Day One - My 8D Beijing/Chengde/Tianjin Highlight Tour (8天皇城北京/承德/天津精选游) with Hong Thai Travel [康泰旅行社]

My third visit to mainland China started at sunset on a plane that departed from Terminal 3, Changi Airport.

It had been so long since i last took Singapore Airlines (SIA) and it was a good break from budget airlines with their tight, suffocating seats with no entertainment!

Add in the steaming hot meals that make you wonder if the plane has a kitchen to call its own and the endless servings of coffee, tea, red wine, orange juice etc!!!

That's not all! The dessert was a luxurious bar of Magnum Chocolate Truffle ice cream! Oh well, i can forgo all the above so long the air tickets are cheaper.

We arrived in Beijing at around 1am, were warmly received by our tour guide shortly after and reached the Holiday Inn Express hotel at 2am. I was totally sleep deprived due to all the movies i was watching on the plane!

Our hotel room! I was in China with my parents and most hotels in China do not have 3-bed room;  therefore, one of us had to make do with a collapsible or sofa bed.

Rise and shine for breakfast! For the rest of the seven days, i only indulged in toasts with butter and jam and hard boiled eggs. Frankly, i was seriously craving for a plate of nasi lemak or roti prata when i was in China.

Beijing was foggy! But for a person who hates the heat and humidity, this was also at a cool of only fifteen odd degree Celsius! So nice to feel the fluff of my hair!

All car plate numbers in China start with a Chinese character! Since we were in Beijing (北京), most cars (with the exception of military and embassies) would have 京 on their car plate.

Lunch at Quanjude; the world famous restaurant serving Peking Duck that counts top government echelons and celebrities as its loyal customers. Check out my review here.

Dubbed as the big pair of shorts, this iconic building for China Central Television was finally completed in May this year. Despite the fog, September is known to be the best time to tour Beijing; winter is mercilessly cold, summer is terribly hot and spring is the best season for sandstorms! 

Our first touristy highlight - Tiananmen Square and Tiananmen where the big portrait of Mao Zedong had his eyes roving all over the place! Click HERE for my post.

The biggest palace in the world - The Forbidden City! I have covered almost all my content here and here. Check them out!

After a few hours of hiking through the palace, we were brought to Wangfujing [王府井] shopping street, which is equivalent to Orchard road in Singapore [hint: selling branded stuff that could be cheaper back in Singapore].

An hour was given for us to roam the busiest street in Beijing and before long, we found ourselves spending our valuable time in a multi-storey book store!

We also made full use of the remaining time to check out Donghuamen night market [东华门美食坊夜市]. It was more a food street than a night market as there was nothing else you can buy except those to stuff your stomachs.

Xiao Cheng, our tour guide, explicitly told us that hygiene would be an issue and warned us not to try anything from the food street. Given that it was my first day in Beijing, i guess it would not harm to pay some heed to his advice.

Therefore, the only thing i can do to stop myself from buying a serving of smelly tofu (that smelled disgustingly good) was to take pictures to pass time. :(

Candied fruits [冰糖葫芦] that originally used haw instead of fruits.

Deep fried ice cream! At this moment, while going through the pictures i have, i regretted not buying any to try out! The colder climate, as opposed to hot Singapore, would deter the growth of bacteria right?

Weird looking crabs.

Traditional Beijing cakes that are made using bean paste.

Sale of fried beef tripe. This seems popular with the locals as you can see hawkers offering this for sale every few stalls. Not my cup of tea though.

Grilled squid!! Darn, the Gang of Four should organise a BBQ trip in the near future. It has been so long since we last set up 'shop' at Yishun Dam!

For the adventurous, you may also find skewers of scorpions, maggots and poisonous centipedes to have i-dare-you matches with your friends!

Fried starfish?!?! This food street contained so many food surprises that i have never seen before!

The whole stretch was teeming with loads of visitors when the coach drove past the food street on our way to another location for dinner.

Traffic in Beijing was bad even though we were still fairly lucky without facing a complete traffic standstill for more fifteen minutes!  

