We arrive around 2pm on Sat Sept 16th in Beijing but our tour doesn't start until the next day. I figure we should get to the hotel by 4pm (hoping anyway) and then we have the rest of the afternoon/evening to ourselves.

On the tour, we will be visiting Day One: Tian Anmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace' Day Two: Badaling Great Wall and Changling of Ming Tombs; Day Three: Temple of Heaven to see local people doing Taiji and morning exercises, Hutong Tour and Peking Duck dinner & cultural show.

Based on what is on the tour, what would you suggest we do on our first day in? Not too strenuous please as we will be coming off a 19hr flight to HK, 4 hr lay-over and 3+hr flight from HK to Beijing. <g>

I did want to visit the Silk Market to buy cheap silk scarves. Any ideas would be truly appreciated.

Betty

Betty

You'll be pretty tired when you arrive in Beijing unless you're NOT flying coach.

Don't plan anything. Just go walk around Wanfujing with its numerous shops and restaurants, or the Dashalan area near Qianmen.

First, I would be too tired after that trip to undertake any planned activity that day. Second, it will then be too late in the day to visit some of the sights that top many of our lists even if you do have the stamina.

Rkkwan's advice is solid. You might "just" plan on strolling and enjoying dinner out. If you then find yourself up and sleepless at 3 a.m., why not continue to read up on the sights that you will be visiting the next day while resting? Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace cover vast land area so you will be doing a great deal of walking on your first full day.

By the way, if you have thoroughly briefed yourself about the sights and history and need suggestions for a good current book about China I can heartily recommend Peter Hessler's ORACLE BONES.

Back to the matter at hand. Where is your hotel located? Wangfujing is a good suggestion if your hotel is nearby.

Some of my preferences for your first evening though -- if the location is convenient -- would be to head over to the lakes area (Houhai, Qianhai, etc.) for a stroll and dinner at one of the many restaurants or to nearby Beihai Park for a stroll in the park and a dinner at Fangshan Fandian. It's touristy but you probably want to sample imperial cuisine at least once. It works as a first night suggestion -- then you can get oriented and a get good recommendation for your second night's dinner.

Beijing is enormous and traffic is seriously congested. Allow plenty of transit time.

Note: It has been 12 months since I was last in Beijing and the pace of change is dizzying. Someone more recently returned can perhaps offer better advice.

Final note: 19 hours from Toronto to HK?! It's just under 16 hours from Boston taking a polar route.

My first afternoon in Beijing in '97 my roommate & I took a taxi to the Lama Temple (Yonghegong) which was a great intro to China. Next trip I went back alone by metro and still loved it. You'd need to check closing times though - my guidebooks are out of date. Second the suggestion of dinner by the lakes.

My very first thought after reading Betty's post was to think "Lama Temple!" but it it always used to close by the time she would be free. I like the way you think though...

I was thinking about Lama Temple too, but like marya, I think it'd be too late.

The Lama Temple is really the top site in Beijing that no packaged tour ever include in their itineraries. I don't know why, but they just don't bring people there. Very weird.

I also agree with the Back Lakes recommendation. It's a lovely area, good for strolling and you have lots of restaurant choices. It's also pretty low key, hard to find that in Beijing. We enjoyed it so much we went there twice during our week in Beijing. Enjoy!

Another vote for the Back Lakes area. If you pick up a fold-out city map it's easy to find - north of the Forbidden City there's Jinshang Park (the hill in the middle was made from excavation material from the moats around the FC). Then north of the park there's the entrance to the lakeshores. There's a small admission charge for the park - take some folding money if you intend to enter. Due to the circulation of forged Y100 bills you'll be more popular if you keep to denominations of Y50 and under.

We didn't see the Lama Temple and we didn't have the excuse of being on a packaged tour - I'm sorry we missed it.

Thanks for all the replies so quick. I don't want to do anything too strenuous like I said that in my original posting but we do want to go out for a walk and dinner. I had thought about the Silk Market but will look at rkkwan's suggestion of strolling around Wangfujing. rkkwan, what is the Dashalan area near Qianmen?

Marya - the flight itself is 18 hours from Toronto to HK with a one hour stop in Alaska for gas. Total 19 hours and 10 mins. This is with Cathay Pacific.

I have a great book on China (Eye Witness) and have read the sections I am visiting 2-3 times. I had seen the section on the lakes area and thought if we had time it would be nice to visit. Our tour originally had a whole free day in Beijing but this was replaced by Temple of Heaven, Huntong Tour, Peking Duck dinner and cultural show.

Our hotel is the Chang An Grand Hotel No.27, Huaweili, Chaoyang District. I seen the location on the map and ralize a taxi or subway is the way to get around. There will be 4 of us and my husband speaks Chinese so language is not a problem.

As for getting an idea for a 2nd night's dinner, that is not required as all meals on the 12 day tour are included.

This is the first time my husband & I will be doing a tour longer than 3 days. We normally book something short and cheap out of Hong Kong but time since we have friends coming, we decided that those tours wouldn't work since they don't speak Chinese.

Dashalan is a narrow street south of Qianmen (a city gate south of Tiananmen Square). It has lots of unique shops, many decades- or centuries-old.

Do a google search and you should find some photos and more information.

Betty, your added day will take you to the Back Lakes area suggested above but you won't be able to wander too much and browse. It still might be fun to go there at night.

Also, I've been reading that at least part of the Dashalan area has fallen victim to the wrecker's ball recently. RKKWAN, have you been there in the last year or so? Anyone?

I second Marya's recommendation about Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler. Excellent!

K

As soon as I hit "Post" it occurred to me that the neighborhood near Qianmen is spelled Dazhalan with a "z" and not an "s." So I Googled and serendipitously found this video on MyTube. It's nearly 7 minutes long and is a bit jerky but is representative of what you will see in the hutongs. At about 4:30 the videographer gets to the Qianmen end of the hutong (maybe started from Liulichang area) and you can see the fences put up behind which is missing hutong area. If your husband can speak Chinese, it may be even more valuable a peek because there are signs I can't read and a loudspeaker that the videographer concentrates on near the end. If it's pertinent and you can give a translation I'd appreciate it!

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJwyn...ed&search=

Thanks for giving out the correct spelling. My mistake.

Anyways, while many hutongs in Beijing are being demolished including some in that area, I don't think the main shopping hutong of Dazhalan will removed. And nothing I've read or seen says it has been or it will be.