:: Drum Performance at Drum Tower

I and my other friends were so lucky that we actually had a chance to enjoy such an impressive performance. Even more special that we could actually see it inside the famous Drum Tower itself. A beautiful combination between drum beats, dance and other kind of music instruments. It was a jaw-dropping show!

The Drum Tower, first built in 1380 and located in city central. Along with its other alike tower, Bell Tower, these two towers have a very interesting stories behind them. For the locals, these two towers are very important, not as just an ordinary landmark, but they also rely on them for their correct times during their daily lives.

Photos of the those towers are coming soon...

:: XiAn City Wall

Unlike other city I've ever been to, Xi'An has impressed me the very first time I stepped my feet outside the railway station. This city is so special, you will be able to see the City Wall that encircles the whole city of Xi'An. This genuine landmark was first built in 14th century, with 11.9 kms length and divided into 4 main doors; east, south, west and north. For defencing purpose in past dynasties, the wall has been well equiped with 5,984 arrows-shooting holes and 98 ramparts.

Until this very moment, Xi'An Wall is still the biggest and best preserved city wall of ancient China.

:: HuaQing Hot Spring, Xi An

What could I say about this beautiful and remarkable place called HuaQing Palace. It is one of my favourite spot in Xian. This place has allured many kings and emperors for the past 3000 years ago. After several destruction and rebuilt times, until this very moment, the beauty of HuaQing never fails to allure many people of this era.

There are several interesting stories behind this special place. You might want to check here or here for stories :)

:: Beijing West Railway Station

My trip to Xi An was all started from here. Beijing West Railway Station, is one of the main train stations in Beijing (South, East and North).

:: Another Find!

I didn't eat this one. Really. For me it's hard to believe that some people can eat this kind of thing. I guess I'll have some other better option for dinner...

ps: I don't what's happening with my internet network, but since this morning I can't open -even a single- blogspot site! But quite weird for me, I still can post! Ha.

And another thing is I'll be off from this site during weekend cuz' I'll be on a trip to Xi An. I'll be back to Beijing on Monday morning, of course, with pictures *wink wink*. And excuse my early greetings: "Have A Nice Weekend, Everyone...See You on Monday!"

:: This Bridge..You'll Always Find In China

Most of gardens in China have this kind of bridge somewhere inside them. Even we have one inside our university. Somehow, for me it kinda looks like a 'landmark' of how bridges look like in this country. Nonetheless, it's very beautiful. Hen piao liang..that's how we say it in Chinese :)

:: Taking Measurement of Great Wall

During the trip, I found some students were busy taking measurement of particular part of the wall. I didn't exactly know what was going on or what was the actual part of the building they took measurement of. But one thing I sincerely hoped, they were not attempting to measure the Wall with that measurement tape! If that case happened, I wish them luck!

:: Souvenirs For Sale

Shopping tips: Keep your adamant attitude! To bargain is allowed, hence please do so depending on your own buying power. However, when the seller opens with a ridiculous price for particular items, you might want to start bargaining from one fifth of the original price you were first offered. *somehow* it sometimes works!

:: ...and we'd cheated all the way down...

In our efforts to reduce the possibility of temporary foot ache or what so ever, we decided NOT to go down by walk, ever, again. And we were left with couple of options, whether to take cable car/chairlift, which is very convinience and the scenary from up there is marvelous...or the 2nd option is sliding all the way down on Toboggan.

...and we chose the later option. In the picture, the toboggan track is the silver one..and it goes all the way down. I remember I and my friend also once took this kind of ride when I was in Sentosa Island, Singapore couple months ago. * What a happy coincidence, Raymond has just put the photo of Luge in SingaporeDP yesterday.* I had big fun while was riding the Luge, so I was expecting the same excitement while riding Toboggan in Great Wall.

My expectation turned out to be good! I really had fun while riding it...I went down almost in high speed everytime I could..hehe. Lucky me not so many people were before or after my toboggan, so I took my own time and speed freely. hehe. Ooh, forget about taking picture, I was way too excited ;)

I found this cool site of a traveller who took some photos of toboggan's track! Please take your time and have a look :)

:: It's A Long Way To Go, Baby...

I swear, climbing Great Wall is trully pain in the ass! While I and my friends were trying really really hard to get to the top, we practically had break every couple of minutes! Xiu xi, xiu xi! FYI, there's only for the opened section of Mutianyu Great Walll, apart from the Great Wall itself.

Although it was a quite exhaustive trip, we all agreed that Great Wall is really worth of our times, worth of our energy, after all it's really a worth it trip. It wasn't a skimpy building we were looking at, but it is both gigantic and colossal bulding.

You may want to know why we called this trip, a very exhaustive one. ahh, you should have known...and here is what we've found:

"The total length of the openend section is 3000 metres. There are 26 towers, platforms, and garrison castles in all. "

Even the fittest student in class, swore under his breath every minutes during the walk. hehe..

:: Hidden Treasure Behind The Window

Today, I just came back from a trip with my school to Mutianyu Great Wall. We went there by bus, all together with my classmates and teachers. It was fun and Great Wall is trully amazing.

Unlike some other Medieval Wonders of the World, this one doesn't show any signs of depriving. Even more, I can still feel the 'ancient' athmosphere while unable to stop wondering, how on earth, the most incredible-man-made and yet the longest defensive wall ever built was made purely by human endeavour?

Not to mention the view. The scenary is very beautiful. It really has plenty of reasons why I should had brought some spare batteries for my camera so I could took more pictures. *sigh* This picture was taken while I was inside one of the defensive tower, which overlooks towards this wonderful scenary.

:: Local Fruit

Jing, I need your help! :D

I know it might sound silly, but I kinda like this local fruits but yet I don't know what it's usually called :p The only thing I know is this fruit is soo tasty, you won't get enough of its crunchy bites.

It's so addicting..hehe... I almost always have it beside my laptop for quick grab during surfing. ;p *d'oh..isn't that so obvious?*

..and Jing, thanks in advanced :)

:: Tian An Men

Another post of Tian An Men from a far.

:: Public Art Statue

Somehow, the art statue is very touching. For me, looking at this statue, it feels like looking at real men. While the hairdresser *well, frankly i'm not really sure what I should call that kind of job those days in the past*, but this statue clearly shows his true passion for the job he's doing. Amazing!

:: One Sunny Afternoon

After 10 days off from Beijing, I realized this city has become cooler and a lot better than before I left this city for my graduation in Melbourne.

We've entered Autumn season of this year. As my lao shi (means= teacher) said, time like this is the best time to visit Beijing. And I completely agree. The weather is nice, it isn't too cold but yet not too hot. The sun shines perfectly in the morning and its breezing afternoon is just right.

Anyone interested to come? ;)