Dinner was at Daixilou [大戏楼]; a beautifully built restaurant that combined meals with Peking operas. 

Frankly, this concept would have no problem attracting foreigners. But for overseas Chinese like myself, i don't even watch Chinese operas in Singapore! So what makes you think i would concentrate on the Peking opera?

Food was mediocre even though i personally enjoyed the small appetisers like mustard covered cabbage! Lighting was dimmed during the opera and this made eating somewhat frustrating, especially for fish with hairline bones.

The highlight of my day was definitely on this incident that happened during dinnertime. 

I broke a plasticky-feeling spoon while scooping the meat from a deep fried fish and i was prepared to pay for the damage, if anything. The service staff informed me that i had to pay 5 RMB (equivalent to S$1) for the bad quality spoon! 

There was nothing exquisite to the spoon and i was about to reply the waitress that i would gladly pay 50 RMB for her to take out another 9 spoons. Why? 

Because i am so going to break the spoons with just my bare hands just to show everyone how bad the quality is. Didn't manage to do it though, as mom vehemently voiced out her unhappiness over this unreasonable demand (to her, it is a matter of principle).

Quan Ju De Peking Duck (全聚德烤鸭) - The Most Famous Roasted Duck in the World @ Beijing, China

Mention a visit to Beijing to foodies and they would immediately start a discussion on Peking Roast Duck (北京烤鸭) - the signature dish for the capital of China. 

I would therefore be doing the duck a great disservice if i didn't attempt to have it in my recent visit to Beijing! It didn't take me long though as i had it on the very date i arrived in Beijing. 

Veterans would tell us that there is no better place to have authentic Peking roast duck than Quanjude, a restaurant that has served the dish since year 1864! That is a whooping 148 years in operation!

Authenticity aside, i am aware there are many people who felt that Quanjude is overrated and there are better choices to have Peking duck in Beijing. Given the limited time i had in my tour package, i guess i can only confirm that in the future, when i take on the capital as a free and easy traveler. 

As part of the tour package, lunch was provided at Quanjude and this included a lot of dishes (i counted 10) other than the famous duck. 

This was diced chicken in sauce and they were so tender and nice! Not as salty as some would comment on typical Chinese fare in China. 

The one that took me by surprise was this plate of stir fried vegetables (already half eaten when i took the picture) that even my mom would find it hard to emulate. They tasted almost burnt yet it wasn't and left a tingling sensation that made the green vegetables extremely addictive!

Grand arrival of the duck! Befitting its status, this was placed on the trolley and pushed into the private room reserved for our group. 

And best of all, it was carved right before our eyes!

No worries on the issue of hygiene. This young chap was fully equipped with a face mask and plastic gloves. You don't even find many people doing that in Singapore.

This was definitely not the first time i had Peking duck; I had it a couple of times in Singapore but i realised that something didn't look right. 

Ain't these supposed to be just duck skin with minimal meat? Have we been eating Peking duck the wrong way! Either that or it is a matter of Singaporeans preference! 

Nonetheless, look at the thick layer of fat!!! For those who are unaware, the ducks were force fed 4 times a day in order to gain bulk for a more fatty constitution! This is so similar to the breeding of ducks for foie gras!

The items you need to truly savour the Peking duck. What's missing was a plate of warm steamed pancakes that generally had a taste you would not want to eat on its own.

Here they are, all ready to be rolled as one! 

Mmmmmmmm, delicious! The skin was incredibly crispy (you can clearly hear the crunch) without all the oil smudging my lips! They would have been placed on equal standing with my favourite deep fried pork lard! 

Sorry, my taste buds could not really discern the supposedly fruity fragrance. My bad although it was still the best Peking duck i ever had. 

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Location 

Quanjude has over eight branches in Beijing and the one we went was the Chaoyang branch. Should you prefer the original store, please visit the one in Qianmen.

Price

Not too sure about the other dishes (since lunch was part of the package tour) but according to the above, a Peking duck cost 198 RMB while the vacuumed pack cost much cheaper (fishy). 

