TRAVELWITHLEEN: Beijing Day 3 to 5,

Hello!

It's been more than 2 months since I updated this space! So many things happened throughout these period of time - both ups and downs - I'm glad I learnt while falling and also managed to pick myself up from where I've fallen, thanks to the many encouraging people arnd me! 

Shall go back to my Beijing Trip before my mmr fails me...

This post is gna be long (there's a video at the end).

Day Three: 南锣鼓巷 x 全聚德

On this day, we woke up early for 南锣鼓巷 as Mr. Z said this place is another famous place among both locals and tourists. Anyway, you will feel like you've stepped into the Qing or Huang Dynasty bcos of the architecture lah. Some places even make good ootd spots! 

It was Sunday when we visited. PH in China made it worse because the place was soooo super crowded. It was quite difficult to enter the shops to get the snacks that we wanted... But, we did it! LOL! 

Mr. Z saw a highly raved ice cream egglet and said that he wanted to try, we ended up getting 2 yay! I can't remember if it's strawberry or blueberry flavour but any jam with the word "-berry" tastes the same to me because... Nah, I don't like it! So both Mum and Mr. Z had to choose the ice cream with no jam for me. Hiakhiak! Edit: Ok, we had both Straw & Blue -berry! It'd be good if they had one in with chocolate syrup/sauce! 

The queue was horrendous! Both Mum and I waited outside while Mr. Z queued for it alone. The shop was freaking small and I think it can hardly have more than 8 people inside?! Idk.

Blueberry

Strawberry

The egglets were super nom! Crispy on the outside and nothing on the inside. I love egglets like this. It IS supposed to be like this! Some egglets that I had in Singapore and KSL Mall in JB are really awful! I would sacrifice my calories for this egglets anytime! 

We walked a bit further down the alley and Mr. Z spotted another shop - yogurt - and decided to give it a try. To which he regretted because it tasted very weird! It's indescribable... We had only a few spoonful of the below yogurt before we threw them away.

Saw this interesting thing, bought and had it. It was really good but oily at the same time! I'd totally recommend this for 2 reasons. One being that it was very meaty. Usually, most of the drumsticks that I have outside consist full of skin and very little meat. But this is different! The glutinous rice was very tasty too. If i'm not wrong, the drumstick is a little spicy. Here's my second reason: I have never seen this in Singapore. So as a tourist, pls try this before you fly back to your home country hahahahah!

Drumstick with glutinous rice

Glutton girl then spotted something that interested her stomach. It was also similar to the one we had in Tokyo, if you have read my Tokyo and Taipei entries! 

Puff stick with Chocolate filling!

 Fell in love the moment I had my first bite. It was really that good I'm not even exaggerating! I could finish this by myself if not for having Mr. Z and Mum with me. HAHAHAH! This is really "crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside"!!

We ended our trip at 南锣鼓巷 with this potato sticks and walked to another district nearby. Past by a shop selling sweet potato balls which I thought would be good but BOY HOW WRONG WAS I!!!

MEH!!!

Time for some photo spams because we reached the Bell Tower. 

The lake at 后海 serves a few purposes.

Boat, swimming & fishing! Lol.

Visited 前门 for dinner. 

Dinner at 全聚德

Peony Duck 北京烤鸭

Marinated Chicken Shred with Starch Noodle

Deep-fried Pork Meat Balls

Cabbage Soup

Here's my verdict: I still prefer the one in Singapore. Imperial Treasure (Crystal Jade). The one we had at 全聚德 was really oily and the skin to wrap the roasted duck was very thick! I personally feel that the skin shouldn't be thick? 

Day Four: 古北水镇 x 司马台

Booked a one-day driver for our first Great Wall experience! It was very outskirt and the drive was about 4 hours away from Beijing city!! The size of the car didn't help because it was a small one and our backs were aching by the time we reached the carpark of Gubei Water Town. Lol! 

To get to Simatai, we had to purchase cable car ticket. But lo and behold, we had to take walk to a checkpoint, purchase for shuttle bus ticket and queue for shuttle bus to reach the cable car station. LOL! Quite troublesome! 

Reached the top and started climbing the steps one by one to the peak! In order to reach to the top of Simatai Great Wall, one has to climb 8 storeys high of stairs. Yes, stairs. I didn't count how many steps there are but be mentally prepared should you visit this place one day. The steps are really small (quite dangerous for people with big feet) and steep. The walkway is really narrow as well! Some stairs can only accommodate 1 person while some can accommodate 2 - 3 people (if you aren't afraid of heights/falling. Lol). Best is to allow just one person without squeezing through! 

People also tend to walk slower when they are approaching the peak because the steps just below the peak are really narrow! Much more narrow than those that are way below. So do climb the steps with cautious!!

Reached the top and we were panting by then! But yes, we made it!!!!

For those who choose to walk all the way form cable car exit to the top of this Great Wall, instead of climbing the steps, will be passing thru the gate shown below.

I read that if you were to walk instead of climbing the steps, it would take about 45 minutes or so to reach the top while for people who climb the stairs, it'd take about 15mins shorter than the former.

Time to spam photos!

The wind was really strong and I had no way to tame my hair at all!!!

Even though I commented about the wind and my hair, I love how my hair is on this day! And the weather helped so much too! And I don't look like me in these photos. HAHAH

Took the cable car back to Gubei Water Town and we settled our dinner there before meeting our driver. And guess what! We queued for 2 whole hours for just 2 bowls of claypot rice that we polished it within 20minutes! -.-

Guess what! The reason for this 2-hours wait was because all claypot rice were cooked from scratch! First, they had to cook the grains into rice. This took about 20mins? Then the ingredients (sausage, pork ribs, chicken mushrooms etc) which took another 15minutes or so. While doing this, the staffs would also boil the vege before adding them into the pots with the almost-cooked rice. 

So, in total, one pot would take about 40mins or so. Then, there's only 11 "fire stoves" for the cooking to take place. So imagine if one customer ordered 6 bowls of claypot rice. That spells GG! The sky turned dark by the time it was our turn! 

Nonetheless, we were thankful that the claypot rice was good if not we would be even more pissed about it! 

Took a stroll and explored the place a little before we headed back to the car. And wow, to our surprise, the place was really beautiful when the sunsets! 

So B-U-T-FUL!!!!

This was how we spent our day 4 in Beijing! 

Day Five: Summer Palace x Silk Market

We didn't finish exploring the place because the parts at the back were quite boring we feel. So we took a break and then cabbed to Mr. Z's hostel/university for his exchange - Tsinghua University. 

Yay, Mr. Z took me on his scooter for 兜风 session arnd his school while le Mum had her rest in his room. He settled with some collection and stuff before we headed back to his room again for Silk Market. 

We thought that Silk Market was a street full of hipster outfits and all but it turned out to be a shopping mall that has nothing attractive to us. Settled our dinner at a place that sells pizza on the first level. 

Headed back to the hotel early to rest because... it was kind of a wasted trip to this place and because we were heading to another part of Great Wall the next day! ^^ 

Ending it with a video, goodbye! :)