Cuti- Cuti Beijing - Part 1

We arrived in Beijing late afternoon on April 7. Abang picked us up at Beijing South Railway Station and dropped us at our hotel, Century Towers. It's a really convenient hotel as it's very near the shinjing subway station and shopping malls. We managed to shop around for groceries at nearby malls that nite. It was so difficult to choose foodstuffs as the packaging was written in Mandarin.

In front our hotel, Century Towers

Since we had a ground package for a 2-day tour, we started our morning at 8am. By the way, Subuh finished at 5.45am. We met Max, our tour guide at the lobby. Our 1st destination was Summer Palace, a breathtaking place. It's a palace where Empress Dowager Cixi used during summer to escape hot weather.

The entrance of Summer Palace

Max explaining something about Summer Palace

Inside Summer Palace

 Then we were driven to Pearl Store, a govt-owned store where we were shown the raw pearls & the finished products. Hubby bought the pearl cream & I bought some jewelleries. We later found out that it was a lot cheaper ( provided you have good bargaining skills..) to buy these stuffs outside.
 Silk Factory was our next stop. We were briefed on the process of making silk and got the opportunities to try our hands at weaving which we failed miserably. Here, nothing caught my fancy, so I didn't buy anything here.
 After lunch and zohor prayer in Niujie Mosque, we headed to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Both of these major tourist spots are next to each other. Hence, for these places alone, we walked for miles and miles! The magnificent Forbidden city has 9999 rooms and constructed back in 1420. We had much info from Max.

Forbidden City

Standing in the centre line of Forbidden City & Beijing

Tiananmen Tower

Tired from walking, we were treated to a free foot massage in Chinese Herbal Medicine Center. While being massaged, they tried to sell their products to us. But we got warnings from fellow Malaysians we met at the Pearl Store. So, we were prepared for this. The price was ridiculously expensive. For a small bottle of massage oil ( resembles Axe Medicated Oil ), it  costs over RMB150 per bottle. They also called professsors at the center to bullshit about Hubby & Syukur 's state of health... just by getting their pulses. But of course they didn't know about Hubby's profession!

Soaking our feet before the foot massage

Then we rushed to Beijing Theatre to watch Acrobatic Show. It was fabulous which lasted for about 1 hour. We got in a bit late, so we missed a few parts. After dinner at the same restaurant that we had lunch, we were sent back to our hotel. Hubby & I were so tired that we retired for the nite. Ila & Syukur managed to get out again to an electrical store nearby and looking for instant noodles that Syukur was yearning for..:-)

Our Lunch - the beef slices in-front were so soft & delicious

Our Dinner