afterwards. Antonia won a prize with hers that we could claim inside.

Photos of the Water Cube Building

The inside of the Water Cube is very spacious and because of the colourings, white and blues, it looks very clean. We went to claim our prize, I was very excited until Antonia was handed a bottle of water, upon closer inspection, I noticed the bottle was designed to match the building.

We was told to meet at a specific point 2 hours later so we was free to explore the Water Cube, Birds Nest and the surrounding areas. We started by exploring the Water Cube, the building is big but doesn’t have much in it for us to look at. The first thing to see was the swimming pool which has a large diving area. The pool was decorated for the Swan Lake performance, it’s a shame we didn’t get to see the show.

Photos of the Water Cube Indoor Swimming Pool

We walked around the building and followed the path which is lined with souvenir stands. We passed on of the kids on the tour, he was telling his father that he really liked a puzzle, he repeated that he liked it but the father didn’t look impressed. He later ran past us clutching the puzzle. We continued walking to the snack stand and got some ice cream which was surprisingly good, a tub of vanilla and strawberry ice cream topped with a sweet strawberry sauce.

We left the Water Cube and headed for the Birds Nest. We walked around the building again passing all the street merchants, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy eating an ice ple, by his feet I saw a box of them. Tempted to buy the box, I settled for just two. I expected these to be at least a pound each but they was only 10p, great! The sun killed these faster than we could eat them, the ice was continuously melting and falling off the ice pole, it was that hot. We spent a while being tourists and taking a lot of photos outside and around the Birds Nest before finally waking around to the entrance.

Photos of the Birds Nest

As we walked into the stadium we noticed a huge concert set up at the far end, the music filled the stadium as the orchestra rehearsed for the evening show. The stadium is huge and thankfully wasn’t too busy. Inside it was nice and cool because of all the shade. We walked around for a while and got our photo taken and printed, a nice souvenir. There wasn’t much to in here so we watched the rehearsals for a while and then again, took many photos like tourists do.

Photos from Inside the Birds Nest

We had to meet the tour guide back near the Olympic Tower, a huge tower which we couldn’t go in because of either time or restrictions on the public, I didn’t notice anyone going in. Apparently, the whole group got here 15 minutes late but we were all sure we was told a different time than what was expected of us.

Picture of a Funny ‘Stay off the Grass’ Sign

To get back to the bus, we had to take the MTR Underground Train one stop, we could have walked but I thought it was a great idea for the tour to take us on this. We walked down towards the station through a sea of street merchants. The station was very clean and seemed more like an airport with security checks and x-ray scans on the bag.

The train took quite a while to arrive, reminding me of the London Underground. The train was like the ones in Hong Kong, spacious and well air conditioned. We got off and got back on the bus to the next stop, Nanluoguxiang .

Nanluoguxiang is a long road with many shops, popular among tourists for shopping. The lane is very traditional yet changed slightly to accommodate the tourists. We was given free time here to go explore, we based the smallest bar in Beijing which had a clear “No Photos” sign outside which I didn’t seem to notice. The bar was just one table and a small bar with a few stools. We found a small shop which sold ice poles, we had these lovely mango ones, they were so good we wandered back to get more. Before boarding the bus I bought Antonia a few pairs of cute handmade earrings.

Photos of Nanluoguxiang

It was dinner time and we was heading to what the tour guide said was the best restaurant in Beijing for duck, great! We was assured this would be much better than the place we went for lunch and he was right, the food was great and the place was very clean. I ate a lot of food here, it was so damn good. Me and Antonia was first to seat at the table, as others got in we was all told to wash our hands which created a huge queue in the bathrooms for the taps. We got back and I noticed the young kid in our smaller dinner group had sat next to me. As I sat down he stared and smiled at me saying hello again. A little while later he introduced himself, Cyrus. He seemed very excited to be talking to a foreigner and throughout the meal asked me simple questions and made small conversation. I didn’t take too many pictures of the food because I was too busy eating it, the duck was amazing and so was everything else, best meal in Beijing so far, this will be a tough one to top.

Photos of Dinner

After dinner it was back to the hotel. Tomorrow we’re going to the Great Wall of China and have to wake up at 6am. It’s 4am now and we’ve only had a nap for an hour or two, we’re going to collapse and fall off the wall from tiredness I know it. I think we’re actually more likely to just be lazy, oversleep and miss the fresh food at breakfast.

Dual wrote:Turtle soup and Shark Fin Soup?

You should be ashamed.

He didn't eat the turtle soup and it's not like he ordered the shark fin soup, still disgusting though, and a massive waste of a shark.

I'm debating whether or not to read these posts. It's extremely tempting but I don't want to have seen everything via this before I actually see it first hand. What I have seen looks amazing though: I can't wait to go to the forbidden palace. The food looks immense as well

John Galt wrote:I'm debating whether or not to read these posts. It's extremely tempting but I don't want to have seen everything via this before I actually see it first hand. What I have seen looks amazing though: I can't wait to go to the forbidden palace. The food looks immense as well

John ... a lot of absolute tripe gets posted on this board ... this thread is a shining light for all of us! Read it man! Alpha is obviously having the time of his life! I wish my life was this interesting!

Look at that guy in the blue/stipey top. He thinks you're taking a photo of him. Or he's going to strawberry float you up or something. I can't tell.

Girl in the middle: "Dad, the strange foreign guy is taking pictures of us again...."

Alpha's Summer Adventure

Who is online

Affiliates