The next stop in the itinerary list was the Acrobatic Show. We did not know it cost that much until the tickets were given to us. There were a lot of people and I think our group was the only foreigners in the house while the rest were the Chinese themselves. A few of the local people who were sitting near our seats were even curious of where we were from and thank God I could satisfy their curiousity, my minimal ability to speak a few words of Chinese did help after all.
the 380 yuen ticket = RM190.00
in front of the theatre house
at the waiting space - very colourful like a kindergarten
even the bathroom was colourful
waiting for the performance to start
during the break: plates and basin on poles balancing acts
artists flying in the air
Even though the ticket was expensive, it was worth the money spent. The show was spectacular, with the combination of gymnastic, acrobatic acts and martial art, everything was put together in a theatrical sort of way. The use of multimedia technology had definitely enhanced the effects needed in the performance. I wish I could record the show but I was too afraid to do that. Actually the use of camera was prohibited in the hall.
By the way, if you wonder, how did we survive through the six days in China, there should not be any worries as we were on a Muslim tour so we had our meals in halal restaurants around Beijing. Food had been one of the main concerns and my friends kept asking me the same question. The only word that you must have in mind is
CONFIDENT in capital letters.
breakfast
lunch
dinner
Basically we had rice every time. The selection of dishes varied and in abundance, enough to feed 13 hungry people except that the plates were always smaller in size so it would be difficult to put everything in one go. Perhaps we should have used the small bowls and chopsticks. We would be served with a pot of hot water first and I remember Miss Yang, the tourist guide, would say. "drink to warm your stomach". Other than that, another must see would be a pot of Chinese tea without sugar for us to consume. There would always be fried eggs but the cooks added flour into the mixture I think as the texture was a bit rubbery. Most of the dishes were fried or cooked in oyster or soy sauce with garlic or and the only source of gravy would be the one big bowl of vegetables soup in the centre of the table. When in Rome, do as the Romans do and we needed a lot of energy as we spent about 12 hours a day on the move and we all survived the six days on Chinese food.
TO BE CONTINUED...
For one thing, there were always the street vendors selling all sorts of things at the tourists' spots. They could be stationary or they could be chasing after you trying to sell whatever things they had with them. The best thing you could do was just to say "pu, pu", smiled and ran away.
Tiananmen Square is a significant place in Beijing. It is historical in a way and one of the most memorable events was the pro-democracy rally which was held in 1989 by university students. Hundreds of protestors were believed to be shot dead at this very spot at that time.
This place is actually the third largest city square in the world. We could not hang around too long as we had to make our way to another place of interest just opposite.
