Beijing - 27 May 2013

Had forgotten all about this Beijing trip's photos. Haha.

So back to the story. Woke up at around 830am (for breakfast at the hotel) and took a picture of the view from hotel room. That's like just a few hours of sleep.

first morning in Beijing

Day one, we took it easy. Just went to do some venue recce.

venue for CIFTIS

outside

 After visiting the venue, we were back to near our hotel for lunch.

Master Kang's Kitchen Table

beef noodles

road sign

Didn't do much that day. Actually I can't remember, but if there's no picture, means either we were working or we did nothing. Hahaa!

Beijing - 26 May 2013

Unexpected work trip to Beijing. Company booked me on a Malaysian Airlines flight from SG-KL-PK.

ticket, checked

First time doing this connecting/transit flight thingy. Luckily the bags got automatically routed over, so that's one hassle less.

too much time to kill at KL

Had to wait for 4 hours before the plane to Beijing takes off. So, walked around, sat around, drank coffee and had desserts.

sticky date pudding, with super sweet caramel sauce

Imagine my happiness when finally able to board the plane to Beijing. Yippee! The insides of the plane from SG to KL was a little worn out, but thankfully, the plane to Beijing was all well-maintained and comfy.

aisle seat

dinner of soy sauce chicken

That roll of bread was nice. With a generous blob of butter. Yums.

Arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport T3 20 minutes past midnight (on 27 May). But the wait for the baggage took quite a while. Probably half-hour. Then, had to take the free shuttle to T2 to meet my colleagues who arrived via AirAsia. Geez, the bus was rickety and the interval between services past midnight was 30 minutes. Took about 10 minutes bus ride before arriving at T2, only to find out that the taxi queue was still so long at 130am.

We were tired, cranky and had lots of bulky items with us since we're in Beijing for an exhibition. We stood around contemplating our next move when a young guy approached us.

Black market taxi vendor. "300 yuan for 1 car. And you guys need 2 cars. If you agree, leave with us now." He said. Was abit reluctant but didn't want to wait another hour for taxi so we followed him. Come to think of it now, that was quite reckless since we're in a foreign country and willingly followed the stranger.

Luckily, these guys were just out for a quick buck, so in the end, they managed to send us back to our hotel except for the car without GPS took a longer route.

Stayed at Holiday Inn Express Minzuyuan, which was just 2 mrt stops from the Bird Nest and Water Cube (Olympic venues).

had to be our own bellhop, since they do not provide the service

nice comfy bed but pillow too soft

bathroom

frosted glass for bathroom door (no lock)

bottled water, coffee/tea sachets and water kettle

Wifi is provided but the signal was very weak in the room. Need a deposit of ¥100 to loan a wifi adapter from the hotel receptionist.

The hotel was within a minute walk from Chinatown. Funny hor? Chinatown in China...

view from our window

first meal in Beijing, a 24-hours shop called "Porridge Noodles Story" or "粥面故事"

chinese pork burger or rou jia mo

The night was cool with about 16 or 18 degrees celcius. Had our supper and returned to hotel to rest for we needed to be up by 8am the next day to check out the exhibition venue.

Crystal Crown Hotel @ Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur

Located at 12, Lorong Utara A, Off Jalan Utara, Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. Stayed for 4 days 3 nights at this place. The rate for a superior room from Agoda, is roughly around less than SGD$100 per night with breakfast included.

spacious room

view from the window

services and price list

Of course, very important to explore the bathroom first. The bathtub has some kind of scraping and rusty looking patches in it, so didn't use the tub to soak.

bathroom

shower but no handheld

bath foam, shampoo and body lotion

Bottled water and coffee/tea, and water kettle are provided.

two bottles per day

nescafe and 'Boh' tea

Overall, the room was nice but the air conditioning does take a while to get cold. Equipped with LCD tv with some cable channels such as TVB, NHK, sports and local TV stations. But it doesn't have an in-room iron and the safety box doesn't work as it was already locked prior to occupying the room. Guess the guest have to ask for a reset.

And mine was a smoking room.

ashtray

Breakfast was included at Brass Cafe downstairs at ground level.

french toast with baked beans, chicken sausage and scrambled egg

scrambled eggs got more watery on the next day and the next...

green guava juice

rendang chicken on nasi lemak with peanuts and ikan bilis, fried noodles and roti canai with dhal at the back

swiss rolls

frothy black coffee from the coffee machine

The breakfast choice remained the same throughout the next three days. So, got the usual breakfast with scrambled eggs and french toast, baked beans and two bites of nasi lemak with chicken rendang. First day was the only day the plate was full. The next few days saw diminishing interest in the breakfast... Hahaa.

