We had to get up at 6.30am this morning because the tour bus will come and pick us up at 7am. There's the option to view the flag ceremony in the morning but then we had to get up at 5am. Money and Bi weren't interested in this (although I am very!!!). I told myself back in Auckland that I will definitely see the flag ceremony in Beijing. It's about the pride inside me, the pride to be a Chines, to see the our national flag rising into the sky annd start my day proud and happy.
At about 7.10am a little car came and picked us up. The tour buses in Beijing works like this. Once a tourist calls the number and book the tour bus, the company will arrange these drivers to go around the city to pick up tourists. These drivers are independently paid (under the table) by the travel agencies, so their job is to pick up tourists from different places in Beijing and drop them off at the meeting point. Today our tour group will all meet at Qianmen and we'll take off from there.
There are 16 people in this tour group, our tour guide is a young woman at the age about 26 or 27. She is, just, OMG, so talkative and funny! I love her accent (very Beijing-er) and the way she tells her stories. She first gave us an introduction of the tour plan for the day, and some security and safety notices. The things she said must be very standard across the industry but she really portrayed her story well and quite direct I would say. For example, she was telling us about safety issues and some of the tourists weren't listening but chatting instead, immediately she will turn to them and start asking them why are not listening and why do they not see the importance to listen to her. It was such a crack up for me. She is definitely not of those tour guides who will just talk on her own and don't care if tourists are listening or not. I think my trip for the day was extra funny because of our tour guide. Ba Da Ling 八达岭
Our first destination is to visit the Great Wall and Ba Da Ling 八达岭. The Great Wall of China is one of the most famous and previous ancient architectures in the world. It is around 6,700km long. The particular section of the Great Wall that we're going to is Ba Da Ling, it starts from Yangqing (the southwest of Beijing) and it is famous of the steep and dangerous geographical locations around. Badaling is used most often for war and defence in the Ming Dynasty but lost its importance in the Qing Dynasty. Since then this part of the Great Wall was barely used and maintained and it was only until the establishment of PRC in 1949, then this area was again listed as the country's top priority and tourist attractions. We will be going up a partciular section of Badaling today, named Hao Han Po 好汉坡 (basically means the Great Man's Hill). Haohanpo is famous for its steepness and scenearies around, and due to the difficulty in climbing up this part of the Great Wall, this has been promoted as 'if anyone can climb to the tip the Haohanpo, you will become a great man!' I told myself, I will make it to the top, no matter how difficult, I will do it! The tour guid told us that when Michael Jordan visited Badaling it took him 17 minutes to get to the top and 25 minutes to get down to the bottom (38 minutes in total); the average amount of time taken by tourists is around 45minutes; we will be given 60 minutes today and it's our choice in how far we want to go. 
Here we are! The Great Wall of China is right in front of us (well, part of the Great Wall). It's so amazing and grand! Today is very bright and sunny, but still quite cold. We were told to go slower near the top due to the thin air but the four of us just can't wait to get up there! Once we started 'walking' up the Great Wall, we realised that the tour guide wasn't joking with us when she waved goodbye to us and said 'have fun crawling'!!! LOL!!! The stairs here are so steep and tall!!! For some of the steps we literally have to bend up and 'crawl'! Some of the older people and kids around needs to be helped and pulled by their families, and for us, we just have to keep 'crawling' and don't stop. 
We actually had to stop quite a few times during our 'crawl' of the Great Wall. We were taking so many photos and helping each other to get up there. Eventually Bi gave up and decided to stay at the mid-point and wait for us. Jordan and I had extra fun when we were looking out for funny Chinglish on the notice boards and signs. For example, we saw a sign saying 'Way Pown' (it should be 'Way Down'), or a notice saying 'Infl ammble Steickly Prohibited' (it should be 'Inflammable Strictly Prohibited'), it was just so funny to see them and at the same time, really want to do something about it. The secenes on way our way to the top of the Haohanpo was amazing. I really want to come back here when there's snow. It would be so beautiful. 
The tip of the Haohanpo has been marked by a red flag. I definitely felt proud to be at this tip and pat on my own shoulder for making it this far. There's a little bit more of the Great Wall which tourists can continue to explore, but due to our limited time and Bi was waiting for us alone, we decided to 'crawl' our way back. Yes, I mean it, we had to 'crawl' our way back. The steep and tall stairs made our way down extra hard. But no matter how difficult it is, I still want to come back here, I am proud of the amazing architecture and the history that goes behind every single block used to build the Great Wall. I am proud as a Chinese, that after thousands of years of history, I am standing right here to witness our succss so far, and to contribute our success in the future! 
