26 - 27 Oct 2015
Hello again Beijing, Ni Hao! The weather is pleasant now end October around 10 deg C.
This is a short post on a short working trip to Beijing. We stayed at Hotel Gloria Plaza Dongsheng again where we stayed last April. This time, I got a room with a bathtub at the middle!
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| bathtub in the middle! |
We revisited the hotpot restaurant we went last April for dinner
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| hotpot revisited! |
This time we visited the oldest mosque in Beijing, the Niujie mosque. We took the Metro Yongtaizhuang near our hotel to Caishikou station. The journey took us 1.5 hrs from the hotel including changing lines twice and waiting time. So if you want to buy halal food at Niujie street (there is a Muslim supermarket, halal butcher and many halal eateries here), make sure you buy a supply that could last you a month (if you're residing in Beijing that is) as the journey is so far! Or unless you stay near to Niujie street.
The mosque was originally built in 996, initiated by an Arabic scholar, Nasurudin. It has a typical Chinese architecture so one would not expect it to be a mosque!
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| old gate of Niujie mosque |
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| within the compound of Niujie mosque |
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| prayer hall |
I bought the hotpot dipping sesame sauce from the Muslim supermarket to
be brought home to Malaysia. Unfortunately, the taste is not as tasty as
the one we had at the Hotpot restaurant in Beijing.
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| Niujie Muslim supermarket |
From Niujie street, we made our way to the Chegongzhuang station to find toys for one of our colleagues' kids. The shopping arcade is just beside the station via Exit H. The shop lot in the building is similar to that of Tanah Abang in Jakarta or Ben Thant market in Ho Chi Minh city. I didn't take a picture of the shop lots as I didn't want to be scolded by the shop attendants (they were selling imitation toys after all - e.g Lego, Thomas and friends etc, but their names were totally changed as a cover up )
We then headed to the hutong (narrow street lined up by traditional buildings) at Nanluoguxiang to revisit the matcha Modern brand ice cream and filling up before our early morning flight back to KL.
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| the Modern ice cream shop |
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| matcha (green tea) ice cream |
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| revisiting the hutong |
Labels: Travelogue
