Nǐ Hǎo!!
First stop on my one month trip around Asia was Beijing. As I was visiting more than one city in China (Beijing, Huangshan and Shanghai), I needed to apply for a tourist visa. If you are only planning a short stop over to one City and plan to travel to another country from there, I would suggest to look into the 72 hour free transit visa option. Please click here for more information and check if your Country of residence and City you plan on visiting is listed.
To apply for the visa you are required to have your arrival and departing flights from China, train and flights between cities and accommodation booked for them to even consider giving you a visa. I applied for an L visa, which is intended for tourists. The visa for UK nationals is £171.67 (standard service) and you will be issued a 24 month visa which allows multiple entries, but a maximum of 3 months at a time. It was only when I began researching and applying for the visa that I realised they no longer do the single entry visa, however it is currently still listed on the Chinese Embassy website.
So, after one train, two flights and a taxi, I made it to the hotel in Beijing at 6am and that was the start of my 3 days of exploring! There was no time to waste…it was time to get showered up, get some breakfast and start my journey around Asia!
Word of warning, If you don’t speak any Mandarin (like me), it is going to be very difficult to get around as most of the people I met didn’t speak any English. But don’t let that change your decision in going to visit. The people of Beijing were soooo friendly and really made an effort to help me out, even if it meant asking everyone in the restaurant if they spoke English so they can help to take the order. I would suggest before you go to download offline maps and a tube map on your phone so you can work out where you’re going. There are many free apps available to choose from. If you plan to get taxi’s it would be ideal if you had the place you plan to visit written in Chinese. For example if you say you want to go to Forbidden City in English, they will have no clue as to where you want to go.
I found getting around Beijing super easy and cheap. The cheapest and fastest way to get around is on the subway (you may know it as the underground, metro, tube). Here’s a guideline of the prices of the subway
3 Yuan (£0.32p) for the first 3.7 miles (6km)
4 Yuan (£0.42p) for 3.7 to 7.5 miles (6 to 12km)
5 Yuan (£0.53p) for 7.5 to 13.7 miles (12 to 22km)
6 Yuan (£0.64p) for 13.7 to 20 miles (22 to 32km)
Extra 2Yuan (£0.21p) for every additional 12.4 miles (20km) If distance is over 20 miles (32km).
Click here for a great website that gives you more information about the subway and a break down of all the lines.
I loved the subway in Beijing, people actually stood in a queue to get on and they didn’t do what they do on the London underground; charge on before anyone’s had an opportunity to get off. It was all quite civilised and calm, even during rush hour. Each stop was announced in Mandarin and then English. They had a sign above each door which had all the stops for that line and it would flash to indicate which stop was coming next.
Another way of getting around is via taxi’s. They are more expensive than the subway, but can be more convenient as you can get picked up from your hotel/hostel and getting dropped off right where you want to go without any communication problems. Taxi’s are especially handy when you’re lugging around a 25kg suitcase and a backpack haha! Remember there can be a lot of congestion on the roads so allow yourself extra time to get to the airport, train station etc.
If you do plan to go in a taxi always try to go with taxi’s that work by the meter as it works out so much cheaper. An example of how much a journey would cost is a journey I did from the hotel to Beijing south train station. The one way journey cost 44Yuan and the distance covered was approximately 15km. With the current exchange rate that is about £4.70. The meter starts at 13 Yuan in the day and 14 Yuan in the evening. The rate is 2.30 Yuan per kilometer. Go to XE to convert Yuan to your currency.
SUPER TIP: Before you travel around Beijing, check and then double-check the opening and closing times for all the places you would like to visit. It seems that even though Beijing is the capital a lot of places close early. There are certain days that some of the tourist attractions are closed. If you are only there for a few days in particular, micro plan your days to maximise your time there. Also the entrance fees to many tourist spots vary depending on the time of year you visit so research in advance. If you have a student card don’t forget to take it with you, you can get a pretty good discount at most of the tourist spots.
I had a hectic few days in Beijing and managed to pack in quite a lot and here are the places I visited and would recommend to others.
Places to visit
- Great Wall of China
- Temple of Heaven
- Forbidden City/Imperial palace
- Jingshan Park. Note: Jingshan Park faces Forbidden City and I would recommend visiting both on the same day.
- Pearl Market
- Wangfujing Street
- Shopping malls
Here is a little bit about each. I will have a more in-depth post about my trip to the Great Wall of China, as I feel I need to dedicate a whole post to it.
- Great Wall of China
How could I visit Beijing and not go to the Great Wall of China, it was at the top of my list. My mission is to visit all the Great Wonders of the World.
For this trip I would suggest you need at least half a day. I travelled from Beijing to Badaling via train. A train from Beijing train station to Badaling takes approximately 80 minutes and costs 6 Yuan per person (approximately £0.60GBP), which is a bargain.
The actual entrance to the Great Wall is about a 20 mins walk from the station or there are taxi’s outside the station. The entrance to the Great Wall of China is 35Yuan per person, if you have a student card it is 17.50Yuan. There are various parts of the Great Wall of China you can visit. As I was short on time I decided Badaling was perfect.
Being at the Great Wall of China while the sun was setting was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It is so spectacular and mind-blowing.
