Around Beijing

Every traveler from time to time craves a bit of the familiar. Whether it bed food, sweet treats, people or music, there is always something that is nice to re-visit. If you start feeling this way in Beijing (which is hard because there is so much to take in), then head towards to Lotus Lane.

The best way for me to describe what Lotus lane is like, is similar to Darling Harbour in Sydney. It is an ‘area’ more than a lane that sits around Qianhai Lake. 

At night it is buzzing, an electric light show of lasers and nightclub strobes – street food and countless restaurants, during the day it is the complete opposite, and it made me question if I was in the same place when I saw it in daylight. 

We had some cocktails the night before – they were OK – potent. One cocktail was like drinking two, alcohol wise. We didn’t eat here as there are many more interesting and cheaper places to eat in Beijing. But the buzz of the atmosphere and people watching is a great way to start a night.

It is OVER PRICED. We stopped at a tea house during the day for some green tea – 500RMB for a pot! (about $78AUD) ARE YOU SERIOUS?

 

A picture is worth a thousand words - 798 Art District

Hands down, the 798 Art district on the outskirts of Beijing's ring roads, has to be my second (only to the Great Wall) favorite place I visited. EVERYWHERE you look there is something happening. From graffiti to posters, sculptures to architectural buildings. the 798 district has it all... And I mean all. Cafes, wine bars, boutique clothing stores, real coffee (it is one comfort from home I cannot live too long without) bric-a-brac items and retro music - it can all be found here.

Putting it bluntly - I could live in this place!

The streets are a maze of sensory pleasures, constantly stimulating you as you move through the space.

Lonely Planet have a great little write up on this place with directions and comments from other travelers.

How do you get here - get a cab! its so cheap and it saves you a lot of hassel - Its about a 20min ride out of the heart of the city and will cost you about 70RMB (around $10AUD). Well worth a visit and save a whole day for it! It normal opens around 10am and its completely free to get in. There are some exhibitions though, inside the complex, that charge a very small fee of between 6-12RMB (about $1-$2AUD).

If there is one thing you must not miss in Beijing... the 798 Art District is it!

Jingshan Park and Tienanmen Square

In theory there is a nice flow to the main site-seeing areas in Beijing. Tienanmen Square, The Forbidden city and Jingshan Park all lie in order, one in front of the other. So it makes sense to start at Tienanmen Square and walk a straight line through all three.

We like to make things difficult, I guess. We started with The Forbidden City the day before (it’s in the middle) Then the next day, went down to Tienanmen Square (it comes first) and then back up to Jingshan Park (last in the line). Not very efficient but I think we saved the best for last (maybe that’s why it’s at the end of the three attractions).

Out of Tienanmen Square, The Forbidden City and Jingshan Park, I preferred the park. It was so peaceful yet for of bustling life, great for taking photographs. It will cost you 2RMB (that’s about 30cents AUD) to gain entry into the park and you can easily spend your afternoon strolling through or sit and people watch. The park is a decent size, spread out over 230,000 m² and has a giant man made hill in the middle.

You will see sections of people practicing dance, music and reciting poetry. It’s fascinating to watch – The only thing is there are about 5-10 different groups clumped in one area doing the same thing. For example in one small corner you may have up to 5 groups of tenors performing different arias all at once… being deaf, I couldn’t hear what was going on. But my friend assured me that neither could she – all the songs mixed into one as the small groups competed to be heard over each other.

Tienanmen Square is impressive. It’s one of the biggest ‘meeting places’ in the world. Again – Take your own guide book (brought from outside China) the ‘history’ of Tienanmen Square that is represented on plaques and through guides here is very different to what actually happen.

Take an umbrella too – it gets hot – VERY HOT and when you’re in the middle of the square there is limited shade.

The train, the hostel and the Fobidden City

How do you get from Badaling to Beijing? The train.

How long will it take you? About an hour and a half maybe 2hours

How much will it cost you? 6RMB!! (That's about $1AUD)

And...

The quality of the train? AMAZING! No joke - With more than enough room to fit out packs in front of us and still stretch our legs out! I still cannot get over how amazingly clean and room-y the train was and all for $1... Brilliant.

We stayed at the City Walls Hostel in an old hutong area. The hostel was great - The host was friendly and genuinely welcoming. He gave us a detailed mapped and outlines all the 'go-to' areas and all the 'avoid' areas. We stayed in an 8 bed dorm - 2 bunks downstairs, 2 bunks upstairs - So it was more like a 4 dorm. At 100RMB (about $15AUD) a night, you can't really go wrong. The only feedback I would say is the lockers are small - I could fit my iPad and travel documents. So if you're staying in the dorm and you have large valuable items - You may want to bring a security net (if that worries you)

As soon as we arrived we unpacked our bags and headed to the Forbidden City. The bus is cheap and easy enough to catch - but we opted to walk - It took as about 30min from the hostel.

