Beijing 2024 - From Airport to Qian Men (前门) Hotel at Dashilan (大栅栏)

First challenge after landing at the airport and clearing immigration, was to find our way to our hotel. We've booked a local hotel in the middle of the city area. And normally on my usual travel, this would be just a minor task to get us there. But here in China, without Google Map, it might be a challenge. But I wasn't too worried about that. Worst case, we could always ask people for direction. The main challenge we needed to over come was paying for our transport to the hotel! We've read that cash wasn't used in China. We have setup our Alipay and WeChat pay, but this was going to be the very first time we are going to use it! We didn't know if it would work.

Saw this cheesy sign at the airport as we walked to the train station.... 

First taste, getting an Airport Express into the city area before we can transit to the city metro to get to our hotel. We found the station, we found the machine, and the struggle to buy the ticket begins! I actually have a set of test cases I wanted to go through on the first day in China, and it looked like this:

TO DO List

• Get Transport Card (Hutong Card if possible)
• Test TnG Ali Pay
• Test WeChat Pay Wallet
• Test WeChat Pay YouTrip QR
• Test YouTrip Card
• Test Starhub Data
• Confirm all other attraction entrance ticket

Anyway, cut the story short, we did managed to pay for our Airport Express. I tried WeChat but it didn't work. I tried cash, but we only had 100yuan cash and the machine didn't accept it. So as a last resort I tried my TnG wallet that is integrated with Alipay and woohoo! Success! I help paid for my husband's ticket too and off we went! First hurdle pass!

Second hurdle was to get a metro card. Didn't know where to do that. Couldn't even find a control station. Maybe it was too early. I decided to test out my mandarin by asking two ladies in uniform at the underpass information counter. As luck would have it, they were able to help me! We managed to buy the transport card from them, even using our cash to pay! I had around 200sgd of cash with me, and I wanted to use them all up once I was sure I could survive on my cashless payments. I've heard that only foreigners use cash in China, so I wanted to blend in!

Made it into the metro station. We were headed to QianMen, which was the nearest station to our hotel.

Getting to QianMen station was a breeze. Finding out way to the hotel without Google Map was not! But they do have maps on the road and also inside stations. There were also a lot of road signs. Problem was, everything was in Mandarin....

With my superb sense of direction (which is mainly following where the crowd was headed), we managed to find the main street that our hotel was at. Or to be more precise, this was the nearest main street. Our local hotel was at the side road just opposite this bustling shopping street called Dashilan Shopping Street.

With hotel located, we managed to check in and deposit our bags there before coming back in the afternoon for the room. I snapped a photo of how much the rooms cost. I forgot how much we paid for ours, probably around 37sgd per person. So around 70+ sgd a room? No breakfast included, and this was kind of a local hotel. We decided to stay here for 5 nights? and stay in a higher end hotel for our last 3 nights. So the Hotel Name in Chinese (in case you are interested) is called 维斯特酒店(北京前门大栅栏店). Check-in for me was quite a challenge. It seems they have not encountered a Malaysian Passport before! So there was a few confusion as to how many days my Visa granted me. I told them it was 2 weeks at least, but they said they have to check as they needed to report all foreign visitors to the government. Ok..... When I returned to check-in in the afternoon, the receptionist instantly recognise me as the Malaysian guest -_______-

We got the ground floor room all the way to the back of the building. Although the front of the hotel looked small, once you go inside, it was a mazed of rooms! Above is what our two twin room looked like. There are windows which opened into the back alley too! We do open them as the room was kinda stuffy and mouldy smelling..... 5 nights only! We can make it!

The toilet was rather interesting. It was quite a good size. And what I really like about it was the amount of clothes hanger they provide! It was so awesome for washing clothes (which we tend to do a lot!). The other thing I like about China was the toilet paper. It doesn't come with the middle core hard cupboard in it. So basically the whole roll of toilet paper was just that, toilet paper! So it was really convenient to just carry those smaller rolls with me out to use in public toilet, lol. Yeah, not all public toilet has toilet papers in them, be prepared!

The toilet also came with these cute rubber slippers too! Which I though was rather homely and uniquely China. But I used my own since I always travel with my own slippers to use inside the room and toilet. And on good weather places, also wear them out on the streets, lol. When I travel, I want to feel like I am part of the locals living there. That is my goal. To live a different live during my travels, so that I manage to live many lives before I die.

Beijing 2024 - Flying from Penang to Singapore to Beijing

Welcome to a new country label on my blog - Travel - China! I'm excited! Cause China has granted free Visa for Malaysian to visit China in 2024, and I just had to go. To date, Malaysian has been granted another 5 years of free Visa, so I now have a 5 years plan to visit China! Doing at least one location each year. But to clear the air, 2024 wasn't the first time I visited China. I have been to China twice before, both times with my husband and family. But 2024 with my free visa, it was actually the first time I went to explore China based on my own agenda! So LFG! Lol. 

