Once Upon A Time In China

Beijing..Last time visit

I was invited to Beijing after being cursed by my former KP, Dato’ Mail. He scolded me at the VO meeting after he found out my job was partially incomplete. Gosh…but after the meeting he asked me to enter his room. Still panic with the cursing, I just stood and silent. Suddenly...he smiled and said “Pak Din, I want you to follow me to Beijing with the ILAM Committee”. I was so shocked but still don’t believe what was he said. I asked him whether he tried to make joke or what but he said it was a command. Oh my God sake I feel that I am a winner for the American Idol…Huh..Why he is like that. He makes me really wonder what kind of person he is... sometimes he can cursed at me but at the same time awarded me with something that make other people really pissed-off and envy ….But I guess I did something well and always try to achieve his needs . Most of the times, I try to follow his ultra-ego even though I realized that my ego also almost on par of a wrestling champion. Gosh,

April 8th 2008. Okay back to the journey-diary ….We were told to meet at KLIA at 11.pm Everybody is there …Danielle, Fadrillah, Sabaruddin,( our consultants) Dr.Osman, Dr. Suhardi Maulan ( UPM) Charles Teo, my boss En. Meor and a man from the other planet, Hashim Gombri (they said ...the second name is an acronym for “GOMBak- maRI and he is weird and freaky anyway)...They are all committees except me.

Flew with China Air doesn’t give us much problem except the small seat... I guess it is normal for an economic class for any airlines. I just wished to fly with MAS because I want to increase my enrich miles point. Okay then…we reached Beijing next morning.
We reached the Beijing Capital International Airport at 6.00 o’clock in the morning … It is the main international airport of Beijing, China. It is located in an enclave of Chaoyang District that is surrounded by rural Shunyi District. Damn big but think I have problem with the direction and to understand the signage. Right after touched down, we had to take a bus and the commute with a small train (like KLIA) before pass thru the immigration.

The first agenda is visiting a high-end cost apartment project at suburb Beijing. I found that it is kind hard to remember the place’s name in Beijing as the Chinese dialect is quite difficult. There are only two words that really synonyms to me were only l**cau and c**bai… So I don’t know the place’s name. Okay back to the apartment story... I found that the apartment was being over designed. There are so much component they want to put in.. But to my opinion, less is more. We had a lunch at the meeting hall at the apartment. Everybody didn’t touch the chicken and meat at all. I saw my my KP just smile from far (he is sitting with the VIP there, so his situation slightly different), may be he bantai jugak kot…nak jaga hati ..lantak lah bos..as for me…I doubt lah ..Sure ayam tembak punya tu.
Okay in the evening we just hang out at Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. I found that Chinese civilization is damn great and their previous kings were really autocrats and dictators. I can’t explain much on this matters because the photos itself will derive the facts and information.
We checked-in at the one of the hotel, Fortune Hotel.

April 10th 2008.
I was really excited that day. From the itinerary, we were being programmed to the Birds Nest Stadium which extremely publicized as the world's largest steel structure. Hmmm….No wonders our steel price had been increased, up to RM 4000 per tonne and all contracts were being enforced to impose the fluctuation in rates. It must be the high demand on steel in order to complete the stadium. From our tourist guide explanations, before Beijing had been awarded the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the city held a bidding process to select the best arena design. Multiple requirements including the ability for post-Olympics use, a retractable roof, and low maintenance costs, were required of each design. The entry list was narrowed to thirteen final designs and the winner is the Bird’s nest stadium.

Our last visit on 11th April was in Russian Market. I wonder why they called it Russian but located in China…Is it the same case like Pasar Philippine in KK? Okay.. Why Russian? What the hell that Karl Marx and Bolsheviks doing in China? It is because of its previous location in the Russian quarter, this is basically a large indoor version of a Chinese street market. Devoid of its once characteristic selection of furs, it now has little that entitles it to this nickname other than a large Russian language sign outside. Inside are sections selling clothing and bric-a-brac, toys, and a large hall of edibles, including a good selection of fish and seafood. I had a very bad bargain experience here so that I advise for everybody who enter this market just be careful to get a reasonable price. You might be cheated or you are going to face a hard talk and even kena maki with the seller. Niamah kahai!!

During my trip there the virus of Olympic fever was currently widespread all over the China. There were so many Olympic corporate stall in town but knowing the China, the imitation industry is their bread and butter. So why must you spend around neck T shirt for 70 Yuan whereby you just can get it for about 10 Yuan if you are a good person in bargaining? Even in their own country they cannot control the imitation stuff. This happens at most of the malls at Shih Huang Tih.

Signage in Beijing…? Just don’t believe for any roman signage in Beijing because the grammatically error and wrong spelling are the BIG case and bloody pathetic. Most tourists keep complaining about this matter. Same goes to the taxi driver. Most taxi driver cannot speak English, dumb and maybe also deftones. There is one night, I and Hashim want to go to Hard Rock Café to get some souvenir. We even presented the taxi driver the HRC business card with the logo in order to make him understand and clear ...Guess what? , he sent us to one of the stupid cafes next to acupuncture service centre. The café’s name is British-Tibet Café. Most of Chinese they speak English pathetically and you will never understand what the hell they said.

Architecture in Beijing is pretty awesome. Most of buildings here designed by European and you can see a lot of modern structures. Even Robert Foster and Palate have their office here. The structures in Beijing had been rapidly developed since 80’s and now you can see Beijing is a real modern city. If you have a chance here just drop by at CCTV building…Amazing huh….canggih giler babeng beb

Religion and temple? You’ll be surprised .Malaysia got more temples than Beijing. I thought most of them are Buddhist but I was definitely wrong. Most of Chinese here are freethinker and they don’t believe in god existence. May be some of them still paganizer but the main reason is the republic were rules by communist and socialist for quite so long after they kicked The Last Emperor. I heard a rumor that Mao Tze Tung and Dr. Sun Yat Sen believed they are the God for Chinese. May the system just like Pyongyang or even cruel than that. But if you want to see tok imam giving khutbah in wearing jeans you can find it here. It happens to me once whenever we when to perform Friday pray at one of the mosque.

In Beijing you can see a lot of desk sleeper… (Hey what is that?) A lot of working class people sleep during lunch time on the desk because that is the only time they sleep. Most urbanites had to do two works in a day to support their life. That’s how they survived and that’s why they spend one hour lunch time by sleep. Quite struggle compare to Malaysian. I was informed that there are Chinese workers who are only being paid only a bowl of rice for the fair and that’s happen in the countryside and that’s make me feel good and think how lucky Malaysian is. Itu pun banyak complain lagi.

Quite enjoy in China but I think it just enough for one time visit. No need to come here again. The must visited place in Beijing are Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall of China (a bit out-skirt), Russian Market, Olympic Village and etc..lah .As for me China is just one of the great civilizations in the world and there are a lot more to see in this globe. Save some money, and have a sweet dream … travel the world and seven seas.

My international passport recorded that I was in China from April 8th until April 13th 2008.