BeijingTravel Tips, Suggestions, Points for Attention, Page3

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Beijing Travel Tips

Your first-hand tips on an area you have been to in China will help other fellow travelers on their trip planning and on-the-spot stay. Please choose one of the specific categories.

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Tianamen Square
By ALLANH | 8/29/2008 6:55:54 AM

You must see Tianamen Square at night.
You must see the shopping in Wangfujing Street.
Go early evening (when dark). Try and go in a group (3 or 4)

Don't pass up a god buy
By YINDUFFY | 8/17/2008 5:42:48 PM

Last Summer My family spent five weeks in China with the first 2 1/2 days in Beijing.
On the first day we visited the Forbidden City with another couple. It was our second visit, the first in 2000, but our friends first.
At a gift shop near the back entrance to the Forbidden city I saw a wonderful souvenir at a good price. I passed it up since we had so many more days ahead and there would be many more opportunities for souvenir buying. Besides who could ask for a better tourist trap than the Forbidden City?
I never saw that item again and I regret not buying it for the small sum of about $12.00.
Sometimes the opportunity appears and you must be ready. I wasn't and I still think back on that.

Forbidden City
By HANIFHUSSIEN | 7/2/2008 7:40:25 AM

I was approached to buy a book on the Forbidden City in Beijing near the entry for 60Yuan, saying that it costs a lot more in the bookshop. I later found that the book cost the same inside.

Also, try to go there early if you are visiting the Forbidden City, since a lot of sights start to close near 5pm.

But I guess such minor incidents tend to leave a bad impression, on otherwise very nice and friendly, possibly honest ones I met.

Really authentic Beijing food
By MAGIPAGI | 3/16/2008 9:03:39 AM

All local Beijingers would know about the famous 'Peking barbecue' restaurant, Kaorouji 烤肉季. It first started in 1848 in the Qing dynasty and was rebuilt in 1995. This 'Chinese old name' restaurant serves authentic Chinese Ismalic cuisine, with the famous dishes like slices of barbecue meat Kaorou 烤肉 and Baked Sesame Seed Cake Shaobing 烧饼. It is situated along the north bank of Qianhai 前海 in the Houhai area 后海, opposite the Silver Ingot Bridge Yinding Qiao 银锭桥.

This restaurant has a very small branch along Yan Dai Xie Jie Slanting Pipe Street 烟袋斜街, also really close to the Silver Ingot Bridge Yinding Qiao 银锭桥. This place is a real find; a lady stands at the small entrance and calls upstairs to the waiter (who I think is her husband) to get you a seat, as they only have seats upstairs; she does it with a real Beijing accent! You go up a narrow flight of stair to the small restaurant full of proper old Beijingers like rickshaw drivers and the like. The waiter is an old Beijinger as well and has a traditional politeness about him. The view from the upstair window is great and you can witness the hussle bussle of the Yan Dai Xie Jie Slanting Pipe Street 烟袋斜街 down below. The food is very traditional and delicious - needless to say the slices of barbecue meat Kaorou 烤肉 and Baked Sesame Seed Cake Shaobing 烧饼. They also make great meat pancakes Roubing 肉饼 and the BEST Sour plum juice Suanmei Tang 酸梅汤, which is a sweet and slightly sour drink that is very cool and refreshing in the summer (this place makes it with real rock sugar, not normal sugar like you get in the bottled ones in the supermarket). If you want something that you can't get anywhere else in China - try Fermented Mung Bean Juice Douzhi 豆汁- but it's not for the fainted-hearted because it stinks!
The only downside is that I don't think they have English menus and the waiter probably can't speak English.

Sample some of the things less advertised
By LAR19 | 3/9/2008 11:10:26 AM

<A> Many go to the various acrobat shows but few choose to experience the Peking or also known as Beijing Opera. Though it may not be to many tastes it is truly an experience that is wonderful. A combination of music, song, bright colorful costumes and martial arts it is truly a delight for the senses. Take some time to study the history of the opera and it won't matter if you don't know the language. There are many available to experience so depending on where you are staying ask for recommendations.

Accommodation during the Beijing Olympics 2008
By GLOBALCOMDIR | 1/15/2008 9:07:17 PM

If you are not able or willing to pay such prices you can try to stay in a smaller hotel. These can be found online, e.g. by using the English version of Ctrip. You might not be able to book online one year in advance for rooms, but at least it gives you an idea about hotel names and facilities, and their usual prices. Then you can then try to find the websites from these hotels in Google (although many may not have a site), and call them or send them an email. If you call be prepared that nobody speaks sufficient English, and if you send an email you might not get an answer. But if you try several hotels one should eventually work. Tip: The Home Inn hotels have decent, clean rooms and are not expensive (less than USD 40/night for a double room).

Another option is to look at serviced apartments. You may need to book them for at least a full month, but you might still end up saving money in the end. A Google search should help yo to find them. If you want to see a lot of events, the best location would be in the north or northeast of Beijing (Haidian, Asian Games Village or Chaoyang district) because of travel times to the Olympic sites.

But there is also the option to live in apartments that people rent out especially for the Olympics. The site can be found at http://www.2008motel.com (Keywords: Accommodation Beijing and Apartment Beijing) I think this is a very smart idea, and I hope many people can find decent and not-too-expensive beds during the Games through this site.

Labels: accommodation beijing apartment beijing olympic games

http://www.2008motel.com

Hotel Booking
By MORRIS | 12/1/2007 7:53:14 PM

I booked a hotel through sinohotel and was not told that a passport was needed to check into a Beijing hotel...even when I asked by phone and multiple times by email what was needed for hotel check in. We traveled from Shanghai by over night train and only brought copies of our passports. We were not able to check into a hotel, and had to return to Shanghai on the next over night train. Noble Times Hotel Beijing attempted to rip us off by asking us to pay 300RMB more than what sinohotel quoted us at. When calling the receptonist on her scam, we were suddenly unable to check into our hotel with a copy of our passport. You must have your original passport to check into Beijing hotels and they are extremely unhelpful! I also felt that we were not properly informed by sinohotels!

Thatsallie Beijing experiences
By SAILR | 10/31/2007 2:21:54 PM

I am surprised thatsallie had such bad experiences in Beijing. I have never been the victim of racism in Beijing or anywhere else in China for that matter. As for the athsma, Beijing's air is so much better today than it was a year ago when I was there that I was amazed.

I guess anyone can have a bad experience anywhere. Sorry you had bad things happen to you.

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