Beijing - Day 2 (Jingshan/Beihai)

Jingshan Park is just across the street from the Forbidden City. I'm hungry and thirsty and in no mood to walk around parks. But the 230,000 sq. m. Jingshan is different. If you climb to the top of Jingshan, you get a bird's eye view of the Forbidden City, which is amazing considering the size and scale of the Palace Museum. Also, did you know that 45-m high Jingshan is actually an artificial hill created entirely from dirt and soil excavated from the moats of the Imperial Palace?

We settled down for some ice cold drink and snacks, then proceeded to scale Jingshan. There are five pavilions around Jingshan and each one offers a good vantage point of the Forbidden Palace. The best is the Wanchun Ding (All Time Spring Pavilion). From here, you can also see the White Pagoda in Beihai Park across the river. I'm all ready to call it a day, but the wife is not coming back another day, so if we wanna see the pagoda we'll have to do it now. From the top of Jingshan, the White Pagoda is not that far away. Yeah, right. Took us about half an hour (or more) to get down from Jingshan, out of the park, walk a couple of blocks to Beihai Park. Maybe they should install a cable car system to shuttle people between these two parks. Forgot to mention that Jingshan Park is well-known for another thing. Within the park still stands the tree where Chong Zhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hanged himself in 1644. Pressed for time, we didn't go see the tree anymore. I'm sure it's doing fine.

We got to Beihai a couple of hours before closing time. According to a notice, Beihai Park has been around for almost a thousand years. It was first built in 938 A.D., and was opened to the public as a park in 1925. In between, Beihai was used as an imperial summer palace. There's a lot to see like temples and pavilions and pools, but all we're after is the White Pagoda. There's a long, steep flight of stairs leading up to the pagoda. Great shot if the photographer is at the base of the stairs, the subject is at the middle, and the pagoda is at the top. Everybody had the same idea so it's difficult to take a good shot. Right beside the pagoda is the Hall of Beneficient Causation, whose four external walls are covered with 455 glazed tiles - each with an image of Buddha.

Coming out of the islet, we see this city wall with a plaque saying this is Tuancheng City - with ramparts 4.6m high and 276 meters in perimeter, covering an area of 4,500 sq. m. Going up the walls, we get to Cheng Guan Dian (Hall of Divine Light). Outside the temple is a 3.5-ton jade jar, which Kublai Khan reported used as a wine vessel.

After all that walking, we're so tired we simply took a taxi back to the hotel. For the rest of the day, we just stayed in and around the hotel. Japanese dinner at night.

Beijing - Day 2 (Forbidden City)

Today is the day we go to the Forbidden City. After a sumptuous buffet breakfast at the hotel, we crossed the street to the Beijing Railway Station. After some initial confusion, we found out that this is not where you take the train to the Forbidden City. On the other side of the plaza is the metro station. At 9am, there's already a long queue at the ticket counter. This being Beijing, people try to make singit whenever they can. Not an easy task considering most of the locals do not have a concept of personal space, and everyone is just squashed together. I'm surprised to find out that metro tickets cost only RMB2 each. Doesn't matter where you are and where you get off, it's flat-rate RMB2. I reckon that's gonna change soon. Going into the station itself is another long queue with people cutting in from all sides. Everyone has to walk through a metal-detector door, and all bags have to go through an x-ray machine. That's what the traffic is all about.

We get off at Qianmen Station, and first thing you notice is how big Tian An Men Square is. Right beside the station is Zheng Yang Men, one of the city gates of Old Beijing. Since it acts as the front gate to the Forbidden City, it's also called Qianmen. Right across it is the Memorial Hall to Chairman Mao. It's been decades since Mao Zedong passed away, but even now there's still a stream of people lining up to see the Chairman and pay their respects. Since bags are not allowed inside the mausoleum, we had to cross the street and leave our stuff at a deposit center (for a small fee). We queued up for about 15 minutes to see Mao Zedong's embalmed remains for about 15 seconds. Many of the visitors bought flowers which they laid on a tray in front of the coffin. My guess is that once the tray is full, it's brought outside for the flowers to be sold again.