Trip started at Penang actually, hence the above Pulut Hitam dessert I had at the airport as we await our night flight to Beijing. Interesting thing we found out, it was actually cheaper to fly a transit flight from Penang to Beijing than it was to fly direct from Singapore to Beijing. And since I was already in Penang, the husband decided to join me to save some money, and so we took off from Penang. But our flight was late for almost more than an hour! And we had a connecting flight to catch in Singapore! Luckily, we were traveling via Singapore Airlines, so I am betting the journey would be as smooth as possible!

My free supper on the first leg of my flight. I knew I was going to be sitting the whole night, so I skipped dinner as I wanted to enjoy all my free food on the flight which I have already paid for! I didn't minded the Pulut Hitam cause for some reason, I really really love Pulut Hitam since I was a child. I love the chewy texture of the pulut, the colour, as well as the creamy coconut milk. Extra bonus points too if they included longan inside! But wait wait, we were writing about free pizza on flight! So yeah, one slice of pizza curtesy SQ!

Since our place was late taking off, we landed pretty late in Changi Airport too. There was a Sunflower display event on which I was hoping to catch, but guess what, no time! We had to hurry to our gates to clear security! What a rush! No time to even browse and shop! SQ why you like that!

We made it to catch our second leg of our flight from Singapore to Beijing China! And I was wondering what time they would serve food. I wanted to eat my dinner and sleep through the flight, ready for some China Chinese food!

With the efficiency of SQ, we got our food around 1 hour taking off? Anyway, glad I was hungry! I forgot what they served, but knowing me, I probably ate everything! And off to sleep I went. Excited!

The next morning I woke up to this! How cool! Now I know why the call China as 大路 . I didn't really know what to expect really. I haven't been to China for a long time, almost ten years!? And I've definitely never been to Beijing, the Capital of China before. 

It was quite a clear morning when we were approaching Beijing Airport. I could see the mountains in the horizon as the sun started to rise.

And the development of the city below, with it's huge infrastructure blending in together with the river was mesmerising. It was obviously a city view, but I was glad that there were still green patches around the city, and I hope that river water runs clean! I've heart so much horror stories about China. Heck my own husband didn't even want to accompany me on this trip! But I was dead set to come anyway. And even though I'm scared, I plan to come yearly too! Cause even though China and Chinese scares me, there is just so much to explore here, and I just love the food here! Plus it's quite friendly to my retired budget too.

So here starts my actual exploration of China! Right at the capital Beijing. I actually have two must-do list on my itinerary: (1) To touch the Great Wall of China - cause every Chinese people has this dream, and (2) to visit the Forbidden City - cause well, it's forbidden! So I must go visit it! Lol.

Kyushu 2023 - Hakata Food and Bye Bye Kyushu!

Last day in Fukuoka/Hakata. I spend it shopping on my own at Hakata JR City area, while my husband went for the Evangelion Exhibition. I actually bought clothes while shopping! Got a t-shirt I wanted for only 500yen! Which was less than 5sgd! Got it from Uniqlo in on of their off-season bin. Score! After that, I met up with the husband at a restaurant we first dine at when we landed in Fukuoka. Good start, good end! 

Sorry for the dim lighting. The restaurant was kinda dark. We were there just for lunch, so we just sat at the counter since the place was pretty packed! I know some people hate sitting at counter seats, but I actually love it, cause there are just so much more to see while eating! It's almost like a dining show!

We went for traditional fish set and enjoyed every single bite of it.

It was a family restaurant, but the range of sake served here is amazing! The husband did tried some.

For dinner, I decided that I needed to try the Motsunabe once before I leave Fukuoka. This was intestine hotpot, and I told myself I would eat this if I won't the 5000Yen prize money from a contest, since I mentioned this as one of the things I wanted to try. I wanted to try their Yatai food too, but that was rather intimidating, and we didn't really went to those streets with Yatai Food. Anyway, Motsunade for dinner! And it cost way above my 5000Yen! Hahahaha. That was because we ordered a set meal instead of just the hotpot.

I love that it has so much chives on it. And the soup was super nice and creamy and hearty! I would eat this again any time! It was delicious and I can understand now why it was the soul food of Fukuoka. It just warms the heart when you eat this. Goes well with almost anything!

I also managed to try this Canele from the Hakata JR Station. It's opened by a French man living in Japan, and I've been following his instagram. Since I was here, I thought I'll support him buy buying some of his snacks. I follow a lot of Japanese instagrammer and Youtuber and I do support them, usually by buying their books as most YouTubers also sold books.

We also managed a last sushi meal at the sushi restaurant at Canal City before we left.

This time we just ordered plates and plates of sushi instead of any set.

Me and my tower or sushi plates! I don't know if it's rude or not to stack up the plates, but it was a habit I picked up from my foster family in Hiroshima last time. Sushi was a food the kids love and get excited about. And no, Japanese don't eat sushi everyday! It's practically a treat for them too!

