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If you are a first-timer in Beijing, your time will probably be limited and tours included. The tours are excellent and will visit the main attractions and highlights. The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, The Great Wall, Drum Tower, Wafujing Street, eat a duck dinner, Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao Zedong where Mao rests in his glass sarcophagus (if he's not "traveling" to Russia for a little touch-up), Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. This was our itinerary in 1989 and we'd return to the hotel at night completely zonked out and unable to move. Try (if at all possible) to hit one of the markets, walk down Food Street and see Beihai, Houhai or Jingshan Park in the early morning (doesn't have to be 6:00 a.m., they are still lively around 9:00 a.m.). This may have to wait for a return to Beijing.
Don't think you've seen it all. You haven't. This is Travels With Sheila's "must see" list for the "next time" (hopefully)...
Continue reading "Travel Advice: The Beijing, China Sights Are Endless" »
Another very early morning (around 8:20 a.m.) to explore the Beijing area north of the Days Inn Forbidden City (so named because it is only a few blocks walk from the Forbidden City. Smart tourists begin walking early in the morning during Beijing's very hot and humid summers or you may literally pass out from heat stroke. On the way towards the Forbidden City's north entrance (Shenwumen Gate), we were astounded by the tour groups milling around, waiting for the entrance to open.
ex-Marine and I debated whether or not we wanted to revisit The Forbidden City from this direction instead of the usual south entrance but then I happened to glance across the street and my eyes were drawn upwards to a Chinese Pavilion sitting above the trees...View image. We crossed, read a sign telling about Jingshan Park and decided to pay the small entrance fee...View image. Bought a beautifully illustrated map and entered since we had never visited before. (Had to buy a new sunhat first from a vendor outside...) Jingshan Park, or Coal Hill, was built using earth left over from the digging of the Imperial moat and was the highest point in Beijing during the Ming Dynasty.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - The Imperial Garden of Jingshan Park (Coal Hill)" »
Beihai Park was built 1,000 years ago and is one of the oldest and best preserved imperial gardens in China. It is laid out in the "one lake and three hills" style and includes places of historical interest: Qiong Islet, Taiye Lake, the Heavenly King Hall, White Dagoba of Tibetan style and the Nine-Dragon Screen made of colorful glazed bricks. (We saw the oldest and largest glazed screen in Datong, China last year.)
The number nine is considered lucky in China and a Chinese dragon has nine attributes, nine forms and nine children. A "Nine Dragon Wall" is a screen wall with images of nine different and large dragons as well as small dragons along the edge, found in imperial palaces and gardens. Since the number "nine" was considered the number of the emperor, only the most senior officials were allowed to wear nine dragons on their robes and that is why the Nine Dragon Screens are so important.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - Imperial Palaces and Gardens in Xicheng District" »
The majority of the stores in the Wangfujing area cater to the high-end market. Wangfujing is always crowded with sightseers making their way down the pedestrian only street, window shopping, eating, listening to music and venues. There are several new malls that have recently opened in this area.
Jinbao Place has international brands like Gucci, Burberry and more, but unlike other shopping centers in Beijing, there are no cosmetics outlets. Instead, there are home and lifestyle outlets. There is also a cinema, art center and flagship showrooms of the world's top automobiles including Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati and more. (Go in and just drool.) The new Regent Hotel, Legendale Hotel and Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Clubhouse are nearby.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - Exclusive and New Shopping Malls" »
Even though we were in Beijing on a weekend when the fabulous Panjiayuan Market - known as the Dirt Market - operates, I showed great restraint and didn't go, still in mourning over the table I had to leave behind on the last trip because it was too heavy to carry through China. If this had been the end of this trip, we definitely would have visited and bought something
The Yashow Clothing Market in Sanlitun District is another one of my usual stops while in Beijing for cheapy, cheapy clothes, shoes, purses, suitcases, coats, jewelry, toys, electronics, and the list goes on and on.. Once again, I always come away with a purse and the last purchase from last year is still sitting on my shelf, never used. China makes fantastic and beautiful copies. There are five floors of almost anything a person could buy or want and we usually walk away with something. In anticipation of heavy shopping, an extra roll-up bag was tucked in the suitcase, but not this trip. I really, really, did my best and spent hours looking, trying on, fending off the cute and persistent salesgirls who cry, "Lady, you are killing me..." when you bargain down the price, all in vain.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - Yashow Clothing and Hong Quio Pearl Markets" »
Food Street (Donghuamen Night Market)...View image... first made an appearance in Beijing around 1984 and has been attracting locals and tourists who come to gawk at the very unusual snacks since then. Vendors and servers begin setting up their carts around 5:00 p.m. every night dressed in identical uniforms of white shirts and red aprons. Food Street stretches for 1km/.6mi, beginning at busy Wafujing Street and goes on until the wee hours.
