Dear Reina,
On behalf of my family and myself I would like to thank you and your people who made our trip to Beijing so memorable. Your last minute help in arranging our private tour and the tour itself were fabulous. Our guide and driver were wonderful and enhanced our experience of your fascinating city enormously. We brought away many happy memories from our trip which we will cherish for a long time to come. Even my 2 and 4 year old children enjoyed the sightseeing. Our guide, Michael, was particularly patient and kind with them and I appreciate this greatly. This was our first private tour and is definitely the way to see a big city when travelling with family. I have already recommended you to some friends who will be in Beijing next week so you may hear from them and I will have no hesitation in recommending you to others visiting Beijing also.
Thank you once again and keep up the good work.
Yours sincerely,
Donna Wakeling, USA
Hello! My name is John Damalas. My wife and I took a 5-day tour of Beijing in June 2006. Even before arriving in Beijing, I received fantastic service from Ms.Crystal Dong - travel advisor from tour-beijing.com. All of my questions regarding the tour or China in general were always promptly replied to. My tour guide Stanley, was very nice and spoke English well. He was able to answer my questions during the tour and always had an interesting fact to share with me that made the tour even more memorable. I would recommend this tour agency to family and friends and would take another tour the next time I am fortunate enough to visit Beijing.
Day 01( July 21 ): Arrival at Beijing
We arrived in Beijing at 5:30pm by CA986 just in time to see the sunset. Quite a nice welcome to Beijing. Actually, it was daylight flight for most of the time. We left the States in the afternoon and flew against the sun the entire flight in time to see it set in Beijing. After the smooth Immigration and Customs at the Beijing International Airport, we went out and expected our tour guide in Beijing. But the first things I saw were a Starbucks and a KFC framed in the doorway to the side of the airporthall. Later in our trip in Beijing, we found lots of Starbucks and KFCs. We saw more KFC and Starbucks than any other American chains! Meeting our tour guide:
We went through the crowds of people and found our tour guide - Stanley Li , holding a little white piece of paper with Beijing Xinhua International Tours written in light green highlighter. It was not very visible, but we did found him anyhow. Stanley Li looked very kind and gave us a big smile. He took us across the two vehicle lanes in front of the airport and got to the parking lot. Our driver, Mr. Liu helped us to drop off our luggage and put into the luggage rack of the car. Stanley Li said the black would accommpany us for the 5-day tour in Beijing. He further explained that it was their national car - Red Flag Car!
18:30 -19:30 Drive to Tiantan Hotel
It was a peak hour and the traffic was heavy. Mr. Liu did quite a good job and drove us to Tiantan Hotel faster than we expected. We stood at the frontdesk for registration. We showed our passport and soon we got the room card with key. The bellboy came with us into our room. We tipped him US$ 1. No dinner was provided on the first night and free for rest of the day. Stanley Li made a morning call for us at 7:30am and 9:00am for pick-up time. Tiantan Hotel
The Tiantan Hotel that was included with my tour was fantastic! It was in a very convinient location. I was checked-in very quickly and then was pleased to find a nice, spacious, modern room. I just wish my room was on a higher floor so I could have had a view of the Temple of Heaven. Tiantan Hotel is a Four-star international hotel designed with a drum-bell outlook, located in Tiyuguan Road, downtown Beijing. It stands in vicinity to the Tiantan(Temple of Heaven).
Looking for snacks and food
No dinner. The hotel offered very good dinner buffet. But we tried to explore a little and left the hotel, turn left. We got to a fairly busy street which had some local restaurants. We chosen one restaurant that didn't look fancy, neat and cozy. We ordered Jiaozi. It was delicious. After dinner, my wife Mary looked very tired. We went back and had a deep sleep.
