Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Place Shopping Mall 世贸天阶 (1) # Beijing - China

It's weekend, and some of our friends (boys team) go to Wangba. So we, girls team will go shopping. This time, we will visit The Palace Shopping Mall 世贸天阶 Shi mao tian jie. (credit)




Beijing’s funkiest new mall is easy to spot thanks to the digital canopy that sweeps over its central outdoor plaza - the biggest LED screen in Asia would you believe. However if you find the butterflies and seascapes that flash up on it all a bit too much, head straight indoors to the tri-level mall which houses Spanish fashion chain Zara and Canadian shoe retailer Aldo’s flagship store.
Other outlets include Potato and Co., Folli Follie, French Connection, i.t, Miss Sixty, Adidas, MAC cosmetics, Promod, Patricia, Puma, Rolex, and the English-language Chapterhouse bookshop. The Place is mainly composed of the huge screen in the middle and two luxury buildings on its two sides. People walk around under the screen enjoying the space art, high technique, and lighting.

The Place is also a place for luxury shopping and a gourmet experience. There are several open-air bars for you to relax. The Place is a blend of shopping mall, office building, space art and fashion. The Place is designed by Jeremy Railton. He is also the designer for the world’s largest digital screen in Las Vegas. Two four-story malls house Tourneau, China’s largest watch boutique, D&G, Ferrari and English-language bookstore Chaterhouse.

Address: 9 Guanghua Lu, Beijing 朝阳区光华路甲9号
Opening time: 10am - 10pm.
Website: www.theplace.cn.


How to go there? Take subway line 1 and get off at the station of Yonganli (永安里), exit from exit B, then walk to the north along Dongdaqiao Road (东大桥路). After the first crossroad, you will see the Place on your right.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

School Trip to Beijing World Park 北京世界公园 # Beijing - China

As usual, at the last week of the month, the school will arrange trip to an attraction place in Beijing. And this month (May 2007), they take us to go to Beijing World Park 北京世界公园 beijing shijie gongyuan. (wikipedia)

Beijing World Park 北京世界公园 is a theme park that attempts to give visitors the chance to see the world without having to leave Beijing. The park covers 46.7 hectares and is located in the southwestern Fengtai District of Beijing. It is about 17 km from Tiananmen, the City center, and 40 km from the Capital International Airport. The park opened in 1993 and is estimated to receive 1.5 million visitors annually.

Scenic area

The scenic area of the park models itself after the naturalistic layout of the globe, representing the four major oceans, and focusing on five continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. The park contains about a hundred (109) scaled-down replicas of famous landmarks from nearly 40 countries and regions around the world, including the Tower Bridge in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Great Pyramids in Egypt. There is even a miniature Manhattan, complete with twin towers of the World Trade Center. Each landmark represents its country or region of origin and is situated in the park according to its location on the map.


Close attention to detail was paid in modeling these landmarks after their originals. For example, detailed carvings and ornamentations are included. Even the materials used are modeled after their originals to create the most authentic look possible. For example, the replica of the Great Pyramids was constructed of 200,000 white marble bricks, each as large as a bar of soap. Red Square in Russia, is replicated by paving the smaller model in World Park with over 5 million red bricks smaller than mahjong tiles.



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There's an incident in this park. When we first coming, we take picture in one of scenic area. And my friends falls from upstairs and broken her arms. It's really terrifying. The teacher ask the park staff to call the ambulance, and he take her to the nearest hospital. So, while you are taking picture, please always becareful.


Website: http://www.beijingworldpark.com.cn/

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Karaoke at Party World (1) # Beijing - China

When we go to Yong He Gong, we often see this Karaoke place. The place is so elegance, so this time, we decided to go there.

The place name is Party World 钱柜 qian gui. Party World is one of the biggest KTV centers in Beijing. It features magnificent decoration and high level of service. The clerks there are always polite, friendly, and ready to serve you. And it has a big database of songs. Most of them are Chinese songs. There are English songs, too. It is equipped with high-quality stereo equipment and its sound effect is splendid. One who is able to carry a tune can sing like a pop singer. It also offers delicious buffet dinner and beverage free. The buffet dinner covers varieties of food, such as rice, noodles, cake, cookies, etc. If you do not like Chinese food, you are also allowed to bring your own food.

