D4 - the art of slicing

 The 3rd day was sleep till you awake day. As usual, I woke up early and started my planning about the next 2 days.

It was a shame that I was able to secure any ticket for the military museum. There were many place to visit but yet I opted for an easy one.

Peking is divided into rims; the first rim was the area surrounding the old palace and Sky Safety Square. Extending outward until you reached the outward of the bird nest stadium.

All I care about was food actually. To see and to eat till we drop.

We took the MRT headed to one of the PekingU station which once posted the Harry Porter Nine and Three Quarter Station. The decoration was gone but yet it basis structure was there. We then traveled to the cow street where most of the Muslims gathered around. We were lucky that the place was not crowded and we eaten the signature mutton puff and desert. The tour ended at a famous Muslim restaurant where we had another Peking Duck treat.

We travel back to the first rim and later patronized the bookstore and mall around our lodging site.

Xian was amazed by big shelf around the entrance. A huge collection of the leader publication. I think the only place that we could see such view is located in the states where the bolehland had no diplomat ties. The book was interesting and I had stopped by the medical area where I read their medical text book. Well, the content itself explained their standard….

However, I had bought some books for my nephew and niece during the tour. Very nice translated book in simplified Chinese which I could not get in ghost island.

We headed to the ghost street for a great firepot meal. Cheap and artistic was the word I could described. In my whole life, when I dipped a mutton slice into the shabu shabu firepot, I always get a shrinkage piece no matter how fast I pulled it out, should it be raw or medium. However, the special way of slicing the mutton had led to an enlarge piece of slice no matter how long I dipped it in the firepot. That is art...

The ghost street was actually a place where ancient people do underground business just like what you did in the dark web. However, it had transformed since the revolution. The ghost street was flooded with small lobster shop nowadays but yet the shabu shabu was still the best in my humble opinion.

While I chewed the desert bought from the cow street in the kitchen. I started to worried about our last leg of journey. Should I change our flight to noon so that we could have 3 hours of transit instead of 1.5 hours?

I decided not to gamble our luck and put my faith with the great one….

D3 - the Great Wall

 

The third day was the peak of the travel as we would follow the trail of our ancient defender at the Great Wall.

There were 3 spots to enter the Great Wall around Peking. I opted the MYT as apart from the Great Wall there is a Tobago ride. I had an excellent experience at the Sentosa island many years ago with the Tobago. MYT Great Wall had less visitor compare to the BDL Great Wall. The reason that I had chosen Great Wall run on the Monday was that all of the tourist spot was closed on Monday. It was a bad decision and lots of the tourist had done the same thing. As it was pre-school holiday and I thought I would still be safe and I was wrong. There were tons of families taking their children for early school holiday trip.

The push off was smooth and we had reached the two food joints as planned. One of them was named “Big lazy dragon”. Lazy dragon was a nick name for meat wrap. We bought 6 which should be enough to supplement our energy climbing the stairs. We stopped by a very small shop for breakfast. The price was darn cheap and we were eating among the locals. I had gone to the public toilet nearby and found that no door was installed in the toilet. It was like 15 + years ago when my parents told me about the doorless toilet in the kampung area when they visited mainland. Doorless toilet in Peking at this modern age ?

The breakfast price reflected its quality; cheap and nothing but cheap. Chain breakfast shop which was selling affordable breakfast to the locals. We were sitting among laborers and students. The bao, fried liver, meat loaf, soya was so so but yet it pacified your hungriness.

We were able to reach the gathering point on time and successfully get onto the bus. We met a bunch of kurang ajar kids who spilled their drink and hopped to another seat. Leaving us with one of the seats with stain of drinks waiting for to clean up. Yes, they were still locals who are rude, impolite and selfish. Although education had flourished over the years there were still people who is still caring only about themselves. Long way to go before it is considered as developed….

The journey took about 1.5 hours and at 9am we had reached the base of the Great wall. The cable car queue was very long and it took us 2.5hours wait before we reach the 5^th tower at 11am. We decided to skip the Tobago and ascended by foot to the 14^th tower where we would take another cable car back to the base.

The stairs were really not ergonomic and unfriendly. We stopped by the 7^th tower,  while we enjoyed the spectacular view, we walloped the lazy dragon and prepared for the final ascent. Although it was early summer, the breeze and temperature was darn relaxing.

It was crawling speed for Ving and me accompanying the shortness of breath and leg soreness. How could the border guards tolerate such walk up and down as their daily routine? However it was hell of an experience to be part of the history…

Well, we landed back to the base at 3:30pm and we had a good sleep on the bus and by 5pm, we were walking back to the apartment.

