I was very excited to get to Beijing as I was going to be meeting Gina and Ben. Gina is one of best friends from high school and Ben was one of my best friends from college. I introduced them in 2000 and they later got married. I was thrilled to get to meet them in Beijing. Ben`s mom, Susan, also joined and Gina`s cousin, Steph, who is now living in Shanghai came up for the 3 days so it was a fun group.
They had planned a fun filled 3 days in Beijing, and I was lucky enough to be able to join them and have a short holiday from my travels (meaning no planning and just enjoying touring around). This may sound weird, but traveling is hard as I`m always having to think about logistics such as finding somewhere to sleep, figuring out how to get from transport to town (as I rarely can afford cabs), and on top of that, what to see, how to see it and so one. So when I can join others that have already planned something, I can just enjoy and catch up with my friends and this is what Beijing was for me.
We had a wonderful guide for the 3 days, and I`m not normally the person that likes guided tours, but this was perfect as Sunny was going to show us around to all the things we wanted and it was going to be on foot, taxis and a van for the Great Wall. So we were able to see a lot, learn a lot and have a great time. I would recommend this way for others, and would highly recommend Sunny for any time future time in Beijing (see contact info below).
Before meeting up on November 14th:
-Long story short, I normally don`t arrive in a new city at night and without a print out (in the local language) of where to go. I asked about taxi`s at two places and I was told Y300 ($43) which was too much for me and I can do it on local transport. Basically after getting a bus from the airport to town, I knew I needed to take a taxi to the hotel. I was told it should be about Y15 (plus airport bus of Y16). When I started to try for a taxi, they told me Y80 and then laughed when I said Y15. I tried to get them to turn the meter on, but they said no as so much traffic. After a lot of negotiating, and walking away from one driver, I finally settled on Y50 ($7). Steph said I got the “Blond price” and and I would always get a higher price as I stand out more than the average tourist with my hair and height. I later found out the rest of them took a cab from the airport (with Steph talking with the Chinese she learned in a year), and they got the metered price for Y85 and I paid Y66 and had a lot more frustration, but it all adds to the journey…
First Night In Beijing:
-So at this point, I`m tired, very cold and just want to meet Gina and Ben, so I have the taxi take me to their hotel as there may be a way to stay there with them and that would be ideal (and cancel the hostel I booked just in case). So I was able to sneak into the hotel and sleep on the floor with a couple Duvet for comfort and warmth. (Gina and Ben wouldn`t let me pay anything, which was a huge help – THANK YOU AGAIN!). It actually was more fun to stay with them anyways.
-We all decided to venture out for dinner and try to keep the travelers awake (as they flew in from California and were so tired). Our hotel recommended a place that had “great shrimp” and that sounded good and we were off.
A few interesting things of dinner:
1. We had the name written in Chinese, but couldn`t find it. We passed what we thought it was, but Ben said it can`t be as it`s a Muslim restaurant and they wouldn`t have shellfish. Ends up that was the place. What you think makes sense, never does in other countries.
2. The place was a “hot pot” place, like shabu shabu. As we all looked like tourists, and they tried to push the set menu for the 5 of us (for way too much money), and it had every kind of meat possible, and we decided to order a la carte and it was much better
3. We had to laugh as we were sitting right in the middle of no man`s land – for smoking. If you split our table down the middle, Steph and I were allowed to smoke, but Gina, Ben and Susan couldn`t and we were all at the same table. Go figure.
4. A table of 2 men next to us were sitting directly next to a sign on the wall that said “No Smoking” in both Chinese and English. What do we see…both of them smoking right by the sign. I had to be a sneaky tourist and get a photo of them smoking by the sign.
Tienanmen Square:
-After meeting Sunny on November 15th, we started walking toward Tienanmen Square. This is the world`s largest public square, the size of 90 American football fields (99 acres), with standing room for 300,000 people. This square became famous for gathering of student protesters in late spring of 1989. That movement, and the government`s violent suppression of it, still defines Tienanmen Square in most minds. We had so many questions about this, but it`s really not written in any guidebooks or publications and none of us felt comfortable asking Sunny about it as we know it`s a very touchy subject. So we just soaked it all in.
The Forbidden City:
-A huge complex of red-walled buildings and pavilions topped by a sea of glazed tiles, is by far the largest and most intricate imperial palace in China. It was a long walk once we bought the tickets to get to the main part.-It was impressive how many Chinese tour groups were there. For many local citizens, a trip to the forbidden city is a must and they were bussed in by the hundreds, and really pushed their way past us, into us, around us to get through the city. I know it`s part of the culture, but the pushing that happened here was too much!
-So we walked and saw as much as we could. I liked the large lion statues that guarded the entrances. The male has his front paw under a ball and the female is holding down a cub (or feeding it through it`s paw). That`s how you know the male and females as they guard the palace.
