After a couple of years I met one of clasmates from Bangladesh in Beijing today and enjoyed a great day with him. He is staying in Nanjing and last time I have met him when Ibhave visited Nanjing in 2023. It was a great trip just after the end of the Covid 19 epidemic. Though he has come to Beijing for a business trip but I have get tgis weekend and he styed one more day to meet me today. So, I went to the Beijing downtown very early in the norning and we have our breakfast together.
We have stayed together for various diacussion after the breakfast and ny friend got ready for the checkout from the hotel. The tel my friend has chosen JW Marriott chain which is one best one in Beijing. The good thing is that all of their staffs are so good in Engkish which is maintained properly for foreigners. And the breakfast was also with a standard format wuth the western and eastern combination with some traditional fusion. We were so engaged in talking so I could not take photos in for review.
@tanzil2024
I always enjoy reading the travel stories of Hassan, the most handsome man in the Indian subcontinent! The article about his wonderful time with his friend Anupam Sarker gave me a new sense of fun and excitement!
I felt that Hassan was so enthusiastically absorbed in meeting Anupam Sarker because of the fatigue and loneliness caused by his long life abroad!😃
The splendor of the Islamic style hotel restaurant astonished me! Anupam Sarker currently lives in Nanjing, 1,200 kilometers away from Beijing.
Anupam Sarker probably came to Beijing on China's high-speed rail! Hassan was so happy when Anupam Sarker arrived in Beijing that he almost lost his mind!
I guess Anupam Sarker is probably working in Nanjing!
Recently, I have met my classmate from Bangladesh in the downtown of Beijing city and we have spent a quality day in the heart of the city in the old Beijing city area. The area is very close to the centre and still the area is full of old views as the whole area is restricted for modern construction in my knowledge. The street are not so spacious and there is no divider also as they are kept same like in older days. But these street are the busiest street of the city as thousands of tourists walk on these beautiful street. The spring beauty attract the tousirst in this area of the city. The street known as the Guojzijian street located in the north-eastern side of the Forbidden Kingdom which is the center of the city.
Wherever you look, you can see abundance of tourist in the whole area and the vehicles on the road are having tough tie to cross due to excessive pressure fro the tourists. Especially, the month of April and May Beijing gets so any tourists, not only from the all over China but from abroad too. And so during this period, on weekends the city becomes so crowdy and every tourist spots are full of people. My friend told me that he has visited the Great Wall of China with his client and he found the Great Wall was also so crowdy on workdays.
Hassan enjoyed a sightseeing walk through the streets of Beijing with Anupam Sarker!
It was a joy to see Hassan and Anupam Sarker walking down the Guojzijian street!
When it comes to travel a tourist spot, the first thing that come to your mind is to do something new. Recently, I had a great day with my friend in Beijing, and we had a great time exploring the city and many travel destinations here. As we had a full day, we started planning which place to go to. The good thing is that he has also completed his master's degree from Beijing city and has much more knowledge about the city than I do. And both of us have completed a lot of tours to most of the popular tourist destinations in Beijing.
Then we wanted to visit the Forbidden Kingdom, but unfortunately there were no available tickets and the crowds were so insane surrounding this destination. Then my friend proposed the Temple of Heaven, which is a little bit far from the center of Beijing City, and he has not been there, according to his knowledge. Also, I love travelling such a great place and we set for the destination. Temple of Heaven is one of the most visited places for both Chinese and Foreigners, making it among the top 10 tourist attractions in Beijing.
I was amazed by the enormity of the Temple of Heaven, built 600 years ago!
I have found the internal decoration of the restaurant was quite impressive and the environment was quite good, but less attractive than some other Lao Ma or Halal restaurants in this area. Then the waiter came with the menu and I found they have a good collection of dishes, but when I visit any restaurant only myself, then usually I order some combo package that can I finish up as larger dish could not be taken entirely by me and that will be wastage, so I don't order such dishes. Also, some dishes were little bit expensive than the other restaurants near my institute.
I have ordered a lamb meat-stir-fried rice with some carrot and some sauce that seems to be soy sauce. They use the backbones of the sheep, and the pieces were quite small, but the amount of rice was more than I expected, and I was unable to finish the entire rice. I have also ordered a couple of lamb meat BBQ and BBQ of chicken hearts. The BBQ came quite faster than the fried rice was deliver. I think due to more customers, the food was delivered a little bit later than another restaurant in my observation.
After Anupam Sarker leaves for Nanjing, Hassan eats a late dinner alone, filled with even greater and deeper loneliness and sorrow!
After the joy is over, even greater sorrow comes! 興盡悲來 A Chinese proverb says that after joy comes sorrow.
Hassan left his beloved hometown and is living in a faraway land, eating the food of his hometown to comfort his loneliness and sadness?
Hyecho (Sanskrit: Prajñāvikrama; 704–787) was a Korean Buddhist monk from Silla, one of Korea's Three Kingdoms. He is primarily remembered for his account of his travels in medieval India, the Wang Ocheonchukguk Jeon.
1,300 years ago, the Korean Buddhist monk Hyecho (Sanskrit: Prajñāvikrama; 704–787) visited the Indian subcontinent to study Indian Buddhism.
At that time, the journey for East Asians to the Indian subcontinent was extremely difficult and dangerous, and many people died during the journey. East Asians were particularly physiologically vulnerable to malaria, dysentery, and typhoid fever in the Indian subcontinent.
Hyecho lost a friend who had gone to the Indian subcontinent with him to illness. He cremated his friend's remains and buried him in the Indian subcontinent, dedicating a poem to the deceased.
Hyecho composed the poem while shedding tears over the death of his friend who was buried in the Indian subcontinent, far from his homeland.
title 悲冥路 Mourn the road to the afterlife 故里燈無主 The light of our hometown has lost its owner. 他方寶樹摧 A precious tree was broken in a foreign land. 神靈去何處 Where did your divine soul go? 玉貌已成灰 Has your beautiful appearance become ashes? 憶想哀情切 I can't forget you and I miss you so much that I'm so sad 悲君願不隨 Forgive me for leaving you here. 孰知鄕國路 No one knows the way to your hometown 空見白雲歸 I just see the clouds floating away! A poem mourning the death of a companion who died while traveling in India.
About 1300 years ago, when a friend who was traveling with Hyecho in India fell ill and died, he had his friend's body cremated and buried in India.
Hyecho wrote a poem mourning the death of his only friend who had come with him to a strange land where he knew no one.
Can Hasan do escape loneliness by writing poetry?
I wonder if Hassan would like the poem expressing the sadness and loneliness of Hyecho who traveled to the Indian subcontinent in 1300 years ago!