The taxi fare from hotel to MidValley with moderate jam costs around RM12, on normal days it should be just under RM9. From 1-Utama to hotel, the taxi will also costs around that range.

Melaka: Travelling Solo, 3 Days 2 Nights (Day 2)

Day 2 (Monday) started early, at about 9+ am. Hot and sunny. First stop, A' Famosa.

Porta de Santiago

the remains of a fort

up close

since 1511

watchtower, higher up

Went up the hill abit to see what's up there.

walking up

Then, there was a slight fuss and everyone stood aside to make way for....

kitty carrying her baby

almost at the top

I have this thing about heights. Ya, the hill wasn't like very high.. but still, my knees got weak when I was there. Hahaha....

The hill has a few tombs, of people who lived around 1853. But there was this young man, who went around these tombs and took a snapshot of himself with the tomb behind. Thought that was a bit unusual.

few more steps to the top

But I didn't get to the top. Walking up on steps without railings to hold onto.. somehow the limbs and the heart grew weak at that. Too scaredy cat to risk it!

view from the hill

do you see the sea?

Nearby, was the Melaka Sultanate Palace (now museum). Entrance fee was RM2.

Melaka Sultanate Palace

The Forbidden Garden (Taman Larangan)

Roamed the forbidden garden a bit and imagined the Sultan and his entourage walking around the same grounds...

garden, looking back at Palace

water spider?

bees buzzing

nice flowers

With the Palace now being a museum, the public is welcomed to enter it. Need to take off shoes prior to stepping into the museum. Just have to hope that the shoes will still be around when you exit.

Palace, front

side profile

traditional architecture

inside the museum

outer view

One can find the story of Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, Melaka's two most prolific warriors, inside the museum.

Then, continued walking and found the two legends, of a different kind though.

These two vehicles were used during the state of emergency, 13 May 1969.

Nearby, is the Proclamation Independance Memorial.

Proclamation Independance Memorial

By near 11am, the area was teeming with tourists.

trishaws or 'beca' (马车 in Hokkien)

Umno Melaka Museum

which way to St Paul's hill?

Walked along and I found myself at Dutch Square.

Christ Church Melaka

Queen Victoria Fountain

clock tower

Then, passed by Church of St Francis Xavier.

Church of St Francis Xavier

front view of the church, taken on Day 1

Think I made a wrong turning somewhere, and ended up in Little India.

Little India

Traffic was scary at this part of the town! Being the directionless person that I am, had some difficulty figuring out, how to get back to Jonker Street. It's time for lunch!

So, figured I'd follow the river path. Hey, on Day 1 I did pass by the river and found Casa Del Rio, so that's somewhere near my hotel/

river view

Passed by some alleys.

antiques, or junk?

old school handpainted advertisement

ok, start of river path

colorful murals

But, by the time I saw this, I knew it. I was so so lost!

interesting building with ship mural

Ok, so now I've walked towards the end of the river and landed at some place far far away. What to do? No choice, perhaps walk back from wherever that I came from and take it from there, again?

mural depicting various culture in Malaysia

I was hot, tired and needing to pee.

interesting sight

monitor lizard, sunbathing

Initial plan was to have an early lunch at 11am. It was 12+pm when I managed to stumbled onto the right path. So, lunch was at Calanthe Art Cafe, otherwise known as the 13 States Coffee place.

decor outside the shop

interesting decor

The shop has an inner courtyard too.

inner courtyard

Ordered a bowl of nyonya laksa and a Sarawak Blenz (iced coffee).

Sarawak Blenz

coffee jelly, nice

nyonya laksa

secret ingredient, dried chilies for that extra yums

Then, nothing much to do, so went back to hotel after lunch.

after walking for 4 hours

Unfortunately, it rained so decided to stay in comfortably snugged in the room, watching TV.

raining

Then, the rain eased towards dinner time, so ventured out to find food. Plaza Mahkota, it was because the Newton Food Centre didn't look appetising.

Went into this shop called Jonny's Nasi Ayam, or something like that. Ordered a bandung (rose syrup with evaporated milk) and a nasi pattaya (Thai fried rice wrapped in egg).

bandung

huge huge plate of rice

dry chicken meat, too much rice and not spicy

Dang, they made the fried rice non-spicy for me. Probably  they thought tourist type can't handle chili padi's.