Beijing in Fast Forward! - Luzon's Asian Adventures
Written: Jun 23 '02 (Updated Jun 24 '02)
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Pros: Inexpensive. Historical and cultural value. Friendly people
Cons: Tourist areas were overpriced in many instances. Some of the vendors stubborn.
The Bottom Line: Beijing is a good place to visit for it's historical value and some beautiful views from some of the attractions. Food and shopping is cheap outside of the tourist areas.
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| LuzonTS's Full Review: Beijing |
Beijing
The capital of China, Beijing has 11 million people and a 3,000-year history. My history in Beijing consisted of three days.
We took a local air carrier from Shanghai to Beijing. Once on the deck it was a cab ride to the Janguo Hotel. Again there was confusion at check in as they thought we wanted one room when in fact we asked for two. The problem was quickly fixed and within 10 minutes I was in my own room admiring my view out my window of a wall? Ok I guess I’ll look at the other features of my room.
The room itself was kind of small with a double bed. It did have a small TV with a limited amount of channels with many of them being Chinese. The rooms were clean and I did have a mini bar but it was stocked mostly with beer, water and coke. The bathroom was small and only had a shower not a bathtub. The room would serve its purpose for the short time that I would be here.
Not long after getting comfy in our rooms it was munchie time and I ordered a spicy chicken dish. The chicken was good and not too expensive. After lunch it was a shower then naptime. I found that the water pressure was weak and that lukewarm water was the best I could get. I followed the shower with a power nap and then it was party time.
Hard Rock Café-Beijing
Upon nightfall we scampered out of our rooms like hungry little rats in search of fun. Once again we rooted out the Hard Rock Café of the host city. We paid the 50 RMB cover charge and sat down at the bar to enjoy our first complimentary beers. Unlike Shanghai this place was much larger and was two stories. The crowd was predominately young trendy westerners.
Everybody was dancing and having a really good time to another pinoy band, but this time the band was good and very outgoing. They made it a point to get the crowd going and keep it going with a high energy dance mix of top 40 hits.
The gift store that was at the right of the entrance had a fairly good selection of items where I picked up two t-shirts and the prices were much better than many of the other Hard Rocks I have visited. The restrooms were clean and had attendants.
The Tour
Early the next day it was time for a full day tour of the city. I do not remember the name of the Tour Company but the bus had BLTB written on the side. The cost was the equivalent of 45 USD per person that included transportation and lunch. The tour guide spoke barely passable English or was it the intermittently working microphone that took away from her dialogue? She also had some little yellow flag that kind of reminded me of Little Bo Peep as she herded her little sheep around
FORBIDDEN CITY
This place was not what I expected. It was located in the middle of the Beijing and surrounded by a kind of moat. There were two sections, an inner and an outer courtyard. The compound was composed of many smaller buildings that all looked about the same and the dividing walls had some buildings built in to them. Near the back was a kind of garden which had a light gray wall in the background. Nothing special other than my partner commenting that the wall looked spooky. I did find a website that has a picture of the area and offers a little background info.
http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~agenhtml/agenmc/china/scenfc.html
TIANANMEN SQUARE
Ironically this translates into something like peaceful gate. Another unimpressive big open area. It was hard to believe what had happened here almost a decade ago. Everything appeared to be business as usual with a modest crowd in attendance milling about with some purpose and a few police scattered here and there to keep “order”. There was some kind of marble pole in the center and to one side was a kind of hall or shrine with a large portrait of what I think was Chairman Mao.
JADE FACTORY
Nestled in the confines of a residential neighborhood was a small jade “factory”. In this modest building a group of locals were carving out beautiful pieces of jade. We were given a tour on how it was done and the differences in quality. They had said the dark green jade was of the best quality while the yellowish orange pieces were of the lowest. Of course at the end of the tour we were encouraged to buy some of their over priced pieces of work.
