BLACK

An all-black outfit on Summer? Why the hell not?

FEATHERS

In Summer, you can play on shape or colors for your ensemble, but better playing it cool sometimes with prints!

POLO

The main point of my second summer outfit is Polo shirts!

WHITE SUMMER

Suckers for white, here's a summer outfit inspiration for you!

AMATOA

I know, I know I've been so bad for not updating anything for almost two months, but hey I've got things to arrange, especially after leaving China. Yes, I'm back to Indonesia for good! I was back exactly a week ago, and now trying to get used to everything here. Anyway, here's the new, long-awaited update for you guys!

CHAPTER IX: TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

Haven't I told you that Beijing has a lot of temples? It's a wonder I see more temples in Beijing than skyscrapers, knowing that it's the capital city of China. But then again, it's actually no wonder due to the historical background that this city carries itself.

The temple that I gawked at the most was The Temple of Heaven or Tian Tan, which was the most beautiful of them all. Before I got to see this temple, I still had to walk  around 2 km from the main gate and also I needed to endure -5 Celcius windy weather, but it was all paid off when my eyes were set on the beautiful temple. I really, really love the look of the temple, it was just beautiful. The picture of the temple that I shared here is merely as beautiful as the real thing. Also, the park that surrounded this temple was a really good place to find peace, or at least for a walk, not only because it was ridiculously big, also because it was really calm (at least when I went there it was so calm, ha!). I passed by some taichi's groups doing their practice or something. Don't really know a single thing about taichi, lol.

Hippie!

CHAPTER VII: SUMMER PALACE

Beijing has a lot of temples, I am telling you. Like, every historical sites that I went to had temples in it, and not just one. It could be more than ten or twenty. Perhaps because they used to be a kingdom, a very big one at that, so that there are so many of them. I'm not complaining, though, because they were all beautiful.

Talking about temples, here is one of the temples that I found so beautiful. It was in Summer Palace, called The Temple of Buddha. Although it was not humongous, but it has its own beauty. Maybe because it was located a little bit far away from busy streets and city crowds that I found peace coming to this place, or  simply because I admired the view right across the temple, which was the combination of calming, frozen lake and the busy city of Beijing. The contradiction of those two brings so much peace to my mind and also partly because the sun was so much appreciated at the moment, due to the llight-layering I was wearing that day that I was frozen to death. So yes, this temple was so beautiful.

Hippie!

CHAPTER VI: THE FORBIDDEN CITY

After going to the furthest place we got on list, then we went to the central point of Beijing City, Tiananmen! If you've watched The Karate Kid before, you must've known this place! Yup, The Forbidden City is just right inside Tiananmen. And fyi, this place is so big! No scratch that, it's humongous! I thought I would only spend like one to two hours of sightseeing, but oh boy, I've never been so wrong. It was like I spent three and a half hours just touring around this place. The temples were all so picturesque that I gawked at them more than I took picture. Nope, not kidding there! Althoough it was frozen cold with sun shining so bright (if that even makes sense), but I really was grateful that I've got the chance to put the beauty of this place in frames with vivid colors and sunrays beautifully pouring in. Now, it's forbidden to not coming to this place once you get the chance, because it's really worth the time.

Hippie!

CHAPTER V: THE GREAT WALL

It's time for Beijing trip to make its debut in my blog! Multiple yeays for that! After struggling much in choosing and editing the pictures, it's finally here!

Anyway, when we talk about Beijing, nothing will come to mind but this super long, humongous wall for it is the icon of Beijing, Republic of China even. Yup, it's the Great Wall! The second we arrived in Beijing, it was the very first place we planned to visit. Not only because it is the icon itself, but also because it was the furthest among the places we had on list.

It was two hours from our hotel by bus. Going to this beautiful place was like going through some winding roads. On the bus station, we were offered so many tickets from various buses' ticket scalper which really made us confused like hell. We didn't know which one was the official ticket seller for buses that went to the Great Wall. But we found out eventually, which was kind of funny because there were posters with buses' numbers that went to the Great Wall written on it and that we didn't have to look for tickets because we paid by the time we got in the bus. Amazing, right? We were looking for the tickets that didn't exist in the first place like some crazy people, and at the same time surrounded by "zombies" that yelled at us for not buying their tickets, . Yeah, as crazy as that.

Finally, after reached The Great Wall, we couldn't be happier! It was simply beautiful, especially when we saw the sun was about to set as our view. Although the trees were bald, not having a single leaf at all, but the branch made beautiful silhouttes when it was hit by the orange-colored sun ray. Also, enjoying the remaining snows on the ground that fell the night before and admiring the snake-like wall that stood so strongly among the hills was some of the greatest moment of my life. It was truly worth the pain we had to go through.

P.S.: When you plan to go on winter, please do wear thicker clothes because the wind was not kidding! It blew without mercy upon us, adding the -5 Celcius temperature that froze us like meat put in a freezer. Absolutely cold to death!

Hippie!

CHAPTER IV: SHANGHAI, FIN.

The last day spent in Shanghai was really tiring yet joyful. I went to several places which were famous for its tourist's commercial area. But before doing the shopping, we first went to this cute cafe I can hardly remember the name which was located right beside the Mercedes-Benz Arena. Then, we went to the Chocolate Land and sadly didn't go in because it was somewhat TOO expensive for us, students, which is why I only took some pictures outside (yeah, the ones with the donut).

After that, we continued the journey and went to the Garden of Contentment or Yu Garden. It was a really beautiful place to go to because the architecture pretty much shows you how the old buildings in China look like, also because inside you can find so many shops to buy souvenirs such as bags, jewelry, painting, etc. You name it, they have it all.

To the next destination, I have Tianzifang which is a labyrinth kind of alley with shops and stalls inside that sell every single thing you can buy in tourist's commercial area, from souvenirs, painting, the traditional stuffs like Chinese traditional clothes, to bars and restaurants from many different countries. I even spotted Indonesian's, yet sadly didn't get the chance to take a picture of it.

We ended the day by taking a walk at Xin Tian Di, which is famous for its mixture of the European and old Chinese archicture. It was best to go at night because the lighting was picturesque. Most of the stalls here were eateries and bars, so when you're feeling hungry and craving for European cuisine, this would be the best choice you've got.

So as I said it on my previous post, this will be the last part of Shanghai's trip diary. Spending five days in Shanghai was more than enough for me to enjoy the city. It was really well-spent, going to the beautiful places, eating delicious foods, and getting the chance to know the city better. If somebody asks me would I go to Shanghai again next time? I'll undoubtedly say YES!

Hippie!