Summary of Beijing Trip - Day 1 (11th Oct 08)

11 Oct 08 - Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3

Reached Beijing at 6:30am. Need to take a bus to the terminal, and from there, need to take an LRT to the Arrival Hall to pick up our luggages and meet up with the local tour guide.

First tourist spot for Day 1 is Forbidden City!!! Well, I was quite disappointed with the sight as there were many people, and the Forbidden City was not as grand as what I used to see on documentaries or drama serials... We got LOST in Forbidden City due to the massive crowd!! ARGH!!! Had to contact the CTC office in Singapore so that they can touch base with our local tour guide to pick us up from 太和殿at the Forbidden City. Phew! Thank God my tour guide managed to find us! We felt so bad to get lost on our first day, taking into consideration that we are two young ladies!!! Most of the people in our tour group are above 40 years old I guess, with the exception of a 12-year-old boy who had the luxury of an advanced holiday break after his PSLE exams.

The Forbidden City is HUGE!!!! Luckily the weather is quite good, hence, most of the pictures turn out quite well.

There were separate sections where the Emperor would hold meetings with his officials on important matters, sections where the empress and concubines live, section where the imprerial exams were held...

The structures look impressive but I don't think they did a good job in putting up the exhibits where the royal family used. The exhibits were so dark, and kept behind glasses... we had to act like burglars in order to have a close look at what was being exhibited. The best part is, the mainland Chinese people who were also on vacation and travelling interstates, they are damn CRUDE and they really pushed their way through! ARGH!!! How uncouth!!! That was my bad encounter at the Forbidden City, which made me cringe. I thought they had become more 'graceful' due to the Olympics!!! Sigh...

However, I have to admit that the air was a bit less polluted, as the government still maintained the method of allowing cars with odd & even number plates to fill the roads during certain times of the week.

11 Oct 08 - Tiananmen Square

The structure looks a bit like the palace in Forbidden City. Except that for the Mao Zedong portrait in the centre... As I was standing there, I thought about the massacre that occured which lead to many deaths of the student population in this area in the early 1980s.... Although the square is littered with people, all of them are in peace.

We also visited the National Theatre, which was newly built, and I think the person who built this structure is the Danish guy who also built the Sydney Opera House. The nickname for this structure is the "water egg (水蛋) because it really looked like a metal egg in a pond!! haha...

After that, we visited 大观园, a massive "garden" that they built to film "Romance of the Red Chambers" (红楼梦). The garden is very cooling, and it sure is HUGE!!!

11 Oct 08 - Da Guan Yuan

We went to watch an acrobatics show in the evening before going to eat dinner and head back to the hotel to rest. Phew! The first day is sure tiring!!!!

11 Oct 08 - Acrobatics Performance

We stayed at Royal King Hotel, which is a 5-star hotel located in the Olympic Village. Its a new hotel and the room is very cosy :)

2008 的匆匆

每当时间分分秒秒从我指尖流逝，我都会想起朱自清的《匆匆》。

“燕子去了，有再来的时候；杨柳枯了，有再青的时候；桃花谢了，有再开的时候。但是，聪明的，你告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？”

聪明的，你告诉我，为什么晨的脚步来得那么快？
聪明的，你告诉我，夜的眼为什么和繁星的交错变得如此短暂？
聪明的，你告诉我，时间到底流逝到哪里了？是大海吗？天空吗？
聪明的，你告诉我，要如何紧紧握着时间不放， 不让它从指缝间溜走?

“去得尽管去了，来的尽管来着；去来的中间，又怎样地匆匆呢？早上我起来的时候，小屋里射进两三方斜斜的太阳。太阳他有脚啊，轻轻悄悄地挪移了；我也茫茫然跟这旋转。于是洗手的时候，日子从水盆里过去；吃饭的时候，日子从饭碗里过去；默默时，便从凝然的双眼前过去。

我觉察他的去匆匆了，伸出手遮挽时，他又从遮挽的手边过去，天黑时，我躺在床上，他便伶伶俐俐地从我身上跨过，从我脚边飞去了。等我睁开眼和太阳再见，这算又溜走了一日。我掩着面叹息。但是新来的日子的影儿又开始在叹息里闪过了。”

时间总爱捉弄人。在我们眼前的，我们未能把握珍惜，只有在失去后才感到可惜。

时间匆匆地在我们日常作息中不断地溜走 – 我们是不是应该更珍惜和身边亲密的人一起吃饭的时候？更应该珍惜每一刻在阳光下嬉耍的日子？毕竟，时间终究会毫不留情地把一切给匆匆地夺走。

“在逃去如飞的日子里，在千门万户的世界里的我能做些什么？只有徘徊罢了，只有匆匆罢了；在八千多日的匆匆里，除徘徊外，又剩下什么呢？”

徘徊了299个日子，匆匆地，2008 也要圆满结束了。当我们正在惋叹2008 的流逝，2009也匆匆地接近了。

“你聪明的，告诉我，我们的日子为什么一去不复返呢？”

在时间跟我们定下的游戏规则里，我们从来没有权利向他喊停，但，我们绝对有权利决定他的去向 –不论是 徘徊在大街上，音乐/书香中，抑或在虚拟世界里！