Day 3
We woke up to a super strong wind in Beijing. The moment we stepped out of the apartment, we were hiding every inch of our skin and hugging our jackets tight.
And this day happened to be a DIY day with no more tour guides and the convenience of the tour van to walk around Beijing. Hello Beijing Subway system!
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| Inside the subway |
Nothing really special with the subway in Beijing. Just like any ordinary subway system!
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A very long escalator ride
Olympic Green aka Olympic Park
The Olympic Park was constructed for the 2008 Olympics. It consists of many stadiums for the games.
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| Map of Olympic Park |
The most famous building in the park is the Beijing National Stadium aka Bird's Nest. I LOVE the architecture of the building.
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| The Bird's Nest |
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| A closer look |
Another infamous building is the Beijing National Aquatics Center
aka Water Cube.
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| The Water Cube |
Look at the spacious ground surrounding the stadiums.
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| Panaroma view |
Still remember the Dragon Line from
Day 1?
It is known that this Olympic Park was also built on the same Dragon Line for good
feng shui. Not too sure if we are standing on the right line in the picture below, but it seems to be the only straight line from the entrance all the way....
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| On the Dragon Line |
Midway in the Olympic Park, we also spotted a cute police car...
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| A tiny police car |
And a grand gold vintage car!
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| Gold vintage car |
We also passed by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) entrance and took a poto with the beautfiful colourful wordings.
The Bird's Nest and Water Cube was not a disappointment at all, but the super windy cold weather was not convenient for us to stay outdoors for too long. We almost froze to death despite wearing so many layers of clothes!
My sis and I tried to take a selfie, but the wind blew our hair away from our faces. This is us, with our big foreheads and messy hair!
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| Selfie |
Yonghe Temple (Lama Temple)
This is a temple or monastery with huge influence of Tibetan Buddhism.
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| At the entrance of Lama Temple |
We were greeted by nice row of green trees on each side of the walkway. It makes the place so peaceful and beautiful. We were also given a packet of joss sticks for prayers.
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| Beautiful walkway |
We didnt expect the temple to be so huge. So many buildings and halls. We spend around 2 hours just walking from one end to the other end.
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| One of the many buildings inside |
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| Another building |
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| And another building |
In one of the building, there stood a 26 meter tall sandalwood statue of Maitreya Buddha. It was really grand and magnificent.
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| 26m high Maitreya Buddha |
The Lama Temple was a nice place to visit, but as it was so huge, we did get a little bit tired after 2 hours. We didnt really see in details all the statues and carvings and architecture of this place.
Silk Street aka Silk Market
This place is something like a mall and you can find anything here. From souvenirs to fashion. And it is indoor so we can hide from the wind (if it's cold) or the sun (if it's too warm).
Although it has like 6-7 floors, we somehow didnt manage to really buy anything from here. Maybe we were just not in the mood as we were so tired battling the cold wind since early morning. Imagine being so tired that we even forget to take any photo from this place! o.O
Wangfujing Food Street
This is one of the MUST visit in Beijing. It was really an eye-opener place even for an Asian. It is a narrow street located in the Wangfujing Shopping District. The entrance is located right next to the main street of Wangfujing.
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| Along the street of Wangfujing |
We were greeted by lots and lots of local delicacies in the street.
From buns, to scallops, to colourful glutinous rice, to prawn balls....
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| Clockwise from top left : Buns, Scallops, Glutinous Rice, Prawn in Egg Balls |
....to crabs, to decorate desserts, to animal intestines....
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| Clockwise from top left : Animal's intestines, Rice Cakes Korean Style, Cute Desserts, Crabs |
....to cute buns to roast sparrows....
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| Clockwise from top left : Cute buns, Roast Sparrows |
....to SEAHORSES, to WORMS, to LIVE SCORPIONS, and to BULL'S BALLS AND PENIS!!!! Yes, you can find a bull's manhood in this street!
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| Clockwise from top left : Starfish / Live Scorpions, Worms, Seashorse, Bull's Testicles & Penis |
We did not take any of the exotic food though. We only had the normal food such as the bbq beef and chicken satay. I think the
fried worm and fried grasshopper taken in Phuket was my limit! Bucket list already ticked. LOL
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| Eating safe food like beef satay topped with chili powder |
Besides food, the street also sells lots of souvenirs such as keychains, fans, decorative stuffs, handmade musical instruments, etc.....
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| Colourful beads , Hand-knitted cartoon plants |
Among them, one of the alley played a live opera show on a mini stage.
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| Live opera singer |
The Wangfujing Food Street was really a fun place to explore and experience. It was a cultural shock to see people selling and eating those live, moving scorpions and other exotic food! One can definitely experience the Asian and China culture here!
Bar Street
We googled and found out that there is a famous bar street in Beijing so we thought we should give it a try. We were expecting the street to be very happening and filled with crowd for nightlife. However, when we arrived, it was really quiet. Maybe the strong wind was keeping everyone at home. (We checked and the temperature was 9 degrees but feels like -3 according the weather report).
But since we were here, we decided we might as well grab a drink. Went inside a random bar (forget the name already), and got "chopped" by the price of two bottles of beer. (Note: always remember to ask the price before ordering).
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| Sad by the price of a Heineken Bottle |
We chilled in the bar for awhile, listening to live music. We left slightly around midnight, and only to be told that we missed the last train home at the subway station.
(Note: Please check the time of the last train home the next time). We ended up taking a taxi, and thankfully the driver did not "chopped" us with the bill by charging us using the meter and not a fixed amount at an exaggerated rate.
Overall, we survived Day 3 without a guide and I think we deserve a pat for a group of people that doesnt read chinese at all and only speak little mandarin! =)
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