Beijing in March on our own
Jan 13th, 2007, 09:16 PM
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Beijing in March on our own
After reading all the letters from Fodorites, particularly "Hawaiian traveler", my Chinese-American husband and I will be taking our first trip to China to celebrate his 65th birthday independently.
I was able to book the winter escapes package at the Peninsula Hotel which includes breakfast and transportation from the airport thanks to another posting on the message board. (Many thanks!)
We are in fairly good shape for our ages and have traveled to Europe but this will be our first visit to Asia. The flight from Hawaii via Korean Air will take about 18 hours so we are expecting a lot of jet lag the first day.
Since we only have a week, we really wanted to focus on the city itself. A few questions:
Neither of us have the slightest sense of direction and our lack of talent in map-reading is phenomenal! How hard will it be to get around the city? Obviously we plan on taking taxis for long distances, but we always found getting out and walking to be the best way to see the sights. Aside from taxis, how do the subways in Beijing compare with say, Paris or London?
We would love to journey to Xian to see the terracotta warriors. Would this be doable in a day by plane?
We've purchased several travel guides including LONELY PLANET and FODORS but does anyone have any other suggestions?
Finally, we love to eat. Any particular restaurants recommendations would be particularly welcomed.
Mahalo.
I was able to book the winter escapes package at the Peninsula Hotel which includes breakfast and transportation from the airport thanks to another posting on the message board. (Many thanks!)
We are in fairly good shape for our ages and have traveled to Europe but this will be our first visit to Asia. The flight from Hawaii via Korean Air will take about 18 hours so we are expecting a lot of jet lag the first day.
Since we only have a week, we really wanted to focus on the city itself. A few questions:
Neither of us have the slightest sense of direction and our lack of talent in map-reading is phenomenal! How hard will it be to get around the city? Obviously we plan on taking taxis for long distances, but we always found getting out and walking to be the best way to see the sights. Aside from taxis, how do the subways in Beijing compare with say, Paris or London?
We would love to journey to Xian to see the terracotta warriors. Would this be doable in a day by plane?
We've purchased several travel guides including LONELY PLANET and FODORS but does anyone have any other suggestions?
Finally, we love to eat. Any particular restaurants recommendations would be particularly welcomed.
Mahalo.
Jan 13th, 2007, 10:36 PM
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Hi, northshoreauntie!
Once you arrive at your hotel in Beijing, you can inquire at the Tour Desk in the lobby. They will undoubtedly have a selection of day trips available to the major sites around town; they will also have tour info concerning Xian.
You will find large numbers of other American tourists in Beijing, and will have many opportunities to chat with others. Fear not, you shall not be alone.
Have a wonderful time!
Once you arrive at your hotel in Beijing, you can inquire at the Tour Desk in the lobby. They will undoubtedly have a selection of day trips available to the major sites around town; they will also have tour info concerning Xian.
You will find large numbers of other American tourists in Beijing, and will have many opportunities to chat with others. Fear not, you shall not be alone.
Have a wonderful time!
Jan 14th, 2007, 12:47 AM
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Well, you'll need to exercise some elementary map-reading skills to get around on foot, but it's well worth the effort. And if you get hopelessly lost you can always hail a cab. You don't mention whether your husband can speak Mandarin - if not, you will need to take written instructions, especially to your hotel, as the chance of finding an English-speaking cabbie is roughly on par with winning the lottery. But you'll find them efficient, good-natured and honest (as long it's a licenced cab - the unlicenced variety tend to lurk around popular tourist attractions, but even there you'll be OK if you take a cab from an official street rank).
We made our first and so far only visit two years ago and had no problems in taking cabs to the major attractions, apart from the Great Wall, for which we booked a one-day tour at our hotel. Walking around the city was also no challenge - we found Beijing a good walking city, in fact - although we did get temporarily lost one night trying to find our way out of a confusing warren of alleys southwest of Tiananmen Square.
The major streets all have bilingual signs. It helps to know that 'jie' and 'lu' mean street/road and 'dajie' ('big street') means avenue. Also the compass directions: bei = north, dong = east, nan = south, xi = west, and the word for 'central' is, from memory, 'zhong'.