At the centre of the Tiananmen Square is the 38-metre (125 ft) high Monument to the People's Heroes. Along the west side of the square is the Great Hall of the People. along the east is the National Museum of China. Didn't go to either as they're too far. By the way, Tiananmen Square is officially the largest city square in the world. North of the square in Tiananmen itself, which translates to the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Once we've crossed Tiananmen, we find outselves in front of Duan Men (literally Upright Gate). Beyond that and across a big plaza stands the majestic Wu Men (Meridian Gate). Wu Men is the main gate to the Forbidden City. It is 35.6 meters high and is surmounted with five pavilions called the Five Phoenix Turrets. On each side of the gate are the ticket outlets.

Crossing Wu Men, you'll see a large courtyard called the First Courtyard. Very, very impressed with the size and scale of the place (10,000 sq. m. in size). I've seen this place many times in Chinese movies. Running along the courtyard from east to west is a small stream called the Golden River. You can see five short bridges across it, which represents the five Confucian virtues of humanity, sense of duty, wisdom, reliability and (ceremonial) propriety.

Beyond Tai He Men with the two imperial lions is the Second Courtyard, the largest courtyard in the Forbidden City. The structures just keeps getting bigger and better. Tai He Dian (Hall of Supreme Harmony) sits on top of a 3-layered marble terrace, which stands 30m high above the Supreme Harmony Square. Tai He Dian itself is 37m high, and covering 2377 sq. m., it is said to be the largest wooden palace hall in China. Placed around the marble terrace are bronze statues symbolizing longevity and stability. There's the crane, the sundial, and the tortoise. There's also a grain measure, which we didn't see. There are two quite interesting things about Tai He Dian. On its roof ridges is a trail of mythical figurines, which are placed there to supposedly protect the building from bad spirits. From the front, you have the immortal riding a phoenix, followed by a dragon, a phoenix, a lion, a heavenly steed, a seahorse, a SuAnNi, a YaYu, a XieZhi, a DouNiu, and a HangShi. Don't even try asking me what those are. Inside the hall is the emperor's throne carved with dragons all over. Around the throne are two bronze cranes and an elephant-shaped incense burner. From the gold-painted ceiling hangs a set of metal balls attached to the mouth of a coiled dragon. Called the Xuan Yuan Mirror, it is said to be able to distinguish right from wrong. And if anyone who is not a descendant of Emperor Huang Di tries to sit on the throne, the balls will fall and strike him to death.

Next up is the Zhong He Dian (Hall of Central Harmony). This is the smallest of the three mains halls in the Outer Court, and is square in shape. The last hall of the Outer Court would be Bao He Dian (Hall of Preserved Harmony). On the descent from the raised platform behind the Bao He Dian is a large stone carving flanked by stairs. Measuring 16.75 meters long, 3.07 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick and weighing in at 200 tons, this is the largest stone carving in the palace. Amazingly, the whole thing is hewn from one single block of stone. To transport the rock slab from the Fang Shan mountains to Beijing, rolling logs were used in summer. During winter, they poured water along the way till it froze, then slid the rock slab along the ice.

Crossing the courtyard, we see Qian Qing Men (Gate of Celestial Purity), which is the main gate to the inner court. Guarding the gate is a pair of lions - one male and one female. Beyond the gate we see Qian Qing Gong (Palace of Heavenly Purity). On the west side is a long corridor, which currently holds an exhibition of imperial paintings and objects. West of that corridor is Yang Xin Men, which leads to Yang Xin Dian (Hall of Moral Cultivation). This is where some emperors of the Qing Dynasty actually lived. Of special note is the east room which has two thrones separated by a yellow gauze curtain. During the late Qing Dynasty, the emperor would sit on the front throne, and the Empress Dowager would sit on the rear throne, hidden by the curtain, instructing the emperor what to do.

