Beijing on a Qantas Package

My very good friend Ivy Yap from Uni decided to make use of her low paying but high flyer points job in Qantas to come and visit me for a few days in the capital of the Middle Kingdom. Being the young professionals that we are, we decided to splurge a bit for a 4 day 3 night package which included all the accommodation, most meals and all the necessary tourist attractions. If I was slightly dillusioned about the package tours before, this trip more than sealed my belief that I will never do one ever again =) Whilst the normal Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Sq, Temple of Heaven, Ming tombs etc etc were all good to go and see, the crappy Chinese food, lack of an air conditioned car and Beijing’s highly polluted air left much to be desired. Touristy photos are attached =)

http://picasaweb.google.com/terence.koo/Beijing2007

The trip came much more alive at night when we were joined by my friend Adrian Chua and I duly introduced both of them to the joys of the AIESEC alumni network which does indeed reach to every part of the world =) Nights out with good food ended with a spectacular Saturday night with cheap drinks, lots of singing to U2 and suddenly finding ourselves in a very dodgy bar called Suzy Wong’s. Very memorable haha. Thanks to Tzzy, Da and co for the warm welcome to their home city. And very good to get some quality time with V who had to use earplugs for a week to drown out by dulcet tones at night =).