Day 02 ( July 22 ): Beijing - Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and Summer Palace 6:30-8:30 Breakfast at Tiantan Hotel
The breakfast buffet was delicious. There were plenty of choices and it exceeded my expectations. We ate a lot because we wanted to try a little of everything. Later we soon came to know it was also one of best food we were going to get in Beijing. So each morning we both had a lot for breakfast. 9:00-10:15 Temple of Heaven
We had booked a private tour instead of a large group. The first attraction we visited was Temple of Heaven ( Tiantan ). Temple of Heaven was actually a park, neat and big. There are a lot of locals, retired people who come here in the morning to hang out with friends and do morning exercises. There was a lot of activity everywhere you looked around. Our guide told us about people playing Taichi ball. In the open areas, people also did ribbon dancing, ballroom dancing, playing cards and dominoes. There was music and singing.
The Temple of Heaven was constructed in 1420 AD during the Ming Dynasty as a site for the emperors to offer sacrifices to heaven. Many elements of the temple have symbolic meaning. For example, nine is a good and lucky number in Chinese culture.
Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
10:15-11:00 Tiananmen Square
After we got to the Square, we walked through a lot of people and a lot of vendors. The vendors were pretty aggressive, following us along selling knick knacks and books about the Square. I believe there was some law about vendors who are too aggressive. As we were walking along, some of the vendors looked behind me and then all at once they ran to and jumped over the fence to the sidewalk. I turned around to look for policemen but didn't see what they saw. At any rate, the vendors were back within minutes.
When we got to the end of the Square nearest the famous Tiananmen gate, our tour guide had a photographer take a picture of our whole group in front of the gate. That evening, he took orders for the picture and a Tianamen Square book for 120 RMB to be delivered the next morning.
Afterwards, we got some 10 minutes free time, but that was probably 5 minutes too long.
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
11:00-12:00 Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was a little bit letdown. Much of it was under renovation. The green drapes covering the buildings under renovation were unfortunate. I was a little disappointed to learn that some areas were under renovation in anticipation of the upcoming 2008 Olympics. Nonetheless, it felt like I was walking into a history textbook with all of the spectacular architecture and statues. The palace was built between 1406 and 1420, but was burnt down, rebuilt, sacked and renovated countless times, so most of the architecture you can see today dates from the 1700¡¯s and on wards. The Forbidden City was the seat of Imperial power for 500 years, and is now a major tourist attraction in China.
Forbidden City
Forbidden City
Forbidden City
12:20-14:20 Lunch
Lunch wasn't great. But parts of it were passable. We had 4 dishes and one soup. Later we knew we had the lunch more or less the same. But due to the different restautants, we did find some difference. Because we had most of the dinners on our own or at the hotel, we didn't find meals any problem during our trip to Beijing. One interesting thing you'll see is almost all the restaurants employ hostesses. Some of them were quite pretty! Mainly due to the sufficient labor market, many restautants can easily find very nice employees.
14:40-15:40 Pearl Market
After lunch, we went to the fresh water pearl market. It was our first experience with shopping as part of a tour. We were not real shoppers unlike other tourists who bought everything in sight! We saw one tourist bought a pretty US$600 gold pearl.
15:40-17:30 Summer Palace
The Summer Palace was a place I had not known of previously. It was nice enough but probably would be the most beautiful during the summertime. The Summer Palace was originally a royal garden and a temporary dwelling palace for emperors of Qing Dynasty, Its predecessor was the Garden of Clear Ripples (Qingyiyuan) started in 1750 and burned down by the British and French allied troops in 1860. In 1886, Empress Dowager Cixi used navy outlays and other funds in the reconstruction and renamed the park as Summer Palace in 1888. The Summer Palace in northwest suburban Beijing is the largest and most complete imperial garden existing in China. Just a note: one can walk or take a dragon boat across Kunming Lake. The boat ride was not included as part of the tour. Stanley told us to pay RMB 10 to have the boat ride. It was all right. The boat ride saved us some time. Actually I had hoped to take the ferry to the island in the middle of the lake!
