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Beijing travel bug

Beijing travel bug
travel blog anything about Beijing! review of restaurant, tour areas , shopping etc !

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Golden Jaguar Best Buffet
2007-08-07 12:11:00
It was plain Gluttony. With so many choices, who wouldn’t want to try everything out even if it won’t even fit inside your stomach? Ahhhh….I was astounded by the variety of food inside Golden Jaguar . It’s located at the end of Wangfujing road. We waited for an hour that day (don’t know if it’s because it was Valentines). We thought that there won’t be much food left since it’s past 12nn but to my surprise, the food was still overflowing. From salmon, steaks, lambs, beef, prawns, tuna, oysters, crabs, roasted duck…almost everything you can imagine. Drinks were free flowing, that includes alcoholic ones. My favorite part was the dessert section! UNLIMITED HAAGEN DAZ ICE CREAM! Honestly, I haven’t tasted any Haagen Daz ice cream until that time. The macadamia nut flavored one was my favorite. It was just at the rate of RMB 180 during lunchtime but the rate jumps to RMB 210 for dinner! For me, it’s value for...
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Golden Jaguar Best Buffet
2007-08-07 12:11:00
It was plain Gluttony. With so many choices, who wouldn’t want to try everything out even if it won’t even fit inside your stomach? Ahhhh….I was astounded by the variety of food inside Golden Jaguar . It’s located at the end of Wangfujing road. We waited for an hour that day (don’t know if it’s because it was Valentines). We taught that there won’t be much food left since it’s past 12nn but to my surprise, the food was still overflowing. From salmon, steaks, lambs, beef, prawns, tuna, oysters, crabs, roasted duck…almost everything you can imagine. Drinks were free flowing, that includes alcoholic ones. My favorite part was the dessert section! UNLIMITED HAAGEN DAZ ICE CREAM! Honestly, I haven’t tasted any Haagen Daz ice cream until that time. The macadamia nut flavored one was my favorite. It was just at the rate of RMB 180 during lunchtime but the rate jumps to RMB 210 for dinner! For me, it’s value for ...
More About: Buffet

Old Summer Palace (颐和元）
2007-08-06 18:12:00
“How can something so beautiful be destroyed?” That was what I thought when we visited the Old Summer Palace in Beijing near Beida University. This attraction is not usually famous spot for tourists but it serves a very sound reminder of the humiliating past of China. It was originally the Imperial Garden that was built by the Emperor Kangxi in the early 1700’s for his son. It was greatly expanded during 1725 by Emperor Yongzheng, adding up ponds, lakes, streams to compliment the gardens. The Imperial Gardens were made up of three gardens: the Garden of Perfect Brightness proper, the Garden of Eternal Spring (Simplified Chinese: 长春园; Traditional Chinese: 長春園; Pinyin: Chángchūn Yuán), and the Elegant Spring Garden (Simplified Chinese: 绮春园; Traditional Chinese: 綺春園; Pinyin: Qǐchūn Yuán); together they covered an area of 3.5 km² (865 acres). They were almost 5 times the size of the Forbidden City, and 8 times the size of the Vatic...

Beijing Olympics 2008 Dashboard
2007-08-05 19:19:00
Here’s a random update about Beijing Olympics 2008: * Beijing is said to pledge US$ 13 million to clean up the city and advocate itself to launch a “Green Olympics” campaign. Relocating steel factories to outer provinces, planting more trees, replacing old buses etc. Since Beijing has a hazy city line due to smog, the government is still pushing itself to reach its goals. * Originally, Beijing has 4 main subway lines, but in the next year, it aims to make 4 more to improve accessibility to other areas of the city. Simultaneous constructions are underway and most of the workers work seven days a week to be able to finish with a tight deadline. * Water Cube is a big dome stadium currently in construction in Beijing. The outer membrane of the dome stretched over the pentagonal and hexagonal steel beams to simulate the look of an ice-blue cube with a water-like surface. The membrane allows the Water Cube to use solar energy to heat the pools and light the in...
More About: Dashboard , Beijing Olympics , Jing

Summer Palace
2007-08-05 10:40:00
One of the main attractions of Beijing is the Summer Palace (Yi He Yuan), located at the other end of the Haidian District. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value. Beauty in every level can be seen in this place. Would you believe that the Longevity Hill was made out of dirt taken out of the Kunming Lake? Behind every step, every temple, every corridor, I sense its history. It’s not just an “imperial garden” to me where you can take a lot of good photographs. You can see art in the pathway you walk, above the corridor you see. I was in awe with the beauty and has high respect for the creators. But it won’t just make you appreciate it, it can inspire people to rethink their own potentials.
More About: Lace

