Impromptu Holiday: Beijing (part 5)

The afternoon weather is great enough to continue touring the city, and this time it's to the other far end of Beijing to the Summer Palace.. 

As you can see the sky is crystal clear without any indication of smog, we're not kidding..

The entrance gate to Summer Palace perched on top of the hill

As we climb and climb..

You will surely need to take a break

Because other than looking at the intrinsic and marvellous architecture, you will also need to adjust your jacket

The back portion in the background, and it's a long way down the hill

Turning the other way, this the back of Summer Palace.
The Seventeen Arch bridge is in the background
And far far away is Beijing city centre

So we walked down the stairs

And stop to pose for photos

Hmm.. am I sleeping?!!

The entire view.. see the entrance is at the top, and then you make your way down slowly and end up at the lake

Like in Bollywood films.. dance among the trees

This long corridor's name is Long Corridor

The whole afternoon and still not at the Seventeen Arch bridge yet..

This is how big Summer Palace is.. and it's beautiful
Prettier than Forbidden City I must say

Impromptu Holiday: Beijing (part 4)

Over the Chinese New Year holidays, as usual we will go bai nian (visiting relatives), because its an annual affairs.. and every year there is some new stories of development about the family that gets uncovered by the older generations as they grew older and wanted the younger generation to also know, as we gets older..

Story 1: 
There was a family feud and some relative wiped clean the lands we used to have and pocketed the money, denied it, pinned the blame on dead people etc etc. We had roughly 8 acres of it (thats roughly 10.5 football fields) but it was all gone now.. Eventually we found out the truth about what happened to the land my grandfather left behind..

Money can pollute the blood.. We have cut the relative loose and wanted nothing to do with them anymore... Greed consumed these people and dead people cannot talk..


Story 2:
Over the past year, some relatives have been hard at work tracing back our family tree ancestry.. if you have the surname "LIM" or "LIN" or "LING", we might share the same branch dating as far back as 700AD during the Tang Dynasty..

My grandfather was the youngest of 5 in the family and only he came to Malaya as a child to work here, his older siblings remained in China and the ancestry lines of the rest were well recorded, except for my grandfather's line which was lost when he came to Malaya..

In China, they were able to trace back our ancestry lines back 20 generations or so (roughly 1300 years) up till Tang Dynasty and I was very surprised and intrigued by it - that my ancestors were nobile people and served as palace officials and army generals during the Tang Dynasty..

I am glad to learn that I am a descendant of people of honour.. 

So as this project to record our family tree in Malaya (Malaysia), we began to discover more about our ancestors.. Let's see what this year will uncover more things that I can share more.. I wish I can be part of the project to go to China and discover more for myself..


Nevertheless, today as I visited the Forbidden City, I was not impressed, maybe because it was the crowd, maybe because it didn't give me the grandeur expectations that I had always have in mind.. Or maybe because I am Chinese..

Tiannanmen Square, which is also the entrance to the Forbidden City

Passing through a series of gates/walls, each one grander than the one before
The exact gates the emperor and officials used once..

Rare chance of nobody

Legend has it that you must rub on the balls for good luck

Passing through dontknow gate number what..
Not impressed by the crowd..

I have learnt the art of notgivinganyfuck and elbowing my way around

Some hall

The gate before the main one

Taking a peek through the door..
This would have been the door only the emperor used

and that is what all the hype is all about
The Hall of Supreme Harmony
ie the throne of ancient China

Yeah must get a shot of the hall where the emperor used to sit

NOT IMPRESSED!!
THE GUARDS HAVE CLOSED THE HALL
and this is the nearest one can get to, and from here, cannot see the throne!!!

Hall of Supreme Harmony

That's all folks...
The yellow cordoned line is as far as one can see..

But I found joy in the alleys between the walls.. such good places for photos

And a hundred shots later, nearing to the rear exit of the Forbidden City

Meh trees at the garden at the back

The moat, before it freezes over during winter

Taking a rest on Jiangnan Park, the hill behind the Forbidden City

There.. the Forbidden City from the rear

The plague says, it is the center of Beijing

Ok one last shot before leaving this place.. 

All in all, the Forbidden City can be done within half a day, provided you get to see the throne up close and then move your way to the exit quickly.. Actually after the throne, there is nothing else much around left to see..

In the afternoon after lunch, we headed over to Summer Palace.. that is quite a huge place, and a must-go.. Worth every money to get there and get in..

Impromptu Holiday: Beijing (part 3)

This day was to go up the mountains to see what China is all about - the Great Wall.. We chose Simatai section for it's beauty and unspoilt section (plus some of it lies in ruins untouched) and also the Gubei Water Town for its serene architecture..

All for about USD45 per person, which was a really good deal, including return transport.. 

Gubei Water Town with the Simatai Great Wall at the back

I'm waiting for you

An empty street
An empty heart

Half of Gubei Water Town with Simatai Great Wall as backdrop
Magnificent right? 

Just enjoying the sun and cold weather
and the serene architecture and not many people also

I love this part

So happy that I climbed over the bridge for this shot,
before the police ran towards me blowing his whistle ask me to come down at once.

On the way up to the wall 

Upper station, from here it's about 10mins walk to the first post.

The map

Lower section of the wall, downhill

One of the post

From up there you can see the entire section, but not all is open to public

Taking a rest at the highest point. 

Don't get fooled by the picture, the slope is actually quite steep and the stones are so polished that my shoes have no grip on it.. I almost slipped as it's also quite windy and cold.. 

On the way down, one of the crumbled sections that were never repaired..

The section that was restored, looks more like THE WALL we all know right..

I FREAKING LOVE THIS SHOT..
(camera man: my friend, shot on iPhone X)

We walked down the wall and came to the bottom at the reservoir, so approximately thats the highest point one can get to. 

Exiting the reserves back into Gubei Water Town..

Soon its sunset, and the night shots are equally amazing.. temperature's dropping fast..

The only section of the entire Great Wall of China that you can go up at night, look how it's lighted up at night..

Next, entering into the chambers of the emperors.. I have tales to tell also...