杨柳青 / Yang Liu Qing

友人夫妇这次带我去了杨柳青，我们主要参观了著名的石家大院。石家是当地数一数二的大户，因为那里靠着大运河，所以石家是靠了贩运发的财。这里不仅亭台楼榭，最具特色是戏楼，据说以前很多著名的戏班子都在石家戏楼唱过戏，石家另一特色是它的采暖系统，采用的是皇宫的方法，民间很罕见。这个地方是著名的年画产地，剪纸也很普遍，且看起来不错。等我们参观完回到市内，已经是快3点了，到处都找不到吃饭的地方，通常的饭馆都要到5点才开门，于是我们在上岛咖啡吃了饭，原本担心上岛只有西餐，后来发现其实在中国的咖啡屋也一本土化了。饭后我们又去了古文化街附近，那里有座桥十分有特色，整座桥都是玻璃做的。一开始会有些害怕，过一会就好了。
晚上去转了附近的一间新开张的韩国购物中心，东西有中档的，也有高档的。中档的价钱与新加坡差不多，高档的应该比新加坡贵一倍以上，我买了一条短裙，好像是250块左右，也买了一件外套，2300+块。但是样式新加坡所看不到的。

This time, my friend and her husband brought me to a small town called Yangliuqing. It’s famous for its Chinese New Year paintings. Basically we visited Shi Family’s courtyard there. (Shi family was one of the richest families there.) The place is just next to the Grand Canal, so the Shi family became rich for transportation, mainly salt and rice. The most unique building here is the Stage, It is said that many famous actors and actresses performed there. The heating system here is quite close to the one in the Palace Museum. The paper cutting here is also not bad. It was about 3pm after we finished visiting there. All the restaurants were closed except Shangdao Café. Initially I did not want to go there, as I did not like western food. But after I tried, I found in Tianjin even cafes were already localized. Basically they were still selling Chinese cuisine. After the meal, we went to the Ancient Culture Street. There was a bridge quite interesting. It was made of tempered glass for the whole bridge. I felt a bit scared in the beginning, but soon I felt better.
Nearby there was a big Korean Shopping Mall that was just opened. Things there usually were cheap and averaged two different categories. The average one was about the same price as in Singapore. The expensive one was about two times as much. I bought one short skirt which was about ￥250 (S$47.65) and a jacket ￥2304 (S$439). It’s quite expensive, but you wouldn’t find it in Singapore.

告别 / Goodbye Beijing

第三天吃过早饭，按照原计划我们去著名的鲁菜馆“丰泽园”吃午餐。因为爸爸和姑姑都是祖籍山东，对鲁菜有着特殊的感情，所以我们选择了这里。这里最著名的一道菜是扒海参，有两种规格，我们选了368块的那一种。坦白说这里的菜一般般，可能是我和妈妈没有在山东生活过的原因，况且价格贵得惊人，这种地方来一次就够了。但我很喜欢到这里来走一走，姑父是个老北京，对这一带的地形十分熟悉，从他们家到这里很近，根本无须坐车，一路上我们我们看到了还没有拆的老北京四合院，台湾一条街，刘老根的大舞台，前门外大街，为了恢复原貌，还保留了有轨电车的轨道，大栅栏等很多百年老店，姑父还特地介绍了内联升鞋店，据说以前就连皇宫里穿的鞋也是他们做的，那里有师傅现场制作，真材实料，只是我们现在没机会穿这种怪里怪气的鞋了。我再著名的六必居买了10袋酱菜，才10块钱人民币，真是物有所值。
吃过饭稍作休息，我们便踏上了回程，这次的高铁还在武清停靠了一下，好在只用了5分钟，又看到了一个新的车站，也还算不错。

The following day we had our lunch at a famous Shandong Restaurant – 丰泽园。As Father and Aunt are all from that Province originally, they have a special feeling for Shandong Cuisine. The signature dish there was 扒海参 (sea cucumber). It had two different prices, but we ordered the cheaper one, which cost ￥368 (about S$70). Maybe because Mama and I were not from Shandong, we did not fancy the food there so much. As Uncle in law was born and bred in Beijing, he knew A to Z about the place. He brought us through the Hutongs (narrow back alleys in Beijing) to Qianmenwai Dajie. Here they still keep the traditional trolley track. Along the road, we have seen lots of Siheyuan (famous quadrangle courtyard). Many shops on the Street of Dazhalan were more than 100 years old. Uncle-in-law showed us a shoe shop named Neiliansheng and their handmade shoes, It was quite interesting, but we definitely had no chance to wear them. On the way back, I bought some preserved vegetables made by Liubiju, It was only ￥10(S$1.9) for 10 packets. It was cheap and delicious. After the lunch, we headed home, the train stopped in Wuqing unexpectedly. Fortunately it was only 5 minutes and we experienced what a small train station looked like. It’s fun!
 

