Beijing - Day 4 & 5

The Great Wall of China is our final destination carefully planned so that our stamina do not get exhausted prematurely. Getting there was tricky as it is out of the city area and I do not like the idea of renting a taxi for the whole day despite the cheap pricing but then to have them drive us to aimless tourists traps. So with me nagivating, we found ourselves staring at the magnificent structure 1.5 hours into the journey.

After the complete body workout, we decided to return to the hotel to have a shower before proceeding for dinner but since our tummy were by then protesting, we went to Oriental Shopping Centre, 5 minutes from the hotel, for a quick snack when we saw Food Republic food court at basement of the shopping complex.

Cashless system.




The vegetarian food was a terrible experience. Everything tasted like rubber which was a huge disappointment when my mum's hotplate chicken and my sis's chilli squid seem so tentalising.

The Liang Pi (which turns out thick and gluey).




Vegetarian Dan Dan Noodle.




A follow up with a more than pleasant dinner an hour or so later, at a restaurant opposite the popular Silk Street Market, made up for the earlier disaster. The place is well hidden along a small street with almost a full house consisting mainly of the locals.

BBQ skewers marinated with plenty of herbs.




A simple garlic broccoli stir fry.




Gong bao chicken dice.

My sis enjoyed this so much she almost finished it all by herself!




My mum's favourite.

We ordered a whole fish cooked in Beijing style. This is very identical to the clear tom yam soup but even spicier flavoured with lots of diced small chilli in the soup base. I like how the fresh fish meat complements the slightly sourish base that almost numbed my tongue with its explosive flavours.




Lastly, fresh prawns with ginko nuts.




5 dishes between the 3 of us...very sinful...but also a nice sum up to our final night in Beijing :)

Day 5 was spent shopping in Oriental Plaza again and a western lunch at Sizzler before heading to the airport.

During this trip, we stayed at Park Plaza Wanfujing Beijing which is right smacked in the city centre, directly behind The Regent - 5 minutes walk to the Oriental Plaza, a little longer to the nearest tube (but trust me the taxis there are so cheap that there is little reason to take the tube at all), 15 min to Wanfujing.

The hotel lobby.




The room (bed was not made as yet when we arrived at the hotel at 9 in the morning).




Next up will be my London trip (and possibly continuing with Hong Kong, Phuket, Rome and Paris) before the hopefully successful resurrection of my camera in 4 weeks time.