-After cruising the whole palace, we hiked to the top of another outdoor vantage point for a view over the city, and it really put the whole city into perspective and I saw how huge it all was. We tried to stop for some noodles and dumplings for lunch, but the place Sunny was taking us was full as there was some official there and they booked the whole place, so thinking on her feet, we hopped into 2 cabs and crossed town for another place she liked and it was amazing! All the waiters were men (as is customary), we crammed into a little table and Sunny ordered for us and we had one of the best lunches ever. Such amazing flavors, and tastes – we all kept eating until we were about to burst…but it was so good. The meal ended with homemade noodles. I thought it was one plate, but we each got a large bowl of white noodles, then they mixed some black bean paste, veggies and vinegar and mixed it up. Very traditional and yummy! (This was near the Temple of Heaven and someplace I would go back to.)
Temple of Heaven:
-This was said to be the perfect display of Ming architecture and is one of the symbols of Beijing.
Before we got to this great architecture, we had entertainment from the locals:
-We saw locals twirling flags for exercise, groups of old and young playing hacky sack (or a local version of it), and they were amazing with behind the back moves and keeping the birdie in flight.
-Locals were just playing cards along any bench they could and it got aggressive. It made me think of slap jack – as they were that interested in slapping some cards. Not sure what they were playing, but it was fun to watch.
-Singing – oh how the Chinese love to sing and dance. Every few feet, another local had a portable signing machine with microphone and would just start to sing and a crowd would form. Some singers were good, and some needed to be put out of their misery.
-Little ladies knitting hats (which 3 of us bought for the cold), little toys and clothing. It was impressive how good they were and how reasonable the prices were.
Once inside the main ticketed site:
-The tallest round alter was all marble and had 3 tiers. It was impressive just to look at and it`s the sight many world leaders took photos in front of. We saw good old Nixon as the US leader of choice.
-We also waited patiently in line to see the Echo Wall. There used to be ways to hear echos, but with so many tourists, all you heard were them.
-I will say it was impressive to see it all and since it was so cold, we played a game of find the sunshine and stand there when Sunny was talking with us.
-I noticed a lot of local tourists were pointing cameras in my direction. At first I thought they were taking shots of the sight, but then they started to stand around me, behind me (as we were stopped and listing to Sunny). Gina finally noticed this, and we smiled and posed for a picture with the tourist and then his friend wanted a photo with us too. This happened a lot over the 3 days and Sunny said my light blond hair was something new for them. So I laughed every time I was the tourist attraction and finally just started smiling a lot more for their photos.
-On the way out, we came across an old man that was doing water calligraphy. The photo I have reads America for us. Pretty cool as he could do this all with water and a sponge brush. So that was the end of our first day in Beijing. I`m exhausted just rethinking about it as we really covered a lot of ground, but it was a great day. Our second day, November 16th, was going to cover areas further out.
Hutung Neighborhood:
-Starting our morning off, we visited the old Hutung neighborhood. This is where all the locals used to live and it`s been preserved in the original way, with single story homes, narrow streets and all along a beautiful lake area. We hired pedi-cabs to peddle us around the narrow streets and then walked to learn about the people, home life and status.
-As we rounded a corner, we heard a lot of noise and it ended up being all the restaurant workers (at 9:30am), out front in a tug-of-war. Sunny told us this is something they do each morning as a form of exercise and team building. Our pedi-cab driver and Sunny actually jumped off the cab and pulled on the winning side.
-We walked around the neighborhood, looked at different types of homes, decoration out front, which really showed status of each family and saw the real living conditions. It was quite interesting.
-After visiting a local market with fresh fruit, veggies, 9 types of eggs (blue, brown, speckled, and more),and much, much more…. we came across this little boy. He was having so much fun playing with a plastic bag and then came up to Gina and me. He offered us his last 2 crackers and after we took them (with no intent to eat them as there was drool all over it), we offered them back to him and he took it back (thank goodness!). It was very cute and just laughed and smiled with us and I asked his mom if I could take a photo with him, which was fine with her. (He was smiling up until we took the photo, but he wanted to see himself afterwards on my camera).
-Part of the Hutung visit including going to a local family and having them cook lunch for us and see how they live. I got a photo of him in front of his house. This was a highlight as we had this young man and his sister cook us a 15 course lunch and dish after dish just kept coming out for us. In the smallest kitchen ever and with one wok, he cooked us a tasty lunch and left us all full to the brim (again!). He has been cooking for 18 years and used to cook for a high level official, so this was child`s play for him. As Americans, we grown up being told to finish our plates as there are starving children in (China, Africa…, somewhere). In China, it`s actually rude to finish all the food as the host doesn`t think he cooked enough, so we had to make sure to leave something, but it was so good, we finished most of it.
