Trip to Wuhan and Beijing

I had made my “winter break” this year in China again. Travel to Wuhan to meet my girlfriend on 20th Dec and made a trip together to Beijing. Travel back to Malaysia on 30th December. It was my first visit to the capital of China and a good opportunity for me to have a look on Beijing before the Olympic game in year 2008. Visit Beijing is almost like reading a history book since there are so many heritages there. We had to start our day as early as 7 a.m. everyday so that we can cover almost all the attraction points in Beijing. To my surprise, the ticket prices for the subway is rather cheap, only 2 Yuan or RM1, including the transit. However, traffic in Beijing is quite congested even in “non-peak” hour. One of taxi drivers told me that Beijing is going to implement the rule that car on the road will eventually based on the first digit of its plat number during the Olympic game: odd digit for Monday, Wednesday and Friday while even digit for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Walking upon the lake was indeed a new experience for me. The weather was so cold in Chengde that even the lake was frozen over. My girlfriend was busy with her shopping stuffs until the very last minute before we captured the flight back to KL….

Travel route:
KL --> GuangZhou --> Wuhan [20 Dec] --> Beijing [23 Dec] --> Chengde [25 Dec via Train] --> Beijing [26 Dec] --> KL [30 Dec]

Some of the places that we have visited during our stay in China:
Wuhan [武汉] :
Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuchang Revolution Museum

Beijing [北京] and Chengde [承德]:
1st Day: Yonghe Temple (雍和宮), Beihan (北海) and Wangfujing (王府井大街)
2nd Day: Forbidden City (故宫博物院), Jingshan Park (景山公园),
Tiananmen Square (天安门广场), Dashilar, Liulichang
3rd Day: Chengde Mountain Resort (避暑山庄)
4th Day: Puning Temple (普宁寺), Putuo Zongcheng Temple (普陀宗乘之庙)
5th Day: Temple of Heaven (天坛), Prince Gong's Mansion (恭王府)
6th Day: Great Wall – Juyongguan (居庸关), Ming Dynasty Tombs (明朝十三陵),
Xidan (西单)
7th Day: Summer Palace (颐和园),
8th Day: Zhongguancun (中关村)

Some of the restaurants that we have visited:
Café Sambal – Malaysian Cuisine, Peking Roast Duck at Quanjude (全聚德), Sizzler, Annie’s Café – Italian Cuisine, Lao She Teahouse (老舍茶館), Sizzler …. etc.

My advice is that visit there when you are young and when you are physically capable to cope with a lot of walking.

Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼)

Forbidden City

My GF at Starbucks near Beihan

Yonghe Temple

Wuchang Revolution Museum

Wuchang Revolution Museum

Ming Tombs

Chengde Mountain Resort

Chengde Mountain Resort

Peking Roast Duck at Quanjude

Tortoise for Long Life at Forbidden City

Kirin

Summer Palace

Summer Palace

Old Peking Dish - 驢打滾 at Lao She Teahouse