Behind Qian Qing Gong is Jiao Tai Dian (Hall of Union and Peace). This structure is relatively small in size, having the same design as the Zhong He Dian. Inside the hall is an inscription by Emperor Kang Xi, which says Wu Wei (literally, doing nothing). This is also where the 25 jade seals of the imperial court is kept. Behind Jiao Tai Dian is Kun Ning Gong (Hall of Earthly Tranquility). This is usually where the emperors lived after they married, before moving on to the other halls.

We move on to the northernmost part of the Forbidden City, which is Yu Hua Yuen (Imperial Garden). In stark contrast to the other parts of the palace, this place is teeming with life - different kinds of trees, bushes and shrubs, and birds. Covering an area of 12,000 sq. m., this is where the emperors and empresses and concubines entertain themselves. Aligned on the western and eastern sides of the central axis are halls and pavilions, like the Qian Qiu Ting (Thousand-Year Pavilion) and the Wan Chun Ting (Pavilion of Ten Thousand Spring Seasons). Right at the very end of the Imperial Garden is Dui Xiu Shan (Hill of Accumulated Elegance). This artificial hill stands 10 meters tall and has a path that leads to the Yu Jing Ting (Pavilion of Imperial Scenery) on top of the hill. Halfway up the hill are bronze jars used to store water. When water runs down the hill, it gushes out of the dragonheads on the backs of the stone lions on both sides of the hill.

Right behind Dui Xiu Shan is Chun Cheng Men, and beyond it is another layer of fortified wall with Shen Wu Men (Gate of Divine Might) as the northernmost gate of the Forbidden City. Going past this wall and you're officially out of the Forbidden City. We're already dog-tired by this time, but there's still so much to see. Next up, Jin Shan Park and Bei Hai Park.

Beijing - Day 1

Arrived in Beijing around mid-day. The place has improved a lot since I was last here - more than 20 years ago. The airport is big and modern. People are wearing better clothes. Instead of lots of bicycles and a few cars, now it's the reverse. There's a light smog over the city, but nothing to be worried about. All in all, I'm pretty impressed with the city's transformation.

We booked ourselves into the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel (北京宝辰饭店) because it's right across the Beijing Railway Station, which is going to be quite convenient if we want to go around using trains. What we didn't know is that the train station marks the time with an hourly chime. Even with all the windows closed you can hear the bells counting down the hours well into the night. Bah! So we started unpacking and I used the sink to freshen up. I heard a clanging sound and my feet felt wet. What?! The pipe assembly underneath the sink fell off by itself. A quick call to room service and a plumber came to fix it within the hour. Aside from that, everything else looks good. There's airconditioning, flat-screen TV, and free Internet access. What more can you ask for?

After a short rest, we left the hotel to check out the area. Right beside the hotel is the upscale Henderson Centre shopping mall and a few restaurants - Japanese, American, Thai, and Chinese. After a late lunch at KFC, we went to see the railway station. The size of the the station and the plaza in front of it is quite impressive. There's a few people loitering around shouting "Fa biao, fa biao." We were later told that these people buy invoices or receipts, and resell them to other people who wants tax deductions. If you're good at bargaining, you can get as much as 10% back from the value of the receipt. The weather started to become hot, so we went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day at the Henderson Centre. Dinner consisted of Japanese beef noddle and chicken congee via room service.

The End and The Beginning

Well, it's the end of my extended bachelorhood, and the beginning of my life as a married man.

Leading up to this day, people always ask me if I'm nervous. My fiance is even worried that I might get cold feet on the big day. What, me worry? Not at all. I mean, it's not like she's gonna have a sudden change of heart and say no. As for cold feet, that's mostly due to the winter weather. The cake's been ordered, the church's been reserved, the photographers have been booked, the caterers have confirmed, the dinner reception menu has been finalized, my costume's picked up, the cars' washed, the rings bought, and I have finished my morning ritual. Did I miss anything?

