Random Thoughts on My Trip to Beijing

I was in Beijing from 3/22/08 until 3/28/08. This isn%26#39;t a full-blown trip report because I%26#39;m really not that organized. These are my observations and opinions.

Taxis: Beware of taxi pimps trying to hustle you at the airport and tourist spots. At the airport, they tried getting me into a taxi for 300y for a normal 75y fare. Another cab wanted flat rate of 60y to taker me from Wangfujing St to Gulai subway stop on #2 subway. Other day I paid less than 30y on the meter. I had to wait on another cab to give me the rest of my change for 100y note for a 77y ride. He gave me 3, then waited for me to get out of the cab. Finally gave me the other 20 as I was writing his number down. Summer Palace wanted to quote a flat rate of 50 to the nearest subway station. Ride to Summer Palace was 23. I think it will be a mess when the Olympics arrive. Drivers don%26#39;t know any English and some don%26#39;t seem to know very much about the location you want. Often times they have to call the phone you provide have a sensde of where they%26#39;re going. So make sure you have phone numbers. I was told many of the drivers are new to Beijing from the countryside.

Beijing Hutong Inn: Stayed there 6 nights. It%26#39;s very basic but a nice place. I paid 240y/night At first my 20 yr old daughter was scared walking down the alley but she got used to it. Rooms are small, walls are thin. They have a 24 hr. front desk and are very helpful. In room wireless internet was a big plus. Breakfast (included) was sparse; toast, Chinese buns, coffee, tea, fruit. The problem is it is served too late. They don%26#39;t start serving until 8am, then it%26#39;s very crowded. If staying there, don%26#39;t get a room on the alley (street) side, it can get very noisy on that side with children playing in the alley, vendors hawking their product and people just talking to their neighbors. Chinese people talk very loud. It%26#39;s longer than the 200 meters someone quoted to the subway stop. Nearby 24 hr 7/11 type store for drinks, snacks. Walking distance to Bell Tower and good local restaurants near the Tower as well as to the subway.

Great Wall Mutianyu: Rode the sky bucket up and walked right for about 6 towers. Steep steps but great views and experience. Our guide, Sophia, knew the best photo stops along the way besides her knowledge of the Wall. Must ride the tobaggens down, very fun, never done anything like this in the states.

Forbidden City: This place was extremely packed with tourists, mostly from other parts of China. Parts of it was still under renovation.

Summer Palace: We had the perfect day weatherwise. Skies were clear and temperature was just right. Very crowded as well. Beware of the taxi pimps.

Shopping: We went to Pearl Market, Dirt Market, Silk Market and Yashow Market. It%26#39;s all very overwhelming in terms of merchandise but really they all sell the same stuff. If you want pearls, they are everywhere. Our guide was able to negotiate a very good price for a strand of Tahitian Pearls, matching earrings as well as white earrings. She helped tremendously on that sale as well as a couple of purses. In my opinion, Dirt Market was just ok. Lots of large things I wouldn%26#39;t want to ship home. Other things you would see everywhere. Vendors are very agressive at the Silk Market, pulling at you etc. My daughter had a wool coat and 3 dress shirts made at Ya Shi Tailor Shop in Yashow Market in Sanlitun area for 600y and 240y. This included a custom fitting. She regretted not ordering more. It was hard finding large size (US 9) female boots at these places. Haggling is a necessary chore, but remember 10y is less than $2 and 30y is about $5. You can walk away from something you really want only to realize it was a difference of less than a few dollars.

Food: Spicy can be really spicy, be careful. Must try dumplings, green bottle beer, hotpot, roast duck. We walked into a couple of places just to see and ended up ordering a few small things to eat. That was an experience. Food is very inexpensive, especially in the local restaurants. Smoking is allowed in restaurants (yuck).

Subways: Very efficient and much quicker than taxis. One charge of 2y with unlimited transfers is a great deal. It will get crowded during rush hour. Unlike Japan, where it%26#39;s prohibited, some people do use their cell phones on the subway, although it could be worse.

Hygiene: Chinese people in China spit everywhere, anytime. I%26#39;m US born Chinese so don%26#39;t think this is a racial thing. I heard a lot about air pollution; I must was fortunate, skies were clear. As mentioned everywhere, no toilet paper, confirmed. I don%26#39;t know if it%26#39;s a lack of bathing facilities or what, but the closeness of people especially in the subway is a hold-your-breath situation as well as the many public toilets near the Hutongs and around the city. Restaurants seemed pretty clean though.

