Beijing 16th to 21st May 2015 (Day 2)

We had to wake up at 5am as the bus departs Novotel Xin Qiao at 6.30am. We reached slightly early at 6.10am and despite having a small breakfast in the hotel (cakes and biscuits), we bought this prata wrap from a small stall. Wrapped with marinated chicken, egg and lettuce, it is really nice especially when it is hot. Yummy and I had a second serving!

Caught in action gobbling down a yummy prata wrap!

Bus stopped at another 2 stops in city centre to pick up passengers before departing to the outskirt for our first stop at the Great Wall of China. Tour guide is pretty professional and did good explanation and introduce us to some famous small eateries around Beijing. We reached Great Wall around 9.30am and as most people opted for the cable car option at additional CNY 100. Unless you are avid climber with lots of time, otherwise it is best to opt for cable car as our tour only stops at Great Wall for 2 hours and definitely not enough time to climb to The Eighth Tower of The North Side , a famous part of the wall as President Mao had reached here before. Cable car brings you all the way up to the Seventh Tower and you just need to climb one tower which is taxing enough for non-athlete like us. Steps are steep and there are certain part where there is no steps, only a steep slope. Hand rails are available at both sides to aid climbing which is good!

Time for the ascend!

Ticket to cable car!

Climbing time!

Magnificent and long Great Wall of China

We managed to reach the Eighth Tower in less than 30 minutes, great achievement! Coming down the slope is less taxing but needed much care nonetheless as it is really steep. Luckily weather is sunny and windy when we are there!

After that, mum and dad rested while Cong and me continued to explore the Sixth and Fifth Tower of the North. It is pretty amazing and one could spend the whole day climbing from the First Tower up to Eleventh or Twelfth Tower which is located so far far away. View is good though with lots of greeneries surrounding them!

Peace to the world!

After a great workout, we departed Great Wall at 12.15pm, 15 minutes behind schedule as a few of our tour mates have not make it back to the bus. We then headed for lunch at one of the restaurant with 9 dishes and 1 soup. Food was all right, just a little oily.

Lunch time- lets dig in!

After lunch, next stop is Ming’s Tomb. Cong and me had visited before but this time round, the tour guide gave us better explanation which is good!

Only 3 tombs are opened to public namely the Chang Tomb, Ding Tomb and Zhao Tomb. We visited the Ding Tomb which is one of the pretty good preserved tomb. We first visited the mini museum that showcase the items that are found in the underground tomb. Most of the items are original except the royal robes which is duplicate as the robe is oxidised when the tomb is opened after many years later by archeologist without proper technique. Also to take note of this carved stone at the left of the exit to the museum, this stone is main reason the underground palace tomb is discovered and considered one of the great achievement in archeologist as the archeologist had many futile attempt in discovering the underground palace. Once this stone is found, the location of the underground tomb is  easy to find.

After which we visited the underground tomb. Tour guide explained that the design of the underground tomb is a “shan1” which means hill. The emperor supposed to be placed in the middle and his wife on both sides but the door to the side area are build too small and the tomb of the empress are unable to be placed thus both empress were placed next to the emperor. There are also marble throne for the emperor and empress inside the tomb.

Map of 13 Tomb’s location

Significant stone which shows directions to the entrance of Underground Palace

After visiting the tomb, we had to come out from this particular door and say “i come back already” and DO NOT step on the divider. Visitors are not allowed to walk in using this particular door as the door is used when the coffin enter the underground tomb as is deemed as taboo.

Next stop will be back in city area to visit the Olympic Stadium. It was raining when we reached so decided to skip this part and took MRT for dinner.

Famous Old Beijing Eatery

We ordered a set so that we could try a bit of everything. Most of the dishes are acquired taste and the one that we can accept the most is actually the kueh (most of them are quite good). Of particular good is the green bean kueh which is served cold, very yummy! One of the other famous item is the yeast fermented bean soup which is highly recommended by our tour guide. It is quite sour the first time i tried but was ok on subsequent mouthful.