Lo !! Beijing Auto !! - China Tour VIII

Jai Gurudev !!

 

Beijing Auto

 

Can you guess what this vehicle is ?

A vehicle to carry loads something similar to our local Indian Auto ?

 

If you guess so , then you are partially right !!

Because the purpose it serves is only to carry the passengers not the load. It's purely a passenger auto , which can be seen plying in Beijing roads. But , these autos are not seen many in number. Only here and there , in very less numbers .

 

The mode of transportation for common people in Beijing is mainly Subway trains . Taxis are available though not much in numbers . People still use Bicycles to move around. Two wheelers strength is also not much on roads. And the most interesting aspect here there is no pollution from the bikes , as they run on batteries or Gas.  We see buses powered by electric lines .

And we had to walk , walk & walk wherever we go to catch subway trains or other places , since these autos are rarely spotted .

 

These silvery autos can accomodate only two people  . And this auto does not emit hazardous CO , as our Indian autos. Infact these autos look so elegant on Beijing clean roads.

Had we got a chance to travel in those autos , would we have been able to appreciate them more, perhaps !!

 

Love & smiles...

 

 

 



A Sea of Devotion !!

Jai Gurudev !!

Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankar

Today ,being  a Sunday ,  a hectic day for a working woman like me , a real relaxation comes in the form of  AOL follow up class , which starts at 6 AM  and extends till 8.15 AM , which invloves Yoga , Sudarshan Kriya , meditation etc..

The AOL teacher spread the news that Guruji is in town for the Satsang at Ashram today . The mind started planning to visit the Ashram to have a glimpse of Guruji . It all started with buttering  my husband to take me there , as it takes about two hours up and  down to visit Ashram and come back.
After he agrees, then the sunday job went on with full swing without any break - special breakfast , lunch , grinding of batter , clothes washing etc...

Thought that I 'll call up few of my AOL friends , to join with us . An aunty who had wished to visit the Ashram ,  joined us and we all started by 3.00 PM , reached there by 4.45 PM, only to see the traffic jam at the entrance even before we enter the Ashram .



Amphitheatre in front of Visalakshmi Mantap
 at AOL Ashram, Bangalore.

The Satsang place , the Amphitheatre was brimming with people - ageas of all groups right from toddlers to old age people .There was not a single space vacant. The whole crowd waited for Guruji , soon he entered accepting the flower offerings from devotees .

Guruji answered the questions of people of all age groups. One school going kid stood up and asked , " Guruji..Guruji..My fried is very bossy Guruji, what should I do ? "
 Guruji smiled & answered , " Chalo ..Help that friend also to be a boss know...!!"  

One youth stood up & asked , " My horoscope and my girlfriend's horoscope do not match due to which my parents do not agree for the marriage , Guruji !! What should I do ?"

Few youths stood up and read the poem they've written for Guruji for which the crowd applauded. Today , the international bloggers conference is happening at the Ashram .

Both youths and middle aged persons put up questions to Guruji on ongoing incidents  like Delhi Rape case .. Guruji opined , " In India, we talk only about the problems . Media highlights only the problems . Solution is not discussed at all. We need to attack the root cause.  Alcohol shops need to be closed . People do not know what they do ,when they are drunk. This is the main cause !!"

Some shared their experiences of Sudarshan Kriya , which had caused medical miracles and thanked Guruji for that ,heartily . A doctor said, her husband regained his arms action after paralytic attack caused by a fatal accident.

The kids cried out loudly,  "Guruji ..Guruji " .Some were offering sweets , flowers etc..
One baseline , what I could feel was,  not only one devotee is present there , but n number of devotees !! Not leaving a single person , each and everyone was a devotee there ...perhaps the level of devotion might be in various degrees , that's it !!

A Sea of Devotion , indeed !!

Thankyou Guruji ....for making me a devotee too....!!


Love & smiles....

The Great Wall of China - China Tour -VII

Jai Gurudev !!

Happy New Year Wishes to one & all !!



