The One with No Toilet Paper- Happy Birthday Daniel Duong

Today was the first day of my Beijing Tour. It was filled with many tourists’ destinations and activities, that I’m so tired right now. My tour group has 29 people (which is apparently small) and surprisingly I’m not the youngest! And though my wish of a cute guy to be in my group came true, he’s only 5, but oh so very adorable! =3! Here’s a group photo:

The bus left at 7:30am for Tiananmen Square. You had to go past a security check to get in, but once you’re in, your targeted by people who “offer” (more like grab onto you and won’t let go until you buy something) your tourist souvenir items. Tiananmen Square is surrounded by pillars, there are 56 of them and each of the pillars represents a Chinese Provence. In the centre of Tiananmen Square there is the Monument of the People’s Heroes and across the road is Chairman Mao’s Memorial Hall.

 

 

Subsequently, we travelled through an underground tunnel to reach the Forbidden City (or otherwise as known as the Palace Museum).

This is where people get their heads chopped off as punishment, back in the old days.

 

The Forbidden City is so big! It’s absolutely breathtaking. We saw where the emperor used to sleep, his garden, his throne, the place he went to study and so much more. But apparently I’ve only seen about 30% of it! Which I thought was ridiculous, why would you need such a big space? The tour guide said “Well, he had approximately 3000 concubines.”

... Horny much? He probably overdosed on Viagra or something? I mean 3000!?

After walking around for a couple of hours, I was busting to go to the bathroom, but there was a huge line. When I finally reached the front of the line, I see symbols on each of the doors. On closer inspection, I found that they were indicating that inside the cubicle was either a hole in the ground or an actual toilet seat. There were only 2 of the toilet seat and I absolutely refuse to pee in a hole in the ground! It took me forever to finally get inside the cubicle, only to find that they do not offer toilet paper! Come on! What the hell? How cheap can you get? I had to go outside to get tissues and go through the long ass line again!

Next on the agenda was this medicine facility place, where some old guy comes and tells you whether you’re sick or not. The diagnosis is free, so my Dad had a go. The “doctor” told him to buy 1200 bucks worth of medicine ($200AUD), and my Dad was like ... No. LOL! So we walked out and went to the shops. We walked past some Night Food stores.

 

Starfish kebab, beetle or slimy thing on a stick anyone? Eww..

Sanlintun Yashow Clothing Market was our next stop. It’s fake goods galore. There are no prices on any of the items; it’s all based on your haggling skills.

• If you speak English to them, they’ll start the prices up very high.
• If you speak Cantonese to them, the prices will be a bit lower.
• If you speak Mandarin to them, the prices will be even lower.
• If you speak with a Beijing accent, the prices will start at the lowest start up price. 

Apparently after haggling with them, if you don’t buy from them, they will scream at you. When I heard that I was too afraid to approach any of the stores, so I just browsed around. The best person to come here with is my Mum. She’s the haggling queen. But man, I saw this poor lady being grabbed by 5 shop assistants at one time and she struggled to walk away to get out of their grasps. It was quite amusing.

After Dinner we went to the Olympic Park, which marked the end of a tiring first day of the tour.

The Bird’s Nest

Aquatic Centre (Bubbles)

Favourite Picture of the Day:

Doesn’t my Dad remind you of this?

A Lion! LOL! HAHAHA! =D

So jealous much, Cynthia?