Tourist Attractions in Beijing Shi

In the guide books it tells you to go to Deshengmen bus station to get the 919 bus to Badaling Great Wall. As a matter of fact, its not the bus station you go to, but 'Gulou' which is a big watch tower. The buses are directly behind it. The bus station DOES have 919 buses but they are city buses and wont take you anywhere near the wall. The ones you want are comfortable looking green and white buses.

Apart from that, there are private taxi owners hanging around that area just waiting to pounce on tourists not really knowing where they are going! A few years ago I was faced with the dilemma of either getting the bus for 24yuan return or a private taxi for 300yuan return! Not much of a dilemma you say...but...when the taxi driver tells you that its very easy to get the bus there but very difficult to get it back and you could be left there stranded, you do begin to wonder if the cheap deal is in fact the best deal! But I went over to the bus lady and she told me getting seats on the bus back was very easy! So we decided on the bus!

One thing that does annoy me greatly is that there are no signs whatsoever in English at this bus stop. Maybe the majority of people go to the Wall with a tour group set up by their hotel, but for those who are travelling on their own, there really should be a sign saying Badaling in English. It's ok for those who can read Chinese, like myself, but what about the rest of you who can't? UPDATE: The last time I went (May 08) there was a sign written in English saying Badaling at one of the stops. The bus ladies will come up to you anyway as they know you're most likely in that area to take the Badaling bus.

Unique Suggestions: The way the taxi drivers hang around and try to confuse you and tell you things which sound feasible, but which are in fact not true at all is ANNOYING! Another time later, I returned to the same place to put some more of my friends on the bus. We got there at 1030am to find there were no buses but a very long queue of people waiting! Again a taxi driver came over and told us that the buses had finished at 10am! Well why shouldn't I believe him..there certainly weren't any buses to be seen. And again he told me about going in his car for just 300yuan return! I told him I would go over to this long queue of people and see what was happening but he kept saying, "there's no point, there aren't any buses now!" After managing to shake him off we went to the front of the queue and asked a lady there and she said, "yes, this bus goes to the Great Wall, we're just waiting for it to come that's all!" And it was as simple as that! The traffic must have been bad hence no buses being there when we arrived, and the long queue of people waiting! Again another guy came over telling us that the queue would take hours to wait in and it would be very difficult to get the bus back. I told him "been there, done that...so thank you very much!" And then we were finally left on our own!

SO JUST REMEMBER THESE IMPORTANT THINGS:

1. Do NOT whatsoever be duped into believing that there are no buses running.
2. Don't get the private cars because they take you to a very small piece of the wall where you're charged lots of money to get in.
3. The taxi people tell you its 100yuan per person, but it is in fact 300yuan for the car,so you could have one or four people and it will still be that price!
4. The buses leave every five to ten minutes. They are air conditioned and cost 12yuan there and 12yuan back. UPDATE: Price may have gone up to 16yuan now (May 09)
5. Stick to your guns and don't let them confuse you!

Went to the aviation centre at Xidan to take airport bus. Bought the tickets (16yuan) and was about to board the bus.

There were a few guys standing next to the bus and one held out his hand to examine the tickets. He then went on to ask me for my flight timing. Subsequently, he exclaimed that i will not be able to make it in time, claiming that the trip will take 1.5 hrs and that the bus will only stop at terminal 3 which is another 15 mins from my terminal 2. His attitude is very matter of fact and seemed authoritative.

I was told to take the 'airline transport' and was led to a row of 'Santanas'. Realised that it is a sham, i went back to the bus and saw that there were guys in uniform at the other side of the bus checking tickets.

Much time is wasted, not to mention the anxiety and near panic attack. So, do beware!

In any case, the bus ride was about 1 hr and they stopped at all terminals.

Unique Suggestions: I learnt that most of the bus operators in Beijing wear uniforms. So, always try to seek them out.

There are some private cabs (with no company names or the usual color that cabs have on the road) with tampered meter... beware!

Unique Suggestions: Either agree on the price before you board the cab or don't take such cabs at all.

Fun Alternatives: Take those cabs that you see on the streets. Identify them by the colours of the name of the company. The newer sedan cabs are slightly more expensive than those that looked like they have been around for 10 years :P

Avoid "non-authorized" taxis by getting your cab at the hotels or in the authorized stops. We caught a cab at the back end of our hotel and got duped by their tampered meter. It read "75 rmb" and we knew that it should have been much less, but we couldn't argue since we didn't speak the language. Caught a "real" cab back from that same point to our original point for "34 rmb". Take heed to other tips that tell you to avoid "taxi soliciters" at the airport.

Unique Suggestions: Most all of our taxi experience was honest albeit gruff. Keep a destination card (written in Chinese) to each point of destination - including your own hotel so that the driver clearly understands where he drives you.

Fun Alternatives: If your doing heavy duty shopping or personal touring, just hire a private car for about $50USD or so for all day (we used ours for 10 hours!)