Airport: I flew out on Korean Airlines. Just about every international airline in located in the new Terminal 3. The taxi took me to T3; Korean is in T2. Shuttle service from one terminal to the next is very inefficient. T3 and T2 are far apart. They use tour type busses to move you around. That means all the luggage goes underneath, so your luggage can be blocked by a number of bags for T1 when you get to T2. In addition, it seems they wait until the bus is nearly filled before leaving.

Misc: Starbucks is expensive relative to everything else there. McDonalds is inexpensive. Everyone I came across are generally nice except for some cab drivers. They drive like crazy. It was an eye-opening experience for my daughter as I have been to other parts of China. I would defintely go back to explore other things.

Random Thoughts on My Trip to Beijing

Hi Highloyo: thanks for sharing.

I havent been to Beijing yet (will be this Nov) but I%26#39;ve been lurking in the Beijing forum for info and came across yours. Thanks for your insights.

I%26#39;ve been to different parts of China and I agree on many of your observations. I believe the habits of spitting, smoking everywhere and I might also add the general disregard of waiting in line for their turns basically boiled down to under-education, lack of awareness of health and sanitary habits, everyone fend for himself/herself mentality. In my opinion, China is still not quite up to the world standard that we are accustomed to. Hopefully with education and more information sharing with the outside world, give it a generation or two, perhaps they will bring themselves up to similar standards and efficiency.

Random Thoughts on My Trip to Beijing

Hi highloyo,

I have booked a room at the Beijing Hutong Inn for May, so i am glad to hear you enjoyed it.

If you could tell me a little more, ie, whats nearby etc I would really appreciate it,

I%26#39;ve been to Shanghai and Hong Kong but not Beijing, every little bit helps :-)

Thanks

Frank, I posted a review of Hutong Inn in the hotel section but it hasn%26#39;t been published yet. Hutong Inn is down Zhangwang Rd off of Gulou Dajie. #2 subway has a Gulou stop. There several restaurants on this street, some large, some small. I don%26#39;t know their names as they only have Chinese lettering. One in particular seems to have Korean food and is the closest. We ate at another for breakfast that made stuffed Chinese buns which is on the other side of the street, not far from the 24 hr store. There isn%26#39;t any tourist shopping on this street.

Walking towards the Drum Tower, there is another main street with several restaurants, a bakery and McDonalds as well as a shopping district.

Since the subway is close by and taxis are cheap, it%26#39;s not hard to get anywhere in Beijing. The subway is efficient, inexpensive and avoids traffic. However, keep in mind I had 3 maps and none seem to be ';to scale';. So what may seem like a short walk from the subway station can actually be quite a hike.

Make sure you get a room away from the alley side which I think are the odd numbered rooms. The front desk will write down different names and addresses for you to give a taxi driver if you need it. Hutong Inn is not in a tourist area and will feel very local but it is clean and priced very well.

This is a very good and accurate post. As an expat here I always buy a local sim card (mobile phone number) for my visiting guests. It only costs 50rmb and can be charged with prepaid cards. They are sold everywhere in Beijing. But, if you do not have an unlocked gsm phone you can not use the cards, so I recommend that you buy a cheap one on ebay before arriving (any gsm phone will work as long as it is unlocked). Or you can buy a new phone here for less than 100usd.

As the original poster mentioned the taxi drivers do not speak any english, most come of from outside Beijing, and will often have trouble finding places. Having a local cell phone can eliminate a great deal of problems and confusion, it is also reassuring knowing that you have some kind of safety net.

Another thing I would like to mention is that you will find no real antiques to buy here. The sales people will always tell you things are old, etc, so be realistic. They cheat travelers as a full time job and it makes me cringe to see how much they try to charge for fakes. If you are buying something, think about how much you might pay at walmart for a similar item, that will give you a ballpark figure about how much you can get it for here. For example, t-shirts go for about 30rmb, polo shirts 50rmb, knock off jackets less than 200rmb, jeans 100rmb, luggage 200-300rmb. Pottery, carvings, fake terracota warriors, paintings, old looking posters, chinese cut outs - all less than 100rmb. One tactic if you are not happy with their price, just walk off, you will see the same thing in a few minutes. Often the clerk will run after you and offer a lower price if you try to leave their shop.

Again, thanks for your informative posting about your recent trip.

Highloyo %26amp; Bizmancn,

Thank you both for excellent advise.

I would like to update the info on local telephone cards. Yesterday I purchased one in Beijing, after looking in 3 stores the cheapest I could find was 120rmb. This included 50rmb of credit already on the card.