Putting the ka-CHING in Beijing

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I love Beijing! This would be my second time in the capital and I spent over a week hanging out, eating dumplings, getting spat on by locals, watching fake dvds and losing my patience over the lack of common sense and basic human decency regarding either lining up for KFC or getting onto a train (the C word was used A LOT, mostly combined with the F word). These are my Top 5 Beijing things to do! Because I love lists.


1. The Watercube at night.

The Watercube was my favourite site in all of Beijing. The colour of the lights at nighttime is the most incredible blue you have ever seen, and I have to say it impressed me far more than the Summer Palace did (which may be culturally blasphemous, but I don’t care!) It also inspired me with a desperate desire to go swimming, so I headed back the following day with togs and towel in hand and did laps in the Olympic Warm Up Pool! The price was ridiculous, 50Yuan entrance fee, followed by 20Yuan for a test to prove that you can actually swim (the test being a 200m swim - random), and then after I had paid both fees was told I couldn’t go swimming without a swimming cap. So I found a dodgy (and completely random yet convenient) seller of swimming caps outside the stadium and purchased the brightest and ugliest swim cap you would ever see. But totally worth it.

2. Beijing Subway

The Metro, not the food chain! I could ride these trains all day and not get sick of them, they are so clean, so fast, so frequent and so easy to use. Maybe it’s because I live in Sydney and you would never, ever describe our trains as ‘fast’ or ‘frequent’ and certainly not ‘clean’. Or it could have something to do with the absolute joy of watching the fighting between locals to get that last seat. In each carriage there are roughly only 20 seats, so getting that last seat has nothing to do with luck, but more to do with pushing, hair pulling, cursing, shoving and usually ends with a massive smug smile on the seat victors face and constant muttering under the breath of the loser of the fight for the rest of the trip. Hours of entertainment!

3. The Silk Markets

I quickly became the most hated person in the markets because I am sick of being ripped off, and refuse to be treated like a dumb, unsuspecting tourist who will happily pay 10 times the reasonable price. So I bargain, and I bargain hard. If their asking price is 700 Yuan, my starting price is 40. I will not budge until I get it. I usually do get it, but not without also being told I am mean, and a ‘not nice’ tourist. Whatever. A particular Jimmy Choo bag got my attention so I shopped around different stores and the starting prices differed over 200 yuan depending on what shop you went to. That’s just ridiculous. I did find the ultimate art to the hard haggle. I found that sellers will do anything to sell you what you want, so I began telling them that I only had 50 yuan in my wallet for a 800 yuan bag, and after about 10 minutes of constant repeating that no I will not pay 800, or 600 or even 150 Yuan (last price for you lady!) I have 50Y and that is what I will pay. Works every time 😊

4. Toboggan Ride at Mutianyu Great Wall

Mutianyu was far more interesting than the Simatai section of the Great Wall, mainly due to the fact that it was easier to climb (thanks to a chair lift that took us near the top), the Wall itself was spread out more interestingly which made for better photos, and the awesomeness that was the toboggan ride down to the bottom! Whoever decided to put a toboggan ride near the Great Wall is a genius; yes it may have slightly ruined the historical aesthetic to the Wall itself, but hell it was fun!


5. The Summer Palace

Maybe it’s nicer on a sunny day? It’s a massive area and consists of awesomely named buildings such as ‘Hall of Embracing The Universe’ and ‘Temple of Timely Rains and Extensive Moisture’. Hmmm what else... there’s a big lake?!

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