Lunch
After the Great Wall tour, the tour guide tooks us to a so called 'restaurant' inside the Ming Tombs. This is really the most awful lunch I've ever had in my life. We booked this tour because it says lunch is 8 dishes and 1 soup, and we thought, ok, it won't be THAT bad right? When we arrived at the restaurant, we were first told to wait in the jade shop next to the restaurant while the lunch is being cooked. Haha, this is such a lame way of making us stay in the shop! Then we actually get to see the lunch: it's 4 plates of greens boiled in water, maybe with one drop of water? Then there's the so called 'fried fish', which is like a fishbone with skin (but it's so thin that there's barely any fish meat), the soup is a big bowl of hot water with few pieces of tomato, LOL! The four of us just quickly swallowed the rice (which taste a bit off) and ran. Let's hope we'll find some street food later.
But one thing worth mentioning in the jade shop though. Apparently (according to the tour guide) that this shop was opened and owned by the son of Xiaoping Deng (one of the greatest leader in PRC history), but because he's disabled, therefore he can receive tax-free benefits in his business. Why a jade shop in the Ming Tombs area? This is because the mountains in the Ming Tombs produces the BEST jade around (its natural resource endowments). So with all these 'advantages' add up together, this is the supposedly the best place to buy jade. We were taken around the huge shop where we saw craftsmen making jade jewelleries, and also all sorts of jewlleries and jade decorations (like Pi Xiu 貔貅).
Bibi and I both found something that we really really liked. It's jade bracelet made with this black pearl called 'snake-patterened jade'蛇纹玉. We just love this jade because it's black. We looked at each other and asked 'are you going to buy it', then to our surprise, we both said 'if you buy it, I'll buy it too'. LOL!!! As soon as the boys heard this they laughed and walked away, leaving us two girls looking at each other and smiling. Yep! This is SOOOO ours!!! We each bought a jade bracelet and we were just so happy that we bought something together!!
We were then taken to another massive shop where they specialise in selling traditional Beijing food, i.e. dried fruits and roast duck. The tourist guide was telling us that we don't have to be shy, just try as much food as we can beccause it's all included in our fee, so technically it's 'FREE' for us. LOL, such a LIE! Haha, we just couldn't stop laughing inside. Firstly the roast duck for trial is no longer in shape of a piece of duck, but rather, sliced, or I should say, it's diced, or even it's MINCE duck meat! The meat has been shredded so bad and re-heated so many times in the microwave that it even taste worse than the roast chicken selling in NZ petrol station, YUK!! Then all the dried fruits are also being diced really bad and left out in the open for people to pic, it's so disguisting and not tasty at all. What a great way of 'giving us some free food and in return hoping that we'll buy some as souvenirs'?? YUK!
Ming Tombs 明十三陵
Ming Tombs 明十三陵
After lunch, the tour guide is going to take us to the second most important attraction of the day: the Ming Tombs 明十三陵. This is one of the most famous and must-go tourist attractions, and it's definitely part of the history classes for all students in China. It is located in the Changping region, north west of Beijing. There are 13 tombs here for 13 emperors in the Ming Dynasty within the range of 230 years. The tourist guide told us that there are actually 16 emperors in the Ming Dynasty however the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (Jianwen Zhu Yuanzhang) was burried in Nanjing; the second empoeror dissappeared while going out for ward; and the seventh emperor was killed by his older brother for the throne and his older brother denied in accepting that the little brother was ever an emperor, therefore he don't deserve to be burried at the emperors' tombs; therefore there are only 13 emperors in the Ming Tombs. The 13 tombs were located around the Tian Shou Mountain and these locations has been carefully selected and designed based on ancient Chinese Feng Shui. This tomb was built around 1409-1644, so it has been many centuries. The ara of the Ming Tombs is 40 square kilometers and it is not only the biggest, but also the only one remaining in China.
There are 13 tombs but due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese Government in trying to maintain these historical scenaries, only some of the tombs are open for viewing. Also to ensure a more regulated and fair tourism industry, all the tourist agencies/companies must apply to the Government and they'll be put onto a roster (view different tomb at different times to control traffic and fairness). Our travel agency was allocated to visit the Zhao Tomb 昭陵. 
