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Thread: Lessons Learned in Beijing (from FD Garcia)

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[quote=MARY3,225842]The following are our observations from a trip to Beijing using Gate 1 Tours. Our group consisted of 13 friends and family aged 7 to 75 years old. Money ?Use small bills. $1, $5 and $10 yaun work best. Except in hotels and larger restaurants, there is a reluctance to accept $100 yaun bills. ?There are pickpockets. Use a money belt or keep your wallet in the front pocket of your pants. When the vendors "mobbed us," I kept my hand over my wallet. Keep some 1 and 5 yaun bills in your pocket to buy stuff; avoid thumbing through your wallet. Outside the Summer Palace I caught a vendor with his hand in my jacket pocket. I grabbed his arm and looked in his eyes. He twisted free and disappeared into the crowd. ?The books all talk about using ATM machines and credit card. We found that only larger restaurants/stores take credit cards. From what we observed, the only ATM machines that accepted an ATM card was the Bank of China. They have an ATM machine in the Best Western, but no one could make it work. ?The Hotel will exchange money for you. Save your money exchange receipts when converting dollars to yaun. You can only cash in 50% of what you have receipts for. The Bank of China seems to be the only place to exchange yaun back into dollars. There is a Bank of China at the departure gate in Beijing, but it opens at 0930 hrs. They do not exchange yaun for dollars in Tokyo. ?Save some yaun for the departure tax. Transportation ?Each person should always carry a Hotel card. If using a taxi, have the front desk write your destination on the card in Chinese. Because the hotel is new, you may have to check with a couple of cabs for the return trip . . . lots of cabs no problem. The longest taxi ride was 42 yaun (but he was not sure of the hotels location and we had heavy traffic). ?With 4 people, use the 1.60 yaun cabs or larger. None of the drivers we used could speak ANY English. ?Carry a map of the city with the hotel marked on it. ?Inflatable neck pillow for the L O N G airplane flight. ?There were two meals served on the flight to Tokyo and one meal on the flight from Tokyo to Beijing and visa versa. ?Make your flight reservations ASAP to get a good seat. On the B747-400, try for rows 32-44 as the seats are a little larger. We had row 32 D/E/F/G on the flight over which was facing the bulkhead, good leg room. The emergency exits also have good leg room. . ?We stayed at the Travelodge, (326 South Airport Blvd, phone: 650.583.9600) the night before for $79, (Coupon on line) this cost about the same as parking for a week. They have a shuttle bus to take you to, and pick you up from SFO. Rooms were minimal but acceptable. looking for a tour guide? here:http://www.chinatravelerservice.com/guide@chinatravelerservice.com86-592-8489012[/quote]

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