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For the Eid al Adha break, I was joining our Trekkup trip to Mongolia, connecting through Beijing. Since it did not start until late Tuesday, my friend and I decided to take advantage of the 144-hour visa for many foreigners at various entry cities across the country. The first section goes into the process since I know China has only just started to open up again and people are unfamiliar with some of the requirements.
Arrival procedures Our flight left super early Friday morning and we arrived at the airport at 9:15 pm on Thursday; it took us 2 hours to check-in - it was busy but it was also apparently difficult to get confirmation that we could land and stay in Beijing. The first of many times this question was asked. The flight itself was fine, I had trouble sleeping, but it was a nice plane and quiet. On landing, it was clear the international terminal had not been much in use and we were supposed to get our fingers printed in a kiosk first thing. Then we tried to find where to get our 144-hour visa issued; there was a clear sign over one counter as well
as the check-in for other flights (noted for future), but there was no one there. So, we were told to go on the other side of the terminal, but first having to do our health declaration, which we were assisted with by personnel (it said on the site you were supposed to do online before the flight, but it did not work and it seemed to be common theme). We were stopped near immigration, trying to explain what we needed; it was strange because there was a blue banner advertising the 144-hour visa on the glass wall surrounding the terminal, but no one seemed to know about it. Finally, we were directed to go on the other side of the terminal past the other health check-in area, when we finally found the transit visa desk. It was just the two of us and one other guy getting a 24-hour visa. It took a little while, but we got it, went through immigration, took the train to main terminal, got bags and breathed a sigh of relief - first hurdle complete! I will say, even though it took over two hours to get through the airport, and few people spoke English,
everyone was super friendly and helpful.
Then we found where we needed to catch the airport express train which was like a sauna. However, the tickets can only be purchased by cash (or a QR scan code linked to Chinese bank), so we had to go back into the terminal and find a bank where I withdrew some money. Went back. Now the machines don't take anything bigger than a 50 and our smallest denomination was 100. Finally, a worker came into the booth and gave us change to purchase. Once we got the ticket, it was easy - fortunately, once you went through the turnstile, there were a couple of waiting rooms with a bit of AC and a nice bench painted as keyboard. The train was nice and fairly easy to follow. We found our stop before leaving, which was the last on the line
I had booked a hotel near the Forbidden City, but about a 15-minute walk from the nearest metro line. Beixinqiao was our station and connects to Line 5 which we had planned to take to get closer. However, once again, the machines only took small bills, so we were kind of
screwed. We decided to try walking and see if we could get a taxi. I do NOT recommend a taxi - they were mean and I have yet to hear a positive comment about taxis in Beijing yet. So, we made it to the next station through the unexpectedly hot weather, and thankfully a very nice worker approached us and helped us get our ticket, two stops later, which really helped. Then it was about 15 minute walk and we easily found Hotel Kapok.
We checked into our room, which was roomy, though the bathroom had no door whatsoever - weird. We walked towards the Forbidden City and took some photos as it was nearing sunset. Then we found a nice little restaurant with friendly staff. They spoke no English and the menu was only Chinese, so we pointed at the pictures and used a translate app. We had a yummy (though somewhat expensive dinner) of roasted duck (yum!), sticky shrimp and a couple of cold beers. We walked towards Tiananmen Square to walk off the food, and walked along the red wall along the perimeter of Forbidden City area and back to the hotel.
Forbidden City / Jinshan Park
I knew we may have trouble accessing Forbidden City without booked tickets and we did. I had tried to do it online, but it was not easy to understand and I gave up. They only allow like 40,000 people in per day, so tickets are limited. We decided to try anyway and fully intended to visit Tiananmen Square. On the way, a guy on a bike told us we would be unable to go, but he was a tour guide, named Jack, and he would take us to Forbidden City. We were skeptical and said we would keep walking; he said he would wait for 10 minutes as he knew we would be rejected. We went through a police checkpoint where they looked at our passports, then saw the line to Forbidden City and you clearly needed to have a QR code as well as a timed entry. So, we found out how to walk across the street but you also needed tickets to Tiananmen Square and the National Museum. Tickets? For the largest public square in the world? Crazy. But yes, there were many thousands of people already queueing and it was not even 9 am.
