Beijing

Overall Review:

On the first day when I arrived to Beijing I had the mixed feeling. On the one hand, I liked it a lot but on the other hand I felt that there was too much grey colour (or maybe it was just because of the heavy smog). However, I have never seen Beijing through the eyes of a traveller as I am living here for more than a year.

Beijing, being the capital of China, has a huge variety of historical places to visit. You can even go to the Great Wall which is very close to the city.

Locals almost do not speak English but instead they try to be helpful especially while being asked about different directions.

General Tips:

- As you might imagine there are millions of people in Beijing which is why people have become “pushy”. And that’s natural, as if they were not like this nobody would arrive to work on time. So, heads up when going to the subway and do not complain when people push you in (the good thing is that sometimes you don’t even need to move, just becoming a part of the crowd is enough).

- Locals just love it when you say “Nihao!” which means “Hi”. In most of the cases, they will say “Wow, he/she can speak good Chinese”. So, it will be really cool to learn a couple of basic words before visiting Beijing.

- There are many foreigners in Beijing but still for some locals western people are like aliens so they keep staring. Do not pay attention to it or alternatively you can start staring at them in return :)

- People in Beijing adore negotiating, so never buy something with the initial price. The best technique for negotiations is the following:

Let’s say the seller says that the price of the product “X” is 100 units. In this case, you can probably get it for at least 60-70 units. But in order to buy the product with your desired price you need to tell a much lower price, let’s say 20-30 units. The seller will refuse to sell the object with a gloomy face (or sometimes laughing) but then as s soon as you want to leave, he will call you back and offer 90 units.

Continue, bargaining as long as you get your desired price!

To see:

- The Great Wall

- The Forbidden City

- Temple of Heaven

- Summer Palace

- Lama Temple (My fav temple which is just in the city centre)

- Beijing Zoo (Check out pandas)

- Peking Opera

- Kung Fu show

To eat:

China has one of the largest cuisines in the world offering many different types of dishes. But be aware that the Chinese food in China and in your country is completely different. So, do not expect to eat the same food (the funny thing is that the Chinese food in your country is way better than in China).

While you are in Beijing you should definitely try:

- Beijing Duck

- Dumplings

- Kong Bao Chicken

- Yu Xiang Rou Si

To spend:

Beijing is not a cheap city unless you stay at your friend’s place and eat the cheapest local food (some local food can even be as cheap as 2$). Since I have never stayed here as a tourist, so I can only give an average cost estimation which should be around 100$ for a day (including accommodation in a hostel, 3 times meal and 1-2 touristic attractions).

Please note that the above mentioned amount of money is only estimated cost and your actual trip expenses might vary depending on your interests and choices.