No Fat Girls in Beijing ... & ... The Coolest Building

Beijing girls are slim, no doubt about it. 

I noticed that when I was travelling in the subways and observing the locals in general. If I see a fat Chinese girl, chances are she's not a local. Maybe she's a Malaysian Chinese cause 2 in every 5 Malaysians are obese. 

The hotel where we stayed, Traders Hotel is located in the Central Business District (CBD) where skyscrapers light up the skyline and the roads are wide enough for a small aircraft to land.

From our hotel room I can see the tallest building in Beijing:

The China Central Television (CCTV) building is one of the coolest building I've ever seen! If I love the Petronas Twin Towers for its stylish steel structure that gleams in the sun and illuminates the skyline at night, I love the CCTV building for being radical in a cool way. I wonder how the floors are named.

The girls who work in the CBD are busy executives who dresses immaculately and I noticed most of them wear pantyhose when they wear a skirt. Not too sure whether it's because of the cool weather or just good grooming. Anyhow, their legs look slim and gorgeous in pantyhose, which reminded me of my ex-boss who told me that a lady must always wear stockings if she's wearing a skirt. I had just joined the corporate world back then and that piece of grooming tip has stuck with me till today. 

If the girls in Beijing are slim lasses, then the girls in Hangzhou are another breed of pretty Chinese lasses. 

Apparently Hangzhou is not only famous for its natural sceneries and lovely weather, but also for its pretty lasses, so much so that the Emperors of China made annual trips to Hangzhou to select their concubines. 

Fridge Magnets from Beijing

I returned from Beijing on Thursday. It was a short 4-day trip that was pleasant although my trip to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs was marred by heavy rain. But that's another story for another day.

Here are the fridge magnets I bought from Beijing:

These 2 magnets I bought for RMB 12 each at the Beijing Zoo.

But after that I bang balls when I bought these metal ones:

Ten magnets for RMB 50 from the Silk Market. Do the currency conversion and see how cheap it is. There are only 8 magnets in the pic because I gave away 2 to my colleagues. Note: Too darn lazy to open the plastic wrapping.

I also bought this lovely vase magnet from the Pearl Market (opposite the Temple of Heaven) for about RMB 15:

Any magnet that protrudes usually costs more.

Sudden trip to Beijing

In exactly 2 weeks time, I'll be hiking up the Great Wall of China, exploring the Forbidden City and absorbing the art and culture of my ancestors. But I'm unlike my ancestors because I can't speak Mandarin despite being Chinese. There's a special term for people like me; we're called 'bananas' - yellow on the outside but white on the inside.

So how did my trip to Beijing came to be? On 20 March a close friend invited me to join her for a trip there. She'll be going to Beijing for training and I could tag along. After all, lodging is free! It was a spur of the moment decision and I agreed.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) currently offers the cheapest flights from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. I bought my return ticket for RM1,506 (all inclusive) after waiting a few days because ticket prices on the MAS website fluctuates like crazy, even crazier than AirAsia. One moment it's RM806 and the next moment it's RM406 for the same flight.

Being a 'banana', my fear of travelling to China is obviously the language. I'm pretty sure the locals will speak to me in Mandarin because they'll think I'm a local too. Asking for directions and help will certainly not be a piece of cake. I've travelled to the Middle East where English is hardly spoken and I came back a survivor. But in a country where I look like the locals and can't speak the language, I think I'll come back battered and bruised. Well, let's see how it goes.

So watch this space for stories about my 'banana' escapades in Beijing. And I haven't even completed blogging about France and Spain yet, gosh ...