The Great Wall of China at Badaling

I was a bit anxious to see one of the wonders of the world as this is the first wonder , which I was going to see. Having not seen our own Indian Wonder The Great Taj Mahal , I really wonder how a wonder of the world would really make us to wonder !!

But only after seeing the Great Wall of China , I could get an idea why it is included in the list of Seven wonders of world !!

The traffic jam had started well in advance before we could reach the wonder spot . We had to get down the taxi and walk down to the spot after which the much awaited lunch , the trip organizer gave was at a Hotel situated at the base of mountain . The time was nearly 4 PM . We were damn hungry. Me and my friend had packed the home made food rather room made food , Rice mixed with Tamarind powder .The rest all had a great lunch (?!) in that hotel , Plain Rice with different side dishes. God knows how they tasted !!



Great wall seen in back drop

We could get a glimpse of the Great Wall from the foothills itself, which looked like the long twisted tail of a Huge Dragon sitting on the hill. And the Chinese refer the Great wall as Dragon  .This portion of Great wall extended  in outskirts of Beijing city is called as Badaling Great Wall .

There were cable car ticket counters , which costed about 80 yuans / Rs.1600 per ticket . Though my colleagues wanted to trek up the hill to the Great wall, they took the cable car as there was time limitation. We ought to return back by 5 .30 PM .

Cable car travel enroute Great Wall



Trekking in the Great wall ..

The cable car reminded me of the cable car of Palani hills Murugan temple . But , here the differnce is , no closed cabin type car, all open seats . We need to press the lock closed by means of our legs, and many cable cars keep circulating up and down non stop , one behind the other. Two persons helped us to get into the moving car, by forcible stopping it for a moment. We should manage to get hold of the seat within that  short span, else we would miss it. Two persons per car is allowed . Infact , my friend could catch hold of the car for the first time, as she was gazing elsewhere as we didn’t have an idea that it would move nonstop. Then she took the following car in the series .

Moving in the cable car was a great experience, watching the ground over a few metres height , just like small birds. The trees, the clouds everything was looking different. From there , we saw there was also a slideway path to get down the Great wall . That was something like how  kids used to slide ..It was a bit funny to look at and also we could sense the danger involved in that . But , many people took that route too..



Slideway - down from Great wall

 

People from all over the world
being one with the China wonder

On reaching the top of the mount we just strolled along the Great Wall . The slope of the path was very steep and many bends and turns could be witnessed. The wall is built of huge stones and bricks. A small room like structure is seen at  regular intervals , something like resting place. I remembered a Tamil film scene where it was shot . When we find difficult to walk that path, one can really be amazed at the wonder how that wall was constructed at such a height with so many twists and bents .

Since the cable car would close by 5.30PM , we had to rush within that time. We were cursing the trip organizers for the very short time they had allocated forspending the time in the Great Wall .

Finally we took back the cable car route , bidding a Great Good Bye to the Dragon , with a filled heart of having visited one of the Seven Wonders of the World !!

One Day trip mates..

Love & smiles...

China-tour-VI

Olympic Stadium at Beijing - China Tour VI

Jai Gurudev !!

Tea Making Demo at Tea Market

The One day trip was only a paid shopping visit , we can say. Because, they took us to the Tea Market after the Silk Market and Pearl Market before they showed us the first tourist spot,the Olympic Stadium .

The ambience of Tea Market

The ambience of the Tea Market was very impressive.They took our group into a cabin, wherein a lovely girl started demonstrating the tea making skills of 4 different types of tea . She was explaining in a good English with  sweet looks , no doubt it is  admirable and attractive enough for anyone to go for buying the tea powder , atleast it would  tempt us to buy.



The young lass started speaking , capturing our full attention , " There are many different types of tea available in China. Out of which, I shall take up selectively some 4 types of teas. First is the Jasmine Tea . Take up hot water and run through the tea powder and strain it." . She makes use of sepearte tea pot new to us . Then she poured in tiny cups and served us and asked us to slurp and drink .  The fragrance was that of the Jasmine flower and the taste was very strong that it stayed for long in our mouth .