I want to rant and rave about the Forbidden City, but it left me a little underwhelmed. It is stunningly beautiful and decorated elegantly. The history is amazing and the size of the halls with the golden architraves blows your mind... but it was just lacking in that POW! there was something missing in the atmosphere of the place, that made it pleasant and nice to see - but didn't leave me thinking "WOW - THAT WAS AWESOME".

Take your time to walk through here and, as I have said before, take a good guide book with you. You will benefit more for this and truly grasp a sound understanding of the Forbidden City.

Entry into the Forbidden City will set you back 60RMB (Just under $10AUD).

The Remnant Wall He Bie

I'm always up for a challenge and some adventure. After climbing The Great Wall at Badaling, the hostel hostess suggested I might like to to see the Remnant Wall and go for a bit of a hike. Sure! This sounds amazing. I handed over 100RMB (about $15AUD) for a private driver and a local villager to take me on this trek.

He Bie is about a 30min drive from Badaling - There isn't too much there, from what I could see. It is a rural area with no tourists. We picked up my guide (who didn't speak English, so I couldn't get his name and headed out to the starting point for the trek.

We pulled up pretty much just on the side of the road... looking for a pathway or something, I asked (or gestured) where are we walking... My guided pointed into the thick jungle like scrub... AWESOME!

After about 45min of climbing up the side of the mountain (from what I could work out its close to 1000m high) we finally reach the ruins of The Great Wall. I stood, catching my breath, for a moment and took in the majestic beauty of where I was. In the middle of no-where, on the top of a mountain, staring at the wall.

My guide popped into the bush - I assumed to go to the bathroom, only to return with a can of beer. He had a secret stash! AMAZING! So we sat on the wall for a bit, in the shade... while I was over-coming my dumb-struck view of the world and he sipped on his warm mountain beer.

This by far was the BEST experience I had in China. We hiked up the wall to the 9th tower (before we had to turn back after running out of water)

This is a HARD hike. Most of the time I was crawling on my hands and knees and half of the wall was missing, but it's so amazing! I recommend you do it, it show you a view of the world that will take your breath away.

The Great Wall

We were warned by several travelers we had met along our way through China to avoid going anywhere near Badaling. We were told it is that crowded you can’t even move on the wall. So naturally we were expecting the swarms of crowds with pushing and shoving.

In order to get to Badaling we had to catch an overnight train from Xi’an. The train ride was great. Overnight trains, to me, always scream adventure – This is why we opted to train-it rather than fly this leg. The hard sleeper (which is 6 bunk-beds in a cabin, 3 stacked on each side – no door, with bedding) set us back about 280RMB (about $44AUD). The train ride takes about 12hrs (all depending on which train you get.)

You will get off at Beijing West, the station is a little confusing at first, as it is a ‘country’ train station. You will need to catch a bus to get to the metro or just jump in a cab. This was the first experience we had where we found it hard to communicate. We couldn’t find anyone to speak English and the directions we had were not written in Chinese characters. We managed to find a kind man who was able to write the area we needed to go in Chinese characters for us. We sucked it up and just gave the directions to a cab driver – hoping we would get to where we needed to be.

Two hours later and 300RMB on the metre (about $47AUD) we arrived in Badaling. It was pretty much empty. Where were all the swarms of people?

We stayed for 2 nights at the Great Wall Courtyard Hostel. It was cheap clean and the hostess was amazing. The food was brilliant and they knew the area well and were more than happy to give ideas and tips on things to do. We headed up to check out the The Great Wall at about 3:30pm There were a few tourist walking about but no more than 100 – And that’s pretty much nothing when you consider the size of the wall and how scarcely people are spread out.

I hit the North side first – It’s a hard walk – Straight up with lots of stairs. Its do-able but by no means ‘a walk in the park’ so you can imagine how surprised I was to see some female tourist walking the wall in ridiculously high heels.

By the time I got to the 3 garrison tower the wall was empty. I continued onto the sixth tower and just sat there, on top of the world – alone – overlooking Badaling, on the Great wall of China. Did I mention I was ALONE. Not a single soul past me for at least an hour. 

I watched the sun begin to set and then descended down the wall to the third tower on the south side.

Apparently it is very rare for the wall to be lit up. Our host from the hostel came and chased us down the following afternoon to tell us that a VIP was in town the the Wall would be lit for about and hour. We were lucky to see this - It was extremely pretty and again - Not a soul in sight!

Just a side note - We were here on a Thursday and Friday - So I assume this is why it was so quiet - I imagine the weekends is when it becomes unbearably over-crowded.