Out of the 7 nights, we stayed 6 nights in the Exhibition Centre Hotel. It's a 3 star hotel and so is the one we stayed at in Chengde which was Yu Shan Hotel.

The Exhibition Centre Hotel is a Russian building which is conveniently situated near the Beijing Zoo. The name arises from the nearby exhibition centre which was still in construction. I would always remember the lane from which our bus would turn into the hotel driveway as a KFC outlet was at the corner of the lane.

The hotel rooms were comfortable but I felt that the bathrooms were a bit old. I liked my window which overlooks the hotel's front fountain and you can actually get a distant look of the CCTV tower which has red lights that switches on and off at the peak from the bottom peak to the top peak. Oh, and I liked the trees that are planted here. They are a bit like pine trees but have droopy branches. In fact their outlines look like zombies!

Each morning, we would have our breakfast at a restaurant beside the hotel. It's buffet style but the variety of dishes for the 7 days which we stayed there was about the same.

The Yu Shan Hotel in Chengde was smaller in size and the bathroom was also a bit old. Here, the view was towards some small alleys and streets. I was glad we only needed to stay there for one night.

During our stays at these hotels, we didn't sleep much. Mom slept the least. There were two days in which she couldn't sleep at all and on others, she slept 2 to 3 hours only. That's why I'm more worried about her. I slept on an average of 4 hours a day. For me, going on a tour package is real easy - everything's taken care of. So you just enjoy yourself all the way without any hassles (although backpacking offers you another outlook to seeing another country which can be so much more exciting). I felt like I was 'on the go' all the time - I didn't want to sleep at all if given the choice!

Oh yeah, by the way, the time in Beijing is same as in Malaysia. However, the daylight here starts as early as 4am! I can't help it, as soon as it's daylight, I just want to get up and do something. Unfortunately, can't - there's no 'partner in crime' here who's willing to go with me. Worse, mom won't allow me, most likely.

Here's some pictorial explanations:

The Exhibition Centre Hotel.

The Exhibition Centre Hotel room - but the bedsheets weren't that colourful blue.

This is where I had breakfast!

Post card in the Exhibition Centre hotel room.

The Yu Shan Hotel.

The Yu Shan Hotel room.