In the first installment of Beijing Quick Notes, I touched on transportation and key sights to see. This time, I’m going to explain about the “Beijing Experience”! So what exactly is a “Beijing Experience”? Basically, it’s my guide to “must do’s if you only have twenty-four hours” in a city. I’m sure you’d include at least one of the popular tour attractions listed in Quick notes part 1, so let me break down real quick your imaginary (but very possible) travel itinerary!
00:00 – Arrive Beijing
01:30 – Airport to hotel/ wherever you’re staying
05:00 – Partying. Vics or Mix (keep the night clubs classic…. there is lots of fantastic night life in the city but Vics and Mix at GongTi Bei Lu 工体北路 are huge impressive clubs… no line up, ever; private room or at least table and a bottle of goose between ten people is $15CND-$20 each. or $50 for three people. It’s a cheap night with plenty of dance music… in Vics there are two main rooms where you can groove to hop-hop or techno; Mix has three rooms to choose from. I’ve actually gotten lost in Mix: “I’m by the stage! no no, the OTHER stage. the stage in the downstairs room, what?!” but I enjoyed wandering around the impressive rooms and people (read: creature) watching
7:30 – Travel time to….
09:00 – Great Wall. There are many different parts to visit, with the best scenery, least travel time, and smallest crowd ratio going to MuTianYu 慕田峪. The walk isn’t very strenuous, this is the part of the wall Clinton visited (you know it’s good when China shows off that section a US president!), and it takes around 2-3 hours to reach. You however, are on a time crunch, so you’ll probably visit BaDaLing 八达岭, which is just over an hour- 1.5 hours to visit. This part of the wall makes for good photos (MuTianYu is better) and since you’re somewhat relatively early, you shouldn’t have to deal with the hoards of crowds.
13:00 – arrive back Beijing. After a quick lunch of noodles at almost any local chinese restaurant (3-8RMB, aka $0.50-$1 is standard pricing) you’re off to your massage! There are endless parlours in Beijing from the upscale to the blind (if they can’t see they feel your knots and can massage them out more effectively, or so it is advertised), but living like a local, I really REALLY loved a place in WuDaoKou 五道口 at the HuaQingJiaYuan 华清嘉园 housing complex called YiRunTang 颐润堂. I am probably (definitely) biased however, as I had the best masseuse in the world… #29. He’s since been headhunted to southern China to work as a personal masseuse for a company CEO (how do I know all this? Of course, I email with my friend my masseuse, hahaha!) but there is still #26….. another amazing masseuse. Actually, he gives a better massage, but #29 is friendly and chatty as well, with zero creep factor. You can get 1.5 hours of massage for 58 RMB ($10!) I recommend splitting that time if you want to do other things (like maybe get a drink at a cafe and explore the wudaokou area a bit); one hour on foot massage, and half and hour for your back… but personally, I would forgo wandering around for a 3 hour massage…. awesome.
18:00 – freshen up and travel time
19:00 – Time to get your Peking duck on. What’s a trip to Beijing without Peking duck?! It’s like travelling to Italy sans pizza. Mexico sans tacos. France without crepes… it’s just wrong. I personally favour QuanJuDe (literally translated: the whole duck).
22:00 – Back to the airport… you have to include travel time and waiting at the gate you know..!
In Beijing Quick Notes Pt 3: Restaurants for the Food Trotter with time to spare
[Photos courtesy of harryalverson]