Summer Palace
Summer Palace
Summer Palace
From the Summer Palace, we drove bqck to Tiantan Hotel.back to the entrance. Traffic in Beijing is pretty insane. It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the hotel. I asked Stanely how to hold the 2008 games since the traffic was so bad in Beijing. Our tour guide told us that for the 2008 Olympics, there were going to be serious traffic restrictions. For example, odd and even-numbered cars would alternate the days they would be allowed to drive into the city. So many bicycles and luxury cars
Not surprisingly, we saw many bicycles in Beijing. China is growing incredibly fast. And the gap between the rich and poor is big. Yes, we saw thousands of bicycles and many poor people. But we also saw a huge number of Audis and Mercedes all over the city.
As an metropolitan city, Beijing has a lot of Western influence. You can easily find many of the signs were both in Chinese and English. For the time we were in Beijing, I had a hard time feeling we were in China! To me it just looked like one really huge Chinatown. There was so much English, I almost thought that I could manage it by without understanding any Chinese. With the speed that China is developing at, I may not recognize Beijing the next time I return.
Day 03 ( July 23 ): Beijing - Ming Tombs and Badaling Great Wall 8:20-9:20 Bus to Banner Jade Store
Before we visited Ming Tombs, we first went to visit jade factory-like store. But the traffic was terrible traffic. Generally speaking, Beijing had a worse traffic everywhere. At 9:20 we did get to the store - Bona Jade Store or Banner Store www.bonajadestore.com.cn. The shop was very crowded. It seemed that we were in the period of Water Splashing Festival since there were many more tourists from Thailand. We were led to the second floor. It was said that the first floor was for the tourists from Southeast Asia,Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.
It is a combination of jade selling and jade carving, jade jade. Its sale area covers 3000 square meters. In the middle of our shopping, the store thinned out.
11:00-12:00 Ming Tombs
The Ming Dynasty Tombs are located 50 km north of Beijing. Thirteen Ming Dynasty emperors were buried in this area. The visit to Ming Tombs is generally combined with a visit to the Great Wall. Otherwise known as the ¡°13 Tombs¡±, this is the burial site of 13 out of 17 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. However, the only one you can et a good look at is the tomb of Emperor Wanli, who reigned from 1537 to 1620. This tomb was unearthed in 1956. One interesting thing was the fruit vendors all the places! They even put the fruit into our car and talked about aggressive marketing.
Ming Tombs
Ming Tombs
Ming Tombs
Ming Tombs
12:30-14:30 Lunch and Friendship Store & Cloisonne Factory
The dinning hall was on the second floor. The first floor was actually the cloisonne factory. Shopping again! The lunch was just mediocre. I was worried we wouldn't have enough time at the Great Wall. This restaurant is huge. The parking lot for this place was huge. With that many tour buses coming in and out, there's no need for them to serve a decent meal. It seems they don't even care about return business.
15:30-17:30 Great Wall at Badaling
The Great Wall is in fact now no longer contiguous. Much of it is in disrepair. Five sections have been rebuilt and repaved for tourist. They are Badaling Great Wall, Juyongguan Great Wall, Mutianyu Great Wall, Jinshanling Great Wall and Simatai Great Wall. We went to the section closest to Beijing at Badaling. This part of the wall was contructed during the Ming Dynasty. Badaling was the first part of the wall opened to the public in 1957. We took a cable car up and down. To commemorate, we bought a laminated certificate showing we had climbed the wall. Vendors could be found all along the way to the top. The wall is very steep in parts. It was a pity that it was a litte bit foggy. It was hard to make out the miles and miles of wall that extended off into the misty distance. At least it didn't rain as it looked like it was threatening to when we first arrived. Later we knew that July and August is the raining season in Beijing. We found a Starbucks at the wall! Many tourists took took the cable car up and down the wall. But we insisted on hiking by our feet.
