Was in Beijing over Thanksgiving.
1.. Stayed at the Grand Hyatt on the Club Floor. Because it included breakfast it was a good deal. Big breakfast and snacks on the street made it easy to go all the way to dinner.
2. The shopping mall connected to the Hyatt was disappointing. It was all American and European stores, big name brands. But it had a food court which was good for lunch. You must first buy a plastic card at the cashiers for a set amount of money. Then you visit the food stall you like and then debit that card you have. Lots of very interresting Asian food.
3. At the airport you can get a taxi downtown for about 100 Yuan. You -MUST- be careful and insist on price and meter before hand. Look for the official taxi stand and queue. You will be hassled unmercifully by other drivers. One had grabbed our luggage and was halfway inside the parking garage when he finally said he wanted 400 Yuan. If we hadn't known 100 was the going price we would have really been taken.
4. Good rule of thumb is always make sure the taxi you are in has a meter. Taxis aren't very expensive. The hotel will give you a card with its address on one side and the address ofd your destination on the other. The doorman will tell the driver and also give him the card. And the doorman will make sure it is metered. That takes the risk out of the taxi situation. We took taxis on the street as well, making sure they were memtered and then showing the hotel's card. We were not so successful showing the drivers a map of Beijing. Most drivers could not read the map.
5. The street signs are in Chinese and below that the same sound in Roman letters. The hotel can give you a good tourist map that also has the streets in the Roman letters. Not hard to figure out where you are.
6. If you get lost the people are very friendly and willling to help. And it helps if you make some attempt at pronouncing the name yourself.The young people especially are not hesitant to try out their English. (Several times very young children approached us and spoke English just to see if we would respond.)
7. Beijing distances are enormous. Think of it as Los Angeles on steriods. Those one block distances are -very- long.
8. The subway tip was good one. We took it often to a neighborhood, got off, and then just explored. Again the signs are in Chinese and the Latin letters. Good maps on the platforms. I recommend the subway as well. My best recommendation if you enjoy walking is to do the same. Beijing is flat and easy to explore. (If you can stand the air pollution.)
9. WE hired a driver for $50 for the day to take us out to the wall. About a 2 hour drive and well worth it.
10. The China Club is a private club that the hotel can get you into for a dinner. I highly recommend it. It is in an old home converted to a club. Need to take a taxi to it - it is well beyond the central district.
11. Get money when you arrive via the ATM machine.
12. One last note the fabled pollution is bad. We took a picture at noon that you would swear was taken at 6P - all gray. I took lots of Vit C with me and kept popping it. Don't know if it kept me from getting a respiratory thing but it eased my mind.
13.. Beijing is walkable, enjoyable, and has many friendly people. A great place to visit and explore. It is -not- old China and do not expect to see lots of olds neighborhoods etc etc. It is in the midst of a giant building boom. I honestly felt as if I was in Los Angeles with the vast distances, wide boulevards, traffice, and unfortunately the smog.
14. One final note - the Forbidden City is impressive but the buildings themselves are pretty empty. The one thing missing from Beijing is a sense of what China was like (furniture, textiles, picutres, etc.). Guess the Cultural Revolution took care of all of that. Even the national art museum is pretty disappointing. Sad.