What I Did in Dalian & Beijing

Apart from work, of course. What do you think? SHOPPING? To tell you the truth, I did not do much shopping there. First of all, they told me to bargain hard. You must first reduce the price by 70%! If it doesn’t work, then slowly increase the price. Wah! It’s crazy. I’m scared that I will be scolded if I ever reduce the price that much. Second reason was that I’m not into imitation stuff. No offence. It’s one of the few principles that I hold on to. It’s just like why some people choose to be a vegetarian. For me, I prefer to buy unbranded but good quality stuff rather than imitation. So what if I don’t have a LV bag.

I actually went to two cities in China - Dalian and Beijing. Dalian is famous for its seafood and I enjoyed it very much. They’re cheap and big! Look at the photos below. We had seafood almost everyday. In Beijing, we went for the famous roasted duck. It was really yummy-licious. Then, on the second night, we had lamb in a Mongolian restaurant. The lamb was so tender. Being a meat lover….ahemmmm…sorry to the vegetarian readers….I wallop the lamb like there’s no tomorrow. The next day (Saturday), I had sore throat and headache. On the flight home, I got flu and spread it to hubby and Ethan.

See the Giant Cockle? Don't know the taste, never order.

I ate the sea urchin, raw! with wasabi. Taste good.

Don't know what's the name. Tasted like intestine. Scroll down to see it when it's alive!

It's moving!

Another giant shellfish. Look at the size of the toothpick. It's yummy!

So, on Saturday I went to one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the Great Wall! That place is really amazing and I’m really amused by it. I’m sure those who have been there are fascinated by it too. The tour guide said that it’s also known as the longest cemetery in the world because beneath every 100m (not sure if I got this right) of the Wall, there are 300 bodies buried there. Technically, we are walking on top of a cemetery! I don’t know how many people died building the wall. Anyway, we departed the hotel in the city at 8 a.m. and reached the Great Wall before 10 a.m. and it’s already SWARMED by human being. Me and my colleague chose the steeper side to climb because it was less crowded. But I only managed to climb up 1 station. My colleague went up 7-8 stations and got herself a certificate. They gave it to you, at RMB 15, when you climbed up to certain level. Some who went the other side of the Wall also got a certificate at RMB25. I’m afraid of height and looking at the steep slope that I have to climb down later, I just cannot go up anymore. Plus the headache I was having, it was a big NO NO!

I also went to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. Those places are HUGE and were also SWARMING with tourists from all over the world, but mostly locals. And to walk under the sun in such a huge place in the summer with a headache is no fun. Nevertheless, I took photographs lar. I was told that there are about 30,000 – 40,000 tourists visiting the Forbidden City EVERYDAY! An entrance ticket will cost you RMB60. Now, imagine how much income they make.

Look at the people! Yes, those tiny dots are human being

Oh yeah! Another thing I did there was foot massage. Nice and cheap. It costs me RMB40 per 1-hour session in Dalian and RMB69 in Beijing. They can even tell what's wrong with you by just pressing your feet. Amazing! I also went for manicure in Dalian. It costs only RMB35. (Exchange rate was around RMB1 = RM0.46)

They put herbs in the warm water to soak the legs before massage. Very relaxing.