Zhao Tomb was the first tomb out of the 13 tombs to undergoe a large reconstruction and maintenance, and therefore it was the first one to be opened up to the public from the Ming Tombs. The total area of Zhao Tomb is around 35,000square metres and it is the tomb for the twelveth emperor and his 3 queens of Ming Dynasty. His emperor name is 'Mu Zong' and he was wearing the throne between 1537-1572. He was considered the most useless emperor out of the 16 Ming Dynasty emperors because he stop caring about the country and filling his obligations just 6 months after receiving the throne. 
To be honest, there's nothing much to see at the tomb. There's no explanation around, no tour guide; just some open space and old buildings and us trying to figure out where the emperor was burried, lol. What more can we do? But nonetheless I still enjoyed this tour so far. The reasons being I'm with my friends, it's a really good day with great weather, and I'm seeing ancient Chinese historical scenaries (hoho, me love). 
So far it's not even half of my day yet... there's so much more I have to write about....
The Chinese Medicine Institution
The Chinese Medicine Insitution (皇家艺苑) was the next destination after lunch. This is, supposedly, the best and most secretive Chinese medicine institution. According to the tour guide, this institution was only opening up to some tourist visits in the past few years. It has always been used for the research and development of Chinese medicine, and to provide health care for the emperors and their family (back in the pre-PRC period) and now health care for high senior executives in the PRC government. What we are seeing in this institution is to look at the histories and pictures of the past (and its glory); meet some Chinese medicine practitioners (and get scandled into buying expensive herbs, lol); and to see a Beijing style courtyard house (四合院 - not sure what it's called in English).
I really want to see a courtyard house in Beijing. This is one of the most traditional lifestyle for a normal Beijing citizen pre-PRC. It recent years, many of the courtyard houses had been demolished and replaced by skyscrappers. Especially the years approaching Beijing Olympics 2008, many remaining historical courtyard houses were forced to be scrapped. This is a pity for me, to be honest, because these houses are full of ancient Chinese history, it represents the lifestyle in Beijing. However, we cannot move into the future while staying in the past right? So I'm glad that the reduction in courtyard houses were exchanged for higher standard living and business buildings, and in return an increase in the restrictions and protections placed on the still-remaining courtyard houses.
Courtyard house (si-he-yuan) is a four-section, quadrangle coumpound with traditional Chinese houses of grey bricks and tiles built around a courtyard (hence the name). These are mostly used and represented in Shanxi, Shanxi, Beijing and Hebei provinces. Usually each courtyard house is for one family. This means that each family will have their little own courtyard, as well as spreadout bedrooms but inside an enclosed garden (privacy + security, haha). I have only seen si-he-yuan on TV, so to be able to see one and actually stand in the courtyard was really exciting for me. Although there were no explanation given about this particular si-he-yuan we're going to, and most parts of the si-he-yuan were closed from visitors; but I still very much enjoyed my few minutes of si-he-yuan experience. This is quite ideal for a family I think, privacy and security are all satisfied.
end of our tour?
That was the end of our tour, BUT! It was not the end of the story. We were told by our tour guide that any tourist bus must go to the 'service station' for checks and cleaning (regulated by law). Our bus arrived at this particular place, which the tour guide said it is the 'registered service station' and we were told to get off the bus and rest in the restroom provided. Before we got off the bus, the tour guide told us that the rest room was provided by the jade jewellery shop owner. HA! What a scandal! This is why they took us there! So we will HAVE to stay at the shop until the car has 'passed' its procedures, and then we will be talked into buying things. This is so Chinese, LOL!
So here we are, sitting in the rest room and actually trying to get some rest. Then suddenly a sales lady came in, with some jade bangles and started to 'entertain' us. She said that she works here but she's not allowed to do promotions to us because we are here for the bus service, not shopping. She said this was instructed by her manager, that she will only come in here to 'pass us some tips in how to select jade, and just to keep us entertained for the meantime'. She went on and on about the jade and was trying to start up conversations with all of us sitting across the room. Nobody was paying attention to her, firstly because we were all tired, and secondly because we all knew she was just being put into playing this 'show' and intrigue some interest within ourselves.
SUDDENLY! A man knocked on the door, came in and said to the girl, 'hey, you should stop entertaining them now, because our boss is here, we can actually get him to talk and give a speech'. (Yes, he actually did say 'speech'). So there we go, all the 'planned' and 'acting out' going with the storyline.
