Somerset Fortune Garden, Beijing

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).

...that anyone is allowed in, it is a little less forbidding than the books make out, however. You could easily spend a day wandering about the expansive grounds, but I’d reckon that after a couple of hours you’d be better off doing something else. It certainly isn’t Beijing’s top draw card, and rather dead compared to the lively bustle of the Lamasery. The adjoining Forbidden Garden is worth a look, the entrance is a few hundred metres east of the main gate. The stats came from http://www.beijing.gov.cn/ which is a decent website covering all of Beijing, even if it is somewhat extreme in its praise of the city. To the north of the Forbidden City, directly across the road from the northern entrance is Jingshan Park. At only 2 RMB to enter this is a true bargain. You can climb the pavilion-studded hill for a great view of the city... Read review

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Advantages: Lots to see and do, the great wall, Forbidden City
Disadvantages: Pollution, not the best weather in March, people spitting everywhere

...had a business appointment so I wandered of by myself to find the Lama temple. It was not really difficult to find: you just take the Beijing subway to Yonghe Gong on the loop line and there it is :-) This used to be an imperial palace but it was turned into a lamasery at one point. Today it is both a lamasery, a place of worship and a tourist attraction. There are quite a lot of Buddha images in this place and people are praying and lighting their incense. I always feel a bit uncomfortable walking around amongst people praying because I feel like I’m disturbing them in their religious act but they didn’t seem to mind. The most impressive part of the Lama temple is the Pavilion of the ten thousand fortunes which contains a 26 meter Buddha image supposedly carved out of one single tree. The Buddha image was enormous and there was even... Read review

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Advantages: beautiful gardens free to visit, good location, very clean and polite staff
Disadvantages: expensive internet

..., apple, orange juice and water to! So you could really stock up as it was all you can eat and head out with a full belly to keep you going all day. When you leave the hotel there is a car bay where taxis and bus pull up on. If you stand out there some of the staff will call a taxi cab over for you to take you where ever you wanted. The heart of Beijing (Tian Square) was a short 5minute taxi ride and cost no more than £2 for 4 of us!! When we came home from our day out instead of eat in the hotel we walked 10 minutes up the street to the local restuarants. The hotel food was the same price as you would expect over here in a posh restaurant, and we also felt it wouldnt be such a good experience if we ate their instead of local places. Every meal we had out was AMAZING and so cheap! a meal for four including drinks never came to more... Read review

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