November 25, 2006 to December 17, 2006
Suzhou
We went to the Venice of the East - Suzhou with the school group. Visited The Humble Administrator's Garden, Tiger Hill and Suzhou Museum. Humble Administrator's Garden represents the architectural styles of Song dynasty. This among 3 other gardens in Suzhou is added to the World Heritage List in 1997. The garden is massive and it is such a serene sight (minus the hordes of tourist). In Tiger Hill, we felt that the timber pagoda is the major attraction there. It is the oldest pagoda in Suzhou. It is viewed as the Leaning tower of the East and and for the past four hundred years has leant towards the northwest.
 Picturesque Suzhou |
 Tiger Hill Pagoda |
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 Gongfu Duel |
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Beijing
Beijing was freezing when we were there. Temperatures range from 0 to 6 degrees celsius in the day. However this did not deter us from doing some sight seeing and besides no visit to China is complete without a trip to the Great Wall, Tian An Men Square and Forbidden City. Besides these places we also went to Jing Shan Park, Summer Palace and Ming Tombs.
 Great Wall of China - Ba Da Ling |
 Forbidden City |
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 Forbidden City Moat |
 Jing Shan Park People playing shuttlecock like thing |
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 Which bicycle is mine? |
 Famous Mao potriat |
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 Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. Embalmed body of the Chairman is displayed. |
 Sheng Dao (Spirit Way)-Ming Tombs |
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 Stone statues along Sheng Dao |
 Inside one of the underground tombs-Ding Ling |
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 Summer Palace |
 Mighty Warrior? |
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 Fishing on frozen lake |
 Ahh another Fear Factor Challenge. Food street stall along Donghuameng Night Market |
Finally we tried authentic Peking Duck from the place of origin. However we preferred the Singapore version as the Peking version has too much fat content. It seems like the fat is fused together with the skin and I am unable to scrap it out. We had Peking Duck twice during our 1 week in Beijing, we tried 2 restaurants - Beijing Dadong Kaoya Dian and Quan Ju De Kaoya Dian. We enjoyed the food, duck and service at Beijing Dadong Kaoya Dian better and it was more reasonally priced. The latter shop is over priced and over rated.
 Look at the number of condiments for the Peking Duck |
 That's 1/2 a duck |
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 Nothing goes to waste Duck head (Delicacy) |
 Process of making the Fattest Duck Roll! |
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 Cute edible sparrows Filled with red bean paste |
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Both of us got tired of Chinese food and we doubt we will visit China in the next 5 years.