Nanshan Ski Resort
2007-08-04 05:41:00
There are a bunch of sports activities you can do in Beijing. But one of the famous seasonal sports is Skiing. Usually, resorts start to open around end of November or whenever the year’s winter season starts. Nanshan Ski Resort is one of the biggest and popular ski resort in Beijing. It’s located on the outskirts of the city, around 2 hours drive away from the city. During weekends, people flock the area to ski, snowboard, snow mobile, toboggan etc. Having 13 runs that is about 1500 meters long, the ski resorts boast to offer the best ski/snowboard experience. They also have the flying thing, where there’s a cable that connects to a glide that you can ride to enjoy the spectacular view from above. I went there twice, the first time where it snowed hard and the second near the season end. Beijing doesn’t have snowfall everyday so you wonder where did they get the ice. They have this machine that creates ice. Of course, newbies like ...

Grandma’s Kitchen
2007-07-15 06:12:00
I enjoy eating brunch so we tried Grandma ’s Kitchen . The small restaurant has a homey feel. You need to go before 11am to avail the 10% discount. We got to order 1 minute before the deadline! I never really enjoyed the food sadly, either it was too bland, or starchy (steak). Though my other friends loved their order (peppered steak), it was not really my thing. You can order pancakes, waffles, omelet too. The service waitresses/waiters can speak a bit English so you can explain what you want. Though this is not my favorite, you can try but order the right ones. Try the cheesecakes, I heard that it’s their best seller. Tel: 6503-2893 A11 Xiushui Nanjie behind Friendship Store 秀水南街甲11号友谊商店后边 Tel:5869-3055/6 0103, Bldg B, Jianwai SOHO, 39 Dongsanhuan Zhonglu 东三环中路39号建外SOHOB座0103 Y100 - Y199 per couple Open 7:30am-11pm
More About: Chen

Houhai
2007-07-13 16:20:00
Houhai is one of Beijing’s bar hot spots. It is located near Behai. Though in the morning, it looks like an ordinary restaurant strip, at night, it will look livelier. I visited this place only twice. Once when my friend Jessica toured us back in 2005, and we got lost looking for Hutong Pizza. The second time, when I was studying and my friends and I went to eat at Hutong pizza after touring BeHai. The lake looks serene day and night. But at night, the bars around the area will be the highlight. It’s famous getaway for expats. During winter, the lake will freeze thus you can skate! There’s also a branch of Starbucks I got to see this Sex and Da City bar. Minus the spelling, reminds me of the famous series!

Korean BBQ- my top 5
2007-07-11 15:13:00
One of my favorite restaurants are Kore an BBQ places. I can’t resist the rice, sauce, BBQ altogether. That’s why I didn’t wonder why I got fat all the while. The hot coal grill is also a warm retreat versus the nasty cold during winter. Typically, you need to choose different variety of raw meat (from lamb, karubi beef, harami beef, pork, chicken, squid, ribs). They serve appetizers first (actually a lot, I usually get a bit full with appetizers). If you love kimchi, you will love to eat in Korean restaurants. I get flushed out whenever I eat here, because of SPICY food and the hot coal grill. There are a lot of Korean restaurants around Wutaokou area. My favorites are Fushion, Sarambang, Kimchi rice place (though I don’t think this is the name, we just named this cause of our favorite Kimchi rice), Korean restaurant in Xi Jiao Hotel. They taught us how to eat the Korean BBQ traditionally. The reason why there are lots of sauces, vegetabl...

Flavored Soju anyone?
2007-07-08 08:57:00
Soju is a very popular alcoholic drink Koreans prefer. It has I think 6% alcohol in it, if drank purely, you can really feel it tickle down your throat. Nice to have this for drinking games we usually enjoy back in Beijing. Though not all supermarkets have this (we usually buy in Korean convenience stores for around 13 rmb) We got to try other variants of this, which made popular by the once Ramia (too bad it’s already close, maybe they moved somewhere else). They added flavors for it, like mango soju, peach soju etc. Fun times! Ask Koreans about their drinking games, super fun!
More About: Flavor

Crepe Cake
2007-07-06 05:36:00
This cake is hidden specialty in Wotaokou area. You can buy this crepe cake in Cafe Bro. So what’s so good about this?? You just can savor it by rolling each layer and eating it with friends. One of my favorites in Beijing…
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Da dong restaurant
2007-07-04 11:05:00
Beijing is famous with its PEKING DUCK so never forget to go and try these high-cholesterol succulent duck. One of the restaurant that serves peking duck is Da Dong Restaurant . It has 2 branches in Beijing, the old restaurant and the one which has relatively more contemporary interiors. I got to visit the two branches. The first one, we tried, we supposed want a private room which we took a peek at, but dang..it has a charge! So we ended up going out of that beautiful room with its own comfort room and lounge. Argh, so much for being budgeted customer! The good thing about Da Dong is that you get to have your own sauces (to dip the peking duck skin roll) thus is more hygienic. You can also ask them to teach you how to roll your own peking duck roll, all the side dishes, what sauces to put, which are which etc. Well, after eating around 15-20 rolls, my head feels like floating. Too much oil, too much…of the good stuff is sometimes bad. Till the next Peking Duck...

