So. I was spamming photos like mad on day 3. You’ll know why soon.
We set off from the hotel early in the morning (breakfast was instant noodles and half boiled eggs cooked in the hotel). Initially dad was thinking of viewing the flag raising ceremony from Tian An Men Square. But obviously, we couldn’t wake up so early! XD This photo was taken on the way to Tian An Men Square. Yeah, we walked. It was about 1km away from the hotel. Well really… going on this trip… I understand why people like Sho exists. My dad’s like that too! He plans every single thing. And was so pissed that me and my mum were of no use in the planning. Arghs but really. I couldn’t stand it. So yeah, he went to google maps and all and measured the walking distance between our hotel and various places in his itinerary…
Where was I? Ah yes the park. We walked through the park. A really pretty place.
Despite the fact that half the park was under renovation lol.
Sorry. It’s just too pretty. Very nice place to take a morning stroll indeed!
Random deco in the park. It’s pretty though!
Ok, that’s the last photo of this park, promise!
We passed by Tian An Men square in the distance…
The Great Hall of the People (Renmin Dahuitang) and the Monument to the People's Heroes (Chinese: 人民英雄纪念碑; pinyin: Rénmín Yīngxióng Jìniànbēi). Gosh. The names sounds so weird in English lol. It sounds much much better in Chinese, trust me.
The National Museum of China! And our target! We have booked online prior to our trip, the entrance fees is really cheap, but if you book online, it’s completely free! And who doesn’t like free? XD
Statues in the museum. Well I should point out here… security in Beijing is really strict! For example… your baggage needs to be checked at ALL the train stations. Checked with an x-ray machine, like those in the airports. Granted they aren’t as strict as in the airports with regards to what you can bring in, but still…! They are really efficient about it too. Dump your bag in, step in through the metal detector, pick up your bag and go. In the Tian An Men square too. Hoards of police there, and loads of security checks. Every single path leading to Tian An Men square has a security check. And the National Museum? Airport strictness security checks, with metal detectors and metal detector sticks (whatever those are called). X-ray machines are an of course. They’ll make you drink from your bottle if the bottle seal has been opened.
It’s like… almost a relief when you can finally get through… for people like us who aren’t used to having security checks as part of our everyday life.
But gosh. Look at the building. The ceiling! So freaking high. It’s so freaking huge! Immense! It makes you wonder how puny you are! Very grand indeed!
Ok, here comes. I’m just gonna spam you with all the photos I took. And I mean it when I say spam. Like seriously!
The title of the first exhibit we visited. It’s an exhibit on the wooden Qing and Ming furniture from China. My dad is an antique fanatic. He loves pottery and furniture. All the wood… yeah we have a ton of antique and/or wooden furniture at home. Pretty much every single piece of furniture in the living room is made of wood. And really pretty wood too. That, or they are really pretty wood AND antiques. And well it kinda just rubs off when you’ve been exposed to so much of these stuff when you’re young. So I can name the type of wood used to make the furniture pretty well. After all it’s generally just that same few types. And they are pretty easy to differentiate. Really!
It’s just that well… we always say it by their Chinese names so I don’t really know their English names… lol. (But well, there’s google for that!)
Ok, the picture above. In the centre is a bed (I think it’s like, a day bed?), a ‘ring chair’ (direct translation, too lazy to google, we have two at home… I think? yes two… always filled with laundry) on the right, and a wash basin rack on the left (you put a ceramic wash basin in the centre, we have one of that at home, and it’s stuff full of random stuff - boxes of cereal and what not - that things are always threatening to fall off), and at the back is a painted screen (don’t have that at home, no space!)
Another bed. With two cupboards at the sides.
Another basin rack, and an elaborate chest/drawer.
A chest of drawers.
Yet another wash basin rack.
Another bed. With marble pieces at the sides and back.
Another cupboard.
Sets of… what would you call this? Cupboards? Their size makes them more like our modern day stack of plastic drawers though! Hahaha!
More cupboards. What else can I say? Lol!
Another cupboard…
Ah, very pretty rosewood! The photo can’t do it justice, but the wood really shines! It’s like… having a translucent surface, and very shiny!
Hmm what’s this called? It’s a little table for your to display your pottery/whatever. Display table!
Ah this! It’s a freaking folding table! Smart engineering!
More tables. With mother of pearl inlaid on the table top.
Another foldable table!
They were clever ne?
More tables…
Another rosewood table.
Chairs!
We have similar designed chairs at home… Well it’s our dining chairs actually.
