Insurance policies - What policies should i get?

When was 21 years old, my mum gift to me is an insurance policy which i retained till date. The coverage deemed adequate when i was 21 years old and now after more than 15 years, is grossly inadequate. 

Coupled with recent encounters of people around me falling sick. (i.e cancer), it is time to reassess my coverage. 

Some takeaways from search online:

The topmost insurance policies that in my opinion should get are in order of priority:

Life, hospitalisation/medical, critical illness (early or late stage).

Life = Death or Total Permanent Disability "TDP"

Hospitalisation/medical "H"= on a reimbursement basis. In my opinion, no need to buy too much. But of course, there is a usually a claim limit and you need to assess if this is sufficient for your needs. 

Critical illness "CI" = late stage or early stage. at the moment i am more concerned with early stage CI  

Insurance is expensive so you need to balance between your coverage and the amount of money you spend.

Note: There is a waiting period from time of purchase for the critical illness policy i purchase. 90 days for critical illness and 180 days for early critical illness.

Ask: 

1. Any exclusions. i.e if your family has a history of breast cancer if your policy excludes coverage. if you have been infected by covid any lung related issue you may not be covered going forward
2. Any survival/waiting period from diagnosis
3. Single pay/ Multi-pay for the same critical illness
4. Related to (3) what happens when you claim. i.e your policy ends or terminate
5. If you have overlapping policies what to do?
6. To what age are you covered? from what i see online. The coverage age i usually 65,75 and 100 years
7. Is this a limited pay policy (you pay for a limited number of years) or you need to pay till your coverage age

Compare:

A useful tool you can use to check what you have been quoted: compareFirst 

Which agent to choose?

Choose one you are comfortable with and that some you can trust to help you and when you need to claim. 

Preferably someone who is in the industry long enough. 

My policies:

This is my layman assessment and understanding. 

• Life insurance with add on late stage CI at 30% cover of life purchased at 21 years old. (CI terminates at 60 yrs old, Life coverage till 100 yrs old.) 
• Saving policy purchased at 24 years old, 25 years term (savings policy)
• NEW- Mortgage insurance purchase covers death/TDP
• purpose to cover mortgage upon death or TPD or late stage CI. 
• Each owner need to purchase one policy, coverage determine by how much cover you need not related to mortgage.
• protection coverage not affected by % of ownership of property. 
• Premium is fixed on entry age (only for level term) can terminate policy at any point in time
• max coverage till 65 yrs
• NEW - Limited 20 yrs term life insurance with CI same amount add on early stage CI 50% of life cover till 100 yrs old 
• eg. coverage is 10K for life and CI, early stage CI is 5K. When claim during early stage CI, receive 5K and balance of policy still in force. if late stage, claim full coverage, policy terminates

Meandering round the old streets of Beijing

There are a couple of Hutongs in Beijing with Qianyuan Ensi being one of them and also Luogu Lane being another. As majority of these are still residences you can only get a glimpse of the main entrances will walking down the streets. 

After walking through the streets i head to Nanluogu Alley where the shops and cafes are to browse for souvenirs. 

Temple of Heaven 天坛

One of the four temples built during Ming dynasty. The four temples are Temple of Sun, Temple of Earth, Temple of Moon and finally Temple of Heaven.

The most significant will be the Temple of Heaven.

The layout shows that the area is made up of inner wall and out wall. The inner part housing the complexes. While the outer wall is made up of the music administration. 

The Temple grounds cover 2.73 km² (1.05 sq mi) of parkland and comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements:

• The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿)
• The Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇)
• The Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛)

The most magnificent is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests built on 3 levels of marble stone base. Its the Hall where the Emperor will pray during the year for good harvests in the Ming and Qing dynasty. 

The Imperial Vault of Heaven is single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base. It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it, but is smaller. The altar is surrounded by a low wall named echo wall where, the sound of the prayer will be reflected by the guardrail, creating significant resonance.

The Circular mound altar is, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, each decorated by lavishly carved dragons. The center of the altar is a round slate called the Heart of Heaven (天心石) or the Supreme Yang (太阳石), where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather.

I spent the major part of the day in the temple so do set at least half a day to wander through the premises. 

Ming Tombs 定陵，Below the mountain 爨底下村

One of the plans is to visit the Ming tombs and due to accessibility issues, the plan is to engage a driver to bring us to the locations. We found a travel shop at the bus interchange, and requested for quote of pricing. After much negotiation, we agreed and fixed the day for pick up. 

First stop for the day is the Ming tombs, which are the burial site for 13 emperors of Ming dynasty. Chang Ling, the tomb of emperor Yongle is the biggest and earliest in the area. Most of the unearthed relics on display in the Hall of eminent favour which is the largest wooden architecture in China. 

