China, our fourth stop on our Round The World trip, is the next superpower of the modern world, if not already. Their industrial revolution is rapidly changing cities into major metropolises, with millions of residents flocking to those cities for better jobs. While China is still constricted politically, they are opening their borders to share their rich history and culture, which is great for world travelers.
We decided on Beijing so we could visit one of the world’s greatest wonders: the Great Wall, a man-made structure that can be seen from space. I also remember watching the movie The Last Emperor when I was younger, so exploring the Forbidden City was a must for us.
My first impressions of Beijing, as it was my first time there, was that the city has impressive and creative large buildings (CCTV cost over $1 billion), the air quality is poor due to coal emissions and millions of cars on the road (there is a thick film of smog covering the entire city), and the traffic is horrendous (roads are packed with locals, local tourists, and now world travelers). One other thing I need to mention is that the Chinese have less-than-desirable flying etiquette. I didn’t like it when many unbuckled right at touchdown, grabbed their things and walked to the front of the plane while still rolling to the gate. Um…wait for the plane to stop.
I should also mention that many merchants did not accept credit cards, exceptions being large corporations like hotel chains or cards from a local Chinese bank. Again, not ideal for someone who puts all spending on credit cards to earn points. Luckily we exchanged money before our trip so we had funds just in case.
Where Did We Stay?
The Park Hyatt Beijing is located downtown near main attractions. It cost 30,000 points per night, most of which I earned by regular spending on my Hyatt credit card and transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt. On top of that, I received 20% back in points through Hyatt’s exclusive cardmember promotion, so the point redemption was actually 24,000 a night. Pretty good deal.
Upon arrival at our hotel, we had to go to the 63rd floor to check in as the lobby was not located on the ground floor. The view of the city was nice, but the smog dampened our excitement.
In our hotel room there were two notes on the table that I found interesting. First, while China is now open for world travelers, it isn’t exactly “open” as you are restricted from online sites like Google, You Tube or NY Times (believe me, I tried). In addition, they require you to provide your information with the local authorities, which hotels submit automatically. Second, the country previously allowed smoking everywhere, but a law just enacted prohibits smoking in buildings, but that didn’t stop the stink permeating from the furniture. I’m not one to complain about things and I decided to live with it for the first night, but the smoke smell was awful so the hotel brought in an air purifier which really didn’t help.
The room was large enough to accommodate three of us. It’s an open area with the shower, sink and soaking tub in the same space as the bedroom, but there is a sliding door to separate the space. I loved the soaking tub with the complimentary bath salts because it was so large and relaxing. The best aspect for me was the toilet, of all things, with all its bells and whistles: automatic seat warmer and control panel on the wall that included various wash settings, flush button and air dry. I will miss this toilet just as much as visiting the Great Wall.
The hotel is connected to a large shopping mall, which is too expensive for my taste. There are eateries in the hotel and surrounding areas that are pretty inexpensive. The hotel restaurants, on the other hand, are a bit pricey but the food is amazing.
The Attractions
The Great Wall is an amazing sight, extending for miles and beyond, as far as the eyes can see. There are two main sections: Mutianyu and Badaling. Unless you can hike 1,200+ steps, visiting an area with a cable car is a good idea. We visited Mutianyu, the most restored section of the wall with amazing views and less tourists than Badaling. We would’ve walked for miles had the 40-degree Celsius heat not affected us greatly, but we managed to visit 4 watch towers before heading back down.
We booked a City Tour that included the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace. This was mostly a walking tour, the most miles we walked on our entire Round The World trip, but well worth it to see the sites. Learning the culture and history from a tour guide was very valuable.
Funny story… Our city tour guide liked to reference himself in the third person and had a heavy Chinese accent that made it sometimes difficult to understand him, but overall he was great. An example of his dialogue: “So I ask myself, Jackie, why would Amber have so many rooms? Well, Jackie says Amber had many concubines and this side door is where they entered.” For a couple hours I kept wondering who “Amber” was, realizing later that he was saying “Emperor.” Duh!
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In between our activities there were short visits to a tea house, jade factory and silk factory. Obviously they’d go over the significance of the culture, but they were really stops for tourists to purchase something. We did enjoy the tea we tried and some silk products, so we purchased a few items.
Wangfujing marketplace is full of people and a bit smelly, but there are good deals to be found on souvenirs by bargaining. There are small eateries and restaurants in the area for cheap. The weirdest foods were preserved roast duck in a red bag that many Chinese tourists were purchasing and grilled scorpions on a stick (no, thank you).
The Food
We loved the food at the hotel so we ate there for dinner most evenings. Beijing cuisine is full of vegetables and rice, and the peking duck came with tortilla instead of steamed buns. To be honest, we all preferred our Chinese food in Hawaii than the authentic food in Beijing. We do have a lot of Chinese immigrants at home who have amazing restaurants.
Transportation
We used the subway once to get into the city center and I found it to be very efficient and easy to navigate. There was security prior to entering the subway at the main station, having to put our bags through x-ray scanners. The only thing that made it a not-so-good experience was the massive amount of people stuffed in there like sardines. Apparently it’s far worse at rush hour, locals saying there’s literally no breathing room. Good thing we avoided that.
Taxis were pretty good too. We only used them to get to and from the airport, but the drivers were trustworthy and got us there in a timely manner, despite the never-ending traffic. It takes about an hour to get to the airport.
Obtaining a Chinese Visa
China was the only country on our trip that required a Visa. We applied for the L tourist Visa, which required us to submit application form V.2013, our actual US Passports, copies of our flight/hotel itineraries, and fees. There wasn’t a box to select “10-year Visa” so I called the embassy and they told me to write it under “Other” in section 2.2.
The most difficult aspect of this process was submitting the application to the Visa Office of Chinese Embassy/ Consulate General based on your State of residence. Hawaii falls under the Consulate in Los Angeles, but I wasn’t going to book a trip to LA just for this. Luckily, the embassy told me that I could give it to family to drop off (I have a cousin who lives near LA) or hire a visa service (they gave me a number to call, but no one ever answered the phone). After a week of processing, our passports were returned with the 10-year Visas attached inside.
For more information on obtaining a Chinese Visa: http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/
The Final Word…
I really enjoyed learning about the culture and history of China. The highlight, of course, was the Great Wall. I would definitely return to walk more of the wall and also make a side trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. As for Beijing, I don’t think I would spend more time exploring the city due to the air quality being rated hazardous for residents, and a government issued “red alert” for air pollution recently shutting down the city. Perhaps one day they’ll find a better balance between health/clean air and exponential economic growth.