Beijing is known for its history and grandeur; its wide and fabulously-lit boulevards; China’s finest museum; impressive temples; the grand, ancient Forbidden City which has 800 buildings; the infamous Tian’anmen Square; and an ever-energing skyscrapers. Now you know why Linda Oledan, Maridel Villavicencio, Edouard Garcia, ace photographer Alex Van Hagen and moi, dahlings, just had to go to this exciting, one-of-a-kind city.
Beijing still "feels" like China despite its high-rises because it still has many ancient architectural wonders. It’s a place where you can appreciate the contrast between the old and new, the communist China of yore and the new, not-so-communist China.
Yes, dahlings, welcome to Beijing, which is no longer the Forbidden City. The food is great, the buildings are colossal, the traffic is bad and there are tons of cyclists on the roads.
Some call Beijing "Marco Polo country" because it uses so many Western ideas and shopping concepts. One might even go so far as to say that Beijing is the mother of all malls and stalls.
The best place to stay in Beijing than at the renowned, Marco Polo Beijing Hotel, the perfect place for travelers. It is ideally located at the heart of the vibrant Xidan intersection and is only three blocks away from the infamous Tian’anmen Square, the legendary Forbidden City, and major landmarks just minutes away from the Capital Times Square, the spectacular new business and superb shopping complex.
Marco Polo’s efficient, well-mannered and always with a smile sales and marketing director Godfrey Wong warmly welcomed us. He personally escorted us to our Junior Suite rooms which has a view of Beijing’s unbelievably wide avenues.
We soon then hied off to the Temple of Heaven. Built during the Ming and Qing dynasties is the palace where the Emperor came to pay "Homage to Heaven." The custom of worshipping heaven and earth dates as far back as the Zhou Dynasty (11th century to 256 B.C., would you believe?). The Temple of Heaven was built in the 15th century. Smaller temples for worshipping the sun and the moon were built during the Qing Dynasty.
Our hour-and-a-half visit was way too short, dahlings, but there were other places we had to rush to like Wangfujing Street which straddles the long blocks between the Beijing Hotel and the Palace Hotel. Its selling space, a staggering 1.5 million square meters, is said to be larger even than any giant megamall in the US. Wow! At 100 years old, it has been around way, way before even the US dreamed of building malls. Wow again!
It is such an interesting place, one can be overwhelmed by all the action taking place at the same time. There are colorful flowers, here, there and everywhere, street actors, mimes. All the big department stores found here delighted Linda O. and Maridel V. no end. There are discount stores, gorgeous silk shops, arts and crafts stores, banks, a McDonalds and even one of moi best pals, Pepper Teehankee’s all-time favorite junk food-to-eat, Popeye Fried Chicken, which he introduced to us on our Northwest Airlines familiarization trip of Detroit and New York (but that’s another story which moi will share with you sooner than soon).
The whole complex is super clean and modern and does not feel like Shanghai. After all, this is the new Beijing, palanggas, where lots of action take place at night when the weather permits. If that wasn’t enough, our tour guide brought us to the night market for more shopping. To quote Edouard again, "Shopping in Beijing is overwhelming."
When we returned to our cozy, well-decorated rooms at the Marco Polo Beijing Hotel, we were way too tired to go out for dinner. The ladies availed of room service while Alex, Edouard and moi gorged on the selections on the superb buffets served at three different serving areas at the jumping Café Marco Restaurant and Bar. The selections ranged from Cantonese to Italian, Japanese to Mediterranean and Southeast Asian. The Café has a unique open kitchen where one can watch the hotel’s expert chefs in full action. Apres dinner time, Café Marco transforms into one of Beijing’s most popular night spots with its great live sounds in a mellow-cool ambiance.
Next morning, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the elegant Continental Club. The ultimate in contemporary luxury, it is designed especially for executives or leisure travelers like us. The club has that all-important express check-in and check-out, plus other amenities like complimentary buffet breakfast and evening cocktails; shoe shine service; pressing of one suit or dress; and late check out, among other amenities.
Though it was so tempting to hang out at the Continental Club, we had to move wanted to see, the famous Great Wall of China! After an hour’s drive out of the city, the thrill of seeing that long snake-like wall going for miles and miles on end had all of us breathless.