On our way back, we had stopped by one of the famous Muslim firepot restaurant situated around the hotel. It was an expensive meal though. The meat and mutton were excellent and the slicing method was one of the signature features of the shabu-shabu.

Unlike the Japanese style shabu shabu which had influenced most the shop around ghost island. The Peking style shabu shabu utilized the old fire pot which was heated by charcoal. Just like the old fire pot that Malaysian use. No broth was used and only plain water inside the pot. The dipping which knowns as two eight source is a combination of sesame source and peanut butter using the ratio of 20%:80%. Mutton was dipped in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes; unlike the Japanese style shabu shabu where you dipped for seconds only.

A satisfied meal and we retreated to our apartment before night fall.

All I had read from the net/book were materialized in front of my eyes. I had completed the 2 major spots on the list.
It took me half a century to lay my foot on this land. It was so far away once…

The waiving of visa had brought the dream come true. My last visit about 10 years ago was an initial RM2k visa fee and 2 weeks of anxiety fearing the lost of passport while sending it to HKG for visa application.

Until now it was an amazing trip. While resting on the sofa sipping the Artic Ocean orange soda and staring blindly at the night scene; I thank the Great one for taking me all the way (with some hiccup of coz, but yet I am still grateful)….

Peking - old palace

 

The room although old but yet remarkable. I had a good night sleep and awaken up early at 5am. Everything was in order and the front desk staff was friendly enough to give them a 5 over 5.

We had pushed out by 7am and decided to take slow walk of 1km to a branch of a famous snack shop. The Protect Country Temple shop was one of the oldest breakfast shops in Peking. They sold a variety of food from main dish to desert. The taste was interesting and some of the food that I had never tasted before. However we were still reluctant to order this green bean juice which was one of the classic of Peking. It was made of fermented green bean leftover which smell and taste like spoiled food. It take "balls"  to take it

Price was acceptable but yet after my tongue being trained by food from the ghost island. I felt that it is just up to the standard. There were better food that I have tasted back in the ghost island.

However we had also taken away some meat roll and meat puff for lunch. We arrived at the meeting point and minutes later our guide came. A middle age lady who could speak English. She led us into the palace and started the tour. It was a 2.5hrs tour where we were introduced to history of the old palace. The tour ended by 11 and we started our own wandering around the palace.

The mainland treated it as old palace museum as compare to the one on the ghost island. Frankly said, the main exhibition is the building and not the collection. We were allowed to walk outside most of the building and only allow to walk into some of the building which was decorated as exhibition hall. We covered 80% of the assessable area by 3pm

Both of our lower limbs sore and we could barely walk back to the hotel which was another 2km walk….

As we hit our room by four plus, everyone of us was exhausted and we could only pace out for dinner after seven.

We headed to a mall and we had HALAL food for dinner. 2% of the resident are Muslim and some of the signature dishes is HALAL. We had Peking duck, Beile(prince) BBQ and other side order. Special meal and very salty compare to what I usually eat. On the way back, we had grabbed a load of sour milk as most of them were packed in a special small vase-like bottle and Ving just like it.

The TnG epayment was the best compare to Wechat payment. Straight forward authorization as simple as I use it in Boleh land. I was lucky enough to have some cash inside my PB account.

The area we were residing was previously knocked as Prince Gong Mansion. The residence was previously owned and built by a Duke who was the biggest bride collector in Qing dynasty. When the Duke was arrested and his property confiscated, the big house and land was awarded to the Prince Gong who later become the regent acting on behalf of the CiXi queen. The area was abolished during the CCP ruled and converted to a shopping area where a few shopping malls was erected around the area.  

The market was cold and only some shoppers were patronizing the area during Sunday night; it should be crowded with people but yet it wasn’t.

The 1^st day was filled with excitement and the second day was another day of thrill as we had to travel to the major bus terminal by 7am by MRT. With the help of Dianping app, I was able to find 2 shops to stop by before we hopped onto the tour bus. One for breakfast and the other for take away lunch at the Great Wall.

Could our legs which was filled by lactate survival another strenuous walk ?  I couldn’t bare to think about it….

Peking - D1

The trip started late at noon where we would take a flight to HKG with a short transit and headed to Peking later in the evening. CP was one of the best flight that I had ever had, I had travel with them in the pre Covid era and they had given me a good impression. Although the food at the airport was quite expensive but I am a fan of Cantonese cuisine.

