Beijing What to Pack

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Make sure you have comfy shoes/sneakers as you'll be doing a ton of walking especially on the Great Wall. If you have a large foot and most westerners do - don't think you'll be able to buy shoes in China - it's not going to happen. My daughter is extremely lucky she has a size 6 foot 'small' by our standard but the norm in China so returned home with 10 pairs of shoes!!

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Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: We had been in Shanghai for some weeks before we were able to get a flight to Beijing due to the poor weather and you would not beleive how much snow can fall in this city!!
Out and about in Shanghai, of cource we went to quite a few shopping centres, where i did have a look at a lot of over priced thermal underwear (compared to NZ) with maybe not quite my healthy size, so abstained from making any purchase.....BIG BIG mistake!!....Of course i survived by wearing three shirt's, plus a jacket. And i am so so glad i took my boots with me, even if they did upset all the machines at the airport's....lmao!!

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Good walking shoes
In summertime, additional T-shirt and an umbrella if you don't want to get a tan

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Plastic strips in case you don't have good walking shoes

Photo Equipment: Bring a camera with you or you will regret it!

Miscellaneous: A BOTTLE OF WATER

Luggage and bags: You absolutely need beijing map. Cannot get it for free even in the airport. Some hotel (not all) give it for free, but most in chinese, map itself has two language, but explanation about some where is chinese. It is better to buy the english version, cost 8 (usual paper) or 15 yuan (laminated) at Wangfujing int'l book store or Xidan book store. At Beijing airport, you can get Beijing tourism guide (english) for free. I took it at airport express train gate.

Miscellaneous: It is easy to enhance your holiday experience by boosting your capacity to communicate in the local language. To assist us in various situations we would encounter in China, I used a word processor program to make small little flashcards in both English and Mandarin. I then laminated them to prevent deterioration.
These little cards were small enough to fit in my wallet or a pocket and we carried them around everywhere we went while in Beijing.
Whenever I wished to communicate something, for example in a hotel foyer or restaurant, I would produce one of my little cards. The Chinese found these fascinating and I think they really appreciated the effort to communicate with them in their own language.
I mostly obtained Mandarin translations for tourist sights, dishes in restaurants, public transport, emergency services etc.
We also translated directions to and address of our hotel, which we could give to a taxi driver.
It was very worthwhile little accessories.

Miscellaneous: I just came back from a short trip to Beijing during the Paralympics (13 Sept 2008 weekend). The Beijing airport departure tax is no longer collected in cash at the check-in counter as the departure tax is already part of the airplane ticket price. The tip to set aside CNY 90 per passenger is an old tip. I ended up with excess CNY because I set aside CNY 200 for the two of us.

Photo Equipment: I always travel with my Minolta SLR camera with 2 lenses (1x 35/80 and 1x 75/300 zoom), a two times converter, a polariser for both lenses, a spare battery and 10 spare rolls of 400 asa film (36) with 1 loaded into the camera.

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: bring a light jacket, the temp difference can be as much as ten degrees in the day/night

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Sun block. Beijing skies seem to have no clouds...

Miscellaneous: When you get to Beijing, it would be wise to buy a packet of tissues (the easy to carry around type) they're cheap and you will need them! most public bathrooms in beijing do not provide toilet paper, and you'll be glad that you have some when you need it.