So the photographers came in promptly at 9:30am for my photoshoot. I normally don't make up my bed in the morning, but for them I made an exception. With my wedding costume laid out neatly on the bed, the photographers proceeded with their work. They took pictures of me and my best man putting on our vests, my Dad helping me with my jacket, my Mom helping me with my jacket, my best man putting on my cufflinks, etc. Then we had family pictures in the living room, shots of me and the best man sitting on a ledge outside the house and running on the street. They must've noticed that my jaw has locked from too much smiling, so they left us in peace, and went to WHQ's house.

Killed time till 1:15pm then left for the church with my parents. It was drizzling a bit (sign of good luck) and there was a little bit of traffic on Burwood Road. I guess my Dad was a bit nervous because he was getting cranky and complaining about cars overtaking us. We did manage to get to the church on time, before the bride arrived. Too bad the new facade of the church was not finished it time. Anyway, it's kinda surreal to see my colleagues in a non-office setting. A few familiar faces here and there. Didn't have time to meet and greet everyone because WHQ arrived around 2pm. WHQ's best friend got everyone in position and the ceremony started with the pianist and violinist playing the much-loved Canon in D.

Eveyrthing was a blur after that. All I remembered is turning around and seeing WHQ walking down the aisle with her grand-uncle and taking her place beside me. Both us were pretty much under the control of Father John from then on. Stand here. Sit there. Come here. Face each other. Exchange marriage vows. Kiss the bride. Applause. Say this. Put ring on her finger. Say that. Put ring on my finger. More applause. Light the candles. Sign here. Sign there. Take lots of pictures. And the deed is done. Too bad the wife's Dad couldn't make it, but we did talk to him over the phone to share the good news.

By the time we got to the church hall, the reception is in full swing. There's an outdoor gazeebo with the drinks, while all the finger foods are stocked on a long table inside the church hall. I would've liked to sample the food on offer, but it's difficult to eat and drink while chatting and taking pictures with all the guests. Just when we're done with the pictures and I thought I can now eat a bit, the photographers whisked us off to the now-empty church for more pictures. Then another photoshoot at the fountain roundabout at Cabarita. The photographers seem to have lost their way, so we decided to meet up instead at the nearby Cabarita Park. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With the sun almost setting, the trees, the waters, the rocks, the clouds all started to change colour. Even the photographers got excited about the wonderful scenery. I bet they'll be bringing other couples to do their photoshoot here. We kept shooting till the point when the sun is almost gone and it's starting to get freezing cold, and the photographers called it a day.

The families and our friends from overseas had a short break at the bride's house, and by 6pm we all headed down for Rhodes Phoenix for the informal reception. I thought this is where my new wife and I get to relax after the day's trials. There's just three banquet tables full of guests, and no wedding programme planned. No corny song-and-dance, no awkward speeches, just a Rod Steward compilation CD providing the music. Should be a piece of (wedding) cake. Too bad my uncle-in-law has something else in mind. He's been pretty rowdy the whole night. Everntually he turned his sights on me. He started asking questions like how did we meet, how did I propose, and the like. To make it worse, everybody started gathering around to hear my story and ask more questions. And I thought everybody knew already. Anyway, in the end it was all good fun.

After all the food (and cake) have been packed in takeaway boxes, after all the guests have dispersed, after all our flatmates have retired to their room, it's just me and my wife in our specially designed red-coloured wedding room. Good night.

Time Stopped for Labirinto

What time is it? For my beloved Swatch Labirinto, it's time to call it a day. I bought this Autoquarz watch way back in September 2005, and it's been running fine ever since. Swatch has long discontinued the Autoquarz line, and with a non-replaceable rechargeable battery keeping the watch ticking, it's just a matter of time before it gives out. Just didn't expect it to go so suddenly. And no amount of wrist-shaking is gonna bring it back to life. I'm gonna miss you, my friend.