2. Temple of Heaven (Tiantan Park)
Temple of Heaven is beautiful and a definitely a place you should visit to see the beautiful architecture, art and absorb the local atmosphere. It is easy to access, take the subway to Tiantan Dongmeng station and exit out of the east gate. The entrance fee was 14 Yuan per person.
Even though it was about 1-2°C i was amazed by the number of locals that were gathered in the park. They were either just chilling and having a catch up or taking party in various activities from practicing Tai-Chi, dancing, playing cards, Dominoes, knitting and one of the most popular games in China, Jianzi. Jianzi involves a weighted shuttlecock with feathers and the aim is to keep it up off the floor with any part of your body apart from your feet… sounds easy right? It’s actually really hard. I fell in love with this place and joined in with the locals whilst they played Jianzi. Had a great time watching the oldies, they really don’t mind you standing and watching over them, absorbing the atmosphere and even joining in.
The entrance to Temple of Heaven is on the opposite side of the road to the Pearl Market so could visit both on the same day.
Serious game of Dominoes.
Even someone practicing their writing skills.
- Forbidden City
The Forbidden City is the largest palace complex in the World and is known as the palace museum and was home to the 24 Chinese Emperors. I would suggest you need about 2-3 hours to get around. Entrance was 40 Yuan that is between 1st November to 31st March and from 1st April to 31st October increases to 60Yuan. I would suggest visiting Forbidden City followed by a visit to Jingshan park. The entrance Forbidden City is via the South entrance and you will exit via the North entrance which faces Jingshan park and is a short walk way.
Over looking North gate of Forbidden City from the top of Jingshan Hill located in Jingshan park.
4. Jingshan park
Jingshan park is located opposite Forbidden City and is a great way to get away and relax. If you walk up to the top of Jingshan Hill you will see some beautiful views of Beijing and Forbidden City along with a beautiful Buddha statue. Also at the top of the hill you will find a gold sign on the floor that marks the central point of Beijing City. The entrance fee is 2Yuan per person.
View of Jingshan park from the North gate (exit) from Forbidden City.
Top of Jingshan Hill
The central point of Beijing City
5. The Pearl Market (Hong Quia Pearl Market)
The Pearl Market suggests that they only sell pearls here but there is so much more. There are 6 floors and full of electronics, pearls, clothing, cosmetics, the list goes on. This place is so much fun even if you’re not looking to buy anything. It is open from 8:30am-19:00 and there is no charge to go in. There are loads of knock offs here, from designer watches, handbags and scarfs. If you like to haggle and get a bargain, this is the place for you. Even if you are not into designer goods they have loads things to treat yourself and your friends and family. Be careful if you plan to buy any pearls. There are many people who sell real pearls but there are a lot of fakes as i discovered whilst talking to a local. Even if they tell you they are real please do your own checks.
I just loved the whole concept of haggling in this market, so much fun and sense of achievement when you get the price knocked down by half haha!
To get to the Pearl Market take the subway to Tianan Dongmeng station and take exit A.
6. Wangfujing Street
YOU HAVE GOT TO TO WANGFUJING STREET…its not one to miss haha! It was really eye-opening to see the range of things people eat. There were fried/grilled scorpions, tarantulas, sea horses along with what i call ‘normal’ food, chicken dumplings, lamb satay, grilled squid. I couldn’t convince myself to try of the unusual snacks like the scorpions, but it was a great experience. There is such a buzz from the people working on the stalls and the reactions from the tourists are great. I really wanted to see someone eat the creepy crawlies but no one was brave enough to take them on. There are also plenty of little markets stalls around this area, an ideal place to get your souvenirs and gifts. To get to Wangfujing street, take the subway to Wangfujing Station.
7. Shopping Malls
If you love shopping you will LOVE Beijing. It seems like there are endless number of Selfridges packed full of all your favourite brands. They all seem to be located around Wangfujing Street so I would suggest combining the two together.
So, my time here in Beijing is over. Thankfully during my 3 days in Beijing I had no sickness, which I was expecting to get because of the change in diet and water. After watching a YouTube video posted by Furious Pete I stocked up on the Diarrhoea prevention tablets, but touch wood so far I’ve not needed them. I think ensuring that I only drank bottled water and using my filtered Water To Go bottle whenever it was needed played a big part in this. Also I was very cautious of where I ate and avoided eating too much street food.
During my visit i was expecting to bump into loads of tourists but there were very few people I met from outside of Asia. Even at all the tourist attractions that I visited I would say that most the visitors were 95% locals (Asians) and 5% tourists from outside of Asia. This was why I became a bit of a tourist attraction myself. There were times at tourist attractions that locals were asking to have a picture with me. After speaking to a local that spoke English, many of them have never seen a foreigner as they are from very small cities/villages where tourists just don’t visit.
Overall I loved Beijing and I LOVE the people of Beijing. Even though most the people I spoke to didn’t speak any English at all, they were super friendly and willing to help. Hand gestures really came in handy!
The highlight definitely has to be watching the sunset at the Great Wall Of China. There’s another tick on the bucket list.
Next stop is Huangshan to visit the Yellow Mountain, which I’m really looking forward to as the weather app says there will be snow.
