Great Wall - Badaling
by extrajoce
The Great Wall is surely on anyone's list on a visit to Beijing, and I have put it just after Tien An Men Square+the Forbidden City. This is the Badaling section, one of the closest to Beijing (we hired a taxi to go there and visit royal tombs at the same time). The wall is well restored here, offering an accurate impression of what it was like. For the poets and idealists, a short walk on the steep wall to the west will also offer a more worn down version (see activity tip/photo).
Beijing driving
by Gard
It is fascinating to see how traffic varies from country to country around the world. I’m sure that it is possible to write an entire book on the subject of driving patterns in different countries :-) China was certainly different than other countries that we have been to. Not only do you have to keep an eye out for other cars…you also need to keep an eye on all the pedestrians and cyclists. And let me assure you: there are quite a lot of bicycles in Beijing :-) The motorists and cyclists seem to have achieved some form of harmony because the cyclists seemed impartial to the somewhat dubious drivers next to them.
The Beijing drivers seem to think that the mirrors in the car are not for practical use. Cars change lanes without any hesitation (or indication) and it seems to be the car behind that needs to keep an eye out for this. Another fascinating thing is the use of the horn. After many rides in taxis I have reached a conclusion that there are at least three reasons for using the horn: the reactive horn use (you pulled out right in front of me and you are blocking me); the preventive horn use (don’t try to pull out in front of me…I’m coming with great speed and there is no room for you); lastly general horn use (there is so much traffic and I can’t change lanes or overtake any cars).
ZhongShan Park
by theo1006
ZhongShan Park is named in honour of Dr Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1925), better known in China as Sun ZhongShan. He was a nationalist leader, founder of the KuoMinTang movement, who became the first provisional president of the Republic of China after the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1911. He is revered as the Father of Modern China, both in Taiwan and in mainland China. In the latter alone there are over 40 ZhongShan parks.
ZhongShan park in Beijing lies at the south-west corner of the Forbidden City. The park is best visited in spring, when the park shows a colourful display of tulips, peonies and other flowers. Our visit fell in early December, so we missed out on these. Also we could not go boating on the Forbidden City moat which borders the park in the north.
Of course the park features a statue of Dr Sun Yat-Sen, two of them to be exact. There is a museum hall full of historical photographs, unfortunately most of them with explanation in Chinese only.
Originally, that is during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the park was an imperial garden. The emperor came here in the lunar months of February and August to pray and thank for a good harvest and well-being of his people. He did this at the "Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain" (SheJiLan, also translated as Altar to the Gods of Earth and Harvest), which consists of a low square field covered with five colours of sand: blue on the east side, red in the south, white on the west. black on the north and yellow in the centre. This would indicate that all the land under the sun belongs to the emperor. The altar was built in 1421, in the 18th year of Emperor Yongle's reign. There are cypress trees in the park said to be even older than that.
Some more pictures in the Travelogue.
Directions: With subway Line 1, get off at Tian’anmen West. Instead of entering the forbidden city at the Gate of Heavenly Peace, find the gate of Zhongshan Park just west of it.
Pushy sellers
by jonkb about Anywhere except in the temples
You'll find street vendors everywhere in central Beijing. You don't have to look for them if you look westerner, they'll automatically home in on you. It doesn't matter what you say to them. They still want to sell you their product.
The best way of getting rid of them is to ignore them and don't make eye contact.
Bus 919 to Badaling
by susanpingu
First of all, thanks to other Vters who provided detailed info (and pics) on getting to Badaling by Bus 919 (sorry your names escape me at the moment but hey! you got my top ratings).
My sister and I took the bus to Deshengmen and walked a few short minutes to the tower building where Bus 919 originates. Note: if you take the subway, the nearest subway station is about 15-20 mins walk.
There are three places where you will see buses numbered 919, and not all of them go to Badaling. We chanced on the first parking lot with buses numbered 919 but were told it did not go to Badaling. The next place we tried was a bus stop just behind the (first) parking lot. Bus 919 stopped there and passengers were getting off but we were not allowed to board. We were mystified. To make matters worse, there was a man telling us it cost 20 RMB to get to Badaling by the 'slow' bus and 40 RMB by 'fast' bus (scam, no doubt).
I knew the correct fare was 12 RMB so we ignored him. I asked the next bus driver where to get the right bus and he pointed to the direction beside the tower building, well out of sight from where we were standing. Sure enough, the right one was just a minute's walk from where we were!
So depending on which direction you are coming from towards the tower, you may be lucky and hit the right parking lot for Bus 919 the first time. We only got the right one after the third round :- l
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Bear pit at Badaling
Beijing
pose from Hall of Supreme Harmony
hutong next to my hotel
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