So, we returned to Jack and he told us the price (which I had noted was similar to what i had seen online), so we accepted. He got us bikes to ride to the entrance.
I knew it could not be this easy, and we entered at Jinshan Park, just north of Forbidden City. Here we easily entered and he took us around the park to visit the museum, which is housed in the former home of the emperor's favorite concubine. He said much of the buildings here are about 500 years old and were refurbished in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics. It was quite interesting. Jack also said in Forbidden City itself, you could not actually enter the buildings, whereas you could here; not sure yet if that is true. We also visited the palace of the emperors, of which 8 had previously lived here instead of Forbidden City. This was also refurbished and had alcoves devoted to each of them. He explained Feng Shui to us, as well as the typical flora and fauna on the paintings and sculptures. The dragon represented the emperor, the phoenix the queen, and there are also horses of the sea (not
a seahorse) and flying horses - basically, imaginary animals for greater powers. The peony represents rich people, and the type of flower planted in the royal gardens. The red and yellow represent the royal family.
Then we walked through the park and up to the watchtower, which was a short steep slope and the heat was really starting to hit at this point. However, from here are amazing views of the city. To the north, you can see the line running north south and heading towards the Drum Tower, which we planned to visit later. On the other side, you got to see directly into Forbidden City from above, which was really a great view! After this, we parted ways with Jack - we were slowing down and he probably had more money to make today. So, we took our time coming down into the park, then slowly made our way to the north side of the Park.
Hutong We used the Lonely Planet walking tour to visit the historic Hutong areas, which took you past the old mansion courtyards from the Qing Dynasty, the home of the wife of the last emperor, and along the pedestrian
only shopping street which had a bunch of typical tourist delights. I tasted and tried some iced teas, buying a very expensive sample. I cannot stress enough how hot it was here. We stopped for a coke in a diner. Wandered the narrow streets, which was so interesting to see the homes that were built in among these old buildings - so cool! Later, we stopped at one of the street restaurants for some delicious dumplings.
I really loved how prevalent the free public restrooms are throughout the city. I saw them everywhere and finally used one in the Hutong area; it was actually clean and quiet. They are tucked away within the buildings, fitting in nicely, but signs make it clear where they area.
Drum Tower After the neighborhood tour, we arrived at the impressive 47m tall Drum Tower. However, it was so hot that the first thing we did was buy vanilla popsicles to cool down. Then we purchased tickets at the entrance (no problem), and entered. As we walked up the stairs to the first level, I heard the beat of drums and we hurried up the steep steep steep stairs to the upper
level, where we were just able to see the end of the drum performance. I think they do it every 20 or 30 minutes. It is a mini-display of some of the old drums. It was originally built in 1272, but has been moved and renovated a couple of times since. In 1924, it was used as a timekeeping tool, one of a few across the city. The Drum Tower and Bell Tower are at the northern end of the Central Axis of Beijing, extending approximately 8 km to the south through the former core of old Beijing. The balcony of the upper level of Drum Tower gives a good view towards the south.
There is also a museum in the lower level of Drum Tower, which was actually quite interesting. There are a few displays such as artefacts and a visual display of Beijing on the wall, showing areas where there were timekeeping pieces and how citizens could hear them. I also liked a wall display of various vendors shouting their wares in Chinese, which you could hear after pushing the relevant button.
Great Leap Brewing L really wanted to find a brewery, I can't remember
why. But it was not very clear exactly where it was (google maps works but is not fully supported here). We knew it was in the Hutong area, so we walked back, up and down a couple of streets and just when we thought this was the last chance, we saw a few guys smoking outside the stone wall and looked up - there it was! It was great! We wound up staying long enough to have three beers each (never once even needing to pee - dehydration maybe??). It was pretty good and the bartenders were not overly friendly, but very responsive. It was quiet and just a really nice change of pace. Highly recommend!
We took the subway back and L wound up sleeping for like 16 hours! The best part, was when we the elevator doors opened at the hotel, a robot butler wheeled out on its own!!!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
The complexity of visiting
It sounds like you've made the best of the situation.