Anyone know of good places to go in Beijing? - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums
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GekigangerV
1344th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
"Anyone know of good places to go in Beijing?" , posted Sun 20 May 04:23
I am going to Beijing next week and I was wondering if anyone here knew of good places to go? I am mostly going on a tour I signed up for which takes me to Tiananmen, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, but I have a free day to do what I want. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Replies:
simonbelmont 123th Post
Regular Customer
"Re(1):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Mon 21 May 00:37
Sounds to me like you've pretty much got it covered. You might want to check out Chairman Mao's Mausoleum if you have time. It was closed to the public when I visited Beijing. If you have a free day you might want to spend it shopping. China has some rather interesting things to buy. I regret not buying a custom made suit when I was there.
One piece of advice I can give you is to print out the names of places you want to go. Then have your tour guide or a friend write them in Chinese characters. You can then show the characters to the cabbies and they'll take you where you want to go. None of the cabbies seemed to speak, read, or understand English. The metro in Beijing did not seem very impressive. It looked like a hand me down from the Communist Russian years. Cabs are cheap and more efficient. Plus if you're lucky some of the cabbies will sing and rock out when they drive.
Post at the cafe when you get back from your trip. I'd love to hear all about it. Beijing is one of those places I'm glad I've visted but I will never go back to. Are you visiting any other cities on your trip? Hong Kong was lots of fun and I really want to visit Shanghai soon. Maybe later this year.
Maou
1106th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member+
"Re(2):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Mon 21 May 02:52
Yeah, the Mausoleum could be wild. It's been about 5 years so my geo's rusty of Beijing, but I kinda remember wandering through Tiananmen on a lightning-filled stormy night while spooky armed guards patrolled around...and this might not have been far from Mao's thing. Whatever it was, I stayed out, but I thought either his tomb or a memorial was right near the square area, and it was genuinely creepy. Big fun!
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
nobinobita 102th Post
Regular Customer
"Re(1):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Wed 23 May 05:58
quote: I am going to Beijing next week and I was wondering if anyone here knew of good places to go? I am mostly going on a tour I signed up for which takes me to Tiananmen, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, but I have a free day to do what I want. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I spent a month in China last summer and I think about going back all the time! You're in for alot of fun.
Try to meet other travelers and locals and hang out with them. That's half the fun of traveling.
Also, if you can, try to go to a non touristy part of the great wall. There are lots of parts not in the guidebooks where you can climb the wall at your leisure. It's especially awesome in the mountains. It's like being in Shadow of the Colossus. Parts of the wall are almost vertical.
Oh oh, and if you have time and you're into fine artsy stuff, check out the 798 art district:
It's really incredible. It used to be an industrial area, but has since become a haven for all sorts of artists. You can walk right through their studios and see them at work.
Maou
1109th Post
Red Carpet Premium Member+
"Re(2):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Wed 23 May 08:24
Nobi's right about the Wall. The cool thing is, whereas you might normally be plagued by souvenir vendors en route, if you go far enough, you used to be able to find parts where it hand crumbled or where there were random impasses. I remember hopping off the solid wall and onto the ruined, fallen pieces of it and getting out of the vendors' reach, which was kind of fun.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
nobinobita 105th Post
Regular Customer
"Re(3):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Fri 25 May 05:48
quote: if you go far enough, you used to be able to find parts where it hand crumbled or where there were random impasses. I remember hopping off the solid wall and onto the ruined, fallen pieces of it and getting out of the vendors' reach, which was kind of fun.
The place I went to wasn't even in the guidebooks or on the map. I just asked a local van driver to take me to a less touristy area and be brought me to this little restaurant on the side of the road with this little trail that went through this old soldier's house. He asked us each for 5YMB and we went on our merry way to a really awesome ruined section of the wall.
It was beautiful. This was up in the mountains and yet the wall was snaking over the landscape, almost vertical at points. There were a few other back packers around, but not too many, and no officials and we could scale the wall at our leisure. A few french dudes went on waay ahead to where the wall was dangeriously grown over with vines and trees and just falling apart. I didn't see them come back. Man, those French love to climb stuff.
GekigangerV
1348th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
"Re(4):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Thu 31 May 18:07
My visit was very touristy. My hotel was just a couple of Kilometers from the Forbidden City so it was pretty much tourist centric. I saw the main places that I said, but a lot of the stuff in Beijing was tarpped due to reconstruction for the 2008 Olympics. Which was a shame for the Forbidden City as one of the main buildings had this tarp over it that just a had picture of what was supposed to be there.
I didn't get much walking done on my free day since the first night I got there I had these violent cramps in my calf muscles that bothered me while I was there.
I wish I had more time to do more stuff and I would have liked to have checked out some Chinese opera like my tour guide suggested, but I wasn't up to it. I would like to go back after the Olympics to see how the city looks then as well as see more stuff.
nobinobita 107th Post
Regular Customer
"Re(5):Anyone know of good places to go in Bei" , posted Fri 1 Jun 05:43
Ah, too bad bout all the construction. You going anywhere else in China?
"Anyone know of good places to go in Beijing?" , posted Sun 20 May 04:23
