Beijing, China

Where: Beijing

Time of Year Visited: March 2017 and April 2019

Weather: Dry, very warm, overcast (smog)

Flights: Long layover en-route to Thailand

Accommodation: NONE- no stay due to long layover throughout the day

Currency: Renminbi (RMB) or Yuan (¥) (¥1 = £0.11/ ¥100= £11.15)

Getting Around: public bus, taxis and private tour cars are all available.

Excursions: 

Beijing was a very busy and fast paced city, there was no shortage of cars, pedestrians and bicycles. It is a very vibrant and crowded city full of markets, places of worship, restaurants and commercial shops. During my first visit in March 2017, I used my long layover coming back from 5 weeks solo in Thailand to visit The Great Wall of China. I decided to organise the whole excursion before I left the UK as I knew both internet and time would be scarce. I organised my whole excursion via https://www.beijinglayovertour.com/; there are many tours which can be catered to layover length and depending on what you want to see, I chose the Mutianyu Great Wall half day (morning) Tour. They only accept payments via PayPal and in USD- for my tour I paid $90 (roughly £70). This excluded the cable cars and the Chinese café. 

My flight landed at 6:20AM to which I went directly to the security checkpoints for an entry Visa. All tourists will need a single-entry tourist Visa (L Visa) which will be valid for 30 days and will allow you to travel around China. Give yourself time as depending on where you are coming from and your passport, you may be subject to extra questioning before the Visa is granted. Luckily for me, my Visa was granted in about 15 minutes. I was provided all information about my tour before I left the UK, so I had printed versions of my ticket and instructions. I was picked up in the arrival’s hall at 9 AM by my tour guide Anne Lee and met the other traveller on my tour (only two of us as we both booked a private tour). The tour included all admissions fees, free water, fruit, a private air-conditioned car (VERY IMPORTANT IN THE HEAT lol) and accident/ casualty insurance. The drive to the wall took roughly an hour and during that time we passed quite a few monuments which our guide Anne Lee was very knowledgeable about and we also took a small detour for a few photo opportunities Anne Lee thought would be good.  Once we arrived at the Great Wall of China, we were given the option to trek up the hill to the wall or take the cable cars, we both opted for the cable cars but these came at an extra cost. Anyone thinking of going to the Great Wall of China I would highly recommend it- the views on the cable cars, the wall itself and the views across Mongolia and Beijing are unmatched! I genuinely enjoyed learning about the history of the Wall and taking in the sights, once done we were taken to a Chinese café for lunch and then drove back towards the airport for 1 PM. 

Standing Tall on The Great Wall

Entrance

Views from the top

During my second visit in April 2019 me and my sister decided to go to Tiananmen Square, we did not have enough time to do a big excursion and my sister was not particularly interested in seeing the Great Wall. We opted to take public transport from the airport T3 via Dongzhimen towards Qianmen, the ticket cost ¥30 and the bus took around 45- 50 mins, for the square you will need to get off on the fourth stop.

On the hunt for food

   

Me and my sister on the bus

We spent around 4-5 hours walking around, this included buying a few souvenirs and going to a restaurant. Our time was very much overshadowed by the social interactions we had with the locals. The staring, pointing, people coming up to us grabbing our hair/ faces, rubbing our skin, taking pictures without consent and ushering us into their group photos forcefully was just some of the ways we were alienated while walking around. Due to this, we decided to not go back to the Forbidden City and instead made our way back to the airport via taxi. 

Food: We were treated very politely in a small family run restaurant we went to; the food was great, and the owner’s wife noticed we were unable to read the menu so just asked us what ingredients we liked eating. The chef made us a dish with the ingredients we chose which was delicious, it was a sweet and spicy chicken dish with carrots and peanuts with a side of boiled rice. Unfortunately, we were so caught up looking for somewhere with an English menu/ menu with pictures that we did not get the name of the eatery. 

Not quite sweet n sour, not quite Kung po chicken but delicious

Overall:  On my first visit my interaction with locals was very limited as I was picked up directly at the airport with an English-speaking guide and was accompanied the whole time. Everyone at the Great Wall of China was either a tourist or guide and all the soldiers there were friendly. However, on my second visit the negative interactions really shaped my view on China. I was there for a short period of time, but I really disliked the locals and how we were treated; even the police were impolite and refused to help us with directions to Tiananmen Square once getting off the bus but helped another tourist by explaining to him IN ENGLISH. It was draining just trying to walk around and find food or souvenirs when you are being gawked at like a zoo animal. The airport staff were also very stand offish and were extremely unwilling to help. 

I do believe all the experiences I have had are worth it, but I will not return to China, even on a layover. 

TOP TIP: The internet in china is poor at best, try and research everything you need in advance and print everything (maps, restaurants and locations you want to visit, words such as thank you, please, help etc). This will help communication greatly (my translator app did not work out there, so I was stuck) and although I had researched routes into the city and where we wanted to go, effectively communicating it in order to get help with directions was difficult.

1 out of 5

★☆☆☆☆