Beijing Bound

[Ruth]

The hotel room is reserved, via the internet. The train tickets are reserved. My dearly beloved and I depart for Beijing on Feb. 4th, accompanied by a translator (Chinese English teacher coworker) and a bodyguard (translator's husband). These young people have become our dearest friends.

So - what are the great things to do and see in Beijing? We'll have 8 days there.

[Lager]

Nicely done---getiing rail tickets so close to the holiday.

One thing I'm sorry I did NOT do was the hutong thing.
They are the little alleys being razed for skyscrapers.

I did the standard routine things--Forbidden City and Great Wall,,,and Sanlitun bar street. ;D Cash was low my last day and I found out how to get a public bus to a section of the GW---I think that was more fun than a guided tour...Mitianyu was the part I went to---you need to get a ski lift up to it... There was also a famous alley/shopping area where my hotel was which was neat. Just south of the Mao portrait..

Anyway I'm not much help---have a blast and post some pics for us!

[MK]

All the usual stuff - Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven etc.
The touristy shopping area Lager mentions is (I think) around 'Qianmen' subway station, south of Tiananmen square - knick-knacks galore. Sanlitun main street is tacky and best avoided...the alley that runs off it containing all the ex-pat bars is in the process of being bulldozed. There are museums of all kinds if that's your thing...Shopping Malls galore, concentrated around Wanfu Jing Street....I think the Silk Market is closed for the time being, could be wrong. The zoo is worth a visit for the Pandas, but some of the other enclosures aren't so hot. Get to know the subway system instead of taking taxis everywhere - it's dead easy.

[Raoul Duke]

Yes, the Wall, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen are required. Anyone who comes to China and fails to see these things is an irretrievable wanker.

There's a nice park with a lake, handicrafts market, restaurants, etc. at Beidaihe. Cool on autumn evenings as lamp-lit boats ply the lake with Chinese musicians.

If you like temples, I liked the Lama Temple. It's easily accessible on the loop subway.

[Ruth]

thanks for the advice. I'm really looking forward to seeing a different part of China than the small place where I live.

Lager - I can't take credit for reserving the train tickets. Do you remember our friend you met last June? She and her husband are the couple we are traveling with. Her husband has a friend who works at the train station. Through him our names are in the computer. This worked for us going to Harbin last year, so trust it will work again.

[Newbs]

Well there's always the Great Wall. I've only ever been to Badaling, as part of a tour group, and that was okay, but going on the recommendations of others, including my son and Lonely Planet, try for some of the wilder, less touristy parts of the wall. The Sumatai section may be the best one to go for, but I have not been to that part personally. If you get there Ruth, let me know how it is.

What did Richard Nixon say when he visited the Great Wall in 1973? "Well, it sure is a great wall." (True!)

[Steiner]

I followed Lonely Planet's recommendation and went to Jinshanling and Simatai. It was fantastic. We only saw about a dozen other tourists on our entire 3 or 4 hour walk along the wall.

The downside was that there was a tout for each tourist and since they didn't have anything else to do they walked alongside me pretty much the whole way trying to sell me stuff.

[Nate M]

Simatai looks great. I'd pick that if I had a chance. If you've got a lot of time to kill, however, you might want to consider visiting the Great Wall in Tianjin at Huangyaguan Pass. It's actually probably closer to Beijing City than Tianjin City, (see this map for a better idea. It's right on the Northern edge of tianjin).


It's going to be much less crowded than Badaling, and in my experience there weren't all that many crazy vendors on the wall, (this was during National Day, btw.). However, if you go here you have to make sure to go on the Eastern part of the wall, not the Western one, which I'm told isn't that amazing. There's a road, with sections of the wall on each side. If you go to the Eastern section, they'll take you up a big winding road to the top of a mountain. Then, you're supposed to go from the top there to the bottom of the mountain. It gave me quite a workout. Here's a couple pics of the trip if you want to get an idea of what it's like.











Overall, I preferred it to Badaling. If I go again, I think I'm gonna try going from the bottom to the top. I'm not sure if they let you do that, though.

[MK]

Nice pic's, looks beautiful there.

[Ruth]

the pictures are lovely, Nate. If you had quite a workout, I can imagine what we old farts will feel like if we do the same trip. I like the idea of straying from the touristy type stuff, although I want to do some of that, too. As Raoul said, one HAS to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen, etc. when visiting China.

[Nate M]

Well, a good portion of my workout could have been avoided had I known that the plan was to go all the way down. I was with a group of about 7 or 8 people, and decided to head off on my own. I got quite a bit further ahead of the rest of the group and made it a good portion of the way along the wall. Then, as I couldn't see any of them, I thought maybe I should turn around, in case they were getting tired and wanted to go back. So I trudged back up two of the worst climbs on the hill before I ran into them, and they told me "Oh no, we're not going back, we're going all the way down to the bottom!"

I ended up having to do that big part again, only this time I had next to no water. There was a vendor where I bought a bottle, but in my thirst-induced craziness I let the guy talk me into taking the bottle that was frozen solid in ice! It felt so nice and cool, at the time, but wasn't very useful for hydration purposes.

So it could have been easier. Still, I wouldn't recommend it if you're a heavy smoker. We had one guy with us who was, and he couldn't move for a day and a half/two days after because his lungs couldn't get oxygen to his legs, and thus it was replaced with copious amounts of lactic acid.

[George61]

Nice pics, Nate...I suppose one day I will see this Wall. Everyone seems to like it! Don't like the idea of walking up anything in China...too many steps!! Downhill is OK

[Ruth]

Actually, downhill on the Great Wall can be brutal on the calf muscles. We visited a section in Shanhaiguan. I have a picture of my dearly beloved and friend descending and it looks like they are leaning way backward. They are upright; the wall is steep.

Thanks for the advice Nate. While not a smoker, I'm not in very good shape. My husband has back trouble, so walking a lot is difficult.

Can you imagine being a soldier and living on/working on/defending that wall? Those guys must have been in great shape.

[ChinaGurl]

Can you imagine being a soldier and living on/working on/defending that wall? Those guys must have been in great shape.

And, bad teeth notwithstanding, sexy as hell!!