The other tea she showed was Pu'er tea . She said that tea should be chewed and tasted unlike the Jasmine tea which should be slurped . The taste would be similar to that of Rice , she said. Indeed it tasted as she said.

Another tea was Chrsyanthum tea, made by running the hot water through the dried Chrysanthum flowers. But the tatse did not impress us.

The next tea was Fruit Tea. The fruit pieces are dehydrated and dried and used to make Tea.
She asked us to taste the Fruit tea just like that before making the tea. Was tasting sweet . Should be obviously good for health , as fruits are involved.

The Dragon changing color based on
the tempeartue of drink inside



Naughty Pee Pee Boy

The girl also showed a couple of interesting things in the midst of the demo. One is the "Pee Pee Boy !!" That's a toy of the small boy, made of clay , I suppose , which would pass Susu when hot water is poured on it's head. The kids would love to watch it , as we did , no doubt. Another one was the cup , in which the dragon picture inscribed on the cup would change its colour into red if hot tea is poured into it.


 


Not only that , she gave an attractive offer that  these two items would be given free , if we purchase all 4 types of tea , one package consisting of 4 packets  for 900 yuans , that is Rs .72000 INR . 
The Iran lady bargained and took 2 Pee Pee boys as free .



We were given a pamphlet , in which the medicinal values of each tea was listed out. Jasmine tea cools the body, relaxes and relieves us from  the headache . The Pu'er tea reduces Cholestral , reduces blood pressure itseems . None of the tea should be added with milk except for one specific type of tea.

Following this tea market visit, later we visited a Tea shop in the place where we stayed ,where we saw a hundred types of tea powders kept all over the shop with varying rates and qualities and types. We purchased few types of tea packets , but the price was cheaper when compared to that tea market price.

Olympic Stadium at Beijing

                                  


Next , we came to the Olympic stadium . The structure was unique . We need to walk about a KM to reach the stadium from the road. Some stalls were put up on sides selling toys and similar items.
Special Kites were being sold outside . Lots of chinese people from outside Beijing were part of the tourists , who were visiting along with their family. We were given only sufficient time to visit the entrance and return back . Hence , could not visit inside the stadium.

Exquisite Designs of cups

Crafted Porcelain Plates 

After the stadium, again the marketing spree continued. This time , it was the Porcelain Market. Though the prices were not affordable, it was really wonderful to watch the exquisite artistry showcased there in different forms as toys, bangles , Pots, Vases gigantic and tiny ones and various items , which are unique in nature. We could only capture the photographs there , as buying those things was not our cup of tea.

Giant Vases

Love & smiles...



One Day Trip at Beijing - China Tour V

Jai Gurudev !!

Since the place was new and due to the language problem , we just thought we would go a one day trip package for sightseeing organised by the local Chinese private trip organisers , during the weekend instead of us venturing to go out ourselves .
But, later on realised , that was not a wise idea !! Because , it was not organised as a sight seeing trip but more of a trip to trap us to buy the things marketed by the government supported industries.
Looks like a lot of commision oriented business going on in the back stage !!

The  Taxi which was supposed to pick us up on that saturday morning 9 AM , reached our hotel only by 10.30 AM.The lady who accompanied us were bargaining for some extra bugs , so that  she would cover few more other places too. After all such drama ,finally we started  off  with a group consisting of 9 people - an Iran lady & her bro' , a Bengali girl & her dad , two girls from Sweden apart from us three  and headed towards our first spot - The Silk Market !!.
 

Silk Market

Silk Worm Stages

Silk from cocoon

The entrance was like a House , to look at  . At the lobby was a demonstartion going on about the various growth stages of the silkworm  and they broke open a cocoon and pulled out the silk yarn out of it. China Silk is a very familiar name in our market even in those days.
 
 

Quilts

The Quilts ,very soft and of high quality were displayed and the prices were not less than Rs.16000 .
 
 
 
 
 
 


At Silk Market wondering if anything can be bought ?

