Beijing 2012 : The Great Wall Of China

10/12/12

Today, we started our day as early as at 7.00am. Had our breakfast before making our way to the Great Wall Of China, the highlight of our trip. Again, we took the subway to Beijing North Railway Station from where we transferred to Badaling Great Wall station. By the way, the subway tickets that we paid each time, cost us only 2 Yuan which is equivalent to S$0.40 hehehe tk kira arr jaoh ke dekat, still 40sen hahaha But the train cost us 55 Yuan each, about S$11 still ok la tu for a one and a half hr journey. We bought ourselves the 7.55am train tickets to Badaling Great Wall Station.

When the train was almost nearing our destination, we got all excited, for the sight of the Great Wall could be seen from afar. Upon reaching the Badaling Station, we had to walk 800m ahead to reach the Great Wall ticketing Entrance gate. We opted to go up the Great Wall via the cable car. Makcik biase arr gerun takot heights hehehe Once we reached the top, ya Allah, tak brenti2 mulot ni ucapkan syukor pada Allah yang telah mengizinkan kami anak branak ke sane, alhamdulillah. The Great Wall of China is truly magnificent! stunning! majestic! subhanallah, alhamdulillah Allahu akbar!!! 

 The steps on the Great Wall were steep and walking up the wall was tiring and truly challenging. I have to admit that I did crawl my way up on few occasions hahaha The guys managed to get to the top. I gave it a miss, only because Kakak couldn't take the chilly weather anymore, so much so that she cried & asked to climb down where we started. The temperture was way below -11 degree celsius, sejok giler!!!! Kakak sampaikan cakap 'No more winter holidays for me' hahaha

Kakak wanted so much to eat ice-creams in winter so we bought ourselves some ice-creams before taking the cable car down the Great Wall. And yes, our ice-creams didn't melt. Jakon la kan hahaha

  Ok along the way to the train station, I had a great time bargaining my purchases from the street hawkers. My best bargain was for my purple winter coat which originally cost 280 Yuan and I managed to bargain right down to only 80 Yuan. And that only cost me S$16!!! the advantage of being mandarin literate chey chey chey hahaha puas ati arr!!! 

The earliest train that would leave the Badaling Station for Beijing North Station would arrive only at 3pm. We still had about an hour to wait. So we decided to solat jamak ta'khir as we had already missed zohor prayer. 

It was 5+pm and was already dark outside. Dinner was at a restaurant near Niujie. Equally nice as the first dinner we had. We had rice, again, so typical of us hehe oh lupa nak cakap, everywhere we went, sambal blacan mesti ade dalam bag hehehe Anyway, we had mutton, chicken, tofu tak tau la masak ape but can eat la..the most delicious was the lamb dish, made up of pizza base topped with sop tulang-like lamb..sedap giler!!!!

The plan was to go to Niujie Mosque but we saw people leaving for home (perhaps) from the mosque direction so I guessed the mosque must be closed after Isya', which was at abt 6.20pm. Decided to come back to Niujie on another day instead. Crossed over the other side of the road to find a Muslim Supermarket. Alhamdulillah, Beijing isn't bad afterall. The children bought lotsa things to bring back to the hotel room for munching.