Time to leave beautiful Kyushu. 

Not much to eat at the airport lounge, so I entertained myself with these small snacks.

Had some simple noodles and coffee and that was about it. Premium Lounge is probably the most un-exciting airport lounge to go to. 

Oh well, free food is still food! Got to load up before the long flight home. Bye bye Kyushu! You have been amazing and I would love to come back as I still have so much more places I wanted to visit but didn't get a chance to. Stay safe! Until we meet again!

So ends our trip to Kyushu. For the next blog entry, I am thinking of doing my China Beijing trip instead of another Japan trip. This is to also motivate myself to plan for my September 2025 Shanghai semi-solo trip. So let's see! I might have to take a short break to sort out the photos though. Hopefully I can still manage a daily post without a break as I would like to keep my momentum of posting daily.

Kyushu 2023 - Hakata Canal City

We took some time to wander around Canal City, and Gundam Base shop was one of my to-visit store here. I think this is my first time going to a fully Gundam store. I've only ever been to a pop-up stall before. I thought it was the only Gundam Base store in Japan, but later found out there are a few more around Japan. But this one was pretty impressive!

Besides being a grown up boy's toy store, it also houses exhibit of all types of Gundam. The display was pretty extensive and detailed. Even if I'm not a fan, I enjoyed just browsing around the shop looking at the display. The oversized boys there were pretty much buying up everything in the store! There was consistently a long queue at the counter to pay! And the toys they bought were mostly in the 3 digit range (3 digit SGD, not yen!)

Life size Gundam at the store. Yup, the husband also bought some smaller ones. He told me it was for a friend..... Yeah.....

At the generic mall area, they also sold super cheesy stuff, like ultraman merchandise!

Or this wrestler from Fukuoka! It actually reminded me of this character call Hard Gay from Japan, a comedian which I was pretty much obsess with once. His clips available on YouTube is hilarious. I wonder if blogspot is gonna ban this post because I mentioned his name.....

I saw these super cute ultramen soft toys and was contemplating whether to buy them, either for myself or for a friend who super loves these. In the end, I didn't get any cause I wasn't really a big fan. Ultramen was before my time or generation. 

Totoro shops are everywhere, so nothing special. Yet every time I see one, I still need to go in to walk around and think of how expensive everything was, and whether I would regret not buying anything. I do love Ghibli, but their things are just too expensive, even in Japan! But if you manage to find some made in China ones, sometimes the price range is lower. I got a thermo and some lunch boxes of Ghibli from Donki Japan before and they were below 20sgd each. 

Saw an Anpan-Man museum too. Didn't went in cause you have to pay for tickets. It's catered mainly to young kids, and although I do like Anman-man, I wasn't going to pay for the tickets to go into a kids' playland!

Kyushu 2023 - Nagasaki to Hakata via Train

 

The next morning, we were checking out. My breakfast, egg pudding overlooking Nagasaki City. Yes, I do consider pudding as breakfast material as it has eggs and milk, so protein! Besides, all these black caramel pudding in Japan is simply delicious! I can't go without eating one whenever I am here. Of course there are those freshly made ones in glass bottle sold in onsen town, but those are usually more expensive. These plastic ones found in convenient stores or supermarkets are just as good.

We were taking the train back to Hakata City. And since we've already used up our 7days Kyushu JR pass, we had to pay full price for the train ride back. It wasn't that expensive thankfully! Note to self, next time plan how to get anywhere before booking the hotels!!!

Our tickets. Around 60sgd one way on a bullet train. Not too bad, right? And it was just a 1 hour ride with a transit in between. A transit of 3 minutes! Which was pretty scary! But the lady who sold us the ticket at the station assured us that we just need to walk across the platform to catch our connecting train, lol. 

The landscape as we speed our way back to Hakata.

At Hakata, I've also booked us into our final DormyInn, which is just next to the Canal City Hakata! Canal City is actually just a gigantic mall with a canal running through it, hence the name. And there were also light and music show at the canal at designated timing. All very cheesy touristy money making gimmicky place. But I just had to visit it at least once while I was in Hakata!

Managed to catch the music show. Lots of people actually watch it. 

We also found an affordable sushi restaurant here, and dine here twice in our 2 nights stay in Hakata! lol.

It was on the 2nd or 3rd floor of the mall at some corner. We saw many Japanese people dining there, so we went in as well. They also cater to foreigners, but mainly spoke Japanese. But fear not, I think the menu was also available in English..... Can't remember. But you order your food via an ipad.

The menu! I ordered the set meal that cost 1430yen cause it was less than 14sgd for so much sushi!!!!

Plus it was the recommended menu, and I was curious about it. Totally no regrets!

Here is what it looked like. We also took some sushi and food from the conveyer belt.

All those burned cheese sushi was surprisingly good!