This place is surely amazing, and very high level. Even a little expensive for a student, but as long as we didn't go there often I think it is still okay.

I go here with my classmate. And we really have fun in here.








Monday, May 7, 2007

Happy Valley Amusement Park (1) # Beijing - China

It's still holiday and the last day of Wuyi holiday. So we decided to go to Amusement Park. We go to Happy Valley 北京欢乐谷 beijing huan le gu.

Happy Valley 北京欢乐谷 is an amusement park in Beijing built and operated by Beijing OCT (北京华侨城 beijing hua qiao cheng), which is part of the Overseas Chinese Town Company. The park is located in Chaoyang in eastern Beijing. Opened in July 2006, it is the second park of the Happy Valley theme park chain. The concept design and master plan for the park was created by Creative Kingdom China. Leisure Quest International (USA/China). Similar in style with the Disneyland Park, Happy Valley Beijing also features distinctive landscapes and themes throughout the resort along with featured rides within the different themes. In total there are more than 40 rides, 10 of which are extreme rides, an IMAX theater with seven screens as well as a shopping complex. (wikipedia)

I forget how much is the ticket price that time, but now the ticket price is (2020): 260 Yuan/person.

You can ride subway to Beijing Happy Valley Station line 7.

We really having fun in here.


Giant Swing, one of my friend got a jackpot after riding this.

Giant Swing, one of my friend got a jackpot after riding this.









Thursday, May 3, 2007

Visit E-Mei Shan then go back to Beijing # Sichuan - China

Today we will visit E-Mei Shan 峨眉山, is a mountain in Sichuan ProvinceChina, and is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China and is traditionally regarded as the bodhimaṇḍa, or place of enlightenment, of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra is known in Mandarin as Pǔxián Púsà (普賢菩薩). -- wikipedia

It's a bad weather when we come here, raining very hard and strong wind. And we didn't prepare any rain coat or umbrella so we all get wet. The cable car didn't operated on that day, so we can't see anything. It's foggie. We only walk around for a while, then decided to go to airport early.

My shoes got wet and uncomfortable, so we buy rattan sandals XD.


Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area and Face-Changing Show # Sichuan - China

The Leshan Giant Buddha 乐山大佛 le shan da fou (wikipedia) is a 71-metre (233 ft) tall stone statue, built between 713 and 803. It is carved out of a cliff face of Cretaceous red bed sandstones that lies at the confluence of the Min River and Dadu River in the southern part of Sichuan province in China, near the city of Leshan.



The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below its feet. It is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world.

The Leshan Giant Buddha is located at the Lingyun Mountain’s Qifeng Peak. Qifeng Peak is located at the junction of the Minjiang RiverQingyi River, and Dadu River.


Other than the Leshan Giant Buddha, the Danxia Landform also contains abundant history and cultural connotations, such as cliff tombs and cliff dwelling.







After visiting The Lesan Giant Buddha, we are back to Chengdu to watch Face-Changing Show 变脸 bian lian (wikipedia).

Face-Changing Showw 变脸 is an ancient Chinese dramatic art that is part of the more general Sichuan opera. Performers wear brightly colored costumes and move to quick, dramatic music.

This show is very interesting. The performers wear vividly colored masks, typically depicting well known characters from the opera, and can change one face to another almost instantaneously with the swipe of a fan, a movement of the head or wave of the hand, without delay. That's whey they named it Face-Changing Show.

If you plan to go to Chengdu, you have to watch this show.





At night, we go to Emei, to stay in there. And because we take "Student Price Tour", our hotel happens to be an old dormitory, which has never been used already. I don't know if there's another guest, but the hotel itself is very creepy. 1 room is for 3 people, and very dim. If you talking inside your room, then another room could hear it. Fortunately, we all stay in same floor. The bathroom is very dirty too. Kind of experience XD