Our Trip to Beijing - 2019

China – 2019

Background:

We travel to Canada frequently to see our son and his family. On this trip, we took advantage of China’s excellent “Transit without Visa” program, which allowed us a short visit to Beijing without having to worry about getting a visa. This blog entry covers our visit to Beijing.

Itinerary:

June 22 – depart Phuket

June 23 – arrive Beijing

June 24 – visit Mutianyu Great Wall

June 25 – visit Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

June 26 – visit Badaling Great Wall, Sacred Walk and Tombs

June 27 – explore Beijing by ourselves

June 28 – depart Beijing, arrive Canada

July 29 – depart Saskatoon for Phuket

July 31 – arrive Phuket

Darrel’s Details:

June 22-23 

Our trip began at 2200 when our taxi picked us up from our condo in Phuket. We checked in with the airline and informed them that we were going to Beijing and were following the Transit without Visa (TWOV) program. This program is relatively new and has recently been extended to allow visitors to stop over in Beijing, and some other major cities in China, without requiring a visa. Where you visit determines how long you are permitted to stay. In Beijing we can stay up to 144 hours. We will be here for 125 hours. There are strict rules that must be followed in order to qualify for the TWOV program but we feel the benefits are worth it. Apparently the program is a huge success and we were not alone at the special TWOV entry counter when we finally reached Beijing. 

Our flight left Phuket at 0130 and landed in Seoul, Korea at 0915. Our connecting flight was at 1300. We arrived in Beijing at 1410 where our first task was to locate the special TWOV counter. We were about the tenth person in line but by the time we got to the counter the line had grown four fold. Our Immigration Officer was very thorough when checking our entry forms and our passport. She examined each and every entry stamp in our passport (which is full, we are down to the last full page even though we are only 6 years in to our 10-year passport). After finally getting through Loretta's entry forms and passport, she started examining mine, just as thoroughly as Loretta's. I didn't mind her diligence but I felt bad for the people waiting behind us. 

Once we were legally entered into China we continued through the airport to collect our luggage and clear customs. We then found an ATM to get Yuan currency. We then walked to the Airport Express which took us to the Dongzhimen Station for 5 CAD each.  From there we caught the Line 2 subway to the Chongwemen Station for less than 1 CAD each. Once in the station we had to decide which exit to take, there were four different exits to choose from. A local came to our aid and was in the process of pulling up a map on her phone to show us where we were in relation to our hotel. Before the map was up her subway train arrived. We told her "no problem we will find our exit ourselves, please go catch your train." She said "no problem, there will be another train in a few minutes," and she continued to guide us. We then exited through the proper exit and walked four minutes to our hotel. 

We checked into our room at the Pentahotel, unpacked and then headed out for a beer and snack. By 2000 we were back in our room and tucked into bed. Having only had a few hours of sleep during the flight over we were both beat. At 2230 we were awoken by our room phone. It was our tour guide who was arranging our pick up time for our tour tomorrow.  We knew it was going to be early but he said we should be ready by 0625. Yikes get back to sleep. 

Beijing's subway system.

View from our hotel room. The air was surprisingly clear.

Another view from our hotel room.

On the Airport Express.

View from the Airport Express. Lots of trees.

June 24 

Our alarm went off at 0530. I jumped into the shower (Loretta had hers last night knowing we would have an early morning). Just after I got into my shower, Loretta came rushing into the bathroom (no such thing as privacy eh) and said "I messed up, we are still on Thailand time!” I quickly processed this info and thought okay, I get to go back to bed for an hour. Processor malfunctioned, it meant it was now 0630 which is when we are being picked up. Loretta quickly got dressed and headed down to the lobby while I partially dried myself, brushed my teeth, partially dressed, and grabbed my camera, wallet and hat. As I entered the lobby, still buttoning up my shirt and running my fingers through my hair as a comb, Loretta met me and said "sorry, it is actually only 0545, we are on China time after all”.  So we had time to go back to our room to properly prepare for the tour. 

At 0625 (China time) we returned to the lobby and our tour driver was there waiting for us. We picked up 8 other people and the tour guide and then headed off for Mutianyu which is an hour and a half North-East of Beijing. From there we walked up to the cable car which we caught (120 Yuan/25 CAD) which took us up to the Great Wall. We had roughly 3 hours to tour the wall so Loretta and I walked the Wall up towards the top of the mountain. We walked through about 6 tower stations to the point where the wall ascends upwards some trillion steps. We climbed up about 6 steps and thought that was far enough. My excuse for not going higher was that the temperature was 38 C and the sky was hazy blue. 

The last stretch where we climbed only a few steps.

In the early part of the day, the Wall wasn't busy.

