The end...

The next day, I decided to travel around Beijing myself (because the rest were too busy with their projects and decided to stay in the lodge for the whole day instead...).

I decided to go to Rem Koolhaas's CCTV building. It has been closed since February because of a huge HUGE fire. It wasn't even the CCTV tower itself that caught fire but the neighbouring Oriental Mandarin hotel which is part of the CCTV complex. The complex was supposed to open May this year. See here for article. It is now a very huge expensive white elephant.

It was hard to see the CCTV in all its 'cantilevering' glory with the 10m fence fencing up the whole complex:

Finally a peek:

So wasted!:

After that I went back to pack up to make my own way to the airport (I was flying back earlier because I wanted to celebrate Hari Raya Haji in Singapore; I already missed last year's when I was down under). Yeow, Huiloh, Pam and Ashley decided to stay in Beijing for a couple more days before staying in Shanghai for a few days.

I took the domestic flight to Shanghai. The new terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport was designed by UK architect, Norman Foster's firm:

I was there too early and my flight was delayed indefinitely. I was really worried because my flight from Shanghai to Singapore was in the morning the next day. I HAD to fly back to Shanghai without delays! Luckily, after much pestering the lady at the check-in counter, she gave me an earlier flight out back to Shanghai.

So I flew back to Shanghai on my own and reached Shanghai Hongqiao Domestic Airport (Shanghai has two airports - the domestic one and the Shanghai Pudong International airport which are more than 40 km apart!). OMG, MY BAG. It was like shredded to pieces. When I first arrived in Shanghai, the top part was torn off; my book and my batteries where left scattered on the luggage belt. This time, the bottom of my bag was torn off completely, leaving some of my stuff dangling outside like the intestines and stomach after a bad road accident! Note to self: NEVER EVER bring a backpack to China ever AGAIN.

Hongqiao airport is 13km from the city centre and there were no other ways except for by taxis and buses to reach the city centre. I missed the chance to take the cheaper shuttle bus to Pudong Airport. Instead, I took a cab to May/Liangping/Wenhui's place to crash for a few hours. Queueing up at the taxi stand is HELL. Chinese people DO NOT know how to queue. Not to be outdone, I squeezed my way through and blocked all those queue cutters. Damn you if you think you can squeeze me out...

After a hectic queue for the cab, with my bagpack in my arms like roadkill, I got myself a cab and directed the cab driver to their place. Of course I had the address written in Chinese to give the cab driver but I was drilled by Pam and Huiloh earlier on to memorise and get the intonation for the name of the street right. The ride was cheaper than I predicted and he took me by the shortest route - cause thankfully, Shanghainese cab drivers are always never honest. I tried to converse with the driver in as much Mandarin as possible so that I won't sound like a 'non-local' (what? it was dark...). Coincidentally on the cab ride, there was a song playing; sung by some Chinese singer and the title (and some of the lyrics) was 'Aku Cinta Padamu'. STRANGE but TRUE! How coincidental was that??? A Malay guy took that taxi and the song the radio station was playing had some Malay words in the lyrics!

So I reached their place (even manage to pass through the security guards there) and had a quick rest (a nap and I had to tape up my bag with only masking tape) before they sent me off to the Maglev Train station to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (a cab ride there would cost about 250RMB!!! Its almost 40km away from the city centre).

Maglev trains are really fancy and travel at speeds up to 581km/h! Within half an hour or so, I reached Pudong International Airport. Only to find my Malaysian Airline flight was DELAYED for almost 4 hours! Weather conditions my FOOT. All the other flights took off except for mine.

I got vouchers for food at the airport. Then took the flight out after rotting for 3 hours at the airport. Thankfully, I was given the immediate flight out of KL (had a transit there before Singapore).

And I reached Singapore, 3 hours later than the original arrival time. Only to go to JB, Malaysia, (to spend Hari Raya Haji there) a few hours later at midnight.

Forbidden City.