A middle-aged man walked into the rest room. He's about 1.70m, wearing a full suit, and very shinny hair all brushed backwards; wearing gold and jade rings and necklace; and with a very CHEESY smile! He first greeted us all, and started to tell us his 'script'! According to him: he doesn't usually come to this shop because he have so many other businesses around the country; he only came today because it is the anniversary of this shop; he only came into greet us because we happened to be the 666th customer group (6 is a lucky number in Chinese culture); then he said that his advice is for us to NOT buy his products in this shop because he priced it very very high, only aimed to make sales and profit on foreigners (LOL); then he told us how happy he is that today is ALSO his 40th birthday and he is very happy to be able to celebrate it with us; then he asked all of us to 'be happy' with him and also ask us to bless his mother (for giving birth to him 40 years ago); then he suddenly said, "Oh guess what, last night I got a call from my son, his wife just just confirmed to be pregnant" and now he will have his first grandson! I turned around and asked Jordan, how come he's 40 and having his first grandson? Isn't it too early? I think he must have picked up the doubt on my face and said, he was very young when he got married (aged 19) and that's why he's having his first grandson at 40. So much coincidence isnt' it? It's the anniversary of the shop, we're the 666th customer group for the shop; it's his 40th birthday; as well as the good news about his first grandson. WHAT DA HELL?! So bullsh*t, lol.
Soon he suggested to take us out and show us some tips in how to buy jade. (Yeah right, I bet he just want to make a sale). He first led us out of the rest room and his staff immediately shuffled all of us into another small and closed room: it's a little exhibition room with jade jewelleries. There are about 5 or 6 employees around, waiting behind the counters, showing their 'scheduled' surprise to see their 'boss' but at the same time, showing boredem. I bet they are very bored of this planned story.
This 'boss' guy played so many tricks with the jade and showed us some 'tips' in how to select jade. To be honest, some tricks are quite new and exciting for me. For example, he told us that jade is naturally very absorbent of heat and will transfer/evaporate high temperature very quickly. So to demonstrate, he asked a young guy from our tour group if he can borrow the shirt he's wearing. Then he wrapped the shirt around a jade bangle and told the young guy not to be worried, if anything bad happens, he will pay the young guy heaps of money as compensation. Then he borrowed a lighter from another tourist and starting to burn the part of the t-shirt that's wrapped around the jade bangle. To all our surprises, the t-shirt didn't burn or anything! It was perfectly fine! After a few minutes, the 'boss' stopped lighting the shirt with fire and unwrapped the jade. The shirt was COMPLETELY fine, no sign of damage at all; and the jade was fine too, just a little bit warm. Quite cool huh?
Anyway, as soon as this 'boss' guy finished rambling on and on, some of the people from our tour started to walk out the door. The boss offered to give us each a little piece of jade so we can be part in sharing his happiness! LOL, this is such a crack-up! Anyway, we all decided to leave this room and head back to the tour bus. Money was interested in getting a quote for a jade pendant and immediately the 'boss' grabbed onto this opportunity and not letting him go. The particular product was first offered at something like 10,000RMB then we were just going to leave. Then only Bi, Jordan and I successfully walked out from the room but Money was being grabbed on the arm by the boss and stayed behind in the room. When the three of us were outside the room, the security guards quickly came up to us and want to escort us out. Then we realised that there's another tourist group walking into the rest room we were in before! It's the same routine and same scandal. The security guards wouldn't let us go back into the jewellery room nor stay behind and wait for Money. After Jordan insisting to go back into the room, and us two girls agree to leave the main show room, the security guard finally let Jordan going back into the room to get Money. Bi and I waited inside the tour bus for quite some time until finally Jordan and Money came back onto the bus. Money told us that eventually the 'boss' guy reduced the price to 300RMB and even gave Money his contact details and offered to take him around for sightseeing. This is exactly the type of scandal that I always hear on the news and through friends. It's so easy for people to fall into this kind of trap. Finally everyone from our tour group came back onto the bus. Only a few people bought little things but the rest of us looked quite annoyed and tired from all these bombar and scandal.
Olympic Village
Our tour officially ended when the tour guide asked if we preferred to be dropped at the closest subway station (due to traffic jam, it's actually better to take subways than to sit in the bus for hours), or to be dropped off when we drive pass the Olympic Village. Us four decided: the Olymic Village!! We walked for about 15-20 minutes from where we were dropped off, bought some kumaras on the way (thanks to the worst lunch ever, we're so hungry!!) and finally we saw the 2008 Beijing Olympic Village.