The tomb we visited is Ding Ling the joint tomb for the 13th Ming emperor Zhu Yijin and his two empress. It is the 1st ancient emperor tomb to be excavated. The mausoleum is the only one that is excavated. 

We are told that these gold ingots bestowed to officers cannot be used as it is an honor of gift from the emperor. You can see them but you cannot use them. 😓

The emperor crown made of gold and dressed with the dragons.

The empress crown adorned with 9 dragons and 9 phoenixes. 

 

After a guided tour of the exhibit, we are brought to the mausoleum which is at underground level. 

An exhibit of what was placed in the tomb of the king.

This was the entrance to the tomb that was found. 

This place was chosen for its mountains and rivers that are deem very vital for the prosperity of the dynasty. 

After the tour of the Ming tomb, we head out to further outskirts of the Beijing. Where apparently, this is the remnants of a Ming village. There are still inhabitants here today. But the inhabitants are relatively few. Make sure to have your lunch if you are heading here as well. 

Name of this place Cuandixia is loosely translated into English as below the mountain. 

Wudao Temple. It is located in the most important traffic joint of the village. It is a traditional place for performance of funeral rites. In the temple, sacrifices are offered to the Wudaoye. In the past, after a villager dies, his relatives register the deceased in the temple. The dead is then received by the afterworld to avoid being a lonely ghost. The temple is a representative of the custom of filial piety. 

I really like the rustic feel of the village but most importantly because of its distance, not alot of visitors make their way here. So you can take your time to explore and look around the village. 

Climbing up a hill opposite the village to get an aerial view of the village. 

Roaming around the village takes an hour or less. But getting here from beijing is 3 hrs at least. So do plan your time. 

A day at Forbidden city 紫禁城

Forbidden city looks as ominous as it sounds today. What with the grey skies and chilly weather. 

The weather has been forecast to rain for the entire day. It doesn't really help when i wake up with a headache. 

We decide to enter the historical site via Tiananmen East which will pass through Tiananmen Square. 

There were lots of barricades around the area and there are long queues to get into the Tiananmen. But the process is still considered smooth. Just then right before we can pass through the main gate to forbidden city, the guards stopped everyone from entering for no reason. An the crowd started gathering at the square. To make things worse, it started pouring.  

The wait to get in was an hour and the rain didn't stop the entire time. Not the most pleasant experience. 

Alot of interiors are not accessible to visitors, and we can only peek through the doors to for a glimpse. This hall is one of them. 

Despite the weather, there is still alot of visitors to forbidden city. 

The tall and forbidding walls. The weather makes everything feels so dreary. 

While this is one of the major attraction in Beijing, i miss the time when i can freely roam the palaces and look at the main hall etc up close. But of course, that was at least 20 years ago. 

We observe alot of professional photography taken of kids visiting forbidden palace. There are also alot of adults mainly female wearing Han fu. Here are some pictures i've taken with them. 

Tips: 

Prebooking of tickets can be made at CNY 60 (inclusive of access to watch gallery and treasure gallery)

https://gugong.ktmtech.cn/

Website is in mandarin and you will require to furnish your ID and payment using e-wallet.

We got our ticket via the local tour agency at our hotel with an admin fee. 

Mutianyu Great Wall 慕田峪长城

The great wall of china is one of the wonders of the world and of course we'll make a trip there. There are few locations to choose  and we decided on Mutianyu based on the recommendation of a friend.

Other locations for great wall are: Badaling, Jinshanling, Jiankou, Simatai, Huanghuacheng, Gubeikou, Juyongguan, Huangyaguan, Shanhai Pass. 

Located in Huairou District in Beijing. Mutianyu is 70 km away from city centre. The No. 1 Great wall cable car lies at the foot of Mutianyu.

This part of the Great wall was built by General Xuda under the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang during early Ming dynasty and is famed for it beauty. 

Getting there is possible by subway followed by the bus. There are direct bus to the location early in the morning with a few bus trips. But after 9 am, you will need to wait for the regular bus which comes once every hour. 

You can take a taxi ride or wait for the bus. Be aware of taxi operators touting at the bus stop to Mutianyu station. 

Cable car tickets can be purchased 1 way or 2 way. We opted for the 1 way ride as we wanted to take ski lift down. We are informed that the tickets can only be purchased at the specific stop tower.  Another alternative is to take the toboggan down the hillside. 

Here you see the entrance tickets, cable car tickets and the shuttle service.

Indeed mutianyu is a true beauty. And if you are up to the challenge, climb all the way to the top. 

The peak you see is the final tower and the destination. Mister managed to make his way up while i rested at the halfway point. 

We missed the time to take the ski lift. Fortunately for us there are still workers wrapping up things and we managed to get the last ski lift down to the entrance else we will be stuck for a very long walk. There are still at least 6 towers to walk to the bottom. 

View of the sunset while we rest our aching feet.