MING TOMBS
This started off with what seemed like a great deal of walking down a path that had many statues of various animals like a horse, warrior, frog, camel, elephant and something that resembled one of the Shi Shi dogs from Okinawa. Finally we made it to the tomb for the emperor and had to go down I believe 7 flights of stairs to get to the lower chamber. There was a large sitting throne and another spot had a hole where you could throw coins in a hole to make the proverbial wish. Scattered amongst the yen, won and RMB were a few of my dimes but I did manage to get one in. Normally I could not score a hoop to save my life.
SMALL HOSPITAL
Next we were taken to some clinic that sold herbal products. It started off with some bit about us having our blood pressure/pulse checked and then they would give us giving a dissertation on the various herbs and their medicinal properties in an attempt to get some in the group to buy some of the products. One thing that really struck me about the place was that it stank.
YULONG RESTAURANT
Around 2PM it was time for grubbage. They had taken us to this large restaurant slash tourist shopping center. Lunch was a package deal that consisted of a sweet and sour fish that was actually quite tasty and was followed up by some trips to the side dish table that consisted of various local “delicacies”. After lunch we checked out the shopping area which to our horror was greatly overpriced. A stuffed panda that my friend had picked up for 80RMB at the Great Wall was for sale at 260RMB here.
GREAT WALL
What better way to force your way through a food induced coma than to walk along the Great Wall of China. We spent a good two to three hours checking out the mountainous view from the wall and the towers that connected the various sections. During the walk the many vendors selling everything from T-shirts, trinkets and stuffed animals called to us. I would recommend a good pair of shoes during this part of your visit as some places were worn smooth and were a little slippery.
I did get a few T-shirts which I was able to bargain down the price to about three dollars each but the old adage about you getting what you paid for kicked in later and now after a single wash much of the artwork is gone. We made it to the second tower before my friend had enough and we hit up the coffee shop. It was there we had ice coffees were he mixed in sprite with his to my disgust. I was not a huge fan of ice coffee let alone putting sprite in it.
The Next Night
The tour was done so it was back to the hotel for a shower, nap, and then dinner at a nearby Thai Restaurant. There were many in the area but we stayed close to the hotel and were not disappointed. First it was my favorite, Thai Beef Salad - FIRE IN THE HOLE!!! That stuff is not for the timid and then the spicy seafood soup chock full of squid parts, shrimp and other remnants of bivalve creatures. My part of the meal came to about 6 USD.
After dinner it was a run to the HRC to check out the local scenery. The action was the same not much differences and then it was back to the hotel to rest up for the next day.
TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
Also known as Tian Tan, the temple of heaven was a tall circular structure that was kind of like a temple. To get there we roamed along some garden like paths amongst the manicured grass and many trees. I had read something tat mentioned that this was some kind of garden where food for the emperor was harvested.
We made it to a corridor where we found some of the rooms occupied by some locals making slippers and bags that were of course for sale.
We slipped out the back in an effort to skip the long walk back out to the front. My thought was to catch a cab but we ended up stuck in the middle of nowhere. My companion was about to blow his stack at my goof when I was able to flag down a bus that was kind enough to drop us off back near the front where we caught a cab to try and make it to the Summer Palace. After a good deal of driving we realized we just were not going to have enough time so we called off the attempt and headed back to the hotel to pack our bags and catch our flight out.
Final Notes
-The roads of Beijing are in decent shape and clean.
-Many of the resident’s use bikes everywhere they go including the female office workers who insist on riding them despite wearing mini skirts.
-It seemed like there were security personnel everywhere. We found them at the malls, intersections, any government or financial institution and hotels.
-In one case we took our film to a local developer and ended up with a few negatives short for “security reasons” We were also prevented from taking pictures in the malls because of similar concerns.
-The weather was fairly decent mostly sunny.
-Most people were very friendly and went out of their was to help when they could.
A helpful website that I found on a search is:
http://www.flashpaper.com/beijing/#attract
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Students
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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LuzonTS
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Location: asia
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