I was finally there after years of dreaming to see the Great Wall. The Wall’s best location is north of Beijing. Here are found the best preserved sections of the Great Wall and a breathtaking view of the Wall snaking over rugged rolling hills. Built in several stages 2,000 years ago, palanggas, this magnificent wall stretches for over 3,000 miles, would you believe?
We were amazed to see thousands of local and foreign tourists starting their climb as others descended. We were at the Wall’s Badaling area where the wall is best preserved (the other two are at Mutianyu and Jinslanling areas). Linda, Maridel, Alex, Edouard and moi started the long and I mean long climb, definitely not an easy climb, palanggas! The steps are high while others are far apart from each other.
Alternating between puffing and resting between each watch tower, Linda and Maridel gave up at the third tower. Alex turned back at the fourth tower, not from exhaustion but because it had started to shower and he had to shield his camera from getting wet. Edouard and I carried on, determined to reach the last sixth watch tower at the top, the end of the Great Wall in this area. Up there, the crowd thinned out to almost zero, except for a couple of die-hards like us. It was interesting to find a huge pavilion and a pagoda higher-up not seen at all from street level, since they are found farther along the rolling mountains. Getting to the top was such a thrill. It is a feat not at all for the weak, the easily-fatigued, or those with wobbly legs.
As we gazed at the fabi panorama and seeing how far the Great Wall extends in the opposite horizon made us feel like we had climbed to the top of Mt. Everest! Up there, moi pictured the unification of Central China with Emperor Qin Shihuang ordering the linking of the other walls in the north in 214 B.C. to repulse the Huns. After 10 years of construction, 18 years of major repairs and more extensions that continued for over 200 years during the Ming Dynasty, most of the Great Wall has remained in good condition. What a rush! The hour-and 10-minute climb to this last point was well worth it (despite a week of sore muscles everytime we went up or down steps!).
We continued our tour at the Ming Tombs, 30 minutes from the Great Wall. There we discovered the burial grounds of 13 Emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The first mausoleum was built in 1409 and the last was in 1644. It was the costliest construction project that took the longest time in the construction of Imperial burial grounds in China.
In 1956, Chinese archeologists excavated the tomb of Emperor Wen Li and unearthed a mind-boggling 3,000 pieces of gold, silver, the best jade objects and pieces, and tons of precious stones like diamonds, sapphires, rubies and pearls, including the only perfectly preserved imperial gold crown in China, plus the Empress Phoenix Crown, worn during grand ceremonies, woven in gold thread, a phoenix made of emeralds, flowers of diamonds. Other precious stones and a total of 5,000 pearls were used for this crown.
After this overwhelming experience, we were off to the Jade Factory which was not in our itinerary but suggested by our tour guide.
Here we all went berserk shopping for jade figures, bracelets and jade pillows. Yes, palanggas, jade pillows! They actually look like placemats with little blocks of slim-cut jade woven together. There are two kinds. One is designed to relax you while resting your head on its cool surface. The other is made with a more rough finish for an acupuncture effect while one lies on it. Edouard went banana and bought 12 pillows. Moi settled for two, one of each kind. Alex got himself a gorgeous jade horse while Linda and Maridel settled for jade bracelets and necklaces.
After a great day at the popular places we visited and a yummy lunch at a famed Chinese resto, we headed for the fabi, eye-catching Palace Hotel.There we were invited for dinner by the hotel’s prime asset and its true secret weapon, la muy simpatica marketing director Marita Reyes Marcos. We savored an excellent, to-die-for Peking Duck dinner was at the Palace Hotel’s super popular Fortune Garden resto. While we were there, DOTC’s workasonic gent of all seasons, Secretary Dick Gordon arrived from Shanghai, continuing his "promote tourism to the Philippines" tour of several countries.
Leave it to Marita M. to choose the most mouthwatering dishes from the resto’s superb menu, plus excellent wine to drown all the calories. After dinner, we toured the unbelievably fabi hotel (affiliated to the Peninsula Hotel Group) which boasts of newly-renovated, two-level suites (but that‘s another story moi will tell you about sooner than soon).
It felt great to be back at our cozy, deluxe Marco Polo Hotel suites apres an interesting and exciting day. We looked forward to our tour the next day which would take us to the fabled, ancient Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace.
Walking into the magnificent city brought flashbacks of scenes from that great movie, The Last Emperor which was filmed here. This city now called The Palace Museum is in the central part of Beijing. It was the grand imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The grandeur of this mini-city is absolutely amazing. It was built in 1406 and has a storied 600-year history with no less than 24 emperors ruling the whole country for nearly 500 years.
