Transport in Forbidden City?
 

Sorry to bother anyone again, but I contacted two tour companies in Beijing and got two contradictory replies. My sister cannot walk much. If we go to the Forbidden City, do they allow pedicabs inside to take people around or is walking the only option???

Mary-

Howdy fellow Brooklynite! We'll be in the forbidden city likely April 23 (maybe 22nd, depends on other tour plans). You?

If you truly get stuck getting an answer, I'll contact a colleague physician in Beijing who is likely to know the 'real' answer.

Steve

The Forbidden City is full of steps (not to mention gates with high thresholds), so I don't think that there is really any way to get around without walking. If your sister is mobility-restricted, I don't think she'll get much out of this site.

That being said, there are other options in Beijing, including the Temple of Heaven, which is newly restored and beautiful.

Hi Steve: We arrive in Beijing evening of 4/18. We have an orientation on the morning of the 19th. I booked some day tours with a Chinese company so on the 20th we are scheduled for half day hutong tour and then in evening, a Kungfu show. Afternoon and evening of 20th, doing a local village tour which includes cooking and dining with Chinese family. Sooooooooooo we are free later day 19th and all day 22nd. We must do some shopping as well. Unfortunately, we leave for Shanghai on the 23rd and have to get to the Great Wall as well.

Well thanks for the mobility information folks. Not too optimistic then...but will do our best under the circumstances.

Alas, we arrive late on the 21st... ah well!

S

Well, at least I'll still be around. And, your dates happen to coincide with Sonic Youth!

There are no pedicabs inside the Forbidden City itself. As someone else noted, there are lots of stairs, but there are, of course, wide open areas. China is, unfortunately, not particularly well-suited for limited mobility visitors. The doorways of all older buildings, both interior and exterior, have fairly high sills that must be stepped over (there's a reason for this), you'll find stairways with inconsistent riser/tread ratios all over the place as well as steep ramps and inclines. With that said, I frequently see less mobile tourists -- some using canes or wheelchairs, some simply walking very slowly and taking rests -- whenever I go to China. Your sister may find the experience challenging, but I'd recommend that she go anyway -- China's an amazing country and the Forbidden City is absolutely awesome, particularly when you realize that as recently as a 100 years ago or so only royalty and those attending royalty were admitted beyond its gates.

A few more questions: What is Sonic Youth??? And...someone just e mailed me that while you can take the cable car up the Great Wall you have to walk down. Is this true? BTW, I really appreciate all the info I'm getting here. I'll buy lunch for anyone here that's available.

Umm . . . I don't know. Noisy Teenagers? ;)

There are several ways to get up to the Great Wall. When we went to Badoling, there was a little tram . . . I'm not sure how to describe it . . . it looked like a ride you might see at Disneyland . . . that took us up. You could ride it down (my wife did), but it looked a little too much like a rollercoaster to me, so I decided to walk. She said it wasn't bad -- there's an operator who drives it and they use the brakes all the way down to limit the speed. Once the tram gets you to the top, there is still a set of steep stairs necessary to get you to the top of the Wall and, of course, the Wall itself has a lot of steep stairs and inclines. I would expect that your sister might find it considerably more challenging than, for example, the Forbidden City.

You can get an idea of how steep it is from this picture:

Great Wall

Incidently, I'd strongly, strongly recommend that you reconsider day tours and tourist shows. Beijing is a fascinating city, but these kinds of things really just insulate you from the experience. It's very easy to hire a pedicab driver to see the Hutong area and I guarantee it will be cheaper and more fun than an organized tour. I also second the recommendation to visit the Temple of Heaven, which is spectacular and set in a very flat area that's not hard to navigate (though the scale is quite large). Here's a picture: Temple of Heaven

Tours usually go at fast clip
 

Keep in mind tour groups usually go at fairly quick pace, in order to 'get it all in'...local chinese tours are no different. You might want to reconsider and take advice of others for a more leisurely option. IMHO

Sonic Youth is a NY punk band that was sort of big during the 80s and 90s. Nowadays, I would guess that they are "youthful" only in spirit, but I'm still looking forward to their first China show (April 23 at the Star Live).

Okay, I'm convinced. Can anyone tell me how far the Temple of Heaven is from the center of the city. We are staying at the Capital Hotel which is close to Tianammen Square. Do we just hail a taxi??? How does one get transportation on one's own???

In my book, anything inside 2nd ring (e.g. ToH) qualifies as the "city center".

I estimate that you'll be ~2 km away.

yes

refer to previous question/answer

We always take taxis. A couple of points:

1. Get your hotel concierge to write down the name AND address of wherever you're going in characters. Show it to the taxi driver. As a rule, taxi drivers will not speak any English.

2. Make sure you have a card from your hotel with the name and address so that you can get back. Most keycards will have this information.

3. Taxi drivers in Beijing are, frequently, newly arrived from provincial towns. Many aren't particularly familiar with the city. Don't be surprised if they don't know where you want to go. If you hit one of those, just get out of the taxi and call another one.

4. You can hail taxis on the street, just like in New York. However, there are some places where taxis are not permitted to stop.

5. Make sure that the driver turns on the meter. If a driver doesn't want to use a meter, get out of the taxi. This won't usually be a problem, but Beijing is a very big city with lots of taxi drivers and there are a few bad apples among them.

6. Beijing roads are arranged (primarily) as a series of concentric rings connected by spokes. Traffic is quite bad in Beijing and during rush hour (which is, essentially, morning until night, it can take quite a while to go between the rings -- think cross-town traffic in Manhattan.

7. Avoid the hotel "black cars." Though they're nicer than taxis, they'll gouge you.

8. If you have any problems (and it's highly unlikely that you will), just head into any hotel. There will be at least one staff person who speaks English, and he or she will be happy to help you, even if you're not a guest.

Taxis are cheap and plentiful in Beijing. However, with that said, given your sisters mobility issues, you might want to consider hiring a private car. It's not very expensive and you'll have the added security of knowing there is always a car and driver available to you.

In preparation for the Olympics, China has been installing street signs in Chinese and English, at least on major thoroughfares, so it's a little easier to get around than it once was.

Oh, one more point about the Temple of Heaven. It's in a large park-like area, and there's lots to see there besides the Temple itself. One thing we liked is that, on the way to the Temple, there is a long covered portico where afficiandos of Peking Opera like to gather. You'll find dozens of people engaged in impromptu performances, both musicians and singers. These aren't street entertainers -- they're not doing it for money, nor is it appropriate to offer any. They're just locals, frequently elderly, who love Peking Opera and get together with their friends to indulge their passion by singing and playing. We had a blast just going from group to group and watching and listening (and some of them were quite good, while others were . . . well . . . interesting. ;)).

Buy yourself a roasted yam from one of the many vendors outside the gates to the Temple of Heaven grounds. They're sold out of large roasters that look like trash cans, cost only a couple of yuan and they're very, very good (hmmm, I can taste one now).