Saw this in Chico's blog and I decided to take the test again. I did this already last year as can be seen here and looks like I still have the same grade. I wonder when will I become a B!
My Lakbayan grade is C+!
How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!
Created by Eugene Villar.Continuation of this post
WARNING: Photo overload, goes to show that I so love Summer Palace.
Summer Palace (UNESCO world heritage site) – I so love this place, I actually even liked this better than the Forbidden City, only the pictures can explain why. Summer Palace is the emperor’s vacation house, basta ganda-ganda ng place. And as if hindi kami napagod sa pag-akyat sa Great Wall and Ming tombs, we even went up pa the Yu Feng Pagoda on top of the hill. Grabe talaga! Pero we’re so enticed with the beautiful structures and surroundings na kahit super pagod na, go pa rin kami ng go.
To be continued... too much photos already
Continuation of the Beijing kwento...
Ming tombs (UNESCO world heritage site) – we went to Ding Ling, the only tomb that have been excavated. Ming tombs is composed of 13 tombs of the 17 emperors of the Ming dynasty, instead of building pyramids, they create an underground palace on hills and that serve as the emperor’s mausoleum. We passed by cherry farm so we bought na rin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty_Tombs ; http://www.mingtombs.com.cn/ ; http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1004
Bridge entrance:
Ano raw?
Going to Underground Palace where the tombs are buried:
Inside the underground palace, behind us is the emperor's throne and some of his possessions:
A replica of the emperor's, empress', concubines tombs and their kept treasures:
Finally, up and out!
Last in ou itinerary for the day was Summer Palace.
To be continued...
Saturday, May 31, our agenda: Great Wall of China, Ming Tombs and Summer Palace.
First part of the trip - Great Wall (UNESCO world heritage site) – we went to the Badaling side, which is the part of the wall nearest to Beijing, we left early kasi since it’s a weekend, madami daw tao. I was so in awe of the place when I saw it, parang I can’t believe that I am actually there. Fortunately, nakayanan ko akyatin yung tallest tower, fourth tower, which has total of 888 steep steps, some parang stairs, others as in steep road lang. grabe talaga experience! Pagod! Pero so worth it, I can’t actually describe how it feels, basta kakaiba. Had lunch in Starbucks, yes, there is starbucks in great wall = ) then off we go to Ming tombs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badaling; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_wall_of_china
Ticket booth:
Group picture at the entrance:
Roel, me and My with the awesome background of One World One Dream (theme for the olympics) and the wall that we will climb, it'll take us 888 steep steps, some stairs some just steep road, to rich that top in the background and that'll be the fourth tower.
Now, we're the same level as the olympics theme:
Few more steps, three towers past:
Finally! on top! but once we got on top, that's when we saw more of the wall at the back and I am so at awe of those people who continued on walking to think I am so dead tired when we got to the top. As obvious in the photo, only five of us survived the climb to the top, others gave up midway. I almost did actually but seeing that I'm a few steps to the top made me decide to go for it.
One of the unexplored side of the very looooonnnngggg wall:
Window in one of the towers on our way back down:
A photo on the other side:
Next day, Thursday, May 29, symposium the whole day then we had a firm sponsored dinner at China Club. Tourist bus picked us up from the hotel and the tour guide provided us some background about the club. We were informed that it is a posh exclusive club serving szechuan food, that the place was built for an emperor (forgot who) and that the cook were from the province of Sichuan pa talaga. According to the guide, it’s hard to get a slot on this place kasi mahal and exclusive nga and that the place actually used to be a prince’s palace. Got to the place, colder than the previous day and gulat kami kasi daming walls, enclosed talaga yung place (they say to protect the prince before) and we’re happier to see an old Chinese man waiting for us to have our names written in Chinese calligraphy using authentic rice paper. Had cocktails again then had Chinese lauriat. Was not totally happy with the food, according to some officemates from Malaysia and Indonesia, must have been that the Chinese food that we all love has been customized already to local taste kaya di naman ma-appreciate yun authentic, even the Peking duck did not excite me, mas gusto ko pa peking duck from Gloria Maris dito. There was a Chinese dance pa na nagpapalit-palit ng mask to entertain us. Went back to hotel late na so no more gimik, natulog na kami.
Friday, May 30, this time the symposium will end at 3pm so we’ll have time to go around. Our agenda for the day is shopping so our first stop was the silk market, two officemates had their Chinese name carved so they can use it for stamping. We did not do much shopping as most of us want to buy souvenirs from the Olympics store so we just looked around the place then left and took the taxi hoping to go straight to the Olympics stadium, unfortunately, the taxi driver cannot understand us so we have no choice but to go back to the hotel. The hotels provide a calling card with Chinese character and they can even write for you your planned destination in Chinese character kaya bumalik kami ng hotel. We were advised to take the subway to go there. WARNING: super crowded ang subway pag rush hour, parang MRT natin and what’s worse, the guards will even push the people inside to fit the people trying to enter, fortunate for us, di namin na experience yung tinutulak ng guard. We then took a taxi from the subway station to the Olympics stadium, we saw the bird’s nest and the water cube, had pictures taken but we can’t get really near kasi di pa tapos ang construction for the Olympics. Took the subway again then went to Oriental Plaza (mall) for dinner. We’re supposed to have shabu-shabu but since they can’t understand us and we can’t understand them, we decided to eat na lang in the food court kasi at least yun ituturo na lang. Pathetic! After dinner, pasyal-pasyal again in Wangfujing, got back to the hotel really late and super tired! Nagbabad ako sa bath tub with hot water just to relax.
