We never been to Beijing or Shanghai. The idea of going to China - thats Beijing and Shanghai is out of the blue. Its so sudden and we made the decision and preparation for less than a month, at least for me. My husband always wanted to visit China but I am just warming up to the idea. Frankly speaking I would prefer Europe but then I changed my mind. China was not too bad to go to afterall!
We didn’t know what to expect, all we know is Beijing and Shanghai or China for that matter is a vast country with a population so out of this world. We also know some of the great and historical places are in Beijing so that was what we wanted to see. We wanted to feel how it felt like to be in China, such a powerful country with a billion population. And we wanted to try the weather too. From our research we know the weather is much colder in March than here so thats another good point to go.
Beijing didn’t disappoint us. We were there for 4 days and time flew by so quickly without us realizing it. There was so much to see. From the beautiful artifacts, the historical buildings and structures thats been standing there for centuries to the people of Beijing, the big city even the traffic jam awed us to the core.
Then its time to move on to Shanghai. Another wonderful shock to see this beautiful city. A big contrast to Beijing in terms of the city structure and design. This is the modern city of China. The beautiful and modern building of Shanghai took our breath away. And on the other side of the spectrum we also saw the older city of Shanghai where its all started centuries ago. So this trip really gave us the glimpse on how Shanghai looked like in the old days and on the modern days. I think Shanghai didn’t want to disappoint us as well.
This articles will guide you all through the memorable paths of visiting Beijing and Shanghai. We are muslim so this article will be geared towards catering for muslim travelers. We will touch on so many aspects of Beijing and China way of lives and also all the wonderful places both of these cities have to offer. Hope you enjoy your reading and can benefit from some if not all of them.
At the Airport
We reached Beijing airport from Singapore on 22nd March 2008 at 12.30 midnight. We were full of anticipations, we couldn’t see much of anything since it was completely dark from the air. We couldn’t even figure out how the airport looked like apart from the short walk at the arrival hall, immigration and collecting our luggage. Upon entering the reception area, a lot of people were already there and we tried to look for our tour guide. This tour guide was pre-arranged from our home country so we expected him to be waiting for us at the airport. And there he was with his name card and my hubby named written on a big piece of clipboard. First impression he seemed nice and easy to get along with. We met introduced each other and he took us to the basement parking lot where another person who is the driver waiting for us with her comfortable fully aircon van. Outside the weather was cold, the first thing we realize was how cold the weather was. We anticipated the weather will be cold even in March so we basically came prepared with our warm clothings.
We were taken to the hotel also pre-arranged and checked in for the night. Most of the roads were deserted at this hour. As what our tour guide was saying, Beijing people love to sleep early and there was not so much night life here therefore there was not so many exciting places. But we didn’t mind about that we are not really here to enjoy the night life anyway. We were excited and couldn’t wait for the adventure to begin the next day.
Shanghai airport is enormous and beautiful. It is surrounded by a man made lake and even at night the place looked so serene and peaceful. We departed from here on our last day. Both Beijing and Shanghai just opened their new terminals the week we were there so that’s something special although we didn’t get to be there to experience the beauty of the new terminals. We departed from newly opened Terminal 3 of Changi Airport Singapore though so that’s a bonus to experience the vastness of Terminal 3. There were some English on some of the signboards therefore it was rather sufficient to guide us to go places. However there was one funny sign which we managed to capture on our digital camera. Foot massage with a new meaning in Shanghai Pudong Airport.
It took us 45 minutes to reach Shanghai Pudong Airport on our way back home. The airport is located on the west side on the Huangdo River called Pudong. The east side of the Huangdo River is where the city is and this area was called PuChi. The Huangdo River is a long river and both areas are connected by a bridge.
Some of the beautiful sceneries captured from our humble camera.
The ever so beautiful willow trees in Forbidden City Beijing
Forbidden City
We then move on to the Forbidden City, just beside the Tiannamen Square. Its rather a long walk but we didn’t really mind. The Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is the world’s largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares and you wont believe if I tell you there are 9,999 rooms! The palace was constructed in 1407 and that explained why the palace looked so old. But this building is still going strong despite its age. It really was built from strong material and can stand the test of time. I noticed the palace are in red and yellow then I found out yellow is the colour for Chinese royal family also.
At the Forbidden City of Beijing, where Mao's body resides.
Tiannamen Square
Very vast area. Its only about 15 minutes from our hotel. Very near and we didn’t expect that at all. So our hotel was simple at the center of Beijing which was awesome. The area is about 440,000 square feet and that’s huge. Its simply a square area where people are just hanging about. That’s all there is to it. But this place is all about history and everyone wanted to be part of it. Thousand of people come to the square every day. So I guess it’s a must visit place in Beijing.
Apart from the square, there is Tiannamen Tower, Monument to the People’s Heros and Mao Zedong Memorial Hall.
The Monument of People’s Hero located in the center of the Square. It was built in 1952 and the largest monument in China. And we also visited the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall at the south side of the Square. This hall is divided into three halls and the Chairman Mao’s body lies in a crystal coffin in one of the halls surrounded by frest flowers and grasses, they said. We didn’t actually go in. We could if we wanted but you had to pay. And our tour guided didn’t recommend it so we passed it for now.
On our way to The Tiannamen Square, look at those soldiers!
At the Muslim Restaurant in Beijing where we had our breakfast.
The so famous picture of Mao.
Some strange looking flowers, looks like faces at the Bund.
So many people here, and the place looked amazing.
The inland side of the Bund.
Some very westernised and history buildings.
Alot of people here and there was even western camera crews making films or documentaries.
The city also feeling the heat and gearing up for the Beijing Olympic.
One of the serene and peaceful small road leading up to the old city.
One of the sign boards at the old city.
Old houses beside the lake.
Inside the train station where we unloaded and waited to check in the train.
Ayang inside the train near our compartment waiting for the train to make the night journey.
Our hotel in Shanghai.
Ayang at the lobby of the hotel.
Shanghai City - very modern and western.
The main attraction of the Beijing Zoo are the adorable Pandas.
We found this small muslim corner food stall near our hotel.
One of the muslim restaurant we had lunch at.
The Bird Nest, venue for Beijing Summer Olympic 2008 on the last minute preparation for the opening ceremony.
A stroll back to our hotel after dinner.
The popular willow trees looked elegant in the wind.
Bridge over the river at Summer Palace.
Main entrance to the Summer Palace.
One of the Masjids we visited in Beijing.
Our hotel at night from across the road.
The silk store where we could find good quality comforter, bed sheets and other fabrics.
The host showed us how they produced their comforter from the thread made by the silk worms.
Welcoming speech from our host at the Silk Store.
The weather was perfect to see the great extend of the Great Wall.
Climbing up the Great Wall, not too bad.
On of the many notice boards at the Wall.
Before the start of the climb.
There were so many tourists even the weather is so cold.
Forbidden City
The so famous picture of Mao.