参观鸟巢和水立方 / Bird Nest & Water Cube

第二天一早，我们叫了一辆出租，直奔鸟巢。鸟巢对70岁以上的人实行免费，60岁以上实行半价，所以老年人务必请带好身份证，否则是绝对也拿不到优惠的，好彩姑夫还不到60，否则冤死了。鸟巢和水立方实行联票制，两处一共80块。爸爸一直想弄清楚鸟巢的结构，他不明白那些钢架的真正承重点是哪里，这次看完他说终于明白了，原来钢架和里面的结构是两拿着的。我是外行，不太明白结构方面的，只是经常听说这是座雄伟著名的建筑，所以很想看看，但看了以后觉得里面不过就是一排排的座位而已，也没什么令人惊艳的地方。对比水立方，这里的一切，特别是座位都是红白两色的；而水立方中的一切都是蓝白两色，色调极为鲜明。本以为这两个地方相距甚远，没想到就在对面。水立方中有个水上乐园，对公众开放，但价格高得惊人。我们在水立方里吃了午饭，三碗炸酱面，一盘外婆醉鱼，一盘辣萝卜条，一盘凉拌蕨粉，一盘炒双菇和二两二锅头，价格比外面高了20%。

Everyone who watched the Olympic Games Opening or Closing ceremony will still have a strong impression of Bird Nest and Water Cube. Actually the real name for Bird Nest is Beijing National Stadium and the real name for Water Cube is Beijing National Aquatics Centre. But people in Beijing simply love the nick names.

The following morning we went to visit two famous iconic buildings in Beijing. The ticket for these two places together cost ￥80 (S$15.25). It‘s free for senior citizen whose age is above 70 and half price for age 60-69 but must show by either identity card or passport. So don’t forget to bring it with you if you are older than 60. Uncle in law forgot to bring any documents with him, but luckily he’s not 60 yet, or else it would be a sheer waste. My father was always interested to know the structure of the Bird Nest. This time he said he finally understood after looking at it closely. He said the outside stainless steel structure and inside concrete was totally disconnected. Outside was just for decorative purposes and nothing else. It was said the Bird Nest was huge and could hold an audience of 80,000 to 100,000. But it didn’t look to me that big. The only thing I liked was the seats. It was quite interesting. The seats inside Bird Nest were in red and white and in Water Cube were all in blue and white, and they were the same design. We thought these two places were far apart before we visited but it was just opposite to each other. There was a water theme park inside the Water Cube, but the price was sky high. We had our lunch there, and again we ordered Zhajang noodle, but it was about 20% more expensive than outside.

相会在北京/Meeting in Beijing

6月14日，应姑姑和姑父的邀请，我和爸爸妈妈一起去了北京。本来我家离北京很近，去北京是一件再容易不过的事情，可自妈妈病了以后，这也成了奢侈。好容易要成行了，我们都十分激动，吃过午饭，稍作休息后，便开始了准备，下午3点多我们便出发了。叫了辆出租，把我们载到天津东站后广场，然后便去买票。票不算太难买，只是下一班的没座位了，我们只好等下下班的。还好等的时间并不算太长，终于看到传说中的新干线了，果然即高级又舒服，半个小时就到北京啦，好快哟！
一到北京永定门火车站，姑父已经在等我们了，坐上出租车，很快就到了姑姑家。可不知为什么，刚到北京不久我的胃就开始不舒服，晚上姑姑请我们去她家门口的老北京炸酱面吃饭，想让我们体会一下老北京的生活，由于身体不争气，只能放弃了。

On 14 Jun 2011, my parents and I were invited by my aunt 华and uncle in law to visit them in Beijing. In fact, my parents live quite near Beijing, so it should be easy for us to visit. Since my mom’s illness, travelling has become difficult. However, we still decided to go. And we were quite excited. We had a short rest after our lunch and started packing. Shortly after 3pm, we left our home. We hailed a taxi to Tianjin Railway station. It was not very difficult to get the train tickets. The next train had no more seats, so we bought the tickets for the following train. We did not have to wait for long to see the legendary Shinkansen. It was fast and smooth and could reach a speed of 333km/hr. It was also quite comfortable, and only took half an hour to reach Beijing. Very fast!

My uncle in law was already at Beijing South Railway station waiting for us when we reached. Although it takes about 30 mins to reach my aunt’s home by taxi, as long as I boarded the taxi, my stomach started feeling unwell. In the evening, my aunt suggested to treat us to an Old Beijing Zhajang Noodle Restaurant. She hoped that this would give us a basic idea of how Beijing commoners live. Instead I had to stay at home.