Sydney in a Day

WHQ's friends from Manila flew in today. After a short rest, we brought them to the city for a tour. We traveled along Canterbury Road, then Paramatta Road, through the CBD to Hyde Park, passed by Oxford, followed the City2Surf route, and ended up at Watsons Bay. It was lunchtime by then, so everybody had fish and chips and seafood at Doyles. The weather was colder that what we expected. After some picture-taking at The Gap, we went to the Macquarie Lighthouse for more. Since we're so close to Bondi, we made a detour and spent the afternoon at the beach.

By the time we arrived at Circular Quay, it's already late afternoon. Inside Customs House, there's the Green Void installation by architecture think tank Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA). On one side inside the Red Room is an art installation called Doves that Cry, featuring a canopy of white LED lights above a black piano. At the Customs House forecourt is the Lumenosity abstract installation using coloured light cubes.

This being their first time in Sydney, we spent quite some time taking pictures at the Opera House, then at the MCA. The original plan was to have early dinner at Pancake at The Rocks, but as usual the queue is way too long. The girls had their dinner at City Cafe, while the family celebrated Dad's birthday at Neptune Restaurant. We could've toured a bit more, but the girls are dog tired already, and E's not feeling so well, so we went home afterwards.

Taking a Light Walk

WHQ and I decided to do the Light Walk today. Part of the Smart Light Sydney project, it's a self-guided walk running from Observatory Hill through The Rocks, around Circular Quay, then to Sydney Opera House. On show are interactive and performance-based art displays and light sculptures.

We got off the bus at Circular Quay and the first thing we noticed is the coloured light box display called Lumenosity in front of the Customs House. The boxes have varying heights and colours. Kids in particular like running around the boxes and playing hide and seek. Crossing the train station and making our way towards Opera House, we pass by a flight of stairs at East Circular Quay, which is wonderfully lit up. From afar, we can already see the Opera House with the funky lights on its exterior shell. The designs are by Brian Eno, and the display is called Lighting the Sails. I don't know about you, but I didn't like the designs. Looks more like multi-coloured bacteria viewed under a microscope. We doubled back to the Museum of Contemporary Arts to check out The Electric Canvas being projected on its facade. We stayed around for a while checking out the displays, and all I can think of is, "I can do that." Further down at the International Passenger Terminal, we see these trees encircled with blue neon tubes. In front of the trees are stationary bikes with electric cables attached to the tubes. People are encouraged to get on the bike and push on the pedals. The mechanical motion is converted to electricity which in turn powers up the neon tubes. Cool.

Crossing the street to Cadman Park, we see the Vessel of (Horti)Cultural Plenty. From afar, it does look like a vase of flowers. Just behind it, outside the Billich Gallery is the Rainbow, so called because it bathes one side of the wall with a continuous hue of rainbow colours. Kids seem to like this particular one, too. We proceed further on to the The Rocks and make a left at Argyle Street. The underpass at Argyle Cut is lighted with strange lines and patterns, which doesn't really make much sense to me. At this point, WHQ is getting a bit bored. I asked her whether she wants to go home now, and continue the rest of the walk on another day. She said no way, let's get this done and over with tonight!

So we passed by Garrison Church and the matrix of green lights called Fire Flies across the road. Going up the stairs, we got to Observatory Hill. The pavilion on top of the hill is bathed in a eerie blue light. Inside, a slideshow of the sky is being projected on the ceiling. Quite a good view of the Harbour Bridge and the surroundings up here. Having seen most of the major light displays, we quickly made our way back to Circular Quay for our ride home.

Two Birthday Parties in a Day

M. is having his birthday party at Cabarita. WHQ prepared some salads, and we bought a Chocolate Gateau from Michel's on our way there. Weather's very good, considering it was raining buckets the past few days. Started raining again in the afternoon. By then everyone had their fill, so we reconvened at his house. By 5:30pm, we went to Ashfield for M.'s 40th birthday party at the Crocodile Farm Hotel. Haven't been to Ashfield for a while. Surprised to see the Crocodile Farm Hotel looking better. And there's a new Chinese restaurant beside it. As usual, we got there early, so as usual we helped out with the balloons. Gotta work for you meal, you know.

