sleep issue ? .. & fireworks...

If you want sleep, stay at the Hilton airport. But the Hilton Wangfujing is a great property and near some walk around tourist sites. Both have truly great breakfast buffet's.

For a first BJ trip, seeing one night of CNY fireworks is worthy.

Ah, what the heck, it will be a noisy yet memorable first time in BJ. I doubt you will get much sleep, but you have all the other days of your life to do that. :p I'd keep your current travel plans.

The travel zoo is mostly this week. By evening of the 23rd, the mad rush to/from and about the city will be over and you will be in a lull period; in fact, you will be surprised at how light traffic is. A lot of small shops and things will be closed, though hotel-related things will be open. Typically full streets will be uncrowded and maybe nearly deserted. Except around the Temple Fair locations, which is where all the Beijingers will be if not at home relaxing and stuffing their faces. Perhaps consider stopping into one for an hour or so. I'm not sure if major tourist attractions like the Forbidden City will be open on the 24th, maybe...

FC should be open, of course T Square will be.
Quite close to WFJ...worth a look see as those 2 are
in top 5 sites to see in China.

I would think the tea scammers will be on holiday as not too many foreign tourists during cny...but still watch out.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm not worried about the sleep, actually looking forward to the fireworks...as long as there's no issues getting to Wangfujing at midnight in a taxi!

Hmm... a lot of taxi drivers may be on holiday as well I suspect? Perhaps book a car through the hotel?

No taxis at PEK...that's impossible.

No taxis at PEK during CNY? This is what I was worried about...

I don't think so. While it's true that lots of taxi drivers have removed themselves from the pool during the past ~3 days, demand has dropped even more markedly. What's more, traffic is tolerable, and the AQI index has dipped below 50 on a few occasions (unrelated to taxis, but very much related to the quality of life).

我祝大家春节快乐. 龙年马上到. :)

The fireworks have really started in earnest in our complex...it's been fun so far!

Crazy or no, we're going to try to head across town to a friend's to see new year in...if we can get a cab.

Happy Year of the Dragon all! It's been great meeting and getting to know many of you...and hope to meet the rest in this next auspicious year.

tb

The water dragon is supposedly bringing all of us lots of money. :D

Really noisy here with fireworks going off all over the place. From almost all of the windows in our 31st floor apartment, we can see them all over.

Went to Sanlitun early evening and firecrackers going off all over the streets, the bar we went to is only open until 2am..................

Trublu, looking forward to meeting you at the next Beijing meet up, will have to arrange for sometime in Feb.

Moondog, where did you end up going?

Happy NY China Fters!

I'm in Ding-Yuan, Anhui Province. Fireworks are over now. Time to wish everyone a Happy New Year. :)

I'm still here, and have yet to book a ticket out of town. Though I still want to leave, I'm really digging the lack of pollution/traffic (my 2 biggest issues about BJ life); as much as I hate the cold weather, I can cope as long it comes long with AQI scores < 100. Furthermore, the fireworks were much tamer than year's past. Go Patriots!