The journey was great as the seat was spacious than the AA I had taken few months back. The food was ok and I had a nap before we landed

We arrived at the CLK airport in time but the connecting flight gate was at the other part of the airport and we had spent a good 30 min walk passing the security check. As the connecting gate was very far from the center food court area, we had to settle with some snack from a small food joint. Expensive but nice though.

The connecting flight was on time and we arrive at Peking airport 30minutes earlier.

The entry process however was not smooth. We would have to present to the finger print taking machine and signed up the entry form. Another long wait at the immigration counter that took us a good 1 hour wait. I sighed when all of us passed the immigration. Visaless ? always a chance to be denied entry….what a relief when everyone of us had gotten pass the imi counter.

Finally we hopped onto a cab and arrived at the apartment by 10:30pm. I tried my first payment with the Wechat paying system and found out that it sucks…Two time approval needed and it took me a good 5 mins before the payment is out. Will try TnG on my next payment.

The ride was smooth and nothing to complaint nor shout.

The Marriot apartment was located at a shopping area but yet by 10pm, everything had closed down. Only 2 convenient stores that was still operating around the area at the time we arrive.

We grabbed some food and water at a nearest shop before we retreated to the room.

While sipping my drink relaxing on the sofa, I had a deep thought about the trip; I had finally returned to the land where my ancestor originated. It was my first trip to the mainland but yet I would be visiting the ancient palace and the great wall the next 2 days. I was excited indeed as I would be walking through the ancient building however I one more thing to settle before our journey at 9am; our breakfast and take away lunch…..

Peking - minus to push off

 

The QM run was a stunning one for me and the trip for me was the Thailand shooting trip. However it was 6 months away and part of me wanted to make up for Ving about my solo trip.

I offered a short trip to Xiamen which was one hours plus away. Simple hop in with flight from K city and proceed with an eat and walk around trip for 3D2N. My thought was simple, we should use the visa free entry for at least once before it is closed again.

My offer was rejected as Ving told me she all she wanted was a visit to the old palace and great wall…A great leap from my initial plan and a further leap of fate for me.

So many things to sort out apart from the lodging and flight.

The flight was a crucial one to settle. The first step was to inquire Xian if he could settle with a HKG transit. It was many years ago when HKG started to enforced strict law about treason. Xian was terrified for a while and he told me he never wanted to land his foot on the land anymore. Well, he had however nodded when I asked him if he is AOK with the transit. The best choice was CP as it offered a variety of time to choose from.

The next was the duration and I had finally squeezed a window of 6D5N…a late flight in and late flight out which allow us to spend 4.5D around P city. I regretted not long after I did the purchase; I had booked a flight back to K city which had 1.5hrs transit time in HKG only. My club mate who travel frequent to HKG to me, if CP could offer the flight then they are confident to get you on. It still haunt for me the rest of the 2 months and I kept thinking off changing the flight…

The lodging was another challenge and decided to go for a service apartment instead of a room. We would need the kitchen and washing machine as it as a long stay. I had chosen a service apartment managed by Marriot as it was situated around the old palace.

The old palace was a key to Peking and purchasing entry ticket was a challenge. The only way for a guarantee ticket was to book a tour. The at the gate purchase would mostly ended with a sold out leading to depression. I pre-booked a private tour and someone to tell the story. Even though I am a fan of “six month river” and read most of his work but I am not a historian that could tell palace story to my family.

The great wall part was simple, I opted the MYT great wall which offered a Tobago run as well. I booked a bus ticket from MYT bus service which offered a late trip back. Most of the bus service run between 7am to 2pm. The MYT bus service offered from 7am to 4pm.

That above arrangement settled the first two days of the trip. Nothing was planned for the leftover 1.5 days, however I knew we would make up of something when we reached there.

There were a few things that bother me before the trip. Google was not a reliable source for info as the partial lock down only shown out of date info. I had to installed CHN software like it or not.

The next part was the payment method, although Peking was still foreigner friendly with real bucks however the e- payment was the way to go. I was lucky as I had TnG set up back in Malaysia. The Wechat payment was another backup plan but without linking with a local CHN account it is like a handicap software.

The initial booking and reservation phase took me about 2 weeks and the next task was sourcing take away food to buy and eat during the old palace and great wall trip. The app DianPing was an ultimate guide and it proved it value during our stay in Peking providing valuable prebuy coupon that was worthy.

Before we depart from our house, I was still hesitating if I would change my return ticket to a earlier time but yet I decided to gamble with my luck…