Free & Easy Travel to Beijing & Tianjin from 2nd to 7th June 2010

Photograph of me taken at the main entrance of Tian'anmen or The Gate of Heavenly Peace

Date of Travel : 2nd to 7th June 2010 via Air Asia X Flight No. D7 2612 (8.30 am to 14.30pm) and Flight D2 2605 (15.50 pm to 22.15 pm - However, this flight was delayed for 3 1/2 hours) and we arrived at approx. 1.30 am the next day

No. of Travellers: 4 (Four) , i.e. Elder sister, Wan Lai Meng, Younger Brother, Wan Heng Wan, Eldest Sister-in-law, Doreen Cheong and myself, Wan Heng Kei

Accomodations:

Beijing - Forbidden City Hotel, No. 5 Nanheyan Street, Beijing @ RM 107/Double Room. The booking was made via http://www.airasiago.com/. The hotel was within 20 minutes walk from Tian'anmen East and Wangfujing Metro Stations with nearby tourist attractions such as Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City/Palace Museum, Donghuamen/Wangfujiang night markets, Mao Tze Tung Memorial Hall, People's Hero Square, Great Hall of the People and other Beijing Attractions.

Tianjin - Jinjiang Inns, No. 17, Jinbu Road, Tianjin @ RMB 189/Double Room. This hotel was within the localities of Tianjin Railway Station and thus convenient to us when we arrived by Express D Train from Beijing South Railway Station.

Free and Easy Travel within Beijing was easy and conveniently accessible especially with the superb Beijing Metro presently with 9 existing Lines ( Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13 and the Batong and Airport Lines); more new and extention lines are being added. Beijing has the cheapest metro transportation in the world at RMB 2.00 per ride. At times we were passing through as much as 20 metro stations comprising of 4 or 5 lines or inter-change stations when we visited Beijing tourist attractions such as The Summer Palace, The Beijing Olympic Park/Bird Nest, etc. Where-else in the world can you find a more cheaper, confortable and airconditioned metro ride at this price ?

I vividly remembered my last trip to Beijing (Chengde & Tianjin) 13 years ago during the 2nd term school-break where my family joined a 7days/6 Nights Packaged Tour and cost us more than RM 2000/person. My elder sister was here twice previously whereas my younger brother & family also holidayed here in 1997. This was the first time my eldest sister-in-law, Doreen was in Beijing; being a first timer, she enjoyed her Beijing budgetted holidays. Details of our free and easy travel within Beijing and Tianjin were as follows:-

Photograph taken at Longevity Hill, the tower of Buddhist Incense; the highest building within The Summer Palace, Beijing

Exotic Chinese Snacks comprising of silk worms/cocoons, water beetles, centipedes, snake and other food such as starfish, scorpions, sea horses, etc. available at Donghuamen Night Market, Wangfujing.

Wednesday, 2nd June 2010 - Upon arrival at Tianjin Binhai Airport and after immigration clearance, we purchased shuttle bus ticket (at Ticket Booth near Exit 2) @ RMB 35/person. The non-stop express bus to Dawangfen Bus Station, Beijing took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The bus station was located nearby Dawangqiao Metro Station (Line 1). Since, there were four of us and carrying backpacks, we took a private taxi @ RMB 60 to the Forbidden City Hotel to check-in.

We had a short rest and then took a leisure walk to the nearby Donghuamen Night Market followed by Wangfujiang pedestrian Mall for our dinner and enjoyed the night sceneries.

Thursday, 3rd June 2010 - We walked to Tianan'men Square and then spent almost 3 hours at The Palace Museum or Forbidden City; the largest imperial palace in the world and listed by UNESCO. The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty in 1406, and continued until the Qing Dynasty. It now housed the Palace Museum.
After the Palace Museum, we intend to visit Mao Tze Tung Memorial Hall or Mausoleum where Mao's embalmed body was displayed to the general public. Unfortunately, this place was only opened up to 12 Noon; thus, we missed the opportunity. We should have came here first rather than the Palace Museum. We then walked around the vicinity of Tianan'men photographing/videoing other tourist attractions such as the Great Hall of the People, People's Hero Monument, the National Museum of China, etc. After a quick lunch, we took the Tianan'men East Metro to Tiantiandongmen Metro and visited the Temple of Heaven; an imperial temple where Ming & Qing emperors offer sacrifices to Heavenly God. The temple was divided by two enclosed walls, the inner & outer walls. The magnificent buildings within this complex were the Circular Mould Altar (Yuanqiutan), Imperial Vault of Heaven (Huanqiongyu), the Hall of Prayer for good harvest (qiniandian) and others like Three Echo Stones and Echo Walls, etc.

Later in the afternoon, we took the Yongan-li Metro (Line 1) and did our shopping at the nearby Beijing Silk Street and the nearby localities.

