Beijing >>>

Last Wednesday on our arrival - just during the height of the rush hour - we chose to wield our way through the bushes and plants. We had been standing in the hotel limo for one hour right in front of the hotel.



Once in the room, we were curious to see how the gridlock looked from above



While my wife was attendeding a seminar, my daughter and I visited some shopping malls. I was very surprised to see the list of malls she had compiled. Complete with ratings and Chinese and Latin characters. So all we had to do is to point to the Chinese name and this way we had no problem getting around town.



At ca. 19:30, the ceiling of "The Place" turned into a huge screen. Much like the Fremont street in Las Vegas



Our next mall was the "Solana". A huge conglomerate of shops and restaurants. A bit older we assumed. And the sign at the entrance underlined our feeling.



On this Thursday not many shoppers around



Like in the West, the big franchises start to uniform the shopping experience. Wherever you go, you will find the same brands



On Friday we had a private tour guide showing us highlights of Beijing. I immediately liked the van after finding this magazine



The Forbidden City is huge and will leave a lasting impression



Since it was school vacation, a lot of students everywhere



The Forbidden City's huge dimensions allowed for some less crowded areas



At the back exit, the crowds really built up again. The hill in the background is man made! They used the material from the moats around the Forbidden City. Feng Shui demands for a mountain and a river, that is the cultural background



I was very surprised to find such a good infrastructure. The highways were wide and everything was well labeled in Chinese and English. We were traveling to Badaling, ca. 60 km North West of Beijing to visit the Great Wall



For lunch we stopped at a Jade factory with a HUGE sales room



On top of it, an equally spacious dining room



This is the head of the queue which went all the way up for another kilometer



From here it is another 20 minutes to the cable car



The Great Wall was packed with tourists. When we saw the queue for the cable car to go down, we decided not to spend too much time up here. The weather would not allow for great views anyway



The wall had been rebuilt in this section. This was a very important shield to protect the capital from aggressors from the North



On the right you can see the end of the queue to go down. After seeing that, we decided to keep our stay very short on the wall



Back in town we had a look at the Birdsnest stadium (Beijing Olympics 2008)



After that we passed the Tiananmen Square. The South Gate (at the South End of the Forbidden City) is "The Gate of Heavenly Peace"



Now it was time for some shopping and dinner. I was reassured that I brought the right phone. My Samsung Galaxy S3 did a great job on this trip. After turning the phone back on, the lock screen would automatically show two digital clocks, one for the roaming time and one for the home time. I was very pleasantly surprised by the phone's travel support



The Xidan Joy City mall features the longest escalator in the world. It goes straight up to the 6th floor


There are no pictures from Saturday. The heaviest rain since 61 years in Beijing. On this rainiest of all days, we were lucky to experience extraordinary hospitality. Trying in vain to catch a taxi in front of a shopping mall, a local spotted our situation. He drove us 11 km to our hotel. Refusing sternly to accept any money. Thanks to this man's generosity, we will always remember Beijing in a very positive way.



After the rain on Saturday, we were greated by blue skies on Sunday. It felt like being in another city



The perfect day to explore the old residential areas (called Hutong) on a pedicab (riksha, tricycle). The tricycle has a battery and a motor under the passenger seat. So the job is not that hard for the driver



We enjoyed a meandering tour around the Beijing Clock Tower. Sometimes we were amazed how our driver managed to get through. The majority of the small streets were not that crowded though



This the Beijing Clock Tower. It's not that crowded here. If you want to explore the Hutongs, start here. Tell the hotel staff to write "Beijing Clock Tower" for you in Chinese and you are good to go. I told the hotel staff the name of a small street and that did not work so well. Luckily I had my phone with Android maps. The taxi driver really liked navigating this way. He was all smiles



This was the end of our pedicab trip through residential history



On Monday it was time to catch our plane. The ceiling of the Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) is so high, you just have to take a picture. The airport was built for the Olympic games. And it is definitely a very exciting first impression of Beijing

Is Beijing worth a visit?
Definitely YES in my opinion. I had been working here in 1998 and I was amazed how much the city had changed since. And the construction craze seems to be still in full swing. New malls and residential buildings seem to pop up everywhere. Some travel hints:

• Avoid rush hours: 06:30 to 0900 and 16:30 to 19:30
• After 22:00 beware of pickpockets in busy areas. Wearing a backpack might not be ideal
• Always let the hotel staff write down your destination in Chinese
• Carry the hotel name in Chinese for the trip back
• There are not enough taxis during rush hour and rain. Plan your trip accordingly
• If using the Subway, be prepared to walk big distances under ground

The citizen of Beijing were very friendly. We had just been in Shanghai in April. I have to say that today's Beijing is cleaner and more attractive then Shanghai. 15 years ago, that was completely different. We will definitely come back to this great town again. And in the mean time, we hope that the city planners get some good ideas and money to make the traffic flow easier. However as a tourist, you should be able to plan your excursions to avoid traffic. And then, Beijing is definitely a very attractive travel destination.
As for visiting the Great Wall: inquire with a travel agent to visit some less frequented areas. The hotspot is the access via cable car from Badaling. The next time we will look for a different section of the wall with fewer crowds. The Ming walls stretch over 8'850 kilometers, so that should be easily possible.

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Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/2012 07:33AM by Reto.