-When we started our lunch, he explained how to make proper Chinese dumplings and then let us try. Some of us were successful and some were not as good. I don`t think any of ours made it to the lunch table, but it was fun to make our own.
Summer Palace:
-After our wonderful lunch, we took a cab 45 minutes away to visit the Summer Palace. Too bad we were all happy and full from lunch and just wanted a nap in the cab…
-This was a beautiful palace (as they all should be). With a number of bridges, pavilions and even a garden within the garden, we enjoyed a few hours here. I will say, it was very cold and when the wind picked up…we shivered. I would imagine this is a nicer place to visit in the warmer weather, but still a nice few hours.
Peking Duck:
-Figured when in Peking (as Beijing used to be called), we had to have Peking Duck and went to one of the well known places. First we got there at 7:30 and the place was full as most of the locals were there and were finishing dinner. By 8:00, the place was fairly empty except for us. We were one of the only tourists, which is always a sign of a good place.
-The duck was ok, but nothing we would run back for. Hate to say that I like the Peking Duck at Tao, in New York, much better. But at least we all tried it where it was created.
Final day in Beijing, November 17th:
-We set out for the Great Wall. Lucky for us, Steph knew one of the better places to go further outside of Beijing. The area of the wall we went to was called “Mutianyu” and it was about 90 km away or a hour and half car ride. Since we had hired a driver for the day, it was perfect as there are no public buses here and no tour groups go here, so it felt like we had the whole wall to ourselves.
-Once we arrived, we took a chair lift to the top – think like a ski lift without the snow (but it felt as thought it could snow as it was that cold!)
-This part of the tower had more guard towers and some very hilly stretches. So we started off to climb to the tallest point, where the few visitors that were there, didn`t dare go. I`m just glad we did this first, as it was exhausting climbing and then coming down was very steep. It made Gina nervous as I was just cruising down the middle of the wall on the way down with out holding the side like she was, but I felt very sure footed and was watching every step I took.
-Once back to where we started, we went the other way and it was a flatter stretch and still beautiful to see the hills all around us.
-As a side note at the wall, we finally got a photo of the “potty pants”. In China, they don`t really use diapers for children. They just wear these split pants and then the kid just goes when it needs to. I have yet to see a child go (so I don`t know if they parents clean up like you do when a dog goes…), but Steph said she never sees anyone clean up and the parents try to have the kid go in the dirt or bushes.
-Coming down from the wall, we got to take a sled ride down – like a bobsled, but it was a metal track. Ben and I wanted to go fast, everyone else wanted to go slow. So Ben and I had to wait till the slower people in front of us had a large lead (or were done). Then he was off and they made me wait a while so I didn`t catch up, but I ended up catching up. Ben said he was actually surprised by my speed, but it was one of the most fun things. I got so much speed and high up on the corners…it was a exhilarating experience!
Olympic Stadiums:
-Final stop in Beijing was to see where the Olympic venues were played. We saw the birds nest where the opening/closing ceremonies were and all track and field. We saw the aqua cube for the swimming and where Michael Phelps made history, and my college friend Jason Lezak won the gold in the relay. I will say, the facilities were amazing and all located right near each other.
Final issue…I got to the airport to fly to Xian and found out the airline canceled my ticket as there was a problem paying for it with a foreign credit card. Sucks as I was supposed to leave in 90 minutes. So I was able to buy another one and they said it would be the same price of Y420 ($60). When I tried to pay, they said it was Y580 ($83) – think that was the blond price again. I said my price was Y420 and showed my credit card authorization form and they allowed me to deal with a supervisor and pay that price. Victory for Megan, and I was able to get on the flight. So I booked, paid for the flight, checked in at a different terminal and flew in less than 75 minutes. This is an all time record. I guess I`m getting good at dealing with issues as they come up.
Overall – I loved Beijing! I think it was a combination of being with friends and Steph knowing a lot, having Sunny, an amazing tour guide, and just being able to enjoy the time without having to think to much. I did introduce the “kitty” for group money and took care of paying, figured that is something I could add to the group since I didn`t organize anything and they wouldn`t let me pay for the tour guide or hotel, but I was able to pay for the guide tip so i was able to contribute something. Thanks again to Gina, Ben, Steph and Susan for such a great time!
Logistics:
Tour Guide – Sunny Sun. Email: [email protected] (86-10) 6507-7125
Lunch place near Temple of Heaven: Old Beijing – Zhajiang Noodle King
Phone: 67056705 and address 29 Chong Wai St. Chong Wen District
Peking Duck: BeijingWangfujing Quanjude (10) 65253310
Hotel – Days Inn Forbidden City – really nice and new, on east side of Forbidden city for about $75 a night.