Hua Qing Jia Yuan
2007-07-02 19:05:00
Wotaukou is one of the busiest area in Beijing because of a lot of schools in the area both local and international. It’s near BLCU, Beida, Tsinghua University, as well as a film academy just across BLCU. With lots of students wanting to live nearby, the prices of apartments get steeper by the year. We were lucky to get an apartment in Hua Qing Jia Yuan with the help of our friend Marty. It was a last minute request but the apartment was good enough, quite comfortable especially my favorite couch! Hua Qing Jia Yuan, a apartment compound is children friendly though our building is isolated on the Tsinghua Science Park side. Going to Lotus Supermarket is a bit of a drag since you need to cross the street twice because it’s diagonal to our building. Crossing the big street can consume 3-4 minutes of my supposed walking time (this was when I was still not lazy to walk). When I timed myself, walking from our apartment to BLCU would take about 20 minutes! I’ve ...

Shanghai-ed
2007-07-02 09:20:00
It was love at first sight for me upon arriving in Shanghai . Though we had lots of taxi mishaps and not understanding the dialect, I came to love the city itself. The structures were the likes of European architectures. The sophistication is much to envy. Malls are everywhere along Nanjing Road. Although the downside of shopping late is not getting a taxi late at night! When you get to Shanghai, be sure to get a copy of That’s Shanghai magazine which is free. Four days weren’t enough to go around the city. Due to strict scheduling, we didn’t manage to visit the bars in Shanghai which are very famous! We saw the BUND at night but to my dismay, the lights turned off at 1030pm, just as we’re supposed to be posing to take a picture with it. I saw it closing before my eyes, and my heart sank a bit (I really hate seeing the things I like..going away, disappearing..now here..lights closing!) So my goal now..I need to go back and see that again! ...

Zhong guan cun (Beijing Electronic Haven)
2007-06-28 09:23:00
Zhongguancun is by far the busiest area I have gone to where it’s always jampacked with people wanting to buy new gadgets or shop at the newest mall there is ( 888 Mall) or buy groceries at Carrefour. Heavy traffic during the time I was there because of some pavement construction nearby. Gadgets are not really my thing but you can get the cheapest electronics here at Zhongguancun. There are a lot of electronic malls in the area and if you plan to canvass for the cheapest, you need to set aside 2 days to get around all the places. From digital cameras, laptops, electronic dictionaries, hard drives, printers, cellphones, flashdrives..they have it all. Take note that vendors in the area are really aggressive. They might grab you to their store or shout at your face to get your attention. So brace yourself for a beating
More About: Electronic , Beijing , Tron , Haven , Jing

Haggling tips
2007-06-25 10:28:00
I usually shop in flea market like that near Beijing Zoo, or the more organize ones in Silk market or Yashow market. I can’t help but notice how the vendors would give higher prices to foreigners or those who can’t understand Chinese well. Of course, I couldn’t buy an overpriced jacket that normally would cost half the price, I tend to haggle until they get pissed off. My friends have developed some ‘walk away” strategy when shopping. When the vendors shout a high price, my friends say that it’s expensive, then walk away slowly until the vendors would lower the price. Usually they would lower it a bit but don’t get excited at their price. Act nonchalantly. Then they usually ask how much you want it, don’t say your price (of course since they know you don’t know the running price for the item)..just say, “What’s the lowest price you can offer?” = (Ni zui di de jia ge shi she me?) Can’t imagine it g...
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Forbidden City
2007-06-22 20:25:00
Forbidden City is a famous tourist spot in Beijing. Though it may be a bit crowded during weekends, you should at least have a peek at a historical palace and behold the beautiful artifact of history. If you can imagine a bull’s eye target, the map of Beijing is similar to that, with Forbidden city and Tiannanmen Square being the one in the middle. The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the “Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties”,[1] and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. A brief history I heard while I was eavesdropping on the other group’s tour guide..The imperial garden is where the emperor would have different beautiful ladies scattered around the place, and there he would pick his liking and be his chosen courtesan for the night. Intriging… Though the la...

