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Beijing
Beijing is the capital of the most populous country in the
world, the People's Republic of China. It was also the seat
of the Qing dynasty emperor until the formation of a republic
in 1911, so it has rich historical sites, and important government
institutions.
The city is well known for its flatness and regular construction.
There is not a hill to be found in the city limits, and like
the configuration of the famous Forbidden City, it has concentric
"ring roads", which are actually rectangular, that
go around the metropolis.
Table of contents [showhide]
1 Districts
2 Understand
3 Get in
3.1 By plane
3.2 By train
3.3 By car
3.4 By bus
4 Get around
4.1 by train
4.2 Taxi
5 See
5.1 Tourist spots
5.2 Hot spots
6 Do
7 Learn
8 Work
9 Buy
10 Eat
10.1 Budget
10.2 Mid-range
10.3 Splurge
11 Drink
12 Sleep
12.1 Budget
12.2 Mid-range
12.3 Splurge
13 Contact
14 Stay safe
15 Cope
16 Get out
17 External links
Districts
Understand
Get in
By plane
Beijing has a major international airport to the northeast
of the city.
Most people use taxicabs to reach town from the airport. Get
your travel agent to get you a translation into Chinese of
the name of your Hotel so that you can let your taxi driver
read where you want to go!
By train
By car
By bus
Get around
by train
The city has a 30-year old subway system that now reaches
many parts of the city. There are two systems -- the Loop
Line, with 16 stations, and follows the contours of the city
walls, near the second ring road. The other is Line One, which
is 21 stops stretching from Pingguoyuan, via Tiananmen Square
to Sihuidong. Tickets cost a tiny 3? per line, no matter how
far you travel.
A third subway line was completed in 2003, and more are under
construction in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Taxi
Taxis are the preferred choice for moving around, and are
fairly inexpensive. Taxis charge standard rates per km in
three bands. The cheap and nasty ones cost 1.20? per km (in
2004). These are generally in pretty poor condition and often
not clean at all. Check they have a working seatbelt before
you go for it. The next band of taxis cost 1.60? per km. These
are usually slightly nicer, often with seatbelts. The third
band are luxurious executive cars and cost 2.00? per km which
is still very reasonable for a western budget. If the taxi
driver "forgets" to switch the taxometer on, remind
him by politely saying "qing da biao" ("Run
the meter, please").
See
Tourist spots
Forbidden City (also known as the Palace Museum)
Summer Palace
Temple of Heaven, south of Qianmen and the Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square (largest square in the world!)
Great Wall (about a 1 hour bus ride from the city...recommended!)
Zoo (they do have Pandas, but displays are not great). The
Zoo is one of the worst you will ever see.
Hot spots
Hou hai - a hangout with trendy restaurants and bars in the
central part of Beijing. essentially snaking around a man
made lake
Sanlitun - this is the center of nightlife in beijing, located
in the ?? district, it comprises of a main "bar street"
divided into north and south sections, a side street with
more casual (and cheaper) bars, and several large clubs/discotechs
at the north gate of the worker's stadium near by.
Do
2008 Summer Olympics. http://www.beijing2008.org/
Learn
Work
Buy
Oriental Plaza - shopping area
Wangfujing - where most of the higher end shops are located
Xidan - several large malls near a substation
Eat
Beijing Roast Duck is the speciality in Beijing. Be sure not
to miss it. There are some very famous restaurant that cater
for the hordes of western tourists willing to spend a lot
of money to get this famous dish. One of them is Quanjude
Roast duck, which is located right at the Hepingmen subway
station (One duck 160,- Yuan, calculate around 220,- Yuan
per person). But backpackers and people able to speak a little
Mandarin, or at least willing to order a bit longer, should
try one of the more local restaurant. For example, when you
walk just to the south from the Hepingmen subway stop, after
around 500-800m you will see some restaurants on the left
side of the street. There are nice ones, one even has relaxing
classical Chinese live music and comes at one fourth of the
Quanjude restaurant (one duck 38,- Yuan, around 50,- Yuan
per person).
Mongolian hot pot is a kind of fondue, except they use a clear
soup broth that is boiling hot. You use your chopsticks to
plunge a paper-thin piece of meat or vegetable into the hot,
boiling soup. The trays of meat (chicken, pork, beef, lamb,
etc.) are stacked high. The meat is rolled into thin rolls.
It cooks within just a few seconds.
Bakeries are in general quite good, though the Chinese variety
of cakes is just a farce: behind the many different cakes
there are only a few kinds of dough, and the variation is
not so much in taste as it is in appearance. "Real cakes"
are not available, cakes consist out of cream and very soft
biscuit. Special Chinese cookies you should try is the Laopobing
("Wife cookie") and Laogongbing ("Husband cookie").