We marveled at the picture-perfect pavilions, pathways, imposing halls, secret places where important and intriguing matters were discussed by the Emperor or Empress (as the case may be), the fabi Imperial Garden with its fantasy garden of soft green pines, exotic flowers, rare stones, ponds with gold, red and white Japanese carps, and the waterside pavilions.
After visiting the living quarters of the princess, Linda O., Maridel V. and Edouard G. were anxious to go to the Shoukang Hall at the Western side of the palace. There are six different halls here where the Queen and the Emperor’s concubines all lived. It’s incredible how the Queen would many times choose who should be the "more favored one" for the Emperor, thus bringing up in rank those closest to the Queen.
Naturellement, one must see the infamous Tian’anmen Square, just a few walkable blocks from the Marco Polo Hotel. It was once the front gate of the Imperial Palace, built during the Ming and Qing dynasties that occupies 44.5 hectares. You’ll appreciate the vastness of this square when you stand at its center. You’ll agree that it is "the world’s largest open ground in a city."
After the founding of the new China in 1949, huge review stands were built on the two sides of the gates from where the late Mao Tse Tung watched grand parades. You’ll also notice thousands of local and foreign tourists daily who congregate here before proceeding to the Forbidden City.
It started to rain cats and dogs but that did not stop us from touring the spectacular Summer Palace. Linda and Maridel decided to pass, instead opting to shop at the popular Hong Qiao Market for pearls.
The Summer Palace, a part of the Imperial Garden during the Qing Dynasty, was expanded in 1764 for a total area of 290 hectares with a man-made lake of 220 hectares.
Imagine the royal court spending three to four months of summer in this incredibly gorgeous place. We passed through palatial halls, beautifully preserved painted corridors, and interesting designed bridge walks.
We were mesmerized by the beautiful man-made lake which has a pagoda at the middle of a small island, and the Longevity Hill far off in a distance with the Foxiang Tower dominating the hill. Then, we strolled around several gardens surrounding the lake. The whole place looked it came straight out of a gorgeous Chinese scroll painting. You can imagine it looks during summer when flowering plants and trees are in full bloom. No wonder why this gorgeous Summer Palace is renowned as the "cream of Chinese traditional gardening art." Again–wow!
That night we enjoyed another superb Chinese dinner in a popular resto. Then it was time to watch the unbelievable acrobatic show in Beijing’s renowned Acrobatic Theater. I still say it’s hard to beat the Chinese when it comes to acrobatics and aerial feats.
Sadly, it was time to leave the enchanting city the next day. But not before we met Mr. Charmer himself, dashing Peter Hill, Marco Polo’s efficient general manager who in a nutshell explained why Marco Polo Beijing Hotel is one of the in-demand hotels in the city. "As a member of the Marco Polo Hotel Group," he said, "we pride ourselves on having associates who are dedicated to making our guests feel truly comfortable and at home."
We waved goodbye to Peter Hill and Godfrey Wong with a promise to return. We drove off to the airport to catch our flight back to Shanghai where we connected to our palangga airline, Philippine Airlines for a smooth and so relaxed trip back home.
It will be hard to forget the wonderful time we had in dazzling Shanghai and overwhelming Beijing, dahlings. One thing’s for sure–we shall return!
For inquiries on traveling to Shanghai, Beijing or any other interesting places in Asia and Southeast Asia or even beyond, there’s the super reliable Uni-Orient Travel, Inc. Its Makati office’s tel. no. is 818-9585 to 89 (ask for Nancy Sih) while its head office in Binondo, Manila’s tel. no. is 243-3888 or 243-3333 (look for the ever helpful, Joy Alexis Po). In Cebu you can contact Uni-Orient at tel. no. 211866 to 69.
Remember, dahlings, PAL flies daily to Shanghai (except Mondays) and to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ximen in China, Vietnam and Australia, several times a week.
While in Shanghai, you just have to stay at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel (you may call Uni-Orient Travel for reservations or Four Seasons at 86(21)6256-8888 ext. 1110 and ask for our gal, marketing director Cristina Dolendo).
In Beijing it’s none other than the Marco Polo Hotel. For reservations or inquiries, do call Manille’s attractive and smart Marco Polo Hotel Group regional sales manager Undine Nomena.
What a great, fabi trip!
See you!