Top 5 Karaoke place
2007-06-20 10:33:00
Sing your heart away..in Chinese, English, Korean, Thai, and some even in Tagalog! My friends and I usually hang out in Lion King KTV which is near our place in Wotaukou. It has selection of English music sort of updated but you can still endure. The lighting inside the room is a bit dark and the room can be really warm especially when you invite all your friends and get all crazy drunk. You can’t bring your own booze or drinks or else you’ll pay for the corkage fee. We love hanging out in this KTV during cold boring nights and letting our inner “popstar” shine through among our circle of shameless friends. Here are some other KTV place you can try out according to Cityweekend, the TOP 5! 1. Cashbox Party World — Their Chaowai location has 130 rooms while their Shouti location has nearly 100. All patrons are rewarded with a free buffet that includes all three meals of the day. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto! Open 24 hours. ¥39-365 per hour. Tel: 6588...
More About: Karaoke , Place , Lace , Kara

Beijing Olympics Medal unveiled
2007-06-15 08:09:00
(BEIJING, March 27) — On the occasion of the 500-day countdown to the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) unveiled the Games’ medals. BOCOG Executive Vice-President and chairman of the evaluation panel Jiang Xiaoyu attended the unveiling ceremony and delivered a speech at the Capital Museum on Tuesday. The medals are designed with inspiration from “bi”, China’s ancient jade piece inscribed with dragon pattern. The medals, made of gold and jade, symbolize nobility and virtue and are embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honor. The medals are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. On their obverse side, the medals adopt the standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — a drawing that represents the winged goddess of victory Nike and Panathinaikos Arena, while on their reverse side, the medals are inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games ...
More About: Olympics , Medal , Beijing Olympics , Veil

Haerbin (哈尔滨）
2007-06-14 08:53:00
Haerbin (or Harbin) is a place where famous ice festival are held annually starting early January. This is located Northeast China and is the capital of HeiLongJiang. Because it’s near Russia, the architectures are very different than those in mainland China. Influence by Russian colonization, the place has still a lot of Russian translation in stores, billboards. The Old St. Sophia Cathedral is still well preserved but already made into a museum that shows the civilization of Russian Colony. It’s supposed to have the coldest temperature with longest winter however when we went there, it was said to have their hottest winter so to speak. There are different kinds of showcase of snow/ice. From large ice sculpture to lighted ice blocks, they have it all. The huge ice blocks are said to came from the river nearby. There’s also a famous shopping strip where you can view the Russian architectures though I forgot what’s it called.

My 7 Random “only in Beijing” experiences
2007-06-13 08:18:00
My friend Sophie who own a fresh new blog MySummerSolstice tagged me to share 7 random facts about Beijing . Well, couldn’t help but think them over…good or bad…they all happened to me! 1. Prepaid electricity, gas– this is not really a very unusual thing but for me, it is. I need to check our electricity counter everyday to see if we need to buy energy credits. At least we’re all conscious about our usage..we get to calculate our daily expenses. 8 hours of using the aircon will costs us 10 credits. Unfortunately, one time didn’t get to check our gas credit..while I was cooking..dang..gas stopped fuming so microwave became my best friend. 2. Unbashful Comfort room experiences - In Beijing, mostly the urinal is on the floor so the girls and guys who need to poop would need to squat. It was really hard to do it since there’s a possibility of losing your balance. Well, that quite didn’t matter. What ticked me..I get to open cubic...
More About: Random , Experiences , Peri , Jing

Beihai Park
2007-06-08 09:54:00
Beihai park is one of the ancient imperial gardens in Beijing that is still well-preserved. We visited the place to be able to exhaust our time in Beijing. Interestingly, there’s a serious history behind every scupture, temple, place we visited. We often just take pictures and walk away, but then, looking back..I was really amazed by the ancient artifacts that were still in good condition. The weather wasn’t on our side that windy cold day..it was almost gloomy everywhere. The White Dagoba would have looked better on the sunny day. UPCLOSE: On top of the Jade Flowery Islet, the White Dagoba was built in 1651 on the former site of the Palace in the Moon where Kublai Khan received Marco Polo. At the suggestion of a famous Tibetan lama, Emperor Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty agreed to build such a Tibetan dagoba to show his belief in Buddhism and his desire for the unification among various Chinese ethnic groups. The White Dagoba was destroyed in an...
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“WC” to be changed into Toilet
2007-06-07 09:53:00
Beijing’s battle to standardize and correct English-language signs ahead of the 2008 Olympics has claimed another head — “W.C..” By the end of the year, all public conveniences in the city will be called “toilets” instead of the venerable, Victorian-era sounding abbreviation for “water closet,” state media reported on Wednesday. “In many Western countries they don’t use the term W.C. at all,” the Beijing Morning Post said. “Because in English, it’s equivalent to what we would call in China an outhouse, and is a rather crude slang term,” it added, without explaining how it had got this impression. Also on the list are road signs. Use of the romanized form of Chinese, known as “pinyin,” will be replaced by the actual English word, except for proper names, the newspaper added. Out will go Dong Chan g an Jie and in will come East Changan Avenue. But a rather more vexing question has been what ...
More About: Toilet

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