Arrival : Train and Taxi

When we landed, they had some health officials to come onboard to check everyone’s temperature for the H1N1 prevention, and no one was allowed to deplane until they finish checking everyone. Then they said we might be hold up, as one passenger was showing some sign of fever and had to be re-checked more carefully. Everyone was quite worried, but finally the pilot announced it was not a problem and we all deplaned uneventfully.

After we cleared immigration and customs, we took the airport train to the city. The driver-less train was just opened last year for the Olympics, and it costs RMB25 to get to town. But then we must have gotten off at the wrong location at the DongZhiMen station, while it connects well to the subway, we had to lug our bags up and down the stairs to get outside of the station to find a taxi to the hotel. Well, it was only a cheap RMB14 ride (around US$2).


Beijing airport express

Hotel : Hotel Kapok

We also checked out the TripAdvisor’s forum for the hotels in Beijing, and the Hotel Kapok just outside the palace has pretty good reviews. So we booked a stay of 3 nights here. The interior was super modern, and the rate on Orbitz was actually cheaper than booking directly from the hotel.


Hotel Kapok


Glass door bathroom


Activities : Bike Tour, Tinnamen Square, Great Wall, Olympic Stadium (Bird’s Nest), Summer Palace, Peking Duck, Palace

We checked out the night market nearby the hotel in our first night in Beijing, and also went to the WangFuJing shopping area. No, we did not try the scorpions on a stick


Night market

The Krakow bike tour was a very good experience, and we wanted to try this out in Beijing also. Only problem is it’s around 35C in Beijing, and we would be melted in the heat before we could bike. But we can’t let the heat spoil our vacation, can we? So we went to the bike tour office, and asked about the tour options. While they had regular scheduled tours, we were the only two customers interested that day, but the owner was very glad to give us a private tour at the regular price, and also loaded us with plenty of bottled waters. He also helped us take pictures as we were biking ! And we biked around the palace, visited the Hutong and many other interesting sites. Now we need to plan which city to bike next…


Biking in Hutong


Private bike tour

After a very tiring bike tour, it’s time to get re-energized with some good food, and we went to a restaurant near the hotel for some Peking noodle, sesame paste eggplant, preserved duck eggs and mustard cabbage. The food was good, only complaint is the soda can is only medium cold, not like the super ice cold one we need in this type of heat !


Famous Peking Noodle

Then we took a taxi to see the Tinnamen Square, and struck a deal with the taxi driver to take us to the Great Wall the next day.


Tinnanmen Square

We think taking a taxi to see the Great Wall is a better way than joining the tours offered by the hotel. The tours would probably cost about the same for 2 people compared to hiring a taxi for the whole day. But then by taking the taxi, we can go to the Great Wall early in the morning when it’s not as crowded or as hot. The regular tour all starts with visiting the Ming tombs in the morning, then go to the Great Wall in the afternoon and some require a forced stopover to visit a factory for some souvenir shopping, and we could better use our time if we have our own taxi.

We were also lucky that the taxi we hired was a British style one. There are two forward facing seats, and two fold down backward facing seats. Since there were only two of us, the backward facing seats were not used and we got tons of leg room in the taxi. This made it so much more comfortable for the long ride for the day.


British style taxi


More leg room than Economy Plus

We went to the MuTianYu section of the Great Wall, as while it’s a little farther, it’s not as over crowded as the BaDaLing section. Going up we took the ski lift, and coming down we had the option to take either the ski lift or the slideway. These facilities certainly add more excitement to the Great Wall visit. We hiked for about an hour in the Great Wall, and came down just when it began to get crowded around noon time.


Ski lift to the Great Wall


The Great Wall in Mutianyu


Slideway down

Then we stopped by the Olympic stadium for some picture taking, and onto the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is a big big park that one could spend the whole day there, and the exit our driver waited for us required us to walk around pretty much the whole park from where we entered. But the scenery is worth the long walk.


Olympic Stadium – Bird Nest


Summer Palace

We had a blast visiting the Great Wall, the Olympic Stadium and the Summer Palace. Then we were starving for some famous Peking Duck. We went to the Houhai area, had the duck dinner there and stopped by some bars for some enjoyable music afterwards.


Quan Ju De Peking Duck restaurant


Peking Duck


Bar in Houhai Lake

The next morning we took advantage of our hotel’s close proximity to the Palace Museum, and paid a quick visit before heading to the airport.


Palace museum