MRT station where we ride to go to the Olympics Stadium:
The view while walking on the walkway going to the Olympics Stadium:
At the Olympics Stadium, layo lang kasi bawal pa lumapit, dami pa construction, rush for the olympics:
I was fortunate enough to be included to those who will attend our firm’s global symposium in Beijing, China. There were ten of us, three partners and four senior managers/managers. Three of us left for Beijing on Wednesday, May 28, early morning as we’ve decided to take the China Southern airline. We were actually given a choice of airline, either China Southern, with travel time of six hours (including the stop over in Xiamen) or thru Cathay via Hongkong but the travel time is nine hours (including transfer of plane in HK) and will be arriving late night of Wednesday which I didn’t like so we chose the first one. China Southern is a small plane, same as the plane used by Cebu Pacific on their international flights, language is Chinese and most of the passengers are Chinese, I agree that Cathay would have been a better option but we opted for this because the time that we’ll get to ride Cathay is two hours lang to HK then the three hours is via a domestic plane din so ok lang.
We have a stop over in Xiamen for 40 mins to complete the entry requirements, we had the immigration and customs check here then went back to our plane. We landed Beijing at past 3pm. Our first impression – yuck! Smog!! As in we’re so shocked to see the very poor visibility due to dirty air (but we later on was told that it’s like that because of all the construction and that since it’s windy, the sands on the nearby dessert is being carried to the city – but according to Wikipedia, madumi talaga air in Bejing – must be the reason why I developed throat infection), funny pa kasi one of the kids of the partners commented that kawawa naman daw ang kids sa Beijing because they don’t know that the sky is blue. Hehehehe…..
Since we already completed the immigration and customs check in Xiamen, we went straight to the luggage carousel and waited for our luggage then went for currency change. Hay naku, inikot-ikot pa namin lahat ng money changer sa airport to get the best deal only to find out that they charge RMB60 so lugi pa rin. Then our next problem was how to go to the hotel given that nobody among us three can speak Mandarin. So we went to the taxi queue hoping that the driver will understand the printed name of the hotel pero unfortunately hindi so we’ve just decided to call the hotel and let them talk to the driver. I was surprised that Beijing is so clean, modern and has lots and lots of building, may expectation kasi is tipong Chinatown but eto, hindi, parang HK but bigger and marami pa ring nagba-bike. Funny as tipong mga naka-high heels and suit pero nagba-bike, it was also my first time to see a hybrid bicycle/motorcycle, I want sana to take pictures but baka ma-offend sila. According to most of our colleagues, there have been really huge improvements in Beijing in preparation for the Olympics. To those who’ve been there two years ago, na-surprise din sila with the development. We spent RMB70+ to get to our hotel. We’re booked at Park Plaza in Wangfujing, buti na lang ganda location ng hotel namin, it’s in the middle of the happenings. Rested for a while then prepared for the cocktails and registration for the symposium on Regent Hotel, venue of the symposium, which is just beside our hotel and even has connecting doors as same owner sila. Chika chika with the partners from Germany, US, HK, etc. then went back to hotel to change to casual for pasyal. Good thing most of the hotel staff can speak English, we asked them how to go to the Food street which is famous for the weird grilled and fried foods such as scorpion, snake, sea urchin, centipede, sea horse, bugs, etc. It was two blocks away from our place and shock kami na talagang totoo pala yun, we’re hungry pero upon seeing these “exotic” food and the smell! Yucky!! Nawalan talaga kami ng gana. But since we’re so hungry as cocktails lang talaga yun sa registration ng symposium we opted to try the safe food just so we have some food in our stomach. After that pasyal-pasyal on the malls of Wangfujing. We’re surprised that it’s cold as when I checked the internet before I left, we’re not expecting it to be that cold, para kaming nasa SanFo sa lamig then add pa the wind and to think I only brought a shawl with me.
At the Street Food Market with some of the weird food:
Me with an officemate while walking along the main road. At the back you'll see the bicycle sign post, they have a dedicated lane for bicycles. Really good huh! wish we have here one for the motorcycles:
To be continued...
Got back from Beijing, China last night. Here are some of the pictures. These are only the pics from my phone as I'm still charging the battery of my camera and most of our pictures are taken by my officemate.
A tea pot and cup beside a tea store
The famous food street with the weird grilled and fried starfish, scorpion, sea horse, sea urchin, etc.
My name written in chinese calligraphy in a rice paper
Bird's nest - the olympics stadium
Me in Great Wall of China Badaling side. Went to the 4th tower, took us 888 steep steps to get there!
More pics coming soon. We're able to go to Great Wall of China, Ming's Tombs, Summer Palace, Tiananment Square, and Forbidden City.
