Zhongguancun is by far the busiest area I have gone to where it’s always jampacked with people wanting to buy new gadgets or shop at the newest mall there is ( 888 Mall) or buy groceries at Carrefour. Heavy traffic during the time I was there because of some pavement construction nearby.

Gadgets are not really my thing but you can get the cheapest electronics here at Zhongguancun. There are a lot of electronic malls in the area and if you plan to canvass for the cheapest, you need to set aside 2 days to get around all the places. (more…)

I usually shop in flea market like that near Beijing Zoo, or the more organize ones in Silk market or Yashow market. I can’t help but notice how the vendors would give higher prices to foreigners or those who can’t understand Chinese well. Of course, I couldn’t buy an overpriced jacket that normally would cost half the price, I tend to haggle until they get pissed off.

My friends have developed some ‘walk away” strategy when shopping. When the vendors shout a high price, my friends say that it’s expensive, then walk away slowly until the vendors would lower the price. Usually they would lower it a bit but don’t get excited at their price. Act nonchalantly. Then they usually ask how much you want it, don’t say your price (of course since they know you don’t know the running price for the item)..just say, “What’s the lowest price you can offer?” = (Ni zui di de jia ge shi she me?)

Can’t imagine it gets me 10-15 minutes haggling for the best price of a shirt or jacket. But I end up getting my money’s worth.

I got imitation of Seven jeans at around 85-90 rmb, shirts for 20-30 rmb. The flea market near Beijing Zoo is cheaper but they usually give big discounts to wholesalers.

Shopping terms you can use: (more…)

Forbidden City is a famous tourist spot in Beijing. Though it may be a bit crowded during weekends, you should at least have a peek at a historical palace and behold the beautiful artifact of history. If you can imagine a bull’s eye target, the map of Beijing is similar to that, with Forbidden city and Tiannanmen Square being the one in the middle.

The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the “Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties”,[1] and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

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Sing your heart away..in Chinese, English, Korean, Thai, and some even in Tagalog! My friends and I usually hang out in Lion King KTV which is near our place in Wudaokou. It has selection of English music sort of updated but you can still endure. The lighting inside the room is a bit dark and the room can be really warm especially when you invite all your friends and get all crazy drunk.

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(BEIJING, March 27) — On the occasion of the 500-day countdown to the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) unveiled the Games’ medals.

BOCOG Executive Vice-President and chairman of the evaluation panel Jiang Xiaoyu attended the unveiling ceremony and delivered a speech at the Capital Museum on Tuesday.

The medals are designed with inspiration from “bi”, China’s ancient jade piece inscribed with dragon pattern. The medals, made of gold and jade, symbolize nobility and virtue and are embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honor.

The medals are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. On their obverse side, the medals adopt the standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — a drawing that represents the winged goddess of victory Nike and Panathinaikos Arena, while on their reverse side, the medals are inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centerpiece. (more…)

Haerbin (or Harbin) is a place where famous ice festival are held annually starting early January. This is located Northeast China and is the capital of HeiLongJiang. Because it’s near Russia, the architectures are very different than those in mainland China. Influence by Russian colonization, the place has still a lot of Russian translation in stores, billboards.

The Old St. Sophia Cathedral is still well preserved but already made into a museum that shows the civilization of Russian Colony.

It’s supposed to have the coldest temperature with longest winter however when we went there, it was said to have their hottest winter so to speak. (more…)

My friend Sophie who own a fresh new blog MySummerSolstice tagged me to share 7 random facts about Beijing. Well, couldn’t help but think them over…good or bad…they all happened to me!

1. Prepaid electricity, gas– this is not really a very unusual thing but for me, it is. I need to check our electricity counter everyday to see if we need to buy energy credits. At least we’re all conscious about our usage..we get to calculate our daily expenses. 8 hours of using the aircon will costs us 10 credits. Unfortunately, one time didn’t get to check our gas credit..while I was cooking..dang..gas stopped fuming so microwave became my best friend.

2. Unbashful Comfort room experiences - In Beijing, mostly the urinal is on the floor so the girls and guys who need to poop would need to squat. It was really hard to do it since there’s a possibility of losing your balance. Well, that quite didn’t matter. What ticked me..I get to open cubicle’s door unknowingly with someone peeing because some don’t lock their doors! I end up being the one going out of the CR. Weird thing is, they weren’t embarassed at all! I even remember one comfort room in the province of Chengdu, we had to endure cubicles with no doors at all, plus no urinal! Just a drainage…plus so many unsightful things you can see..argh.

3. Couple-ly sights - I noticed a lot of couples wearing almost same style of clothes when they hang out together which was sort of funny way to show they’re together. Imagine seeing both wearing same cartoon T-shirts while doing some PDA (public display of affection) on the streets. Cute..sort of.

4. Milktea and Yogurt haven - My favorite milktea drink…available almost everywhere! I can’t resist buying milk tea..hot or cold, I love it to bits. Also in supermarkets, there’s a lot of different kinds of yogurt. It seems to be a favorite for Chinese buyers. I noticed about 8-10 brands competing for shelf space.

5. Hard Haggling - Haggling is different in China, you need to haggle for a much lower price especially if you look foreign and don’t speak much of Mandarin. The sellers are smart but you should be smarter. Sometimes, what you thought was a good deal is not. I’ll try to blog some haggling techniques one can practice in China.

6. Spitting - Good thing now there’s a fine for anyone caught spitting in streets. This one is the most disgusting habit some still can’t resist to do. Way back in 2005 when I visited Beijing, every 20 secs while walking on the street, there’s someone spitting! Well, fortunately, there’s a sound they make seconds before spitting..at least I have some leeway to run away fast! Now, people don’t spit as muh..whew. One memorable spit I saw in winter..frozen spit!

7. Ancient modern architectural melting pot - I love how ancient architecture are still well-preserved in Beijing. The big city has wondrous imperial gardens, Forbidden city, Summer palace, old ruins to see and behold. These are perks for wanderlusts like me!

Okay, so now I’m done, I’d like to tag 3 people to post about 7 random facts about themselves. I’m tagging Kats, Berns, Garot.

For the rules :

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.