We always visit to see what new critters and beasties are on the menu, making our way through huge crowds of Chinese who are also working their way past the line of stalls, looking, photographing and buying. Standing around gnawing on gigantic lamb bones...View image. Brandishing skewers of meat, kidneys, lamb, shellfish, silkworms, bean curd and carmelized (candied) fruits...View image... that glistened in the sun.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - Food Street (Donghuamen Night Market)" »
There are hotels and a youth hostel called the "Peking Downtown Backpackers Accommodation" (Dongtang Inn) with excellent rates...View image, and double-bedded rooms available along with dorms. You can also rent bicycles at the hostel and bicycles still appeared to be the main form of transportation in the hutong unlike the rest of Beijing. Or, hire a pedicab to take you around this large area...View image
Don't think life in a hutong is, or was, wonderful for the people. Hutongs still house about half of Beijing's population (7 million people) and are modest in size. A hutong began with one courtyard house, and then another would build next to it and so on until there were square blocks of one neighborhood hutong. For the majority of Chinese, one house has been subdivided and shared by many households with additions tacked on later as needed. They were always built with bricks and wood and very few still have private toilets or washrooms. If you lived like this, wouldn't you want to move into one of Beijing's modern flats? Most of the locals feel the same and really don't care that the old hutongs are being torn down and replaced.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - Nanlouguxiang Old Hutong to Houhai Lake" »
Use these links for read all the details about the Days Inn Forbidden City and watch the video.
ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I began walking about 8:40 a.m. from the Days Inn towards Nanlouguxiang, one of the best preserved Hutong areas in Downtown Beijing. a "hutong" is a neighborhood of narrow streets or alleys occupied by traditional courtyard, siheyuan residences. Nanlouguxiang has a history of more than 700 years and is one of Beijing's oldest hutong areas and a historical protection area since 1990...View image. We entered from the southern end at Di'anmen on Ping'an Dajie, following the signs...View image...
The majority of the more than 30 cafes, bars...View image, tour operators...View image, clothing and handicraft shops were still closed this early in the morning. Most are decorated in traditional Chinese style while still others use the courtyards to create a lively atmosphere. The shops may have been closed but it wasn't too early for delivery people, locals and other tourists who enjoyed the relative coolness and quiet at this hour.
Continue reading "Sights in Beijing - Nanlouguxiang Old Hutong Areas" »
It is such a pleasure to get on an airplane and arrive at your destination without any problem, let alone one hour early even though it was raining cats and dogs in Beijing. United Airlines' flying time was a little over 12 hours in brilliant sunshine two-thirds of the way and cloudless over the snow, glaciers and ice-packed expanses of Alaska, The Aleutian Islands and down over Siberia. Incredibly gorgeous viewing.
Before disembarking, all passengers had to fill out health forms (fears of Swine Flu - H1N1) then make our way through the wide expanses of Beijing's new Terminal 3 to have temperature checked by walking past sensors, hand in health forms, take the train between terminals to customs and pick up suitcases. Capital Airport is beautiful and easy to negotiate with great signage in English and Chinese. It is absolutely not necessary to use the money changing kiosks outside baggage claim for Chinese Yuan. There are ample ATM's if you look left as you exit the baggage area.
Continue reading "Flying From Chicago to Beiing, China Is So Easy to Do" »
I really, really hate to give away my finds and you are probably thinking, "Days Inn, is she nuts? Who would go to Beijing and stay at a Days Inn!" ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I were walking through a park and down a small street on our last Beijing visit, spitting distance from the Forbidden City, and there was a Days Inn in this unexpected location. It looked nice, the location was incredible, and I tucked this hotel into what's left of my memory bank for a possible stay in the future.
Time for Beijing again and I vacillated back and forth on what hotel to choose. Five-star luxury hotels were out and I remembered the Days Inn Forbidden City. It didn't look like a dump, had reasonable rates that included breakfast, cable television, Internet access and air conditioning (Beijing summers are brutally hot). What kind of breakfast? Not quite sure and I dearly love Asia's huge buffet breakfasts with everything on it from American to Chinese foods. Took the leap of faith and booked. After all, it did a have a fabulous location, was owned by a warlord inside the Imperial City over 100 years ago and the rate was approximately $80 U.S. a night including everything. Such a deal....
Continue reading "The Days Inn Forbidden City Beijing, China" »
Stephanie (a guide from Shanghai Fareast) joined us at the Novotel, Beijing to help us find the proper train and seats on the "soft seat" fast train from Beijing West Railway Station to Datong, a 6-hour ride. On the taxi ride, Stephanie gave us a few statistics:
- There are over 70,000+ taxis in Beijing.