Photograph of myself, HK Wan, my elder sister, Wan Lai Meng, my eldest sister-in-law, Doreen (Top Left) and my younger brother, Wan Heng Wan, my elder sister & eldest sister-in-law (bottom right) taken at the main entrance of The Forbidden City or Palace Museum, Beijing

Photograph taken inside the Forbidden City, Beijing

Photograph of the Wan Siblings, younger brother, Heng Wan, elder sister, Lai Meng and myself, Heng Kei taken at the Temple of Heaven, Beijing

Friday, 4th June 2010 - We had early breakfast and took the metro to Beijing North Railway Station via Xishimen Metro Line 2. We then purchased train tickets for the 9.30 am ride to Badailing Train Station @ RMB 14/person. The journey took slightly more than 1 hour. On arrival, it takes us about 20 minutes to walk to the main entrance of the Badaling Great Wall. The Badaling Great Wall of China was listed as one of UNESCO heritage sites as well as the new seven wonders of the world. It started during the Spring and Autumn (770 - 476 BC) and during the reign of China's first emperor Shihuangti from 221 to 206 BC, it functioned as a fortification. Thus, certain sections are more than 2500 years old. The Badaling section of the Great Wall was the most popular and touristy sections as it was well maintained and nearby China's capital of Beijing. There is a saying that you may not have really visited China's capital of Beijing until you been to the Great Wall of China.

We spent almost 3 1/2 hours at Badaling plus lunch there. However, you have to be careful when you order your lunch. The food stall we chose was a tourist trap. Due to demand, you need to pay first and then select your meals as per catalogues/photographs provided; however, when the food was delivered, it looks different and very much inferior than ordered. We were scammed. We returned by the 3.15 pm train. The train ride was comfortable but not too regular as the trip was once every 2 or 3 hours. I would recommend you to go by train and return by Bus No. 919 @ 10 minutes intervals or vice-versa.

After Badaling, we took the metro to Beijing Olympic Park via various Metro Line Nos. 2, 13, 10 and 8 and exit at Olympic Sport Center. We spend another 2 hours visiting Beijing National Olympic Stadium of the Bird Nest, The National Aquatic Center or the Water Cube, The National Indoor Stadium of the Fan. The main events of 2008 Beijing Olympic were held at the Beijing Olympic Park.
Photograph taken at The Great Wall of China, Badaling - One World, One Dream at The Great Wall

Another photograph taken at The Great Wall of China, Badaling

Another photograph of the Wan Siblings taken at the Birdnest or The Beijing 2008 National Olympic Stadium

Saturday, 5th June 2010 - We went to The Summer Palace via Metro and exit at Beigongmen Station after having passing by about 16 Metro Stations @ RMB 2/person; what a bargain. The Summer Palace is one of the largest and best preserved imperial gardens in the world and listed as a UNESCO world heritage site. We spend more than than 3 hours visiting the various attractions such as Suzhou Market Street, the tower of Buddhist Incense, Longevity Hill, the Kunming lake, the Long Corridor (with over 14,000 tradional Chinese paintings on the beams and cross beams), the Marble Boat, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony and other attractions. Thereafter, we took the metro to Yonghegong Metro (Line 2) and visited Yonghe Tibetan Buddhist Temple of the Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple. It was a temple and monastery of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the renowned Tibetan Monastery in the world.

Photograph of my eldest sister-in-law, Doreen Cheong taken at The Ancient Cultural Street, Tianjin

Evening scene of Haihe Square, Tianjin. This photograph was taken at the Century Clock with my younger brother, Heng Wan, myself, Heng Kei and my elder sister, Lai Meng

Sunday, 6th June 2010 - We checked out of the Forbidden City Hotel at about 9.30 am; took a cab to Beijing's newly opened (1st August 2008) South Railway Station - the largest railway station in Asia. It served as Beijing's railway terminal for high speed/Express D Trains to other Chinese cities. The taxi ride took about 20 minutes and cost RMB 25. This Railway Station was also served by Beijing metro Line 4 at the basement. We purchased the express train from Beijing to Tianjin @ RMB 58/person, leaving at 10.55am and arriving at 11.24am, one minute ahead of schedule. During the journey, I noticed that the top speed exceeded 330 kilometres/hour to as high as 333 km/hour. As we came out of Tianjing Railway station, we saw our hotel, Jinjiang Inns from a distance and it took us 5 minutes to get there.

At Tianjin, we took a cab to Tianjin's ancient Cultural Street, the nearby Notre Dames des Victories Cathedral, went shopping at Walmart (since there were none in Malaysia) and at night, we walked along the brightly-lighted Haihe Square, the Century Clock, Tianjin's food street and the localities within Tianjin Railway Station.

Monday, 7th June 2010 - As our departure Air Asia X flight was in the late afternoon, we had a morning walk from Jinjiang Inns; crossed the Haihe River via Jiafang Bridge or Liberation Bridge to the French quarters with its unique architecture and various statues of French sculptors.

We checked out of Jinjiang Inn at about 12 Noon and then booked a taxi @ RMB 60 to Tianjin Airport for our 15.50 pm flight back to Kuala Lumpur LCCT. There was no delay to the flight but after boarding the aircraft, we waited inside for almost 3 hours due to some technical problems on the aircraft's computer system. The aircraft finally took off and we arrived at LCCT at about 1.30 am the next morning (instead of 22.15 pm).

Despite the delays, we enjoyed our free and easy 6 Days/5 Nights tour of Beijing and Tianjin and overall, it cost us less than MYR 1,000 per person (or USD 305) inclusive of cheap airfares, food, budget hotel accomodations, all travellings via bus, metro, trains, taxis, etc. entrance fees, etc. and as Malaysian, we love budget travelling especially to various places, our preference are the Chinese cities, Indo-China, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. as our Malaysian Ringgit can be valued in these places viz-a-viz Chinese Renminbi, Thai Baht, Indonesian Rupiah, etc. In actual fact, it was more economical for us as Malaysian to holiday in these places than the much high costs in neighbouring Singapore or Brunei.

Posted in July 2010 by HK Wan (Email: hengkei@gmail.com).