Vegetable flavor ice creams. This is considered normal (and
tasty!) in Beijing. Purple Yam is good. Also, you can try
green pea flavor. The ice creams are only slightly sweet,
so it takes some adjustment.
McDonald's has over 100 restaurants in Beijing, followed
closely by KFC. As a rule of thumb, whenever there is a McDonals,
a KFC is no more far away than 100m.
If you're homesick, head for the John Bull Pub near the Jiangguomen
tube station. They'll happily provide you with your favourite
English food and drink.
For your stay in Beijing, you should have at least once tried
the Lamb meat sticks (Yangrouchuan), which are delicious barbecued
sticks of lamb meat. They are sold starting from the late
afternoon to the early morning all around Beijing on the street
out of small street grills by local chefs. Often, the worst
looking grills offer the best taste, so be brave and try them
all.
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
Drink
Tea, tea, and more tea! It's the best in the world. They have
a different ceremony for every type of tea. You should go
to a good tea house. Some are in malls. There is a very good
one on Wangfujing street. Very, very relaxing. The tea masters's
movements are hypnotic.
Mao Tai is a Chinese hard liquor made from sorghum.
Try the Yang Jing beer, a local specialty. You can't find
it in the States. It comes in very large bottles.
Great Wall is a type of wine. Chinese wines are acceptable,
but it is still not common to drink wine.
The most common alcohol to get drunk of is the Bai jiu (white
liquor). It comes in large variety everywhere and should be
avoided if you want to have a clear mind for your travels
on the next day.
Sleep
Budget
Mid-range
A number of mid-range hotels are located east of the ??? Dongzhimen
subway station. From the subway stop, walk around 800m eastwards
to the next big intersection. On the northern side of the
street, half a dozen large hotels can be found. A double costs
150 to 250 Yuan a night depending on the season. Its worth
to haggle and compare with the other hotels around before
you book. Although its already placed at the outer ring road,
the subway provides for a convenient and quick access to the
inner city. Right next to the subway station there is a McDonalds,
and - more interestingly - a large shopping center with a
food court hidden in the lowest floor.
Kaifeng hotel (????, Kai3feng1 Fan4dian4), telephone 64651177,
ranging between 180-320,- Yuan per day per double.
Splurge
Contact
Stay safe
Overall, this is a very safe city. However tourists are often
cheated upon. Especially in the inner city, around Tiananmen
Square, and on the tourist-crowded routes to the Great Wall
be cautious. Do not follow any "art students" as
good their English might be, at best you end up in a shabby
"art store" and get pressured to by art. For tours
to the Great Wall, be wary: the driver might just stop and
set you off before your destination. Only pay afterwards if
you are absolutely sure you are at the destination. Do not
go for organized tours to the Great Wall in the 100-150 Yuan
range that are advertised by people handing out flyers around
the Forbidden City. Conveniently you are picked up from your
hotel (so they know where to get back at you, in case you
will not pay), you end up on a shopping tour through many
many Chinese art, China, Chinese medicine, etc. shops and
afterwards you have to pay upfront to get back to the city.
Of course, there are exceptions, and people showing letters
of recommendation from their previous travels and pictures
are usually ok, as are people offering trips to the wilder
parts of the Great Wall (ie. not Badaling or Juyong). Overall,
Beijing is much more tourist-laden than for example Shanghai
and as such targeted by a lot of cheaters.
Also, be careful of fake money. You might have observed Chinese
people checking money very carefully, and with a reason: there
is a lot counterfeit money in circulation. A few tips: in
any case, be very careful if somebody wants to give back the
largest currency bill (100 Yuan) to you. When buying things
and booking hotels, you should normally never get a change
of 100 Yuan or more, because its the largest bill to pay with.
As reason they might give that they just lowered the price
a bit for you or they might ask you to add a small bill so
they can give you back the 100 bill. This is often counterfeit
money they try to toss at tourists. Also, if they give you
back all the change money plus coins on top (though coins
are rare in Beijing) take your time to check each bill carefully.
To check any 50 and 100 Yuan bill you get, do this: most importantly,
check the paper. If its torn, thin or very slippery, ask for
a different bill. Next, check the watermark, it should blur
out softly, if there are hard visible corners in the watermark,
reject the bill. Last, check the green "100" imprint
on the lower left corner. It should be clearly painted on
the bill so you can both feel and see a relief. If its missing
or not feelable, reject the bill also. Rejecting bills is
no problem at all, and everybody will exchange the bill.
Cope
Bring a corkscrew for opening your wine.
Bring your own toilet paper and bar soap. Many public bathrooms
do not have it. Especially if you venture out to the countryside.
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