We didn't use the metro, as the nearest station was inconvenient, but I'm told it's OK.
Try to book a hotel in as central a position as possible - Wangfujing Dajie is the main tourist drag, an easy walk to the Square and Forbidden City. Make a point of walking around the Back Lakes, north of the Forbidden City, if you can.
We made our first and so far only visit two years ago and had no problems in taking cabs to the major attractions, apart from the Great Wall, for which we booked a one-day tour at our hotel. Walking around the city was also no challenge - we found Beijing a good walking city, in fact - although we did get temporarily lost one night trying to find our way out of a confusing warren of alleys southwest of Tiananmen Square.
The major streets all have bilingual signs. It helps to know that 'jie' and 'lu' mean street/road and 'dajie' ('big street') means avenue. Also the compass directions: bei = north, dong = east, nan = south, xi = west, and the word for 'central' is, from memory, 'zhong'.
We didn't use the metro, as the nearest station was inconvenient, but I'm told it's OK.
Try to book a hotel in as central a position as possible - Wangfujing Dajie is the main tourist drag, an easy walk to the Square and Forbidden City. Make a point of walking around the Back Lakes, north of the Forbidden City, if you can.
Jan 14th, 2007, 02:36 AM
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The metro is good though it's not like London or Paris where there's always a station close by. Depends on where you stay as to whether it will be really useful to you. The buses are good too and seriously cheap - but can take a long time at the wrong time of day. Just like anywhere else really!
If you go to Xian I would recommend staying overnight. There is more to see than the Warriors - to be honest I preferred the Grand Mosque - but that could just have been the contrast between hordes of tourists in one, and having the place almost to myself at the other.
Have a wonderful trip.
If you go to Xian I would recommend staying overnight. There is more to see than the Warriors - to be honest I preferred the Grand Mosque - but that could just have been the contrast between hordes of tourists in one, and having the place almost to myself at the other.
Have a wonderful trip.
Jan 14th, 2007, 05:21 PM
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Aloha norhtshoreauntie!
We are also going to Beijing for the first time in March and staying at The Peninsula so if us wandering around lost please point us in the right direction. lol
The korean air flights from hnl to pek looked very enticing as the price was very good(around 615.00 r/t) but we optioned for the ANA flight because we could upgrade those Star Alliance tickets to business class with our united miles .
All of the above info except xiaolan's, are very credible and we plan on taking some of the same wonderful advise.
Don't worry you'll have a great time and please tell us all about it when you get back. Mahalo for the kind words.
Aloha!
We are also going to Beijing for the first time in March and staying at The Peninsula so if us wandering around lost please point us in the right direction. lol
The korean air flights from hnl to pek looked very enticing as the price was very good(around 615.00 r/t) but we optioned for the ANA flight because we could upgrade those Star Alliance tickets to business class with our united miles .
All of the above info except xiaolan's, are very credible and we plan on taking some of the same wonderful advise.
Don't worry you'll have a great time and please tell us all about it when you get back. Mahalo for the kind words.
Aloha!
Jan 14th, 2007, 06:29 PM
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Hi northshoreauntie - you've gotten some good advice here. You will have a great trip - Beijing is very accessible!
In answer to some of your questions - the Beijing subway is minute compared to Paris or London. It's clean and easy to use, but it hardly goes anywhere. Once you get here you'll find that distances are vast. Your hotel is walking distance to Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City, and the Wangfujing shopping area. Otherwise, you'll find the best way to get around is by taxi. As long as you have the address written in Chinese, you shouldn't have any problems.
Xi'an should probably be an overnight trip. And as fuzzylogic said, the mosque and Muslim Quarter are really worth visiting.
Guide books: As an expat living here, I've found the Insider's Guide to Beijing to be invaluable. It's written by expats and has all sorts of useful info on Beijing for tourists and expats alike - particularly excellent and up-to-date restaurant information with Chinese and English addresses for EVERYTHING. It's available on amazon.com. I don't want to sound like Xiaolan here, but I can't recommend this book enough.
Restaurants: Do a search and you will find many opinions on restaurants! Quanjude is certainly famous (and venerable) for Peking duck, though I prefer Made in China. Check out Chowhound.com (China board) and conde nast's website www.concierge.com, which lists some good restaurant suggestions.
Bon voyage!
In answer to some of your questions - the Beijing subway is minute compared to Paris or London. It's clean and easy to use, but it hardly goes anywhere. Once you get here you'll find that distances are vast. Your hotel is walking distance to Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City, and the Wangfujing shopping area. Otherwise, you'll find the best way to get around is by taxi. As long as you have the address written in Chinese, you shouldn't have any problems.
Xi'an should probably be an overnight trip. And as fuzzylogic said, the mosque and Muslim Quarter are really worth visiting.
Guide books: As an expat living here, I've found the Insider's Guide to Beijing to be invaluable. It's written by expats and has all sorts of useful info on Beijing for tourists and expats alike - particularly excellent and up-to-date restaurant information with Chinese and English addresses for EVERYTHING. It's available on amazon.com. I don't want to sound like Xiaolan here, but I can't recommend this book enough.
Restaurants: Do a search and you will find many opinions on restaurants! Quanjude is certainly famous (and venerable) for Peking duck, though I prefer Made in China. Check out Chowhound.com (China board) and conde nast's website www.concierge.com, which lists some good restaurant suggestions.
Bon voyage!
Jan 14th, 2007, 09:15 PM
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Although on a map makes it looks close, IMO it is a LONG walk to or from the Penn and Tiananmen Square, so I would recco a taxi, unless you get a warm non-windy day (both rare in March) and want a good walk. Or walk part of the way to one of the local hotels for a drink/tea/meal and then taxi the rest. I agree it is easy to get lost in the lanes around the Forbidden City, although I think there are some interesting little streets there, esp the eastern end. A good area to walk around is the Liulichang antique area south of Tiananmen Square. Also walking in the parks like Behai Park is good, you can see local life and not get too lost (Beijing is something like London IMO in that one street does not necessarily lead logically to the next....)
The flag-raising at Tiananmen Square is kind of fun, goose-stepping soldiers and all. It is at sunrise and sunset, I like the sunrise one better for some reason, less people I guess, it is also easier to plan this into a schedule; check with your hotel or sunrisesunse.com for approximate sunrise times. It only takes 15 minutes or so. The flag pole is on the north end of the square near the entrance to the Forbidden City (i.e. the Gate of Heavenly Peace). It is also a good opportunity to take pictures of Tiananmen Square at sunrise when it is relatively empty. After the ceremony, you can stop somewhere nearby for breakfast or coffee, and then you can go to the Forbidden City which opens at 8:30 am. (The Grand Hyatt is a few blocks down East Chang Ave and would be a good place for breakfast; at the north end of Tiananmen Square with the Forbidden City across the street and in front of you, turn right and walk down this huge main street for 2 or 3 long blocks, hotel is on the right.) Chairman Mao is buried in a Mausoleum right in Tiananmen Square and you go inside to view the body which is interesting and good people watching. There is usually a line for this, but it moves quickly. Generally for this and to go up onto the Gate of Heavenly Peace you cannot bring any purse, knapsack or anything but a camera with you (and I believe you cannot even bring a camera into the mausoleum), you will leave them in a big pile with others, so don’t pack anything valuable in a bag (take wallets in a pocket; I believe it is quite safe but no point in leaving a wallet behind.)
IMO you do not need a guide for the Forbidden City as the audio is good (I have had a guide twice and the audio twice and prefer the audio). A guide to the Summer Palace is helpful, I don't believe there is an audio guide, I could be wrong on that. You don't need a guide to the Great Wall, just a driver. IMO the Mitianyu access point is preferable (about 1.5 hours from Beijing) over the Badaling (about an hour from Beijing); however in March this may not be such an issue. Cable car access is better from Mitianyu as well, it is a long walk up if you don’t take the cable car.
Be sure to see an acrobatic performance one night, your hotel can arrange tickets, there are performances most evenings. There is a least one children's troupe, which is quite interesting. You can also get tickets to see a Chinese opera most nights.
A great place to go is the Hongqiao Pearl Market. It is not far from the Temple of Heaven and could be combined with a trip there. Once you get past the dried fish on the first floor, the top two floors (3rd and 4th if my memory serves) you will "pearls" and other jewelry. You can also find some "antiques" as well as copy Prada bags, etc on the second floor. Bargain hard, pay cash for a better price, and have fun. Most if not all the pearls are fake, some may be freshwater. But they are good fakes and for costume jewelry they are at very good prices.
The Ming Tombs are about the only thing in Beijing which I think are not interesting. These are located about an hour outside Beijing and are usually done as part of a trip to the Great Wall.
The Fodors guidebook for Beijing will give you a good list of sights to see, and I always find Lonely Planet to be very informative and a good restaurant source. I also find the Insight Guide series to be excellent, esp their cutaway drawings/maps of sights which give good details and explanations. My recco is to photocopy the pages you want and carry those, rather than lugging the entire book around, esp in a purse or knapsack.
I agree that a day trip to Xian may be quite rushed, esp given what could be short daylight hours. I completely agree that the mosque and the Muslim quarter is very interesting, they have a very good museum and the city wall is one of the best preserved I have seen; all of this makes for a more involved trip than just a rushed flight out to see the clay soldiers (which are a good bit outside of town). This will eat into time in Beijing, where you could of course spend more than a week, but if you skip the Ming Tombs, then this may free up more time. Look into flight times, if you can get a very early morning flight out, and a late night flight back, this might work as a day trip, otherwise, I would do an overnight.
Some restaurant reccos for Beijing are below (I also think Made in China is excellent, address is below):
Courtyard Restaurant
95 Donghuamen Ave.
(at east gate of the Forbidden City)
100006 Beijing
+86 10 65268883
Restaurant-cum art gallery, started by a Chinese American lawyer. Fusion Asian, very trendy, has cigar bar, etc. In a lovely old traditional courtyard building next to the Forbidden City, try to get a table with a view of the Forbidden City. Previously rated as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world by Conde Naste magazine. They serve brunch on Sunday as well, but no lunch on other days. You can also buy your modern Chinese art while you are there....see http://www.courtyard-gallery.com
Made in China
Grand Hyatt
1 Dongchang An Jie
Tel: 8518-1234
Han Cang
North Gage of Behai Park
Tel: 6404-2259
Red Capital Club
66 Dongsi Jinto
Dongcheng District
Tel: 86-10-8401-8886
Redcapitalclub.com.cnp://
6-10 8401 8886
An over-the-top-restaurant in Mao kitsch style, no other way to describe it. Fun, good food.
Li Jia Cai (Li Family Restaurant)
11 Yangfang Hutong, Deshengmenwai Hutong
Tel: 86 10 6618 0107
Now supposedly the grandfather or grandmother in the family worked for the last Emperor and memorized all the recipes, so the cuisine is “Imperial cuisine”. Whatever the hype, it is an interesting place for dinner. The restaurant is in the family house in an old hutong. You may eat in the living or dining room depending on how crowded they are. There are only about 10 tables. No menu, you are served whatever entrees are being offered that night. Very good food, but you must like to experiment a bit with Chinese food and possibly not understand exactly what is being served. Not too spicy. Good vegetable dishes usually are on offer. A fun evening. I believe there are other family restaurants of a similar nature in Beijing. Cost is about US$50 per person.
Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant
(May also be called Lichun )
11 Beixiangfeng, Zhengyi Lu
Dongcheng District
Tel: 010-6705-5578
This is in an old courtyard house in a hutoung area near Tiananmen Square. Excellent Peking Duck.
This can be hard to find, have your hotel write the name and address in Chinese, a taxi may not be able to take you all the way in, and you may have to stop and ask for directions.
Red Basil
Nan Xiao Jie 8
Sanyuan Dongqiao
Chaoyang District,
010-6460-2339
Very popular with locals and expats, trendy and good Thai. Not cheap. This is quite close to the Hilton hotel, you could take a taxi there and walk.
Bookworm café
Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chao Yang District.
Tel: (010) 6586 9507
Email: [email protected]
Combination of bookstore and cafe. Casual, good for lunch or tea.
The flag-raising at Tiananmen Square is kind of fun, goose-stepping soldiers and all. It is at sunrise and sunset, I like the sunrise one better for some reason, less people I guess, it is also easier to plan this into a schedule; check with your hotel or sunrisesunse.com for approximate sunrise times. It only takes 15 minutes or so. The flag pole is on the north end of the square near the entrance to the Forbidden City (i.e. the Gate of Heavenly Peace). It is also a good opportunity to take pictures of Tiananmen Square at sunrise when it is relatively empty. After the ceremony, you can stop somewhere nearby for breakfast or coffee, and then you can go to the Forbidden City which opens at 8:30 am. (The Grand Hyatt is a few blocks down East Chang Ave and would be a good place for breakfast; at the north end of Tiananmen Square with the Forbidden City across the street and in front of you, turn right and walk down this huge main street for 2 or 3 long blocks, hotel is on the right.) Chairman Mao is buried in a Mausoleum right in Tiananmen Square and you go inside to view the body which is interesting and good people watching. There is usually a line for this, but it moves quickly. Generally for this and to go up onto the Gate of Heavenly Peace you cannot bring any purse, knapsack or anything but a camera with you (and I believe you cannot even bring a camera into the mausoleum), you will leave them in a big pile with others, so don’t pack anything valuable in a bag (take wallets in a pocket; I believe it is quite safe but no point in leaving a wallet behind.)
IMO you do not need a guide for the Forbidden City as the audio is good (I have had a guide twice and the audio twice and prefer the audio). A guide to the Summer Palace is helpful, I don't believe there is an audio guide, I could be wrong on that. You don't need a guide to the Great Wall, just a driver. IMO the Mitianyu access point is preferable (about 1.5 hours from Beijing) over the Badaling (about an hour from Beijing); however in March this may not be such an issue. Cable car access is better from Mitianyu as well, it is a long walk up if you don’t take the cable car.
Be sure to see an acrobatic performance one night, your hotel can arrange tickets, there are performances most evenings. There is a least one children's troupe, which is quite interesting. You can also get tickets to see a Chinese opera most nights.
A great place to go is the Hongqiao Pearl Market. It is not far from the Temple of Heaven and could be combined with a trip there. Once you get past the dried fish on the first floor, the top two floors (3rd and 4th if my memory serves) you will "pearls" and other jewelry. You can also find some "antiques" as well as copy Prada bags, etc on the second floor. Bargain hard, pay cash for a better price, and have fun. Most if not all the pearls are fake, some may be freshwater. But they are good fakes and for costume jewelry they are at very good prices.
The Ming Tombs are about the only thing in Beijing which I think are not interesting. These are located about an hour outside Beijing and are usually done as part of a trip to the Great Wall.
The Fodors guidebook for Beijing will give you a good list of sights to see, and I always find Lonely Planet to be very informative and a good restaurant source. I also find the Insight Guide series to be excellent, esp their cutaway drawings/maps of sights which give good details and explanations. My recco is to photocopy the pages you want and carry those, rather than lugging the entire book around, esp in a purse or knapsack.
I agree that a day trip to Xian may be quite rushed, esp given what could be short daylight hours. I completely agree that the mosque and the Muslim quarter is very interesting, they have a very good museum and the city wall is one of the best preserved I have seen; all of this makes for a more involved trip than just a rushed flight out to see the clay soldiers (which are a good bit outside of town). This will eat into time in Beijing, where you could of course spend more than a week, but if you skip the Ming Tombs, then this may free up more time. Look into flight times, if you can get a very early morning flight out, and a late night flight back, this might work as a day trip, otherwise, I would do an overnight.
Some restaurant reccos for Beijing are below (I also think Made in China is excellent, address is below):
Courtyard Restaurant
95 Donghuamen Ave.
(at east gate of the Forbidden City)
100006 Beijing
+86 10 65268883
Restaurant-cum art gallery, started by a Chinese American lawyer. Fusion Asian, very trendy, has cigar bar, etc. In a lovely old traditional courtyard building next to the Forbidden City, try to get a table with a view of the Forbidden City. Previously rated as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world by Conde Naste magazine. They serve brunch on Sunday as well, but no lunch on other days. You can also buy your modern Chinese art while you are there....see http://www.courtyard-gallery.com
Made in China
Grand Hyatt
1 Dongchang An Jie
Tel: 8518-1234
Han Cang
North Gage of Behai Park
Tel: 6404-2259
Red Capital Club
66 Dongsi Jinto
Dongcheng District
Tel: 86-10-8401-8886
Redcapitalclub.com.cnp://
6-10 8401 8886
An over-the-top-restaurant in Mao kitsch style, no other way to describe it. Fun, good food.
Li Jia Cai (Li Family Restaurant)
11 Yangfang Hutong, Deshengmenwai Hutong
Tel: 86 10 6618 0107
Now supposedly the grandfather or grandmother in the family worked for the last Emperor and memorized all the recipes, so the cuisine is “Imperial cuisine”. Whatever the hype, it is an interesting place for dinner. The restaurant is in the family house in an old hutong. You may eat in the living or dining room depending on how crowded they are. There are only about 10 tables. No menu, you are served whatever entrees are being offered that night. Very good food, but you must like to experiment a bit with Chinese food and possibly not understand exactly what is being served. Not too spicy. Good vegetable dishes usually are on offer. A fun evening. I believe there are other family restaurants of a similar nature in Beijing. Cost is about US$50 per person.
Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant
(May also be called Lichun )
11 Beixiangfeng, Zhengyi Lu
Dongcheng District
Tel: 010-6705-5578
This is in an old courtyard house in a hutoung area near Tiananmen Square. Excellent Peking Duck.
This can be hard to find, have your hotel write the name and address in Chinese, a taxi may not be able to take you all the way in, and you may have to stop and ask for directions.
Red Basil
Nan Xiao Jie 8
Sanyuan Dongqiao
Chaoyang District,
010-6460-2339
Very popular with locals and expats, trendy and good Thai. Not cheap. This is quite close to the Hilton hotel, you could take a taxi there and walk.
Bookworm café
Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road, Chao Yang District.
Tel: (010) 6586 9507
Email: [email protected]
Combination of bookstore and cafe. Casual, good for lunch or tea.
Jan 15th, 2007, 09:20 PM
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Huang Ting is a very good restaurant in the Peninsula Hotel in Beijing. The atmosphere is pretty and relaxing, the food is very good and the service is wonderful.
Next door to the Peninsula Hotel (turn left as you exit the hotel) there is a massage parlor (look for a podium next to the tea shop, they will then lead you upstairs). I had the most wonderful foot massage there.
We booked a private guide (Jane Shen) to show us around for a day, took a Gray Line tour to the wall and booked a hutong pedicab tour through Gray Line. We were pleased with all three tours.
Next door to the Peninsula Hotel (turn left as you exit the hotel) there is a massage parlor (look for a podium next to the tea shop, they will then lead you upstairs). I had the most wonderful foot massage there.
We booked a private guide (Jane Shen) to show us around for a day, took a Gray Line tour to the wall and booked a hutong pedicab tour through Gray Line. We were pleased with all three tours.
Jan 15th, 2007, 09:24 PM
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We stayed at the Lee Garden Serviced Apartments, half a block from the Peninsula. On our first day there, we ventured out to walk to the Forbidden City. It was a l-o-n-g walk and we found Beijing to be overstimulating that day. We came back to the apartment and booked a few day tours using our laptop computer and were much happier.
Jan 15th, 2007, 09:24 PM
#13
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Hi
My wife and I went to Beijing on our own in March a few years back. You can read about our trip on http://gardkarlsen.com/china_beijing.htm . I hope that it can give you an impression of what to expect
Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures
My wife and I went to Beijing on our own in March a few years back. You can read about our trip on http://gardkarlsen.com/china_beijing.htm . I hope that it can give you an impression of what to expect
Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures
Jan 16th, 2007, 07:57 AM
#14
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Wow, I can't belive all the information you have all provided. I'm printing it all off as I write!!
Thanks to all of you
To "hawaiian traveler"- so glad to hear about your trip. You sounded so knowlegable, I assumed you had been to Beijing many times before.
Thanks to all of you
To "hawaiian traveler"- so glad to hear about your trip. You sounded so knowlegable, I assumed you had been to Beijing many times before.
