Traditional Beijing

We started our official first day in Beijing a bit late since we all went to bed at about 3am. Over breakfast and armed with our loose itinerary, we finalized the places that we would first visit before heading back up to our rooms to get ready.

We had our first taste of the Beijing mass transport system that morning. The MRT is cheap at only 2 RMB (13 pesos) regardless of where you want to go. It's also very organized but be prepared to walk a lot if you have to transfer lines. 

We first went to Tiananmen Square, roughly about 3 stations away from our hotel. It's a pretty popular spot as you can see on the 4th picture below. There were throngs of people trying to get to the city square. 

There is no entrance fee and the square is just that, a courtyard filled with a few makeshift stores selling all kinds of stuff from food to gloves to panda hats. 

The end of the square leads you to the Forbidden City. A ticket is required but take note that the ticket booth right beside the entrance is for the electronic guide rental. We made the mistake of paying there thinking that the electronic guide would serve as our entrance pass. You can totally do away with the guide as it doesn't work half the time. 

Entrance is 40 RMB (260 pesos), electronic guide is 50 RMB (330 pesos).

The place is huge at about 720,000 m^2.

We have been walking for quite some time when we saw the map and realized that we haven't even covered a quarter of the grounds. Once you take some time to reflect on where you are and picture that on these very same grounds, emperors also walked and held their audience, one can't help but feel how wonderful an opportunity it is to be there. 

We walked all the way to the very end of the city but there were times that I was just about ready to just head back because it seemed never-ending. 

Another popular tourist destination is just across, I forgot what it's called but by this time no one from our group still has the energy to go there. 

Since it was way past lunch time, we decided to head to nearby Wangfujing. 

We had a quick lunch at one of the mall's food court and grabbed something warm to drink from Starbucks. I wanted to order a Christmas drink but there were no red cups or any Christmas decor at the store. Em-J said that the Chinese don't celebrate Christmas and we all accepted it at that. (A few days after, we would find out that they do have Christmas drinks and they would decorate their store with Christmas decors, just not as early as in Manila where it's almost Christmas at September).

It was dark when we headed out and we started looking for the famed night market with the exotic delicacies. 

There were a few other slimy looking stuff and a snake but I am grossed out by that so I left the pictures out. There were also quite a few stalls selling normal stuff like candied fruits, gyoza, soup and dimsum. 

After that, we tried to hail a cab to go to one more shopping place that my cousin, Nicole recommended but no cab driver wanted to take us there. We were already freezing in the cold so we decided to just head back to the hotel since it was already a bit late. On our way to the MRT station, we chanced upon another night market. 

It was fun haggling but except for a couple of key chains, I left with nothing but this:

Large chestnuts that don't need to be peeled, ready to be enjoyed! 

When the stores started to close, we realized that we haven't had dinner and KFC was just across so that's where we went before heading back and calling it a day.