The Forbidden City Inner Court [紫禁城后宫] - Last Imperial Palace & Current Palace Museum [故宫博物院] @ Beijing, China

The inner palace of the Qing emperors has always been used as a saucy backdrop for which producers of period dramas exploit for the deceit, treachery, betrayals and politics within the royal harem. 

And i am especially elated to be able to stand in its actual compound!!

Entering the inner palace via the side door! There are two sets of handwriting on the plaque; left is Chinese while right was added during the Qing Dynasty, representing Manchurian, the language of the Manchus. 

Most of them were waiting for their families, friends and/or tour mates to finish their toilet business! 

The tiles were still the yellow glazed type although i noticed there were architectural differences from the outer court; motifs of flowers on the walls etc.

Unlike the wide sparseness surrounding the harmony halls, the inner court was filled with centuries old trees and plants that livened up the environment.

Food and drinks! I was always sourcing for ice cream in Beijing even when the temperature was below 10 degrees celcius! It just felt so shiok! 

Door of Mental Cultivation (养心门) - don't underestimate the significance of what lies behind this door and assume it is an abode of relaxation. 

The placement of this jade held by an intricately carved holder (click to have a better look at the amazing workmanship) might help to relieve some mental stress but i seriously doubt it.

Right behind the door was actually the Hall of Mental Cultivation (养心殿) - a place of great importance in the history of the Qing dynasty. 

It was the place where emperors, starting from Yongzheng, held court and discussed national affairs! Darn, i was always under the impression court was held in a huge hall like the biggest one in the Forbidden City; Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿).

Serious restoration work should be carried out! It's obvious that the paint had fallen off and the supposedly grandeur to the hall was reduced to a regretful state of neglect. 

For goodness sake, this was the hall where the decision to end the Qing dynasty was made! And was also the exact location where Empress Dowager Ci'xi held court on behalf of the young emperors under her control. 

Sun dial outside the Room of Three Rarities (San Xi Tang as translated from 三希堂). The three rarities are not jewels unfortunately and in fact referred to three famous calligraphy works.

Residences for the Empress and the concubines. I was expecting huge courtyards with big rooms that could easily make up a five-room HDB flat or something!

My jaw dropped when i realised how small each room was! The above was the bed for the Empress and all the items behind the glass panels are all antiques! 

And i think i am not the only one.

Heard of the term Jing Zhi Yu Ye (金枝玉叶) which usually refers to a female with very good background? This was a real life example of golden branches and jade leaves!

Down the long passage again, bypassing many doors that could have held fascinating history.

Here we were at the Imperial Garden (御花园) - the final destination for our Forbidden Palace Tour! Now, that's really fast and we missed out far too many notable attractions like Qian Qing Gong etc.

The red line on the Forbidden City map accurately showed the exact route i took for my tour. See how much i have missed out! 

Coming back to the imperial garden; there many displays of big ass rocks and ancient cypress trees (according to an online source, there was one over 400 hundred years old) but the scale of this royal garden was surprisingly small. 

With over forty structures in such constricted space, my carefree soul would have enjoyed a mini adventure of breaking all imperial rules just to explore the area. 

Sadly, i counted less than minutes before we were ushered out of Sheng Wu Men (神武门 or Gate of Divine Prowess); the northern gate of the imperial palace also known as the exit. 

I thought we could climb up to the pavilion on top of Jingshan (景山); an artificial hill that was piled up using the soil excavated from digging the moats and canals during the construction of the Forbidden City. 

Of course it was hardly surprisingly to find that Jingshan was not part of our itinerary! Bloody tour packages. 

Gate of Divine Prowess - the five Chinese characters above the central passage said 故宫博物院, Palace Museum. Do note that this is the exit and you could not enter the palace from this gate. 

It was only 4pm but the sun was already setting for us to bade farewell to the biggest (existing) imperial palace in the world. 

Would i be back to further explore this Oriental beauty? 

I would love to but as a free and easy traveler!!!