Beijing Travel Bug

Archive for May, 2007

Fragrant Hills , a public park in Haidian District, is said to have a beautiful view when autumn comes. The pine trees turning fiery red or orange is a sight to behold. We always heard rumors that it was already turning that color but alas, we got the wrong timing. I went here twice already but I never behold the famous sights. Locals love to visit this place not just for the scene, but also a good exercise for them. There was a choice to walk or take the cable car, I always take the later since I’m not fond of mountain climbing/walking. The entrance for student for the park is around 5 rmb but 10 rmb if you’re an ordinary tourist. The cable car costs around 25 rmb one way if I remembered right. Unfortunately, the cable car is only up to 530pm.

Major places we should have gone:
Studio of Tranquil Heart

It was first built in mid-16th century under the Ming and was reconstructed in the Qing period. In the enclosure there is a large semi-circular pool in the shape of a heart. The studio was burned down in 1860 and was renovated after 1949.

Bright Temple

Lying to the south of the Studio of Tranquil Heart, the Bright Temple was built in 1780 as a residence for the Sixth Bainqen Erdeni when he visited Beijing. The compound has a 10-metre-high red terrace in Tibetan style. It was destroyed by the Anglo-French troops in 1860. (from Beijing 2008 site)

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I love this place! Seemingly, it’s because of the serene surroundings that it has amidst being inside the urban city of Beijing. I’ve seen that this is the symbol that China decides to parade in the Olympics 2008 Summer games rather than the Great Wall. I’m not very good at the history of this place so I took time to research in Wikipedia (which is banned in China internet, don’t know why).

Temple of Heaven is in the Xuanwu District southeast of Beijing. This ancient temple is one the temples where the emperors prayed for good harvest. I got a hold of a map of the place, but I wasn’t able to finish getting around the place since we took a lot of time taking pictures while in the big hall where it was said that the emperor would shout, and the whole city will hear some rumble (that was before because everything was quieter before!)

Some facts from WIKI:

* The Temple is surrounded by two cordons of walls; the outer wall has a taller, semi-circular northern end, representing Heaven, and a shorter, rectangular southern end, representing the Earth.

* All the buildings within the Temple have special dark blue roof tiles, again representing the Heaven.

* The Altar of Heaven was constructed with details representing the number nine, the representative number of the Emperor.

* It is said that if you stand at the centre of the platform and clap your hands, you can hear the echo because of the concavity of the surrounding wall.

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BEIJING, April 16 — More than seven million very affordable tickets are now on sale for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced Sunday. About 75% of the tickets will be sold domestically and the rest will be available to the overseas public.

Late last year, BOCOG announced that ticket prices for the Games will be in keeping with its efforts to host Games accessible to the broadest spectrum of people.

Anticipating a high level of demand, BOCOG Executive Vice President and Secretary General Wang Wei reiterated that the ticketing process will be conducted in the most efficient, fair and open manner possible and will follow internationally-accepted practices.

BOCOG will initiate a three-phased ticketing process for domestic sales. In each phase, residents on the Chinese mainland will be able to order tickets through the official ticketing website (http://tickets.beijing2008.com), calling the BOCOG ticketing call center (+86-10-952008), or through designated Bank of China branches.

For overseas sales, the process will be determined in each country and territory by its National Olympic Committee and its ticketing agent.

Domestic Ticketing Phases

On the Chinese mainland, Phase One of the ticketing process will run from now through the end of September 2007. During this first phase, 50% of the total 2.2 million domestic tickets for competition sessions and the estimated 26,000 tickets available for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, respectively, will be open to the domestic public.

Orders will be fulfilled through a process of ordering and confirmation by random selection. The first half of the period will be dedicated to collecting orders in which prospective ticket buyers indicate for which events they want tickets, and the second-half will be spent trying to determine whether the supply equals the demand for certain events. This approach provides everyone an equal chance of purchasing tickets that are in high demand.
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Sossy drink, loud funky music from hip hop , rnb, house etc! They got it all in Babyface!

Inside Babyface, it’s dark, loud and smokey as usual for a hip bar. When you enter, you can choose which room you prefer to hang out and dance. There are also private rooms up stairs for one to hang without being gawked by other people in other tables.

There were lots of mainlanders who look like from aged 25 above. We ordered Johnny Walker with a set of muchers (fruits, chips). Read the rest of this entry »

Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) is where I studied for technically 5 months for an intensive Mandarin course. I had my classes at Run Run shaw building. BLCU has a variety of students from all over the globe, most of my classmates came from Korea, some from Italy, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan and of course, Philippines.

BLCU has a spacious campus with amble greeneries to mentally relax a tired mind. Although it seems that the guards are not strict enough, our teachers say that the guards know who seems suspicious. There was no ID system where they check when you get in, but we have our student ID.

Inside the campus, there are several dormitory. My friends stayed in dorm 4 and dorm 17. Dorm 4 is near Runrun shaw Building and if you stay there, it’s easier not to be late (yeah right!?!). Dorm 17 is said to be have nicer rooms because it’s the newest building but located far off (outside BLCU west gate). Although I saw new dormitories under construction, will probably finish before the year ends. You can opt to stay outside schools, there are cheap places in Wangchuang lu area and expensive ones in Hua Qing Jia Yuan condominiums but usually you need to stay for a minimum of 1 year.

The campus has also a big library, a hotel, 2 canteens inside campus, badminton/ tennis courts, basketball courts, gym and swimming facilities.

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We came upon this homey restaurant one night to try out some Western steaks my friends missed. This restaurant is located along a strip of restaurants like Grandma’s Kitchen, near TGIF. We were kind of lost at first but fortunately, found this small place. Before going there, we reserved seats just to make sure. We heard that their steaks are wondrous but I think the price is a bit steep for the quality. I loved the mashed potatoes more!
Their pancakes were so so, but the maple sauce saved them from mediocrity.

Overall, I think the food is just okay. Kind of reminded me of homestyle meal but served it’s purpose since the atmosphere creates that notion. Read the rest of this entry »