The Olympic Village is really massive! To get into the gate we must let the security check our bags first. Cars are not allowed to drive in unless at special times (during games etc). We stood in the middle of no where after we passed the gate, looked down the road, and we see endless road lamps and cannot see the end to the street. This is amazing! I can't stop wondering, how on earth did Beijing SUDDENLY have all these free land for this massive construction project? Then I remembered about all the deconstruction and removals of old Beijing houses and buildings, and all the drama related to the residents being send somewhere else etc. 
We were so excited to see the bird's nest and the water cube! They're giants! I was really impressed at the design and scale of these constructions, and definitely feel proud at how China can make these massive production/construction so rapidly and efficiently! Woohoo!!Soon after we took some photos of the fascinating architectures, I suggested something that I think it's fun and exciting! Let's take some jumping photos in front of these amazing architectures!! I was so into doing this and I made Bi to do it with me. Soon our cameraman (Money) and us two girls became perfect in timing, our photos look really great! Then us girls made the boys do their shots too, and then us girls started to pose behind them and make the photos even more exciting! 
(Bi and I jumping behind Money!)
(Bi and I pretend to be strangers behind Jordan that 'happened' to be captured in the photo)Night is falling upon us; and it is definitely getting much more colder as the sun sets. We decided to go back to the hostel where Bi and Money stays in so they can get changed and we'll head out for some dinner. We want to have the most traditional and popular Beijing food: Beijing Roast Duck! mmmmmmmmmm Looking forward to my favourite! Hoho. As we are leaving the Olympic Park, I took this photo of the new building blocks next to the water cube. There is a hotel, shopping centre and all sorts of offices inside these building blocks. Can you see something unique about these building blocks? It looks like a dragon boat!!! Can you believe this? This is so amazing and pretty! I had to walk so far away to be able to capture all the buildings blocks, look at it! It's a dragon boat! 
Surprise?!!!!!!!
We took the subway to Qianmen station and just realised how beautiful this place is. It's very populated by all sorts of neon lights from buildings, shops, ancient architectures and many others. The hostel Money and Bi stayed in a hostel that they found online, which receives many positive feedbacks and recommendations. Jordan and I only stayed at the entrance/waiting/eating/hangout area where we met a tourist from Australia. This hostel is very unique in a way that it still kept the traditional courtyard designs, bricks for walls, grey and dull colours, and posters all from the old days of China.
Suddnely! I heard Bi yelling my name: "Nancy!!!!!!" I ran around to find her in a rush, and by following her voice I ran into a room and was completely SHOCKED! In front of me is the biggest bouquet of roses I've ever seen in my life (and I bet in most people's lifes). The staff nearby explained to us that this bouquet has 999 red roses and it was given by the owner of this hostel to his girlfriend for her birthday yesteray! This is so pretty~~~~~~ I've never seen so much roses in my life and I've never even imagined to see so much in one bouquet. 
Beijing Roast Duck
The owner of the hostel recommended us to go to this roast duck restaurant nearby called Li Qun (利群). Apparently people only go to Quanjude for the name and the reputation but the real good Beijing roast ducks can be found elsewhere. Liqun is very famous for its roast duck but it's very small and located inside those little alleyways therefore not too many people know about it. However, because it is so popular among people that actually knows about it, therefore we must make a booking if we want to go there. We took the cab that dropped us off at this random alleyway without any restaurants around us. The taxi driver told us just keep walking into the weird looking alleyway and we'll eventually found it.
Indeed the taxi driver was right, we did find it; and it seriously is very hidden and I would not come in here if I weren't being recommended to do so. Due to the lack of free tables we had to be put into the big room which will cost us another 30RMB. Each roast duck here is 180RMB (similar price to Quanjude to be honest) so we ordered one roast duck and few other dishes. I think this is the best meal I've had so far in Beijing. Firstly because it is seriously REALLY good! Secondly because we're all just TOO hungry from the 'lunch' today.
The roast duck is really crispy on the outside but very tender inside. Wrap a piece of the roast duck meat and skin with a thin sheet of pastry, add in some special Beijing roast duck sauce and one slice of cucumber = mmmmmmmmmm, it's just HEAVEN~~~~ My favourite meal is roast duck and this meal just made my day~ How can I not love Beijing?!
Our day did not end with roast duck but rather we went out and met up with the rest of group (josi and gerard) and also Jian and his friends (Xiaofang and Wilson). A super long day, but a happy day. Everythings all worth it.
(The End.... for now)
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