Beijing rediscover 2

It was really a rewarding shopping spree holiday. On 3rd day, we cant resist and went to the well-known Xiu Shui Street 秀水街 shopping mall, hong was overwhelmed, many things to browse from the latest design of shoe, bag (all brands) to sports attires and accessories, at the end we bought a LeSportsac backpack to stuff in all our collections of the day. After a simple lunch at Yong He Soya Bean永和豆浆 fast food, we proceeded to China World 国贸shopping mall, very few shoppers compared to Xiu Shui street but it offered all the genuine brands Gucci, Lowe, LV, Faragamo, long champ etc and some with good discounts, however, after conversion, the price is still at least 20% higher than Singapore, so we prefer to come home to do the purchase and let Singapore earn the spending. Our dinner was at a well-patronized Golden Lake 金湖Hong Kong Restaurant in 国贸which offered tasty Cantonese cuisine at affordable price. A very satisfying and delicious meal.

On 4th day, we decided to go slow and got up late but still have a packed programme for the whole day. We proceeded to take a look of the nearby Chang Fu He public park菖蒲河公园, it was very serene, and we envied beijingers to be so lucky of having such a green lung right in the heart of Changan street and Tiananmen Square, then visited the must-see National Theatre for Performing Arts国家大剧院, it is architecturally wonderful (but the theatre management and flow of human traffic control require immediate and serious improvement, maybe our esplanade can share our expertise with them). We bought tickets to see orchestra performance at night, ticket price RMB 200 (reasonable good seat). It was a very high standard performance by the over 100-strong亚洲青年交响乐团. We enjoyed it thoroughly.

On the same day, we had lunch with friends at the famous ducking restaurant大董烤鸭, yummy and Hong kept asking me to go back the next day, but I advised her to try other things as Beijing got a lot more delicious things to sample. Late afternoon, we went spa with my local friends at 8号公馆, soaping, scrubbing, relaxing and refreshing. Singapore lacks of this type of enjoyment and pampering service to make us feel like a queen.

The 5th day I did a brief catch up with Singapore friends over lunch and bumped into many Singapore embassy officials whom I know over the years, an unplanned gathering. Next, we took subway to another happening place in Beijing ie 三里屯. At first I am not so sure whether the subway will bring us there or not but I saw the station name the day before when I was in the taxi, so my guts feel is that if we take to 团结湖 station then 三里屯 should be somewhere near. It turned out to be true and三里屯has been transformed with so many interesting fashion outlets in addition to the forever Ya Xiu Fashion Mall, it now has a range of huge stores of Apple showroom, Uniqlo, Addidas, Mango, Chanel, 3.3, bars, boutique hotel etc. Can u imagine, the most unbelievable thing I bought was a ipod nano @ RMB 100J.

At the eve of our trip, we decided to visit grand hotel and find a unique place to sit down and have nice lunch to treat ourselves. We went to check out Grand Hyatt, coincidentally met my ex colleague Dayne who I have not seen for moons, then proceeded to lunch at the quiet Zen Restaurant 采蝶轩 at 23 前门 (a good and recommended place to have a quiet and tasty tim sum at Singapore price). Finally we go to the internationally known attraction of the Bird’s Nest. We went there by subway as we reckon that it would cost us a lot of time and money if we go by taxi. It was so sleek and cheap at RMB 2J we took the subway at 前门，go to 建国门 station, change to line 2 to China World 国贸，then change to line 10 for Bird’s Nest，alight at 北土城, then transit to Olympics Park奥林匹克公园， that is, we arrive in Bird’s Nest. We highly recommend friends and bloggers to try it when u next in Beijing. As it was very stunning hot in Beijing in the late afternoon, so guess what, we spent the next 4.5 hours in our favourite Taipan Regency 大班丽晶in the evening for massage and dinner. We both like in the heaven.

The morning before we went airport for our SQ home flight at 4pm, we went book store in Wangfujing王府井, have tim sum in Crystal Jade, then took our friendly taxi limousine to airport, and guess what, we bumped into the friend at the custom queue, that we are supposed to go and meet in Tainjin but due to lack of time, we scrapped it. It is all fated, god will always answer our calls to bring the people and things we want before usJ

It is a wonderful Beijing trip with our very own and unique programme. For this trip, we purposely took subway to experience Beijing, and we found that it is not only super economical, the subway route is really very convenient and effective as it brings commuters to all the key commercial and attractions at a cheap rate of RMB 2, everywhere u go. This is a very efficient and economical way to better know and understand a city and destination especially Beijing as it is highly congested and people get very frustrated over traffic jams.

Siem Reap – The charming city

1. The main purpose of my visit to Siem Reap on May 11 is to see the magnificent Angkor Wat, major temples and ruins in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Since it is a 4D3N tour, we would need to plan the route so that we can visit all the key temples of Siem Reap within 2 days. Once the rates for tuk tuk and tour guides were settled for the temples tour, tuk-tuk driver Heang brought us to the nearby local coffee shop for the Cambodia beef kuek-tiao soup and coffee (hot water needed as it is far too thick).

As advised by our tour guide Sokha, we proceeded for the inner circuit of temples in Angkor Thom, Central Angkor Thom (Bayon, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Lepar King), Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat in the first day, and while keeping the outlying temples Banteay Srei, Phnom Kulen and Beng Mealea for the 2nd day by Pajero. Admission pass is US$20 per pax per day, or US$40 for 3 days, covering the key temples including Banteay Srei. Separate charges are levied for the rest of the outlying ones. Visitors are advised to carry tickets at all times as it will be checked at each park entry and major temples.

2. Having a good guide is helpful in explaining the bas-reliefs and history of the temples, otherwise the temples are just impressive piles of mega rocks. We have Sokha with us @ US$20 per day and begun our tour first to Angkor Thom (means Great City). Built by King Jayavarman VII (1181-1219), Angkor Thom, the last capital of Khmer Empire razed by the Chams, was a fortified city consisting residences of priests, palace officials and military, plus buildings for kingdom administration.

After King Jayavarman VII recaptured the city from the Cham invaders in 1181, he began a massive building campaign across the empire constructing Angkor Thom as his new capital city with a population of one million. He began with existing structures Baphuon and Phimeanakas, and built a mega enclosed city around them, adding the outer wall and some great temples, and Bayon is located at the centre of the city. There are 5 gates, each crowned with 4 giant faces, to the city. Victory gate leads to the Royal Palace and the South gate where most tours begin (we are there). As the month of May is considered a low season for Siem Reap especially due to the current crisis, so we were very welcomed by the souvenirs sellers since there are less tourists and visitors at the temples, and I was lucky with 2 very nice bronze baby elephants @ US$2.

3. In Angkor Thom, Bayon is the centre of the city and Jayavarman VII’s state-temple plus representing the pinnacle of his massive building campaign, is extremely impressive and unique, with its many towers of 4 faces of Buddha, and in the centre 8 faces of Buddha. Built as a Buddhist temple, we were told that there were 54 towers originally representing 54 provinces in Cambodia, but over the years due to wars, left only over 20 towers left standing now. The bas-reliefs starting from the East gate showing the daily life of the Khmers, depicting victorious battles of Khmers over the Chams, supported by Chinese forces. The soldiers could be identified by the different hair-gears and costumes. Among the various scenic spots, I like the most was the one where I have a closest encounter with the Buddha, this is the best shot I have so far.

4. The temperature in Siem Reap in May can be as high as 34 degree c, and the sun is really intensive and burning, so do remember to wear light, bring cap, sunglasses and mineral water. After a quick tea break, we continued our journey to Baphuon (under restoration), interesting animal carvings along the walkway entrance and tried to figure out the outline of the huge reclining Buddha, and then up to the top of Phimeanakas. You can see me proudly standing at the top of the sandstone structure Vimean Akas Tower as though I am at the top of the world. From this position, we have a good view of Baphuon and the surrounding areas. Next, we strolled to the 350 m Terrace of the Elephants, which was a giant viewing stand for public ceremonies at that time; it is just like the platform at our City Hall in Padang for the annual National Day Parade.

5. After a nice lunch with icy coconut drinks and beers, we visited the jungle temple of Ta Prohm, outside the walls of Angkor Thom on the Eastern side. Built around 1186, this Buddhist temple gives visitors the mysterious feeling of an Indiana Jones movie, the ups and downs, skirting around the holes and trees, we went through the route really like the adventurer Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movie. The temples almost completely invaded by forests, many parts of had crumpled, and some kept together by tree roots that snake around the temple structures. Looking at this, man would realize how tree fought their way through for survival and alter the structure designs.

6. Angkor Wat (City Temple) is visually, artistically and architecturally most breathtaking of all Angkor temples. It is a massive 3-tiered prymaid crowned by 5 lotus-like towers of 65 m in height. Angkor Wat is the centerpiece of visit to the temples of Angkor. At the apex of Khmer political and military dominance in the region, Suryavarman II (1112-1152) constructed it in the form of a massive temple-mountain, served as his state-temple and funerary temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, surrounded by a 190 m wide moat, the Hindu temple measures 1.5 km by 1.3 km. There are many bas-reliefs and carvings, some 2000 distinctively rendered apsara (more than 30 different head gears) carvings along the temple walls throughout the temple, depicting stories and characters from Hindu mythology and the historical wars of Suryavarman II, and it is a pity that we had little time to visit, except the Churning of the Ocean of Milk as we were too tired and thirsty at the end of the journey and needed rest and drinks, and also prepared to go for the sunset appreciation.

7. After Angkor Wat, we proceeded to see the sunset at Phnom Bakheng. But the sun decided to play “hide and seek” with us and hide behind the clouds so we did not get to see the full sunset we were hoping for. But, it was still quite a beautiful sight with the thick crowd under the stunning sun.

beelanhappygolucky

After having travelled with Neo Chian and Sunny for a brief joureny in Siem Reap recently and seen the seriousness of them blogging plus the benefits of penning thoughts down before forgetting, I decided to set up a blog to share my learnings and experiences acquired during my overseas postings and travel adventure.

I always remember this: It is never too late to try new things and to learn. The moment we stop learning, the moment we are ossified.