This! We have one chair of this design at home. At least I think we have only one… in my parent’s room. Forever buried under the laundry, never to see the light of day >< There was more space in our old house and we could actually fit all these furniture in the living room. But not anymore!
Very pretty screen! Or whatever this immense thing is called!
More ring chairs. Whatever they actually call them in English. Hmm or maybe it’s circle chairs? *shrugs*. Comp is really slow now! I’m too lazy to switch languages and search!
Foldable chairs!
another foldable chair
Love the pattern on the back of the chair!
Descriptions! Hahaha!
Love this wood too! So shinnnnyyy!!!
Another exhibit! At last! Hahaha.
I love this shot!
Loads of wooden sculptures.
Woah. I really took a lot of photos ne? And this is only part of what I took!!! I guess I’ll have to be more selective! :P
Ok, that’s all for the Africa exhibit. The above was displayed outside… not in any exhibition hall.
Another shot of the grand… foyer?
Pretty in gold!
Another gold statute out in the corridors.
Another exhibit! Ivory China!
Honestly, I’m just picking photos at random… :P
This one is cute! XD
Ahhh and I think this is funny! The thinking Buddha!
Another random exhibit we passed by…
Well apart from the furniture, there wasn’t anything in particular that we wanted to see.
So we just wandered around and saw some random exhibits.
porcelain!
Yay! That’s all for the museum pictures!!!
Nice building eh? Well that’s Quan Ju De. Wow that freaking shop is so famous is has it’s own wiki page! We didn’t eat there though. Ate it before in our previous trip. And this one is more… commercialised? More for tourists? Well we went to another shop…
Cute duck ne?
So yup, we walked towards Qian Men…
Pass by loads of pretty places on the way there.
I can’t remember which gate this is anymore… :P Well that’s what happens when you can’t be bothered to research before going…
Xmas tree! Made of knitted balls! They were still making the balls when we went!
Here at Qian Men! They are wrapping the trees lol! Winter deco?
Another Quan Ju De shop! We wanted to just go in and eat actually, instead of going to the other shop… but at that time their peking ducks were not ready!
Really beautiful buildings ne?
Well so in the end we ate Xiumai at Du Yi Chu!
AH darn! No photo of the food! I think cos my phone died! There’s something wrong with my phone/phone battery. Sometimes it just shuts down at 50%, 70%? And it won’t start. And the cold didn’t help either. Darn it! Maybe I’ll have a follow up post next time with more photos! And videos too! Too lazy to do the videos now :P
These are photos from the old street at Qian Men.
Ahhhh FINALLY! Food! Dinner! Peking duck at Bian Yi Fang. Of course, we ordered other dishes too. The above is duck intestines! In oil and garlic. It’s a cold dish… not bad, though it’s kinda different from what I was expecting. Kinda fall below my expectations actually ><
Same dish. Different view.
Liver! Duck liver? I think so! It was yum!
The chef cutting the duck up for us! YUMMM
Very skilful, very fast!
The completed product! This plate is just the crispy duck skin.
You eat it with buns, or with the wrap.
Two plates! The other is cut in a different way, the skin together with the meat.
And the soup made with the rest of the duck bones. Very tasty!
Ah I have to describe more. The duck skin! It was made till it’s so crispy… it’s like the skin has expanded and become so thick. Like roasting suckling pigs! Really delicious! You can just dip it in sugar (yes sugar!) and eat it, and it was so good! Or you can wrap it in the bun, or with the flour skin. The soup was really good too! I loved it! It was made salty… kinda like what you get if you boil a clear soup with smoked duck. Oh and throw in some salted veggies for the ultimate duck soup! Yeah mum did that once before, loved it soo much!
Deco in the shop.
The motto of the shop.
The front entrance of the shop. Yeah, the whole building is theirs!
We walked back after dinner the same way we came from.
And that STUPID xmas tree. It was lit. We walked closer. It was lit. Still too far, I’ll wait till I get closer, I thought. It was lit. We walked closer. Still a little too far…. Just a little more. *POOF* LIGHTS OFF. Thanks man… -.-
This building is pretty when lit at night though!
I can’t remember anymore. I think we took the train back?
Probably. Anyway. We went back to Wang Fu Jin… and TADA! They were putting lights up! For xmas! Hahaha! It’s the 23rd of Dec!
Li Ning shop. We bought a lot of stuff from this shop/brand (it’s China’s Nike) when we went to China in the past. But not this time! Hahaha! Nothing nice this time! Didn’t buy a thing!
Xmas decos…
And that was all for Day 3!!!
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