When my best friend approached me with the offer of family holiday, I immediately snatched the opportunity. My friend's brother set up a travel agency and offered a super cheap Beijing tour. My family had never really been oversea apart for business trips, and this would be the first we went for family holiday. My dad is actually quite happy with the tour idea as he didn't need to plan plan anything and just relax.
Because I am going under my friend's brother travel agency, instead of taking the main buses with the rest Malaysians, my family travel in private vans with my friend's family.
Gotta admit I felt exclusive haha.
Arriving Beijing
By right, it's supposed to be spring and I'm super exited as I had never experience spring nor summer. I had been experiencing winters during my years in Pakistan.
Imagine my disappointment when I learn spring is delayed and it's still winter when we arrived (and my expression here is painfully obvious lol).
I know China is know for being grand, but I didn't expect that extend to the toll booth!
The Forbidden City
The first place we went? The Forbidden City of course! Alongside the Great Wall, The Forbidden City is one of the famous, well-known landmark in China.
It just, I admit, I didn't know it located in the middle of (Beijing) city! I thought it would be at the outskirt - or the city built away from the palace.
The Forbidden City (Chinese: 故宫; pinyin: Gùgōng) is a palace complex in central Beijing, China. It houses the Palace Museum, and was the former Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty (the years 1420 to 1912). The Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households and was the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years.
Great Wall of China
As I mentioned before, alongside The Forbidden City, the Great Wall is one of the famous, well-known landmark in China - therefore it's a must visit location.
I always know it's going to be a challenge to climb the great wall, and I was painfully correct. I can barely climb to the main post, my stamina had been deteriorating
The Great Wall of China (Chinese: 萬里長城; pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng) is the collective name of a series of fortification systems generally built across the historical northern borders of China to protect and consolidate territories of Chinese states and empires against various nomadic groups of the steppe and their polities.
Jinsha Theather
As the day almost end, we went to popular Jin Sha Theater to watch the famous Jinsha acrobat performance. Everything absolutely amazing and I ended up buying their official DVD of full performance.
Legend of Jinsha is a classic acrobatic performance venue hosted by the Beijing Workers Club. Known for it's captivating acts that are intense and highly skillful, this show is a brilliant spectacle from beginning to end.
Going Around Beijing
We begin to go around Beijing, and stopped by to several landmarks; Beijing National Stadium, a massage parlour, knife factory/center, and finally randomly walking around the city for sightseeing and shopping of course!
However we can only walk within the bus radius and there's few places caught my attention but we didn't manage to stop by.
Beijing Silk Market
On the last night, we decided to go on full shopping so our tour guide took us the famous (or infamous) Silk Market. Unsurprisingly all the sellers there speaks fluent English and they're very persistent! But mum also very persistent, in haggling 😂
Silk Street, aka Silk Market or Silk Street Market, is a shopping center in Chaoyang District, Beijing, that accommodates over 1,700 retail vendors, notorious among international tourists for their wide selection of counterfeit designer brand apparel
Leaving Beijing
One of my friend's cousin for some odd reason is really fond of my dad 😂
But it was still an amazing journey. Our tour guide is very fluent in malay and he's good telling jokes in Malay. While the driver is quite quiet, he is very warm and friendly.
To be honest I didn't put much expectations when we decided to holiday to Beijing, I'm just thrilled to be able once awhile leaving Malaysia. Didn't expect to actually enjoy the trip.
Despite all the things been going on in China, let this moment stays as beautiful memories.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Chinese Proverb
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