FYI: we have a really big thread on this topic.

Thanks. I'll head up on that thread.

OP, chiming in here late so here we go:

1. Great job reading the sticky. Hope you found it useful

2. Don't arrive with cash (USD). Will do nothing but make you look more American and help you lose via exchange rate at the hotel. As others have said, bring your ATM card. Work fine all over China and you should have no issue where you're going.

3. With respect to the concern for your wife, in general if you stay with tour groups you'll be fine/safe or around your hotels and go to main areas. In some sense, unless you are Asian you won't be able to avoid folks coming up to you asking you to buy things. Tour groups (some) do run people through souvenir shops, but I haven't ever heard of one that forces you to buy anything

4. If you stay at western hotels with status as some discussion has been around, you'll be fine. Remember to utilize hotel staff who speak English and Chinese to help you.

Greetings from Beijing, mnredfox!

Thanks for your note. After some problems due to the Midwest's blizzard, we made it to PEK and managed to find our luggage which had arrived a day ahead of us.

I don't recall any comments in the sticky about the airport being so impressive and beautiful. Now, if only they would turn on the heat....

Absolutely no problems at immigration. Prearranging transportation to the hotel was a smart move for us. Followed advice from you and others in this thread and brought minimal cash; we're using ATMs as necessary.

Great Wall tour took us to the Mutianyu section as had been recommended by many in another thread. The bitter cold didn't dampen our excitement -- or awe -- at being at the Wall.

Wish the wife had read the comments about the tea ceremony -- we're now the owners of a $50 tin of tea!

The staff at the Hilton Beijing off the 3rd Ring have been very helpful. My Gold status doesn't do much but it did get the room upgraded (I think) and free Internet access.

Lots to explore in the next week and a half. We're hoping temps improve (as I'm sure you and the other Beijing-based FT'ers do) but, regardless, we're excited to be here in China!

Alka

P.S.: Got a great bit of advice from a UA pilot seated behind us and commuting into ORD. When I asked him about shopping in Beijing, he suggested speaking with the FAs and getting their recommendations. We did, as well as with the First Officer, and picked up some solid recommendations made from personal experience.

They go to the same markets as other tourists.

Glad that you are enjoying yourselves, and you're clearly made of sturdy stuff to be enjoying the GW.

Re: tea -- it's highly possible that you were not (very) scammed. Tea can be extraordinarily expensive here -- some teas go for many, many thousands of dollars a kg, and it is quite common to buy a small 'tin' of tea for US$30-$100.

So instead of fretting, I would show off your highly expensive tea to your friends back home!

tb

True the Chinese go overseas to buy the real stuff.
Of course if you want an LV bag for 20 bucks Beijing markets have a good selection.

I vote for, "not scammed, but probably didn't negotiate very well." I've never heard of the scam being run for less than Y1,500.

Yep, that was what I sort-of meant to say. The sum was too small for a tea-ceremony scam.

tb

Win hop fung. Monterey Park
The tea can be super expensive

I think its calculated at 9usd per gram ..to 36 usd per gram.
More expensive than humbolt kush.


http://pbr76.photobucket.com/albums/...pensivetea.jpg

Welcome to China. Glad it's working so far. Don't get too impressed with the PEK airport, many more bigger and better ones to be seen in China (and lots of bad ones too).

I wouldn't worry too much about the tea. Keep in mind good tea is expensive, so just consider it that. The true tea ceremony scam has you paying for tea a bunch of other people drank.

Glad you made it out of the midwest. MN right now is 5F and it's been raining cats and dogs in NoCal. Though for snow lovers Tahoe has gotten 8-10 feet in the past 7 days.

Enjoy, and make sure to try some adventurous food. It'll make the stories better when you get home.

Not to veer too OT, but I believe that T3 is the world's second largest airport building (the largest in China by quite a long way), and one of the world's largest buildings full stop.

I also agree that it is a very beautiful building, although I tend to notice it less and less these days, the awe giving way to the wanting to rush through the crowds.

tb

C'mon Moondog. be honest with them about the taxi situation. My wife and I are experienced world travelers and she was in tears over not being able to get taxis in Beijing. Less of a problem in Xi'an and Datong, but still a problem. Taxis in Beijing will pass you to pick up a Chinese person routinely and it took us over an hour to get taxis to pick us up at tourist sites. Pretty much the only way we could get a taxi was to have a hotel or restaurant arrange one or to get an indie driver from Moondog which even then has reliability issues and significant expense. To be honest with the OP, as a non native speaker, Beijing was the second most difficult city we've traveled in after Delhi (Asia, Europe, S. America). It's not impossible, but it's quite difficult. A Chinese guide should uncomplicate your logistics and make your day go by more smoothly and should alleviate frustrations. On both my trips to China, we didn't see some things we wanted to as a result of difficult transportation issues and language is a massive issue.

My reply was in regard to transit from the airport; taxis aren't allowed to refuse pickups from the airport so there is no need to worry about being passed by.

But equally, let's be honest that your experiences of China do not accurately reflect those of the vast majority of visitors -- either in experience itself (i.e. yes, getting cabs can be a pain, but not as bad as you suffered) or in perception.

Not to dispute that your trip was ruined -- but this does not necessarily mean that others will suffer the same fate or, importantly, have as bad a time.

For any savvy FTer who has read the relevant threads, they will realise that a) most Chinese DO NOT speak English and b) taxis in Beijing are cheap, but getting them at peak times in peak locations can be tricky but c) neither of these two facts require one to either hire a private hotel car or a private guide to enjoy Beijing.

tb