Archive for the ‘Beijing’ Category
Quan Je Du revisited
October 26th, 2009 | 
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I get to have pictures this time!! I dragged my family to dine here at Quan Ju De and experience my favorite Peking duck around Beijing. I miss it so much that I stuffed more than 3 pieces of succulent Peking duck skin inside the wrap.
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Service apartment place
Last May, my family and I went to Beijing then Shanghai, I opted for Agoda’s deal of Service Apartments as I scouted for better deals.
Here’s a detailed account of our stay in each service apartment, Wanderlust Diary.
It had a kitchen, pretty decent bathrooms, cozy living room area, table for laptop (free internet), huge clean beds. Overall the place was great to go back to after a long day of tourist attraction walking.
Temple Fair (Bai Yun Temple)
During Chinese New Year, there is a tradition in China which celebrates by having temple fairs. Celebrated in temples around the city, people gather around to pray for luck, good fortune, health and all possible good tidings that one can ask. One of the temple we visited is Bai Yun which means White Cloud. It’s actually fun to see a lot of people burning incense and praying to Taoist saints. They also have a lot of activities like this one which I tried. You will need to buy gold plated huge coins to aim and throw on the big bell on the middle. It’s said that it will bring luck but I’m more into trying out cultural activities like this. And I hit the target! (not captured in the video though)
Here’s a peak of throwing coin activity…
La Mansarde Beijing
Delicieux!
I have this facination with speaking French, I really want to learn the language. It all sounds so sophisticated and elegant. I wanted to taste the famous crepes and other French cuisines so that I can feel a bit closer to French culture. So we managed to search for one of the well-known French Restaurant in Beijing.
La Mansarde was once featured in That’s Beijing so we ought to try it before we went back home. Best known for crepes, the restaurant offers variety of French cuisine.
I am really not a fan of kebabs types of food. I think I ordered wrong because the ones I tasted was just so-so. I was not impressed by the entrees. We tried the lunch set (which is a value for money because there’s an appetizer or dessert, entree for around 40rmb if I remembered correctly). I guess there are only few good choices for the lunch sets.
The ambience was nice, pleasing and home-y. The service was not so spectacular but ok for a classy restaurant.
Fresh Plus sumptuous buffet
While walking along a shopping strip in Zhongguancun , we stumbled upon a buffet dining area which looks snobbish at first, but since we were facinated with the ambiance and desserts, we managed to walk in and asked about the price of the best-looking dessert on the display stand. Luckily, we were able to talk to one of the marketing managers of the restaurant. She was very accomodating even if we looked like students (cheapstake ones). She toured us around the restaurant which I think was very chic. After letting us look at the entrees on the buffet tables, she gave us a dozen or more discount vouchers (20 kuai off!) to distribute amongst our friends in BLCU.
The buffet restaurant is called Fresh Plus International. The lunch buffet is originally 90 RMB per person but with our discount voucher, we managed to have a value-for-money buffet meal! Everytime you eat there, they will replace the discount voucher with new ones so that you can invite friends/family to try the restaurant. This is a good marketing strategy in my opinion. In our stay, we got to invite more than 20 people to try out the buffet restaurant. We even spent our Christmas Eve Dinner here in the pleasant room we reserved though that time, the price was jacked up doubling the usual price for it but nevertheless, it was still satisfying.
World Park Beijing
Paris? Pyramids? Close…for budget tourist like me, I’m estatic seeing almost ‘real’ world attractions at World Park. These life-size replicas ignite the historical curiousity in you. Imagine seeing mythological scruptures from “ancient” Greece/Rome! Or the Japanese temples and gardens! or life-size Angkor Wat!
The World Park in Beijing is located in southwestern Fengtai District, and is about 17 kilometers from the City center and 40 kilometers from the Capital International Airport. The park opened in 1993 and is estimated to receive 1.5 million visitors annually.
When we went there, it was so gloomy that I was depressed seeing the cloudy sky. Although the weather was not with us that day, we managed to go around the place and take lots of pictures as usual! My favorite is the Eiffel Tower replica! I do dream of Paris…so hopefully one day, I’ll be in the real one!
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Beijing Center for Performing Arts
This is one of the anticipated architectural masterpiece designed by the French architect Jean Andreu. Formally known as National Grand Theatre, Beijing Center for Performing Arts opens to the public this December 22, 2007.
An inaugural concert will be given by the China National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. Soloist Li Yundi, a young Chinese pianist, will play a piece by Maurice Ravel, said Deng Yijiang, deputy president of the National Center for the Performing Arts, during a news briefing.
The Mariinsky Theater Opera Company (known until 1991 as the Kirov), from St Petersburg, Russia, will perform Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor on December 25. It will be the first foreign art troupe to give a performance in the building.