Third Time Unlucky

Another case of dinner disaster. Went to Samudra Shark's Fin Restaurant to try its Crispy Duck with Lemon Sauce. Just from the name, I'm sure it's yummy. The dish costs 70k. I reckon with the 25k rice and 22k Aqua bottled water, I should still be ok. The waitress brings out a hot pot with duck, eggplant and sauce. The duck isn't really roasted and the sauce doesn't taste like lemon. After a few more bites, I'm pretty sure that's not what I ordered. After my meal, I verified with the waitress. After some checks, she confirmed they gave me the wrong order. Bad, bad, bad. Anyway, the good thing is that the dish costs only 45k, plus the rice and water and tax, the dinner amounted to only 90k+. Turns out I still need to pay 23k because the voucher covers only food. What?!

Training and Shopping and Dining

More on the latter two. After the training course, I went straight to Plaza Senayan. Taxi fare is only IDR 10,000. Lots of botique stores, but I'm only interested in Sogo and Metro (on either end of the mall). Shoes on sale, shirts on sale, pants on sale, even luggages on sale. At Senayan City across the street, it's Debenhams. On an impulse, I bought an IDF150,000 shirt and a Delsey cabin-size expandable trolley bag at 60% off. I've done this before. Pulling two trolley bags across airport terminals is not easy, but can be done.

Back at the hotel, I decided to go to Samudra Shark's Fin Restuarant for dinner. Too bad it's blocked off for tonight and closing at 9pm. Went to Orient8 instead. The lady at the door mentioned that they're having a special event and it's buffet night tonight. I asked her if my IDR100,000 meal voucher is gonna cover the buffet. YES, she says. (Orient8 currently has award-winning chef David Thompson to cook some Thai dishes.) So I had steamed tofu, chilled spicy minced chicken, fried chicken, grilled scallops, stir fry beef, deep fried prawns, grilled chicken with lemongrass, battered mushroom, chicken spring rolls. Dessert is Vietnamese coffee ice cream. Everything is very nice, except for the bill. It came up to IDR193,600. Just the buffet is already IDR136,000. Ah, went over the limit again. I wish the lady would've told me earlier.

Edogin Dinner

With the IDR100,000 voucher in hand, I head to the Edogin Japanese restaurant. I reckon if I order something simple like, say, chicken teriyaki, then I'm not gonna go overboard. The waitress asked if I wanted something to drink. A bottle of water sounds safe enough. And a bowl of steamed rice to go with the dish. The chicken teriyaki is the best I've tried so far. The chicken pieces are thin and crispy, but still juicy. And the accompanying sauce is quite flavourful, not sweet. Then came the bill - IDR152,000! Thanks to GST and service charges and 22,000 for the water; 25,000 for the rice. Oh well, you get what you pay for anyway.

My Kind of Hotel

This is my second time to stay at Hotel Mulia Senayan, but I've already forgotten how nice it is. Buffet breakfast is served at The Cafe, and the food selection is very impressive. There's a section for fruit juices, Japanese cuisine, Chinese dimsum and dishes, breads, cakes and pastries, and fruits. All noodles are prepared on-demand, and so are the eggs and omelettes.

The hotel also provides complimentary taxi ride to the office. Not sure if they provide this for all corporate clients or not. I just need to tell the hotel staff my destination, and they'll write a voucher to the taxi driver. All expenses paid, no questions asked. Or maybe they're footing the bill because the office only 10 minutes away, which amounts to about 20,000 rupiah.

I later found out that Internet access is actually free. Normally, it's 140,000 rupiah for 24 hours, but as part of my packages, they're waiving the fee for me. Seems to be capped at 1Mbps. Use of the gym facilities is not complimentary though. The hotel did give me four 100,000-rupiah meal vouchers for use within the hotel.