The Great Wall is now "a symbol of friendship".

There was a peaceful rock museum on site.

Loretta in the cave.

The lighting was strangely colourful.

Our tour group striking a pose for the photographer.

A sign at the wall said it was built to divide people, but today it is used to bring people together from all over the world. 

After descending with the cable car, we toured a small park with some very interesting rock art and a cave before meeting up with our group and guide at a restaurant for lunch. Oh I forgot to mention, we stopped for ice cream and then a beer which served as our breakfast that we did not have time to eat earlier. 

As we waited for our food to arrive at the restaurant, we noticed that all 8 other people in our group poured hot tea into their glass, then dipped their chop sticks and spoon into the glass to cleanse them. They then poured the hot tea from their glass into a small bowl, which I believe was intended to be for our rice, and then turned the glass upside down into the bowl to cleanse the rim of the glass. I asked them why they did this and they all said it was because we were in China. Loretta and I followed their actions but did not think it was really necessary. 

We were driven back to Beijing and dropped off at the Yoghegong subway station to make our way back to our hotel. 

We noticed that the air quality is better than we expected, and that there are a lot of trees growing in Beijing. We were told that they were planted for the Olympics.

June 25 

Today we woke up just before the alarm went off. By 0630 we were down in the restaurant for our breakfast. We did not hear from the tour company so we were not certain as to what time the pick-up would be. We knew it would be sometime between 0700 and 0800 so we wanted to be ready by 0700. 

The tour guide showed up at 0800. Apparently she had called the hotel last evening but was told we had not yet checked in. Also, she told us that she arrived at the hotel at 0730 but could not find us. She told us later that she was looking for two Thai people since that was where we were coming from. Hmm, two Thai people with the last name Smith? 

Anyway, our group tour ended up being a private tour with just us and our guide, Melinda. Our itinerary for today included the Ancestral Temple, Forbidden City (a 4-hours in-depth tour), lunch, and then a visit to the Beihai Royal Garden. I asked her if it was possible to also include the Tiananmen Square. It had been included in the original tour when we first booked but was later removed for some reason. She readily agreed but told us there might be a large crowd. 

Tiananmen Square was our first stop and our guide gave us an excellent talk about the Square, military parade (every 10 years now due to the cost) and Chairman Mao. 

We then entered the Ancestral Temple which had just undergone renovations in preparation for this year's Military Parade. 

Then we entered the Forbidden City. This city is an area of 180 acres and is covered with a multitude of buildings and gates and gardens. All the buildings are constructed of wood and it took more than one million workers to build it over 14 years. All for one man, the Emperor. Currently, 65% of the city is open to the public but in the next year or two, 85% will be accessible. Every day they limit the number of visitors to 80,000 people. We toured this site for three and a half hours. Although the Forbidden City is a spectacular and historic site, it reminds us of the temples in Cambodia, i.e., after a while all the buildings in the Forbidden City end up all looking the same. We think an hour tour would have been sufficient for us. There were a number of museums but they were mostly full of stuff that excessively rich people owned. 

Pedestrian and vehicular traffic was well-controlled in the square.

There are a number of government buildings in the area.

Our tour guide wanted to get this shot.

The grounds were fortified and stark.

Officials were friendly and helpful.

The Emperor thought gardens would make the grounds vulnerable.

A beautiful privacy screen in one of the museums.

A view from on high.

Too many outrageously expensive things in the museums.

Finally - some nice greenery.

A close-up of detail.

The city, just across the moat.

Our tour guide knew her history.

Darrel and the guide in a rest area.

Some preserved art work in one of the museums.
Seals on artwork show who has owned the piece.

The concubines' rose garden. 

Still some painting to be done.

An ancient tree.

We then went to a quaint, but very popular and welcoming Chinese restaurant for a true local meal. The food was even better than yesterday's.  

After lunch we went to the Behai Park and into the Yong An Temple. Then we climbed up some 200 stairs to the White Dagoba. It used to be the highest point in Beijing until a man-
made mountain was built from the dredging of the Emperor's moat. 

Walking to the park.

There was a variety of bikes on the roads.

A rest area.

Street view of the temple.

The residents are lucky to have such a beautiful park in the city.

We always find stairs to climb.

We were surprised to see cannons at the Buddhist dagoba.

The hidden sun.

A view of the city ... a little smoggy on this day.

That concluded our tour so we headed to a subway station and took the number 6 and later transferred onto the 5 back to the Chongwemen Station by our hotel. We stopped at a local grocery store for ice cream and a beer before heading home for the day. 

Later in the evening we heard some music in the street but were too exhausted to go exploring and instead relaxed in bed with our Kindles.