- Beijing population is now 16 million (give or take a few)
West Station, Xi Zhan, is Asia's largest rail terminal. A huge, beautiful and what turned out to be, easy to navigate train station. Large displays showing train number, track, departure time, etc. A "soft seat" waiting room. The routine for West Station was:
- Go to soft seat waiting room. They will not allow you to even step one foot in this area without showing your soft seat train ticket.
- Put all bags, handbags, backpacks through x-ray and have a seat.
- Twenty to 30 minutes before departure, rail staff open the entrance to the tracks and off you go.
- Find your numbered car
- Surrender the train ticket to the employee at the train car entrance. She gives you a cardboard facsimile in return which you exchange for the real ticket before arriving at the destination.
- Find your "soft seat" and that's it.
We had never trained on our own in China before and it was worth the extra cost to have someone show us the ropes.
 West Train Station, Beijing
Continue reading "Training From Beijing to Datong, Shanxi Province, China" »
Depressed about leaving the table behind at the Panjiayuan Market, I perked up when the taxi reached Yashow (also "Yashu") Market in the Sanlitun area. There's no end to the amount of 4-story buildings in Beijing selling pearls, jewelry, fake cds and dvds, clothing, i-Pods, computer accessories and on-and-on until a person comes has a nervous breakdown trying to make a decision on what to offer on stuff you never knew you needed until that moment. Visit Hongqiao Peark Market, Silk Street, 3.3 Clothing Market (also in Sanlitun), and many more...
I was determined to leave Beijing empty-handed....ha....ha....ha. Did I need another handbag? Like a root canal. I'm still using the three I bought two years ago that remarkably haven't fallen apart. But here I was, buying a new suede soft green colored D&G "fake" purse for $20.00 U.S. Not because of the D&G on it...I just liked it and the handbags are really beautifully made... Oh well... Past the rows and rows of watches and pearls (I did buy a few pearl trinkets for a few dollars) and out of there with ex-Marine buying two Beijing Olympic hats for 50 cents each outside Yashow.
Continue reading "More Shopping & Strolling in Beijing, China" »
A fast 12-1/2 hour flight and we landed at Beijing's Capital Airport. The last time we flew through and into Beijing, the airport grounds were a sea of cranes, otherwise known as "crane city." The cranes had metamorphosed into the world's largest airport terminal completed in time for the 8/8/08 Olympics. You would not believe how long it took from landing to arrive at the gate. The plane taxied...and taxied...and taxied for at least 45 minutes. The imposing dragon-shaped building will handle 76 million passengers a year. Off the plane, through the incredibly gorgeous new building, customs and out to the taxi queue in no time at all.
By the Olympics, a new train line is also supposed be completed into downtown Beijing. That will be a lifesaver. Traffic is wall-to-wall gridlock from Capital Airport into downtown and our cabdriver got lost looking for the Novotel. He spoke no English, and our six-word Chinese vocabulary just didn't cut it. What to do? Cell phone...what else. There are almost 500 million cell phone subscribers in China! I pulled my hotel confirmation with phone number, pointed, he called for directions and...there you are. Or rather, there we were at the Novotel Xin Qiao Beijing. Show me to a bed please....
 "stuff" arriving by bicycle for the Panjiayuan Market
Continue reading "Visiting My Favorite Beijing, China Panjiayuan "Dirt" Market" »
The absolute latest in China's gay community is called a "murse." Usually, a huge Coach purse with fits definite requirements. It has to be large, the bigger the better- shiny and decorated and definitely a brand name. It's an epidemic in the Shanghai community and right now, if you carry a murse, you're shouting out... "I'm gay"!... But what's going to happen when this catches on with metrosexuals (you know it will) and every man carries a murse? I'm confident the forward thinking gay fashionistas of Shanghai will come up with something else.
There are also a few gay places for partying that had the greatest descriptions. Frangipani serves Fruit in a Suit, and the Red Station had a girls night out geared toward non-breeders of the female variety. What a way with words...
Continue reading "The Gay Man's "Murse" (A Purse) and Other China Favorites" »
It's a cold, crisp day in November and we're at the Badaling section of the Great Wall. The 3 of us hired a taxi in Beijjnng to drive here and wait while we hiked up the Wall. There are options: a gondola to the top or walking it. We chose to walk up. After all, the experience means more when you've suffered a little (my own personal theory...the ex-Marine I am married to would have prefered the gondola.)
The Badaling section is arguably the most popular tourist portion because of its proximity to Beijing. Take a public bus, tour or hire a taxi like we did.
Continue reading "Great Wall at Badaling, China" »
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