Beijing (China)- Part2.

Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. Its population is more than 20 million people and with this it is the second biggest city after Shanghai whose population is more than 23 million. If you are walking on the streets using the public transportation you can see how many people are around you. You will be never alone.

Where We Stayed

We didn't have children with us this time so we could stay in a nice, elegant hotel. I'm not going to say  we didn't do this before with kids but staying in a hotel room without children is so much nicer. How did we get a lot of points to stay at the Hotel Conrad Beijing for free? My husband and I are earning a Hilton Honors points with the Hilton Honors American Express card. It pays 6 points per dollar spent at grocery stores and 12 points at Hilton Hotels.We also signed up for the Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card whose miles can be converted in to Hilton points at a 1:2 ratio. We needed 145,000 points for 4 nights at this 5 star hotel which otherwise would have cost us about 500$ per night.

The other advantage of having this card is the holders become Hilton Gold Members which means every time when we stay in a Hilton hotel we are upgraded to a better room (usually we have a better view), we have free internet and we can use the executive lounge for free. The executive lounge offers you a very nice breakfast in the morning and some snacks and drinks during the day. In the evenings there are even cocktails.

Our Hotel Conrad Beijing just opened a few months before we stayed there. It is a brand new, beautiful luxury hotel. We really enjoyed our stay there. I used the gym once and we went to the marvelous swimming pool every day.

The Weather and Smog

We went to Beijing in the beginning of May. When we arrived the smog was really bad. We had one windy day when we could see farther than 5 km (from the 21th floor), otherwise visibility was much less.
The quality of the air was very usually very bad (around 200-300 ppm). The first afternoon when we arrived I had difficulty breathing normally. You can see the difference in these two pictures below.

The Public Transport

The public transportation in Beijing is very good. I was afraid how I'm going to understand the Chinese letters and signs but everything everywhere was displayed in English too.  There are lots of subway lines (more than 14) in Beijing and it is easy to find the right route to go somewhere. In the subway you can see on a sign where you are, what is the next stop and there is a loud speaker too who is constantly speaking and telling you where, when you have to change etc.

What To Do in Beijing

The cultural monuments are fascinating in Beijing but if you just want to walk on the streets it is not too much fun. The buildings are not really interesting, everything is so gray. Not just because you don't see the sun and the weather is gray too but because they just don't use colors at all.

• Tiananmen Square

This is the third largest city square in the world. It is a historical place which was a much smaller square in the beginning (15th. century).

This is really a huge square with lots of tourists but most of them are from China. I never saw kids in a pants like this before. These pants are open between the legs so if they need to go to the bathroom they don't need to take the pants off.

They cleaned the square with these funny small cars.

• Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Quing Dynasty. This is the place where the Chinese emperors lived and worked for 500 years and after that the Chinese government used it as a political and ceremonial center. The Forbidden city was declared a World Heritage Site. 

The Forbidden City is very big. It is like a real city with a lots of streets and huge squares.

Inside the Forbidden City is now the Palace Museum which means you can see lots of ceramics, bronze-ware,  clocks.

You can find the Forbidden City on the Northern side of Tiananmen Square.

• Hutongs (alleys)

Hutongs are a type of narrow streets in Beijing which were built to hide the buildings and courtyards behind the facades. These are traditional courtyard residences. Some hutongs have become pedestrian streets with small boutiques, gift shops, gourmet stores and bars. It was interesting for me that the houses weren't colorful at all, almost everything was gray. 

In one street we found a lot of nice lanterns which I liked a lot because they bring some color to the neighborhood. 

• The Lama Temple

The Yonghe Temple is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. The temple was built in the 17th century. 

There are several buildings, 5 main halls: the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Hall of Harmony and Peace, the Hall of Everlasting Protection, the Hall of the Wheel of the Law and the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses.

In the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses is a 26 meter tall statue of the Maitreya Buddha carved from one piece of White Sandalwood. This statue is one of three artworks in the Temple which were included in the Guinness Book of Records in 1993.

• The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is a former imperial palace, now a park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the largest and most well-preserved royal park in China. The Summer Palace is not in central Beijing, it is about 15 km (9.3 miles) away in the Haidian District Northwest of the center. You can easily go there with the subway.

The Summer Palace includes the Longevity Hill (Washou Shan) and the Kunming Lake, it occupies an area of 300.59 hectares (742.8 acres). It have four big parts, the Court Area, Front Hill Area, Rear Hill Area and Lake Area.

You can take a nice walk along the alleys, go up to the Hill and take a look to the Kunming Lake and go to the pavilions which are museums. If you like and the weather is nice too, you can take a boat trip on the Kunming Lake too.

• The Great Wall

The Great Wall is made up of 6259 km (3889 miles) of actual walls in multiple sections, 359 km (223 miles) of trenches and 2232 km (1387 miles) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers. The total length is more than 20.000 km. The Great Wall was continuously built from the 3rd century BC to the 17th century AD on the northern border of China to protect the country from nomadic groups and military incursions. 

We traveled to the Badaling section of the Great Wall with the bus No. 919 from Deshengmen bus station. It took an hour to get there from the bus station.  

Badaling Great Wall is on the upper end of the valley. This part of the Great Wall was built in 1505 and recently restored. 

We walked up to the wall and were walking on the wall for around an hour. I have to let you know it is unbelievably steep and could be very slippery. If you don't want to walk you have the opportunity to use a cable car both ways. We came down with it. It was quick and comfortable.

I suggest going to the Great Wall as early as possible because later it can become very crowded. The other important thing is to wear comfortable and safe shoes and to bring along enough water and some snacks.

The Great Wall is listed among the New Seven Wonders of the World.

• The Temple of Heaven (Tiantan park)

The Temple of Heaven is a complex of religious buildings situated in the Southeastern part of central Beijing. The Chinese Emperors prayed here for good harvest and used these temples for their annual ceremonies.

We spent around 1.5 hours in the park. There were a lots of tourists and we were able to see amateur groups of singers and dancers.

We really enjoyed our stay in Beijing. I think our decision to travel here without our kids was right. It is a crowded city and we were walking all the time which is very tiring for the young kids (it is almost impossible to use a big stroller there).

After our 4th day in Beijing we took a red-eye flight to Istanbul and continued our journey alone without the kids.

(4 days- 2013. May)