Our Family Trip to Beijing, China (18-26 April 2010)

We're back in JB! Left for KL since 7 April to prepare for our family trip to Beijing (unfortunately DH couldn't make it to China with us... uhuhuhuh).  We stayed at my sister Enid's house in PJ before and after Beijing trip. I was really looking forward to this trip as it was our first holiday (outside M'sia) with my mum.

Although this trip didn't go as smoothly as I was hoping... Overall, we had a fun great time; thanks to everybody who helped me and Mia.. I won't be blogging much about China's places of interest, but more of what we had to go through everyday while we were there..

The Flight

We flew to Beijing via Cathay Pacific; transit for about 1 hour at Hong Kong Int'l Airport and boarded Dragon Air Flight to Beijing. Overall, the flight + transit = 9 hours and vice versa  for our return trip to KLIA. Obviously, it's not easy to travel with toddlers for long haul flights. They get bored, tired, restless..We brought their Ipods, but the battery can tahan for a few hours only.. and there isn't much you can do with colouring books, sticker books and puzzles... We seriously need to find another way to overcome this..

Even my mum pun mengampai (she, my sister Elsa & her bf Henry) flew from KK and met us in KLIA. They woke up at 3am to catch the 6am flight.. And for our flight back to KL, we had to wake up at 3.30am to catch the 8am flight to Hong Kong-KLIA. 

On our way to Beijing

On our way back to Msia

The Accommodation

I'm glad our room was spacious and clean. The funny thing is, the mattress was so hard! Feels like I'm sleeping on the floor. Mula2 I thought they forgot to put on the mattress. The service was not  too bad though. Clean room, clean towels every single day :-)

Our hotel room in Beijing

Our hotel room in Datong

The Food

Breakfast at the hotel was... errrrmmmm... the same; every single morning.  Lunch and Dinner was average.. Our 1st few meals was excellent though :-). Best meals were dinner and lunch at Datong, Mongolian dinner and buffet dinner on our last nite in Beijing. I also noticed that their cooking is mostly 'tawar' for our taste buds, and they dun serve condiments e.g. kicap/lada/cuka on the table.

Great food, great experience - Mongolian Theme Dinner

Moving About

We had an entire 18-seater bus all to ourselves.. yeah!! This was a blessing. We didn't have to rush for anything as we are the only group in the tour.. Double yippee!! And bringing strollers for the kids, was the best decision ever.. Buli buat shopping trolley juga kalau penat sudah tu tangan/bahu.. hehehe

The Weather

First half of the holiday, it was COLD!!! My mum was the only one with a big jacket. Everybody else had pullovers and wind breaker saja... Datong (5 hours drive from Beijing) was colder.. It was 4-12degrees when we went there and it was drizzling and windy the whole morning.. brrrrrr.... sajuk! Thank god all of us brought our winter gloves and hat. Pakai baju and pants berdouble2. Note to self: Next time, when visiting china during spring, bawa saja tu big jacket!!

It was sooo cold sampai we have runny hingus, air mata pun kluar and when we talk/breath, kluar asap2 dari mulut/nose.... tu telinga pun macam mau tercabut kena tiup angin... hehehee

Complications
I mentioned earlier that this trip didn't go as smoothly as I hoped... here's why:

Day 02: Mia had the stomach flu

She started vomiting during our breakfast. I thought she was juz tired after the long flight the day before. But then she vomited again in the bus at about 5pm. We made the decision to cut the trip short and went straight back to the hotel. That night, her diarrhea started. Kesian juga. Everytime her tummy starts to grumble, she would say "Mummy, Mia stomach got bubble".. "Mia stomach got bubble again"... then she would ask "Why Mia gromit?" she meant vomit.. I decided to put her on Motilium & Smecta to control the vomiting and diarrhea. 

Day 03: Had no choice but to travel 5hrs by coach to Datong. Thank God Mia didn't vomit or have diarrhea anymore.. But I still continued giving her medication till Day 04.

Day 05: I didn't feel so good since breakfast. Felt weak and bloated. Then, I vomited in the bus too... From then onwards till the day we left Beijing, I didn't have any appetite to eat. I still continued on with the tour but skipped most of the shopping spree and stayed inside the bus to rest... booohoooooo!!

My Personal Observation on Cultural Differences

1. I saw quite a number of toddlers in China with their butts being 'aired' out freely. Their pants have a huge gap at the back, so nampak2 their butt. Apparently, their parents did this so that their kids can easily poop anytime and everywhere they want?? I wonder if this concept would work in Msia... hmmmmm??

2. After wiping themselves with toilet tissue, they throw the tissue into the open bin instead of flushing it down the toilet... Tissues used to wipe after peeing is not too bad.. but tissues used after pooping??? OMG!

3. Everybody who've been to China knows that Chinese people tends to talk very2 LOUD.. some loves to SPIT and SMOKE everywhere and would "ELBOW" anybody to get what they want... And this they find acceptable.. But when Mia got stuck in a chair and started crying, they got annoyed and started complaining that it was noisy?? I was also ELBOWED by a FAT lady in the plane... The stewardess had to come over and help me (I think my bump was big enough to indicate that I was pregnant??)...