Memories: China 12th to 19th June 2006
Memoirs of my trip to China
Day 1 – Got ready to leave for the airport. Dad n Mum sent me and sis.
GA 890 flight. Not too bad. Smooth. Was able to sleep for a bit. A stewardess whom sis and me concluded had “split personality”. Hilarious. We could see how she didn’t smile when serving the passengers in front of us, but smiled widely when serving us. Scarily funny.
Oh, they played Memoirs of A Geisha on board only abt 1.5 hours before landing….so I didn’t get to watch it till end.
Reached Beijing after nearly 6 hours…kopet and all, we proceeded to Tiananmen Square. Bumped into Tee n friend there.
Day 2 – Went for foot massage. Visited the Summer Palace. Also went to a masjid in downtown Beijing, Masjid Matin.
At Masjid Matin
Day 3 – Attempted the Great Wall of China. Managed to climb up till 3 posts. Took me 2.5 hours in total. It was really tiring!!! But the scenery and the fresh air was worth the pain.
A Poseur at the Great Wall of China at Badaling Pass 
Day 4 – Basically a shopping day. Went to Wangfujin Street and also Yueshow at Chaoyang District and shopped…..
At Wangfujin Street
Day 5 – Flight to Hohhot from Beijing takes off at 7.20 am….
In Hohhot (new town)
Notice the Mongolian script?
Arrived Hohhot at about 10.30 am
The Great Masjid at Hohhot.
Had lunch and also shopped a bit at the Muslim street outside the Great Masjid area. After that we proceeded to Xilamuren Grassland, which is 1.5 hours drive away. Xilamuren means “yellow river” in Mongolian, is located 100 kilometers north of Hohhot. Xilamuren Prairie, a typical example on the plateau, is covered by green grass and fresh flowers every summer and autumn.
Horseriding today!!! Was really fun and adventurous : )
Xilamuren Grassland
Caught a cultural show at night after dinner at the Grassland. Nice performance, a combination of acrobatics. And good-looking people too. There was also a campfire. Night was chillingly cold, at 10 deg celsius
Day 6 – After breakfast, proceeded to visit a Horsemen’s family where we were served traditional delicacies i.e. Milk Tea, dried milk skin and an assortment of milk based snacks. Calcium (and protein) overdrive!
After that got to also watch a super short demo on Mongolian wrestling and a short horse-racing show.
Proceeded back to Hohhot after that and visited a masjid and also a Muslim Chinese family of Hui Nationality. Very enriching experience indeed.
For dinner that night, we had Mongolian hotpot. Delicious!! After dinner, went shopping at the night market. Overnight at Zhaojun Hotel.
Zhaojun Hotel.
Notice the road? China roads are spacious and there’s a lane reserved especially for cyclists and pedestrians too
18th June Sunday, Day 7 – Checked out from Zhaojun Hotel in the morning. Went to a factory, a popular place where they sold many things Mongolian and what it is famous for : – Milk stuff! Oh, there was also leather stuff and pashmina shawls sold there.
After that, went to the Great Masjid for solat and then went to the Muslim street again. Sis and I went to the shopping are we didnt’t managed to go to last Friday. Bought some souvenirs. I bought a China flag patch there and the shopkeeper is a Muslim man. He asked me whether I’m Muslim: (Ni she Muselin? Wo iyang de, assalamalaikum) meaning: “R u a Muslim? I am too, assalamualaikum”
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Our flight back to Beijing from Huhhot was delayed. It was supposed to be a 9.50 pm flight but it took off only at 10.30pm. Something ugly happened at the airport when a group of local China passengers stormed into the departure gate though it was closed. Their flight was to a province in China, I forgot the name. It was quite a commotion and an ugly sight of human behaviour. Glass doors were shattered. We watched in shock and none of us remembered to take photographs of the scene
Anyway, we reached in Beijing at abt 11.30pm…
Day 8 – By the time we reached the hotel it was midnight. Packed up for a bit and went to bed at 2am. At 4.30am, was awake again. Had to check out by 5.30am. Flight back to Singapore was at 8.50 am and we had to check in by 6.50am.
GA 891 PEK-SIN. Arrived in SG at about 3.30pm.
As usual, all good things HAVE to come to an end. It was a very enjoyable trip for me and sis.
Visited an ethnic Hui Muslim family in Hohhot