June 26 

Our morning today was basically a repeat of yesterday, except we received a call from our tour guide last night to inform us of our pick-up time at 0800. This gave us time for a leisurely breakfast. Our guide and driver were right on time. 

Today was a private tour and the itinerary will take us to Badaling to see the splendor of the Great Wall in the morning. Badaling is about 2 hours NW of Beijing. In the afternoon, we will go to visit the Sacred Way and the Dingling Tomb. On the way back to our hotel we will drive past the Bird's Nest (the Olympic National Stadium). 

I asked our guide which Great Wall site, i.e., Badaling or Mutianyu, was the most popular. She said more foreigners go to Mutianyu than Badaling. We did not see many foreigners at either site but there was definitely more people at Badaling. We think the two sites are both beautiful and worth the visit but we thought Mutianyu was easier to walk and it seemed more authentic.  Badaling on the other hand was more scenic since the Wall was more twisting and you could see more length of Wall. 

If we were asked which of the two sites we would recommend if you are only doing one, we would suggest the Mutianyu Great Wall. The gradient and surface seemed to be better for walking. We walked about 6 stations there whereas we only walked 2 at Badaling. 

Like at the Mutianyu Wall, we took a cable car to the top.

The views were spectacular.

 

Our tour guide kept asking us to pose.

We asked others to pose.

 

A favourite pose of mine:
at a locked gate.

Our tour guide.

Our tour guide called ahead so this was on the table when we arrived
(except for the cold beer that was staying cold in the fridge).

We stopped at a local restaurant on our way back to Beijing and had another delicious meal which included dumplings. 

Our next stop was at the Sacred Way. Our driver let us off at the North end so we and the guide could make the twenty minute walk to the South exit. Not much to see but good way to work off at least some of our lunch. 

The last stop before getting dropped off at our hotel was at the Dingling Tomb. The Tomb is one of 13 in the area but was excavated so we could walk down some 4 or 5 flights of stairs into the actual tomb. Nice and cool down there. 

There were many animals guarding the walk. 

I don't know what this is.

 

A tomb that hasn't been opened.

This one has been made suitable for public viewing.

It was nice to rise to the surface again.

The site is well-preserved.

June 27

Today was a self-guided tour day. That allowed us to sleep in until 0630 however one of us woke up at 0530 but tried not to disturb Loretta until 0615. 

After a nice leisurely breakfast and returning to our room to brush our teeth and pick up our water bottles, we walked to the nearby subway station. We had these subways down pat by now and knew we could easily go anywhere in Beijing without fear of getting lost. The subways here, as in many other major cities we have visited, are absolutely amazing, and economical. To overcome the feeling of travelling through tunnels underground they have videos on the walls of the tunnel that moves along with subway train. 

We knew we wanted to see a hutong neighborhood so we headed to the Guloudajie station. A hutong is a very narrow street with entrances to a house/shop or a number of houses. After wandering around and finding a great wet market I checked our location using Maps.Me (because no Google applications work in China) and found that we were walking in the wrong direction - okay we can get lost in Beijing. 

Darrel checking the map.

Once we turned around and headed in the right direction we came across a hutong neighborhood. 

We picked a small local restaurant to stop and have a jug of tea. But when we saw their menu and noticed they specialize in dumplings we added an order of them to hold us over until lunch time. 

After a break we walked to see the Drum and Bell Towers. Then we went back to the subway station to make our way back to the hotel. 

The market that we accidentally stumbled across was spectacular.

We saw a variety of strange vehicles.

A playful sculpture.

We loved walking around the Hutongs.

Much better than graffiti.

  

This looked like a more affluent neighbourhood.

We added dumplings to our order of strange tea.

On to the Drum and Bell Towers.

By this time we were worn out so didn't go in.

We dropped off our backpacks in our room and then went to find a restaurant called “Peking Duck” that one of our tour guides recommended. We easily located the restaurant and ordered the Peking duck pancake dish which is similar to moo shoo beef but different. It comes with 10 or 12 thin crepe pancakes, two duck breasts, spices and extras to stuff the pancakes and lastly a yummy sauce to dip it in. We also ordered a special Beijing mixed vegetable dish and two ice-cold beers. We were stuffed by the time most of our dishes were empty. 

We waddled (and quacked) back to our hotel room to call it a day. 

We noticed that today the air was especially clear - impressive for the city of Beijing.

June 28 

Today was a very long day, almost 38 hours long in fact. We woke up at 0630, showered, ate breakfast, caught the subway, transferred to the Airport Express, caught a 10.5 hour flight to Vancouver, caught 1.5 hour flight to Edmonton, and finally got to spend a number of days visiting Dylan, Laura, Tehja and Taylor.