Great Wall at Badaling
Great Wall at Badaling
Great Wall at Badaling
Day 04 ( July 24 ): Beijing - Hutong and Lama Temle 9:00-10:30 Visit Shichahai bar area and Hutong tour
First drive to Shichahai bar area. Mr. Stanley said that Shichahai area is a centraly preserved zone showcasing the life of old Beijing. It is comprised of three-lake area: Qian Hai Lake (Front Sea); Hou Hai Lake (Back Sea) and Xi Hai Lake(Western Sea). Lots of bars are clustered in the Shichahai area or along the Shichahai lakeshore. Then we were arranged to take a pedicab to visit Da Jinsi Hutong Tao, the most famous hutongs keeping the original layout. In the course of the hutong tour, we were arranged to visit Mr.Dacheng Bai, a local folk craftsman, famous for making "Zongren Bai", a traditional "Zongren", a kind the figurines of drama characters made from the hair of a pig or a horse, cloth and silk, listed a city-level intangible cultural heritage in Beijing.
Shichahai bar area and Hutong tour
Shichahai bar area and Hutong tour
Shichahai bar area and Hutong tour
Shichahai bar area and Hutong tour
10:30-12:00 Prince Gong's Mansion
Then move on to Prince Gong's Mansion. It was once the private living place of He Shen, a favorite minister of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it was first constructed in 1777. In 1851, the mansion was offered to Prince Gong by Emperor Xianfeng (1851-1862), hence the name. Now it is the most well preserved mansion in Beijing.
12:00-14:00 Lunch at Mr. Kang's courtyard home
I had interesting lunch experience at Mr.Kang's courtyard house. Mr. Kang was very kind. And his wife had prepared a simple but delicious lunch for us.
Mr. Kang's courtyard home
Mr. Kang's courtyard home
Mr. Kang's courtyard home
14:30-17:00 Lama Temple
After lunch, visit Lama Temple, also called the Yonghe Lamasery, or Yonghegong. It is the most handsome and impressive Buddhist temple in the city. Lama Temple was built in the 33 Qing Kangxi year (1694) and it is now the largest and best-preserved Lamasery of Yellwo Sect in Beijing. It was the residence of Emperor Yongzheng before his ascending to the throne. Built initially in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty, this building was the residence of Emperor Yongzheng when he was just a prince. However, in 1744 the Qing Dynasty formally changed the status of the dwelling to that of a lamasery, and so Yonghe Lamasery became the national centre of Lama administration.
Lama Temple
18:00-19:00 Peking Duck Dinner at Longtanhu Restaurant
I was surprised to see that other dishes were also included with my duck. The duck was juicy and tender and the waiters made sure I was taken care of. But the duck soup was not very good. My wife made a horrible face on the first taste. The soup. Maybe they were. I looked around and felt the other tourists also showed no interest in having the soup. Oh well, at least I can say I had Beijing Duck in Beijing, two of the must to do things in Beijing and the other is the great wall hiking.
19:30-20:45 Beijing Opera
We sit at the rear of the theater - Liyuan Theater nestled on the first floor of Qianmen Hotel. Next time if I came to enjoy Beijing opera, we'd prefer the seats at the front which would cost us around US$ 30 per person. Beijing Opera is a number of stylized action, including singing, dancing, dialogue and acrobatic fighting to tell a story or present different characters and their feelings of happiness, anger, sorrow, surprise, fear and sadness. In Peking opera there are four main types of roles: sheng (male) dan (young female), jing( painted face,male), and chou (clown, male or female). The characters may be loyal or treacherous, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, their images being vividly presented. After the show, we were returned to Tiantan Hotel.
Beijing Opera
Day 05 ( July 25 ): Beijing - Wangjing free shopping and leave Beijing
Our lane CA985 leaving Beijing at 17:00. So we still had lots of time in the morning. Stanley would come to pick us up at our hotel at 14:00. We took a taxi to Wangfujing Street, the capital's well-known shopping street, now it becomes a pedestrian street, a window to show Beijing's modern life. It is worth strolling even if you are not interested in buying anything.
We returned to Tiantan Hotel at 13:30 and found Stanley were already there waiting for us. Mr. Stanly was very helpful and resourceful. He had made our trip to Beijing quite rewarding. We would recommend this tour agency to family and friends and would take another tour the next time we are fortunate enough to visit Beijing.
