Report on Beijing

TheDriver

Spent a week in Beijing recently and its a lot different to what you think. Sites to be seen are Tiananmen Square, FOrbiddeb City, Great Wall and Summer Palace. The Olympic Stadium is worth a look in as is silk street (shopping centre of fake goods with lots of haggling!). Pollution is big here so a blue sky is a bonus. Underground is good and english signs are fairly common though expect restaurants to be less so, you will find some nice Western restaurants all the same. Remember Chinese Restaurants are different to here!
I stayed near Tiananmen Square which was a great location as I could walk to the square and Forbidden City behind it. The square houses the Peoples Palace and Chairman Mao's body, worth going to see but bring nothing with you as they won't let you in with even a bottle of water and it closes at 12 noon. Forbidden city takes hours, its massive but more a walk around than an enlightening read. ALso expect 97% of tourists to be Chinese and you will stand out, photos will be taken of you by the CHinese. They are a nice polite race and don't tend to push and shove.
Summer Palace is worth going to, like a big park, takes about an hour on the bus from Tiananmen.
Also beware that you can't flush anything bar organic matter down the toilets so if you wonder what the smell from the bin is, you now know and beware of squat toilets!
Other than that, its a lovely city and met lovely people. Meal might cost 2-3 euro, big bottle of beer is 50-60cent, underground ride is 10c, room in a hostel could be 20 euro, bed in a dorm is 5 euro. You get the idea!
Hope this helps!

skibum

Apart from flights approx how much did the trip cost you?

Thanks

TheDriver

It was part of a bigger trip so can't say exact amounts. However, it cost 20 euro for my room in a hostel which was ensuite (not massive plush but atmosphere was great and air con means a great nights sleep), you could get a lasagne and chips with a beer for 5 euro, great wall trip all in was about 20 euro, forbidden city cost 6 euro, bottle of water was about 15 cent, bus to summer palace was 20 c, entry was 6 euro, lot of other things are free. Chinese Restaurant would be about 2-3 euro a person but make sure its not pigs intestines you are getting (not joking!!) Hope this allows you to calculate the cost.