Wow - what fun traveling experiences can be. It lasted 135 days and visited 29 countries while going...
Wow - what fun traveling experiences can be. It lasted 135 days and visited 29 countries while going horsriding in Mongolia, up the great wall or into the Krelim. Hoping to loads of reviews shortly, also on dooyoo under the same name - Mark x
Member since:19.11.2006
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I arrived into Beijing by train from Mongolia via the trans Siberian express, sadly we arrived just after the Olympics had finished last summer, but the weekend we arrived was a national holiday – therefore there was lots going on. The train station we arrived was located in the middle of the city and was swarmed with thousands of people at the exit for international arrivals similar to that of a major airport and gave our first impression of the city.
However this crowded mad city impression was forgotten after we arrived at our hotel near the lama temple was soon forgotten as the hotel was very nice and this was budget accommodation, but we had one of the best rooms we had around on our trip around the world. One thing that struck me instantly was that the smog that seems to plague the city was not as bad as I thought it would be, but then many measures were taken during the Olympics to improve this, and it seems to have benefitted the city.
The attractions
On our first evening our group sat down to decide where and how we wanted to take in the many of the cities impressive sites. Whilst deciding we were presented with some free passes to go to the Olympic site and village. After a short, cramped bus journey we arrived to find thousands of Chinese people wanting to take
pictures of us because we looked different to them – we actually felt like film stars. The birds nest is impressive to say the least as is the swimming pool. However the friendly nature of the people we met that night symbolises to me the Chinese. The people were advised to learn English by the government for the games and many people can hold down strong conversations, whilst taking our few words spoken in Mandarin with such gratitude. This is an attraction that you should visit at night as the arenas look better at night.
Our second day started earlier then expected as our phones didn’t adapt to been on Chinese time as we woke an hour early for our early trip to the Great Wall of China. Our guide had asked which part we wanted to visit, our options were
1) The busiest part 2) The closest part 3) The most scenic part, but its further away.
We all choose option 3, as this is something that is not going to happen to you frequently. We hired a mini bus and driver for about £8 a person and the journey took about 90minutes.
The Great wall itself was my personal highlight of the trip. We choose to do things the hard way and walk up the many steps to the top of the tall landscape that the Great Wall is perched on. The views when at the top were simply amazing as the wall stretched over many rolling hills, and seemed to vanish in and out of the fog that was present that day. We chose to walk the wall for about 1hour, while many charming Chinese people had races along the wall. Each section of the wall is a couple of hundred metres and has a watch tower to separate the wall as the wall snakes itself magically over the rugged landscape. . After electing to walk to the top instead of taking the cable car, we had saved a treat with a terrific toboggan ride to the bottom. After taking what seemed to be an hour to reach the top, we arrived at the bottom in minutes. This was well worth the visit. The price of our visit was 40yen to visit the wall and an extra 8yen for the toboggan ride. The cable car would have added an extra 2yen to the price, but would have taken away a sense of achievement of reaching the top by foot.
After navigating our way through the market at the bottom of the entrance to the wall – we headed back to Beijing and visited the Forbidden City which is located in the middle of the city and entrance to this was once again 40yen. This was another amazing place to visit as you navigated round the extensive site with it tightly packed alley ways. My only criticism of this was that it was far to busy when we arrived, and this somewhat spoilt the visit. When leaving this site you enter opposite to TiananmenSquare and is a great opportunity to take this in as well.
The next day saw us take things at a far simpler pace as we visited the Temple of Heaven. This is housed in the middle of a large park in the middle of the city and comprises many different temples. We strolled gently around while visiting Echo wall (a wall in a U shape that you shout and it echoes around) and of course the picture perfect temple. This site went through a large investment of cash to improve its appearance for visitors for the Olympics and it certainly seems a clean environment to spend many an hour. The site also has many long corridors which are covered alleys to walk around the park. This was slightly cheaper then the other attractions, costing 28yen to visit all parts of 20 to be able to visit 3 of the 5 areas.
The next day we took quite a long bus journey to the outskirts of the city to visit the summer palace. This was surprisingly easy and yet again many Chinese people made sure we were going where we wanted to be. Upon arrival this place is simply impressive as we climbed up the Longevity Hill to find yet another amazing temple. We also followed the lake around to see the many bridges spanning the lake. Again there is many long corridors to walk along. This was a picture perfect setting to see many parts of traditional Beijing settings. Again these area has been cleaned up for the Olympics. We spent many, many hours walking around this site and my advise this, that this adventure will take a day out of your holiday, but it is a day well worth the adventure. Again this was set at a cheap price, with the cost been 40yen or 45yen depending on which parts of the site you wanted to visit. It is well worth paying a little extra.
The food
Everyone seems to love Chinese foodin the UK and this was again a real highlight of our trip. We were in Beijing for a week and each and every restaurant we visited were extremely cheap, but also delicious. As we were in a group of 8 we decided to all order a main meal and share each meal between everyone there, this was accompanied by large portions of rice and washed down by a couple of beers a time. Each time we did this the cost was only a couple of quid each. The food flavours was impressive to say the least.
We also ate at a variety of street vendors, ranging from eating a large sweet potato, which was cooked like a jacket potato, A man who cooked chicken pieces and smothered chilli flakes over them, to small bakeries savouring large doughnuts. We visited one of the famous night markets, which was a food market with a difference as you can purchase deep fried Scorpions, Insects and a whole range of things I not sure are! We opted for the baby Scorpions which were simply just crunchy, but the experience of eating them was something in itself.
Getting Around
Everyone knows that Cycling is a big thing in china and this is surprisingly easy to navigate the streets as many of them do have a cycle lane to the side of them. Most hotel’s have a cycle hire service, ours had a steep deposit scheme but the actual hire was very cheap.
Public transport was also extremely easy. The underground ticket machines had an option to display everything in English. The route maps, even on the trains, had the stations displayed in English. The trains and stations themselves were spotless. These were never overly busy and are probably the easiest way to get around the city.
We also did a couple of journeys via the bus network in the city. This was also easier then I initially thought it would be. Simply hand over money to the driver when you board and ask the driver if you are on the bus going the right direction. These busues do however become crowded and is not as easy to travel on. However you do get the advantage of seeing the city.
Key Facts
Population – 17.4 million Warmest month – July, Average 22 degrees. Coldest month – January – Average 1degree Time difference – +8GMT hours Currency - £1 = 10.5Y
Pictures of General: Beijing
General: Beijing
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Advantages: Frenzied energy of chaotic city, many worldclass tourist attractions, delicious food, incredibly safe & ridiculously cheap. Disadvantages: Gruesome pollution, occasional racism targeting foreigners & lack of freedom for those who take an organised tour (not recommmended).
Hmatt 07.09.2002 (14.10.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of General: Beijing
Advantages: It's a great insight to the living and breathing history of life in Beijing from the local perspective Disadvantages: If you go indepently you may get lost.
njim274 22.09.2005 (23.09.2005)
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Review of Hutongs, Beijing
Advantages: Great value for your money, beautiful architecture, easy access Disadvantages: One hawker too many; for a great historical gem it's a tad too commercialized
muiguifa 27.01.2005 (20.02.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Forbidden City (Beijing)
May 17th, 2009
exceptional by (22%):
very helpful by (78%):
