finally have the time to edit some photos of my Beijing trip. these are photos from a few colleagues cos i don't have a camera that time (boo). and i still dont have photoshop installed so only used the windows picture editor. haha! and some are edited with awesome ipad apps. heh.
it was our company's incentive trip last year in mid November. the weather wasn't too great for travelling as it went as low as -7degree at night and daytime average was about 10 to 15 degree, which was totally fine for me as i prefer cold rather than hot places. but downside of it, most photos came out not as nice as expected as most of the time, it was foggy. and to snap photos, we had to take off our gloves, which was quite tedious and COLD so most of the time we just don't care to take out the camera.
i don't really remember which event happened in which day but i'll try my best to remember by looking at what i wore. heheh.. might not be in chronological order.
our flight was scheduled at 12a.m. so that we can reach Beijing early in the morning and start our tour.
at KLIA waiting to check in, with my colleague, Aishah aka best person to complain/gossip at work.
we took MAS and they delayed the flight for an hour WITHOUT informing us and let us wait like refugees OUTSIDE the waiting area at the departure gate... grr. and after 6 long hours and not forgetting the super bad service from one of the stewardess, we reached Beijing. we finally step out of the airport at about 8a.m and it was -4degrees!
Alicia, my finance cum admin cum HR manager
we went for breakfast and then straight to our first destination, the famous Tiananmen Square, the Last Emporer's Residence.
Sheila and I walking to Tiananmen Square. we're like dumplings... so cold!
everybody take photo with Chairman Mao's face, so i also follow.
Tiffany, Me, Grace and Wai Teng. another 3 more dumplings.
in front of one of the gates in Forbidden City. i think.
this one also touch for everything good. haha. people touch we also touch loh..
it was a VERY long walk from one end to the other end and took us about 2 hours. and we only walked straight. imagine if we walk into left and right side of the "city", i'm sure one whole day is not enough to discover the whole place.
pit stop and cw.
boring faces waiting for tour guide explaining about Foribidden City. he was showing us the map or something..
one of the many stalls selling similar souvenirs.
after the Forbidden City and plenty of histories, we went to Temple of Heaven.
with the rest of the dumplings.
we had very good lunches and dinners during the whole trip. almost every meal with at least 10 dishes. and they were very yummy cos we actually requested our agent to bring us to more famous restaurants aka not tourists place.
on the first night, me and Alex went out for an adventure walk from our hotel to a nearby shopping mall. adventure cos it was freezing.
and i found my favouritest food in Beijing from the roadside on the way back to our hotel.
bing tang hu lu!
look how happy i was? rawr!!! Kenny-look cos my ears almost fell out.
the next day, we went to Summer Palace.
i think this is Summer Palace. haha. don't remember. but it was another long walk from one entrance to the exit. see how packed it was?
the whole stretch of te corridoor overlooks the lake, our tour guide told us that it's very beautiful during summer but..
all i see is blank white scenery. cannot see anything cos it's covered by fogs.
after almost 1 hour, we reached the exit. and you can see behind me, it's a ship made out of jade.
then we're off to our next destination, trishaw ride at Hu Tong alley.
Hu Tong alley is an old part of Beijing, where we can see the old times courtyard houses with a common toilet shared among all of the houses. *gasp*
getting ready for our ride. was covered with a blanket. so warm and comfortable.
i actually took a video during our ride.... but the audio went haywire after i convert the format so canot edit it. boo.
in the courtyard of one of the houses listening the tour guide talk about history of courtyard houses.
and then... i got married....
hehe.. it's one of the rooms for newly wed in the courtyard house for tourists visits.
then we were brought to a silk factory.
us pulling the silk to make comforter.
we went to WanFuJing street at night. it's something like our Petaling Street/pasar malam.
heheh.. one of the many bing tang hu lu that i had in Beijing.
the next morning, we woke up damn early to go Great Wall.
so cold...
me before climbing the wall.
our tour guide said kiss for good luck. hahaha.. so i kiss loh...
i also took videos of my great wall climbing adventure. but meh... someone help me convert it without messing up the audio can?
after climbing the Great Wall, we were brought to the Olympic Stadium to uhm.. camwhore. hahah..
some of the letters went missing...
the next morning we were supposed to go Tianjin, but because it takes about 2 hours to go there, the majority decided to skip it and stay in Beijing. so David, our tour guide, brought us to a park. i forgot the name. apparently one of the emperor commited suicide there by hanging himself at one of the trees when his kingdom was defeated (if i remember correctly la ha... we went too many similar looking places. hahah). we went there super early in the morning and it was super cold!!
despite the cold weather, there were many aunties and uncles exercising there. one of it is ribbon dance. they also play chess, sing with portable karaoke amplifier, taichi and also kicking a feather-like thingy i forgot the name... i guess that's what keeps them warm.
at the temple on top of the hill. we can see the Forbidden City from there but due to the fog, most of the scenery there looked like it's covered with white dust.
after that, we went to uhm.. orchestra place. dunno whats the name.
and then....
we went to the zoo!! to see Giant panda.. but....
most of the pandas there were sleeping!
but one of them were lying down, eating bamboo.. so cute.. nah..
just wanted to show you my outfit. LOVE the jacket.
then i think we went for shopping at warehouses that sells kinda expensive stuff and every time yo bargain, they call you crazy and if you touch their things without buying, they will scold you and call you crazy. boo.
the last day, we went to visit the muslim mosque.
last day in Beijing.
overall, the weather was great, especially for layering.. i wish KL have this awesome weather... only thing was, our schedule were quite pack. food was definitely great. but one thing i dislike about Beijing is that they have pretty nasty toilets. it's dirty and smelly. and there are a few times we saw someone in the cubicle doing their business without closing the door, as if it's a normal thing. ugh. and a few times, i saw unwrapped used sanitary pads in the dustbin inside the toilet. conclusion, they have terrible toilet manners. boo.
heh. show off!
wonder where are we going for this year's trip.. hmmm....definitely NOT China.
Been a bit busy with work lately. Finally a major event of a project that I’m working on just ended last Friday. Though there are some hiccups just an hour before the event, I guess it went quite well and I’m kinda happy about it. Last weekend was spent at home. 2 whole days of recovery from sleepless nights. Skipped Jap class (again) cos it rained heavily and I’m too tired to move my lazy ass out of the house. I did laundry instead *smirk*. Kinda found a new joy in doing laundry.. haha! I guess I have to start doing it myself from now on instead of sending it to the laundry shop every other week. Time for me to learn how to save up, little by little.
One of my dreams/wish (before turning 30) came true this year. I bought house. Initially I thought of getting a condo as an investment, but dad kinda talked me into getting a landed house to stay in. was a little reluctant before I made the decision, but after a deep thought about it, weighed the pros and cons, and with encouragements from some close friends and Smelly, i decided to just go ahead and get it. Dad found the house in a newspaper advertisement and we went to view it together. Within a week, paid deposit and another week for loan approval and the sales & purchase agreement is ready to be signed anytime now.
A week to make such big decision is considered very fast, I’d say. It’s not because out of any pressures or anything. It’s because I’ve wanted to own a house since about 2 years ago. Now I think it’s the right time to get it, and I did.
Getting a house is a HUGE commitment. Salary not increasing is also another HUGE concern. Pfft. but I think I’ll get by.
Which means…. my travel plans for this year (and possibly the next 40 years) will be on hiatus until further notice (or at least until I strike lottery...fml).
Which also means, I need to work harder to find an alternative income source. Sigh.
Why do I have a feeling that I’m going to regret this (in a good way)?