Beijing Tour: Day 1

The weather was great. It was chilly but the sun was out to warm us up a bit. Strolled around outside our hotel to enjoy the snow while it lasted.

We were on tour with three other groups and luckily, we're all Filipinos. Our tour guide's name is Mary, a pure Chinese who speaks and understands English pretty well. Except maybe for her constant misuse of "us". Hehe.

Mary: "For the two of us and the two of us, lunch is included. But for the four of us, not included. Ok?"

First stop was Tiananmen Square, a huge open space located at the heart of the city. Mary named the different buildings surrounding the square but I really couldn't recall anything without Googling. Not paying attention! Hehe.

Joined the stream of people and walked through the Tiananmen Gate to the Imperial City. Half an hour later, we reached the Meridian Gate which is the first entrance to the Forbidden City proper.

The place was vast! We walked through a number of gates, courtyard after courtyard, historic pavilion after historic pavilion. Everything looked Chinese! Hehe. I would've explored every nook and corner of it if we weren't on a group tour. Then again, I probably would've gotten lost in its mazy alleys too. Hehe.

The Imperial Garden was a perfect blend of natural and structural beauty, with trees and rock formations standing amid colorful concrete .

After lunch, our next stop was the Temple of Heaven. It is where the emperors prayed and offered sacrifice during the ancient times. Funny how Mary said something like we Filipinos are not so much interested in the history of a place, that we just love taking photos. So true! Haha.

Next on our itinerary was the Tea House for a relaxing cup of free tea. If there's one thing we've learned on this tour, it is that nothing really is free. A pretty Chinese girl, who introduced herself as Ms. Tea, started preparing different kinds of tea. Out of all the teas we've sampled, I loved the natural sweetness of the Ginseng Oolong Tea and the benefits of the Pu'er Tea.

As soon as she finished her presentation, an army of sales ladies swarmed our table, each determined to close a deal. Seriously, they won't take no for an answer! We ended up buying a small canister of Pu'er Tea for 300 yuan. That's roughly 2500 pesos! Our sales lady offered to throw in a naughty Shin Chan toy for free. But we chose to get another small canister of Jasmine Tea instead of the peepee boy. Grabe. I guess that was their Pixiu at work with its teeth biting deep into our wallets. Haha.

Jay: "Anong nangyari don? Parang naholdap tayo ha!"

Really had no plans of watching an acrobatic show but Mary was sooo persistent in convincing our group to pay extra for it. She said that she would not push us to watch it if she doesn't think it's worth our time and money.

Me: "We've watched Cirque du Soleil already and I think their pretty much the same."

And honestly, Varekai had set the bar pretty high that I think it would be difficult to find another show that will impress. Yabang! Haha.

Mary: "No! This is different! This is world-class!"

Well, there's nothing more irritating than a Chinese woman with a high pitch voice talking directly into your ears incessantly. In the end, our group agreed to join the other groups and went to Jin Sha Theater for the show. It wasn't wow but it was entertaining. Especially the chubby girl who giggled a lot everytime she appeared on stage. Hehe.

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