Hot in the City

Today was Miss Mo's first day back at work after a short business-CUM-leisure trip to Beijing, China's capital. It's been more than 10 years since my last visit. Beijing has changed so much in my eyes, too much!

I stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which was very grand by standard. It's connected to the Oriental Plaza, this posh mall that has all the elite brands, which some of which are are not evey found in Singapore. I was highly impressed. The second floor are all the Chanels and Guccis. The first floor are the Mangos and Zaras. They even have Mudd! It's a must-visit mall for future visitors. It also have a food street that has Starbucks, Breadtalk, other restaurants and this foodcourt which I thought has a very appropriate name.

The hotel is just right next to Wangfujing. I took a stroll in the evening in the cold. It wasn't that cold actually. There wasn't much happening on this street. I thought the mega mall was much more interesting.

Alas, I came to this brightly-lit side street and the vendors were selling the strangest things on skewer sticks. Yikes! People actually ate those!
I also visited the Tiananmen. Not the square; it was too big and I was too lazy and it was cold. Tiananmen still looked as majestic. Like my pictures?

I then proceeded to the Forbidden City. It hasn't changed much since my last trip more than 10 years ago. Alas, the famous Starbucks was no longer there. Apparently, the governement decided that it was conflicting to have Corporate American in a Chinese monument. I found the Forbidden City boring this time. It took me about 2 hours to complete the tour. I decided that it was time to head to Silk Street shopping mall!

Shopping's really great at these fakey-cheapy places. The bargaining made it even more fun and gave me a sense of achievement when I got the price I haggled for. I got a 'Prada' bag from 600 rmb to 150 rmb. I finally got my Tokidoki bags too for 30rmb. Cheap!

Here are some funny pictures to share with you guys.