valeriesgallery

So, my friend and I are going to Beijing with Continental Airlines Tours. We are flying 'space available'. The flights are full on the days we wanted to go, so this Monday night (midnight into Tuesday). We arrive (after laying over in Newark) in Beijing at 4:30 on Wednesday. We have 2 days to do something and stay somewhere BEFORE our tour.
Feel free to comment and suggest things we could do and maybe a great place to stay those days. (as for activities, think outside of tour things, as we will do that next week with tour) Specifics would be helpful.
Thank you immensely,

CanadaKate

Since you'll likely be massively jetlagged, how about getting up early and going to Tianamen Square for the dawn flag-raising?

CanadaKate

valeriesgallery

Thank you CanadaKate. I don't know much about the flag raising, but I'll find out more. Happy Travels.

guenovnd

If you feel adventurous you can head out to the Red Snail temple outside of Beijing. It is located within about one and a half hours from the city and is in a beautiful setting. It is not frequented by tourists so you will most likely not see it as part of your schedule later on your trip. Ask in your hotel to arrange a cab for the day -- they can help you get a cab and driver for the day (rather than a rental car which is more expensive). Check out my blog for more info and pictures of the temple at http://travel.chinafinds.com
Drop me a line if you need more info.

valeriesgallery

We did it!! We stayed at an HI international hostel in Beijing, 20 min walk south from Tien'men. Now that we've done an organized tour (with hotel) we see the value of the hostel. Unfortunately, one particular woman did something at the hostel re: food safety hadling that made me cringe, but the rest of the value was there. ($7 US per night, per person) We did Beijing and Xi'an. Wow. Large cities. Wow. Smog. 4% charge on all credit card purchases and not all places accept cc's. I wonder if the area will be in shock when the Olympics arrive, will they be ready? The whole experience, wow. Will go back and see more, definitely.
Learn about how the people who sell things cheaply switch money.(One did a switch on one of the guys in our group. He bought something and turned around. The seller switched the money then told him he didn't want his money because it was torn. So the guy gave his tshirts back and took the 100yuan back, and found out later the 100yuan he rec'd back was a fake. 100 yuan = 13$ US approx. Have fun if you go to Beijing. Be ready for Culture Shock. You'll be inn awe.