It is needless to say , we just quit the place by just having a look at it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The next stop was , as you guess , the next marketing trap ...the Pearl Shop or industry.
Similar to the silk worm industry , they grow the Oysters to get the pearls .I remembered our Hyderabad Pearls .

Oysters grown for pearls in the oyster pond

A Lady cuts open an oyster , which is about two years old and to our surprise ,we found around 5 to 6 small round pearls inside it . She said , with the age of the oyster , the size of the pearl obtained from it will be of bigger size.
   
Pearls in various sizes and colours were displayed for sale in form of different jewellery . But it looked very costly for us . They take the people in groups , according to the agent who bring them in seperate cabins and do the marketing. All ladies oriented business !!
The jewellery design division was also there . It's a  big market run by the Governement itself.
 


Attractive girls marketing

Also the pearl cream for youth complexion and  to remove wrinkles and other cosmetics using pearl were kept for sale and young ladies do vigorous marketing there. Like initially they say , one cream  bottle for 200 yuans and then they come down a little to 2 cream bottles for 200 yuans and finally we bargained with the help of the Iran Lady , as one cream bottle for 50 yuans plus a pearl pendant as compliment !! The Pearl cream looks like it consists of pearl shaped granules inside and we need to apply one such pearls to our face itseems. After bringing here , when I opened , the odour which emanates from that cream is very strong and my husband said , beware of the lead contents which might present in it. And I had kept it aside and am yet to try that cream ..
 
The next spot in the trip package was the famous Olympic stadium , which I shall continue in my next post ..

Love & smiles...

Breakfast at Beijing - China Tour IV

Jai Gurudev !!



Vegetable Salad varieties tasting more non veg & Fish Fry without oil (?!)

Thinking of the  Breakfast  we had at the hotel ..

Ah ! What a variety of  food served in the buffet style !! Though it's Lip smacking at the first glance of it , but it's not so ,if we have to taste .



BOILED EGGS WITH SHELL & MAIDA DISCS

Spread across the full length of 2 tables is numerous dishes . How I wish , I were a Chinese or atleast a non-vegetarian so that I can taste each dish and appreciate the recipe  !!
 

Actually one cannot resist the temptation  of tasting the colorful display of the food items !!

As in any other breakfast menu , the Bread, butter and Jam was included along with fruits like Watermelon , Oranges etc apart from the Boiled Egg  and thick warm Milk , Black Coffee and Black Tea and warm juices like apple extract juice , Lemon juice etc.



Initial days Breakfast menu - Baby Potatoes,
boiled sweet pumpkins, watermelons etc

The eggs were not removed off its shell , only we need to do it ourselves . The Egg yellow was not looking yellow in colour but green in colour !!

And Black tea served was of different variety , as one day Jasmine Tea, the other day Chrysanthum tea , Black Tea etc , but everything sugarless and milkless.
Also some plain boiled sweet pumpkin pieces and sweet potato pieces were also part of the breakfast buffet . Then there was Plum like fruit was kept and eagerly we took it and tasted , after which we came to know it's all Tomatoes ...Baby tomatoes looking like plums.

Our initial days of breakfast included only any of the above items except Egg . But , u see , we did not want to really give a try of the strange food , which we had already had the warning information in India before leaving to China ,ike the Chinese menu item would consist of snakes , reptiles, worms etc.. The very thought of those words created a sort of initial aversion towards the Chinese food items.

As days passed  , slightly I was drawn by the looks of the other stuffs placed there and took pains to know if it’s a vegetarian food . Learnt that “Tsu shei “  is the Chinese equivalent for vegetarian and used to point at the food stuff and ask the waitress , “Tsu shei ?!”

She used to nod her head and say  “Tsu Shei ..Tsu shei “ if it’s veg and if it’s not she used to nod in other direction. After confirmation, I was attempting to taste and started having a liking towards those food when we were approaching towards  the end of the trip !! Strange are our taste buds, I feel.



No idea about this food item not tasted

Somedays ,fried veg noodles , with only cabbage  was kept , which I liked and even went for a second serving at times !!

A chocolate cream stuffed tiny sweet puffs was there . The taste was not bad !!