We later went to Tiananmen Square:

The police and soldiers there; heavily guarded:

Technically, this is the Tian'an Gate:

The square itself (across the highway):

One of the iconic pillars:

Jumpshot as usual:

Ashley:

Mao Zedong's iconic potrait:

It seems like his eyes look at you everywhere you go... think that is the whole point:

Gate of Tian-an Gate:

That is the Duanmen, another gate before the Forbidden City itself:

This is Forbidden City gate a.k.a. the Meridian Gate (entrance fee to Forbidden City: 45RMB, closed at 4.30pm)

Huge!:

Some Mongolians? Hahaa... or maybe just a group of tribal Chinese tourists:

The Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum. It was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties (built from 1406-1420) and the complex consists of 980 buildings!!!:

This is the Gate of Supreme Harmony (another GATE), its plaza is seperated by a serpentine waterway spanned by the "Golden River Bridges":

The marble walkway you see is where the Emperors walked on:

Past the gate is the Hall of Supreme Harmony:

Rear view of the gate:

Jump shot!
Failed attempt number 1:

Failed attempt number 2:

Failed attempt number 3:

I give up! FAILED:

Just 'peace' will do:

Street fighter style in front of the hall:

Carved stone dragons:

One of the many incense burners:

Where the emperors sat (again had to jostle with locals who never seem to wash their hair):

Dragon-turtle:

Those are for 'fire-fighting':

Hall of Central Harmony (front) and Hall of Preserving Harmony:

Phoenix and dragon:

Hall of Central Harmony:

Interior:

Hall of Preserving Harmony:

Interior:

Past the hall is another complex called the Palace of Heavenly Purity:

Large stone carving:

Entrance to the Palace of Heavenly Purity:

The 'smaller' palace:

More 'Street Fighter' pictures:

Interior, it was used as the Emperor's audience hall:

Case of deja vu?
Those are the Hall of Union (front) and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility:

Inside Hall of Union:

Inside the Palace of Earthly Tranquility where most of the newly wedded emperors would live:

Entrance to the Imperial Gardens:

LOL. Eternal loss of beauty? LOL:

I took a dump at the garden's toilet, I finally crapped solid wastes! YEAH! I'm healed!

The rear entrance/exit of the Forbidden City:

We then decided to walk to the left side of the Forbidden City where more buildings awaited us. See map here for the names and locations of the buildings around the Forbidden City.

Here's a tip: DO NOT fall for the 'free exhibition' trap. There would be people (usually young pretty ladies) who would convince you that there is a FREE exhibition of artworks and paintings.

True, they are 'free' to look at. And true, they are 'exhibitions'... kinda. They are actually galleries of paintings which are for sale! Price tags unabashedly displayed. All the while, the 'painters' will proudly showcase their works. You would feel 'trapped' in the galleries as they close the doors behind you, looking very suspicious. If you are coerced into buying the paintings, make sure they are below 50% percent of the asking price.

The alleyways:

There are actually some historical exhibitions tucked away in some of the buildings, do keep a look out. Definitely FOC entry.

Painting of the longest reigning Chinese emperor, Kangxi Emperor:

Painting of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the most infamous (and 'evil') of the Chinese rulers, she was the scapegoat for the fall of the last Chinese dynasty - Qing dynasty.

Life during the Qing dynasty:

If you don't already know, Qing dynasty was the final Chinese dynasty. Technically, they were NOT Chinese. The emperors were from the neighbouring 'babaric' Manchuria who invaded China and clutched the 'Heavenly Mandate' from the Ming rulers. Under the Manchurian rule, the Chinese had to adopt the Manchurian costumes and the men grew the very familiar pigtails.

We wanted to go to the eastern part of the Forbidden City (the Palace of Tranquil Longevity) but it was closed and there was a seperate entrance fee.

So instead, we hung around at the plaza and found dozens of cats!!!:

'Bullying' the 'hibernating' cat we called 'Yeow' (Yeow is always 'hibernating' too and strangely, the cat responded to me calling it 'Yeow'):

This one looks like a lion:

The sun was setting and we had to leave the Forbidden City complex.

My favourite picture:

The soldiers (I suspect 'recruits' cause they sucked and looked 'blur') practising for the flag lowering ceremony.

Back to Tiananmen, just in time to see the flag lowering at the square.

Young and old, the Chinese were all waiting excitedly to watch. A large crowd had gathered, and the Tiananmen gate was blocked by soldiers.

The lowering ceremony involves the soldiers marching across the highway to the square. Of course, traffic was stopped.

Once again, traffic was stopped as they marched back into the Tian'an Gate with the flag: