Beijing Trip Report
Apr 13th, 2008 | 09:48 AM
#1
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Joined: Aug 2003
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Beijing Trip Report
This trip report is long overdue but here goes anyway! I'm rushing a little so please forgive the grammar. This report is about the hotel and the guides we used in Beijing. I won't say too much about the sites since there is already so much written about them but if anyone has specific questions, I'm happy to answer.
Went to Beijing in November of 2007 as the final leg of a China trip with my extended family. We had already spent a week in Hong Kong which included a trip to our ancestral village in the south of China to bury my grandmother. This was now the fun part. My husband and I took our 3 boys ages 7, 9, and 11 and spent 5 days in Beijing. It was terrific. We stayed in a suite (huge!) at the Grand Hyatt on Wang Fu Jing which cost an arm and a leg but was worth every penny. The service was fantastic - 3 panda bears waiting in the room on the beds for the kids and a rollaway brought in quickly by three very efficient staff members. There was also a chocolate welcome basket there. The suite had a big kitchen with microwave, two tvs, two baths, robes for all and slippers. Really nice. There was even a cabinet for our shoes! The pool is unbelievable. Breakfast buffet is also not to be missed but try to get it as part of your room package. It's pricey. The kids especially loved the real honeycomb dripping honey. The hotel is incredibly central and convenient. It sits over a large mall with an underground food court. There, you can find anything in the world you want to eat and if it's Chinese food, it's dirt cheap! $2 for a giant bowl of delicious noodles. Then of course you are right on Wang Fu Jing, a big shopping street in Beijing.
The hotel was great but the best part of our trip was our guides, Konglin and Violet. Hooray for them! I found them here (Thank you escrushy!) and cannot say enough about them. We arranged the details through emails and Konglin was waiting there with a sign with our name on it as we exited the baggage claim area at Beijing airport. What a welcome sight! He whisked us to his waiting van where we met Violet. It was Sunday, and the fabulous dirt market is only open on weekends (Konglin's recommendation) so he quickly took us to our hotel to check in, change then charge off to the market where we browsed and bought wonderful stuff for a couple hours until it got too cold.
Generally speaking, we were pampered and whisked around to everything we wanted to do and see the entire time we were there. It could not have been more easy, especially with our three kids. Whenever we arrived somewhere, we would all jump out and Violet would immediately arrange the tickets. After touring the site or seeing the show, we would emerge from the exit and Konglin would be waiting there. What VIP treatment! Both Konglin and Violet speak English well and are very knowledgeable about the sites. My husband and I had both been to Beijing before but when I was there, there were more bikes than cars. Things have changed in ways I couldn't have imagined (can you say, Mazerrati Beijing?!). Being there with kids was a whole different deal too, so having guides was invaluable. We couldn't have done all the things we did in the time we had without them. The next day was sunny so we set off early for the great wall at Mutianyu, stopping on the way to see the Cloissone factory and have a delicious (and cheap!) lunch where Konglin must have ordered 12 dishes. It was great. Mutianyu was amazing. Clear, not crowded, a fantastic day and we all loved the sleds on the way down. I found some wonderful hand made dolls there at the market (the sellers are pretty aggressive as they are in most places), similar to ones I found at the dirt market - they are all intricately dressed with terrific headdresses and beading. A great souvenier.
We went to an acrobat show, kung fu show, shopping at the pearl market and silk market (the boys became quite good at bargaining with the calculators!) and the toy market. We also of course went to the Forbidden City, the Beijing Zoo, Temple of Heaven (we all really enjoyed the walk out of the park there with all the retirees singing, playing cards, hanging out, a real slice of life), Tiananmen square, the Ming Tombs (again, NO ONE THERE, couldn't believe it, and beautiful weather) and the area around "bar street" where unfortunately the hutong have been completely sanitized. The only thing we didn't do is see the Olympic stadium but we chose to go home and take a last swim before departing that day. THe only thing I wouldn't recommend is going to the silk "factory" which I really had wanted to do but turned out to be more of a fake factory in a store that sold silk comforters. It was still interesting though, to see the process - the kids liked that part - it was the hard sell later that we all got tired of. Also, i think next time I would do a better job of striking out into the hutong on our own. We didn't see any of the very old hutong and i would definitely like to do that before they are all gone. Even my very recent guidebooks recommended hutong that had already been sanitized by the government, all traces of old and interesting parts plastered over, etc.
Shopping was terrific. We spent all day at the silk market which is really a giant indoor street market with everything from silk to toys to knock off purses to jewelry. I bought some beautiful coin pearl and seed pearl necklaces as well as silver. Violet knows some of the vendors and can help get a good deal. She and I also went alone (no kids, woo hoo!) to the pearl market where I bought some other beautiful necklaces - very good deals - as well as pearl earrings for something like $5 each. I brought a lot of those home for gifts.
People in Beijing drive like lunatics and Konglin hangs in there with the best (worst?!) of them, but we always felt safe and secure. All I can say is that if you are going to Bejing, especially with kids, you will love Konglin and Violet. They were so sweet with the boys, very patient and fun, buying them little treats and just being incredibly understanding. We were so sad to say goodbye! My parents are going to a silk road tour next month and will be calling them. Oh, also, my very disorganized brother was arriving in Beijing three days before me and got Konglin's phone number at the last minute, called and was able to hook up with him and Violet. They took good care of him and his wife and son as well!
The weather was very cold but we had clear days which is lucky considering how incredibly polluted it can get. The only bummer is that we were SO busy all day and into early evening that by the tiem we got home the kids were completely wasted. Often we would go to forage in the food court and bring it back to them so my husband and I missed out on Beijing night life. I imagine I could've asked Violet to stay with them one night but I didn't think of it! We did sneak out for half an hour in search of an ATM the last night though and went to the food street off Wang fu Jing where we saw everything imaginable to eat on a stick including scorpions and centipedes. Very cool and worth going. ALso, the Olympics and signs of preparing for it are everywhere. It was fun to stand in front of the countdown clock in Tianamen Square.
That's about it!
Went to Beijing in November of 2007 as the final leg of a China trip with my extended family. We had already spent a week in Hong Kong which included a trip to our ancestral village in the south of China to bury my grandmother. This was now the fun part. My husband and I took our 3 boys ages 7, 9, and 11 and spent 5 days in Beijing. It was terrific. We stayed in a suite (huge!) at the Grand Hyatt on Wang Fu Jing which cost an arm and a leg but was worth every penny. The service was fantastic - 3 panda bears waiting in the room on the beds for the kids and a rollaway brought in quickly by three very efficient staff members. There was also a chocolate welcome basket there. The suite had a big kitchen with microwave, two tvs, two baths, robes for all and slippers. Really nice. There was even a cabinet for our shoes! The pool is unbelievable. Breakfast buffet is also not to be missed but try to get it as part of your room package. It's pricey. The kids especially loved the real honeycomb dripping honey. The hotel is incredibly central and convenient. It sits over a large mall with an underground food court. There, you can find anything in the world you want to eat and if it's Chinese food, it's dirt cheap! $2 for a giant bowl of delicious noodles. Then of course you are right on Wang Fu Jing, a big shopping street in Beijing.
The hotel was great but the best part of our trip was our guides, Konglin and Violet. Hooray for them! I found them here (Thank you escrushy!) and cannot say enough about them. We arranged the details through emails and Konglin was waiting there with a sign with our name on it as we exited the baggage claim area at Beijing airport. What a welcome sight! He whisked us to his waiting van where we met Violet. It was Sunday, and the fabulous dirt market is only open on weekends (Konglin's recommendation) so he quickly took us to our hotel to check in, change then charge off to the market where we browsed and bought wonderful stuff for a couple hours until it got too cold.
Generally speaking, we were pampered and whisked around to everything we wanted to do and see the entire time we were there. It could not have been more easy, especially with our three kids. Whenever we arrived somewhere, we would all jump out and Violet would immediately arrange the tickets. After touring the site or seeing the show, we would emerge from the exit and Konglin would be waiting there. What VIP treatment! Both Konglin and Violet speak English well and are very knowledgeable about the sites. My husband and I had both been to Beijing before but when I was there, there were more bikes than cars. Things have changed in ways I couldn't have imagined (can you say, Mazerrati Beijing?!). Being there with kids was a whole different deal too, so having guides was invaluable. We couldn't have done all the things we did in the time we had without them. The next day was sunny so we set off early for the great wall at Mutianyu, stopping on the way to see the Cloissone factory and have a delicious (and cheap!) lunch where Konglin must have ordered 12 dishes. It was great. Mutianyu was amazing. Clear, not crowded, a fantastic day and we all loved the sleds on the way down. I found some wonderful hand made dolls there at the market (the sellers are pretty aggressive as they are in most places), similar to ones I found at the dirt market - they are all intricately dressed with terrific headdresses and beading. A great souvenier.
We went to an acrobat show, kung fu show, shopping at the pearl market and silk market (the boys became quite good at bargaining with the calculators!) and the toy market. We also of course went to the Forbidden City, the Beijing Zoo, Temple of Heaven (we all really enjoyed the walk out of the park there with all the retirees singing, playing cards, hanging out, a real slice of life), Tiananmen square, the Ming Tombs (again, NO ONE THERE, couldn't believe it, and beautiful weather) and the area around "bar street" where unfortunately the hutong have been completely sanitized. The only thing we didn't do is see the Olympic stadium but we chose to go home and take a last swim before departing that day. THe only thing I wouldn't recommend is going to the silk "factory" which I really had wanted to do but turned out to be more of a fake factory in a store that sold silk comforters. It was still interesting though, to see the process - the kids liked that part - it was the hard sell later that we all got tired of. Also, i think next time I would do a better job of striking out into the hutong on our own. We didn't see any of the very old hutong and i would definitely like to do that before they are all gone. Even my very recent guidebooks recommended hutong that had already been sanitized by the government, all traces of old and interesting parts plastered over, etc.
Shopping was terrific. We spent all day at the silk market which is really a giant indoor street market with everything from silk to toys to knock off purses to jewelry. I bought some beautiful coin pearl and seed pearl necklaces as well as silver. Violet knows some of the vendors and can help get a good deal. She and I also went alone (no kids, woo hoo!) to the pearl market where I bought some other beautiful necklaces - very good deals - as well as pearl earrings for something like $5 each. I brought a lot of those home for gifts.
People in Beijing drive like lunatics and Konglin hangs in there with the best (worst?!) of them, but we always felt safe and secure. All I can say is that if you are going to Bejing, especially with kids, you will love Konglin and Violet. They were so sweet with the boys, very patient and fun, buying them little treats and just being incredibly understanding. We were so sad to say goodbye! My parents are going to a silk road tour next month and will be calling them. Oh, also, my very disorganized brother was arriving in Beijing three days before me and got Konglin's phone number at the last minute, called and was able to hook up with him and Violet. They took good care of him and his wife and son as well!
The weather was very cold but we had clear days which is lucky considering how incredibly polluted it can get. The only bummer is that we were SO busy all day and into early evening that by the tiem we got home the kids were completely wasted. Often we would go to forage in the food court and bring it back to them so my husband and I missed out on Beijing night life. I imagine I could've asked Violet to stay with them one night but I didn't think of it! We did sneak out for half an hour in search of an ATM the last night though and went to the food street off Wang fu Jing where we saw everything imaginable to eat on a stick including scorpions and centipedes. Very cool and worth going. ALso, the Olympics and signs of preparing for it are everywhere. It was fun to stand in front of the countdown clock in Tianamen Square.
That's about it!
Apr 13th, 2008 | 10:20 PM
#4
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Joined: Aug 2003
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Yes, ekscrunchy, thank you so much for the recommendation. I just talked to my mom and she has already arranged to meet him when they get there next month. As I said, my brother's family also was given the Konlin treatment. They're great.
Apr 17th, 2008 | 11:50 AM
#9
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Joined: Aug 2003
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Hey Easytraveler.
Nope, Konglin didn't mow anyone down but that's not to say there wasn't a tiny bit of sidewalk driving here and there! Hey, in Beijing it's necessary! On another thread I noticed people advocating doing Beijing all on your own. I can see doing that if I didn't have kids with me AND if I had a lot of time. But if you have just a few days, it is really to your benefit to hire guides because everything is just so much more efficient and you spend time doing the things you really want to instead of wandering around trying to work things out in the land of "let's make a regulation." Sure, you may miss out on some of those traveler moments but I'll gladly sacrifice them for more time at the Great Wall or Forbidden City.
Nope, Konglin didn't mow anyone down but that's not to say there wasn't a tiny bit of sidewalk driving here and there! Hey, in Beijing it's necessary! On another thread I noticed people advocating doing Beijing all on your own. I can see doing that if I didn't have kids with me AND if I had a lot of time. But if you have just a few days, it is really to your benefit to hire guides because everything is just so much more efficient and you spend time doing the things you really want to instead of wandering around trying to work things out in the land of "let's make a regulation." Sure, you may miss out on some of those traveler moments but I'll gladly sacrifice them for more time at the Great Wall or Forbidden City.
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