 

Then the other stuffs namely ( The Chinese names I don’t know, so I had given my own names )

·         Ragi cones - steamed ragi flour mixed with slight sugar in conical shapes

·         Maida Discs – steamed maida flour mixed with slight sugar once again.

·         Onion coriander salad – White onion and coriander with Red Chilly

·         Momos ( Believed to be Chinese name here) – Steamed maida with stuffed beef

·         Fried Fish – Looks like fried fish with less or no oil , I guess



Chocalate cream stuffed Tiny samosas & Beef Momos

·        


 Varieties of vegetable salads (?!) – The question mark is because the taste is something strange ..tasted like non vegetarian, I believe the oil used for mixing is different perhaps non veg oil  , the smell is unbearable .

·         Egg Fried Rice

·         Rice Porridge – Plain Kanji with no sugar/salt

·         Porridge with Egg /Non veg stuff

·         2 to 3 types of Plum Cakes

·         Twisted Biscuits

·         Fried sticks of Urad Dhaal  - A stuff made of Urad Dhal , similar to our Ulunda Vada of Taminadu , but the shape is not round, but rectangular in shape like a stick . Good taste !!

·         Ragi and Maida Rolls – Colourful steamed Maida  mixed with ragi rolls with slight sugar !!



Cakes , Biscuits

·         And some items which cannot be described at all , because I don’t know how to describe it !!

People eat those Ragi Cones and maida discs plain and the taste is so bland !!

But one thing I noticed is the chinese food does not consist of oil at all and with only very less of sugar and salt. And literally no masala items at all !! No doubt it's a healthy food !!

That's the reason , hardly I can spot the people with big tummy or pot belly !!
The secret of their looks is their food recipe ?!!

Ragi & Maida mixed Roll , sweet potato pieces

  Love & smiles...



Beijing - A Home away from Bangalore !! - China Tour III

Jai Gurudev !!

Beijing Aiport

  

We were the odd ones out in China Dragon Airlines flight in the midst of  Chinese crowd. But, me and my colleague differed in one more way too. We got the special guest treatment .Guess what ? We were served the food first in flight. Because only ours was the only vegetarian food in the whole flight specially prepared .



Veg Food (?!) served at Dragon Airlines



The menu included the bread , butter , rice with some strange vegetables & mushrooms, Boiled Kabuli Channa Daal and  fruits & Tea etc.





Waiting at Immigration Cell at Beijing



The flight journey took about 4 hrs and when we reached Beijing airport, the first thing I noticed was more and more number of people . We can say that the airport is flooded with people everywhere .

 



Kids on Sports tour

 
Beijing is second highly populated city in China with a population exceeding 22 millions , records say.
Sports gain a major importance in China !! We can see may sports related scenes at many places .

Electric Train to reach exit at airport


  Beijing airport is  incredibly larger and so modern buildings and posh too. We ought to catch a bus , followed by escalators then an electric train followed by an elevator, within the airport to reach the exit door of the airport. With this , you can imagine, how big the airport is !! Amazing !!






An Elevator to move between the floors at airport



To me , the airport looked like a busy local Bus stand , except for the fact that it's all flying aeroplanes instead of the Buses. Every 5 minutes ,one aeroplane keeps taking off !!

A very cold evening at Beijing welcomed us and the car booked for us escorted us to the Hotel , Home Inn situated outside the fifth Ring Road. Beijing is so vast that it consists as many as Six Ring roads !! 



Lenova building opposite our hotel





Home Inn is a chain of restaurants spread all over Beijing. The hotel location was in the industrial area  similar to the Electrinics City location of Bangalore, full of industries. And the hotel is situated within about 5 minutes walkable distance to our office location. About 4 buildings belonging to famous Lenova  Company is sitauted adjacent to our hotel.  The room was quite accomodative  for us 2 ladies with facilities like a room heater/Air conditioner and 24 hrs hot water supplyand an electric kettle . Soon we started feeling at home there. For the next fortnight , it indeed was going to be our home , u see ...

Relaxing in room

Love & smiles...