Beijing & The Great Wall in 3 days
Friday, April 25th 2008
We flew on Friday at 10am with China Eastern. It arrived on time at 12.20 and the flight was fine. Food was three bits of white bread with something resembling chicken roll and ham inside. V glad we had taken a small lunch for our little boy! We paid RMB5700 return for 2 adults and a two-year old and booked our flights online at e-Long. We had arranged a car, driver and guide via my husband’s Beijing branch. The driver’s name was Mr Wang, tel 139 1010 9709. We had taken our car seat and with some manoevring managed to get access to the seatbelts so we could strap it in. The driver and guide sat up front and my husband, myself and our toddler in his car seat sat in the back - a bit cramped! We had booked the driver for 3 days and paid RMB1200 in total. He was very pleasant and quick to help with luggage and such. We were whisked off to see the Summer Palace straight away as planned. It’s a lovely sight and pretty much all outdoors (although there’s a long covered walkway). The weather was pretty hot but the huge lake provides a nice breeze. We managed with the buggy but there are many steps and low barriers. The long covered walkway is flat and easy to navigate. The impressive Buddhist temple is up endless flights and we didn’t attempt it. We had an OK guide but would have enjoyed the sight just as much if we’d just wandered and soaked it up. It took half an hour from the airport (expected it to be a lot further) and we spent 3 hours there. It was RMB30 per adult to get in. Our guide charged RMB300, plus entrance fees. The journey in to Beijing from the Summer Palace took a good hour and there was heavy traffic as by now it was late afternoon on a Friday. We stayed at the HWA Apartments Beijing which was a business sort of hotel. It wasn’t much to look at, but had a good, fairly central location near to lots of shops and food options. We had booked an apartment with two bedrooms, but when we arrived they didn’t have cots for children (even though I had specifically booked one via the agent C-trip), so we took a one-bedroom instead and had a mattress put on the floor. It was RMB510 per night and with the added bonus of a kitchen area and fridge, was really ok (although definitely not a flashy top-end hotel). The breakfast wasn’t up to much, although we went both mornings so must have found enough to satisfy us. On the Saturday the driver took us to the Great Wall at Badaling. It took nearly 3 hours as there was heavy traffic. Badaling is the most touristy part of the wall, apparently, and certainly there were hoardes of stalls and touts, but it was fine. I am finding more and more that the sort of things I used to find annoying about beautiful sights around the world, now at least create some interest for our little boy, who doesn’t realise that ancient history awaits, and is quite entertained by the plastic tat. We had dispensed with the guide as there really wasn’t room in the car to sit us all comfortably. A good thing - it would have been pointless having him try to give us a guided tour of the wall whilst we were trying to manage the buggy and the crowds. We paid the RMB45 entrance fee and also got one of the audio guides for RMB40. We sat having a cool beer at a cafe near the main entrance to the wall and I listened to the audio, while my husband entertained Jim, then I relayed the interesting bits and we all walked a little way up the wall. It’s well worth visiting and stretches out as far as you can see. It soon gets very steep and the path is so smooth it’s not really suitable for buggies so we stopped once we were sliding backwards more than going forwards! We stayed about 2 hours. Then we headed to the Ming Tombs (RMB65 entrance fee) and had just over an hour there. It was interesting but mainly we enjoyed the leg stretch and Jim had a good run around. It was about an hour from the Great Wall. Finally we drove back to the hotel in 90 mins.
On the Sunday we walked half an hour from the hotel to the Forbidden City and TianAnMen Square. Both were good sights to visit. The Forbidden City has a lot of steps though. Entrance was RMB60, plus RMB45 for the audio tour. We had a ride in a motorised rickshaw from the exit of the F. City back to TianAnMen Square which was good fun (buggy went up on the top) for RMB20. If I were to do it again, I might start my tour at the far end and walk through the F City, ending up at T. Square. Then we headed back to the airport and got the 4.45pm flight back to Shanghai. It’s definitely something you can do in a 3-day weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Alison
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