Beijing

As you might have guessed from my Instagram, I have been in China for the past two months. Myself and two other American coaches are here for a total of three months on an assignment for the Jr. NBA to teach and help promote the game of basketball here in China. China will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first country I traveled to internationally. This trip is especially exciting because I will be spending time in new places likes Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Jiaxing. The first leg on my journey was Beijing.

I spent a total of three weeks in Beijing and when I was not on the basketball court, I was sightseeing. Beijing is a city rich with Chinese history and if you plan a trip to China, you must stop in Beijing to see The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace and The Great Wall.

Where to stay: We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Donghzimen. Although it was arranged by our company, I would highly recommend this spot. It was centrally located and within walking distance to tons of restaurants, public transportation and the expat friendly area of Sanlitun.  

Where to eat:  Within 200 ft. of the hotel was Yu Food and Lifestyle, a multi-purpose dining and lifestyle space with cuisines ranging from Italian to Chinese street food.

Taco Bar is Venice taco spot meets Beijing. It is home to the most authentic Mexican food in Beijing. 

Q-Mex is a great spot to grab a couple beers, play pool and get some kick ass tex-mex food.

We ate at plenty of other spots but these three spots stood out. Finding good food, western or not, will be no problem in Beijing.

What to see & Do:

We visited Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and The Great Wall as a group on the first day of our trip. We weren’t sure about how much time we would have in the city before diving into work, so we jam packed our first day with sightseeing. I do not recommend you do this especially not in the summer time. A typical Chinese attraction will include lots of walking and you want to enjoy each location instead of feeling like you are quickly doing a walk through of an incredible piece of history. Nonetheless, these places were breathtaking and I could have spent hours at each just soaking up all the history.

Major Key Alert!

The Great Wall Mutianyu Entrance: Our tour guide made it a point to take us to this entrance because it was far less crowded then the entrance accessible via public transportation. If you don’t mind an extra 40-minute drive, I highly recommend this more secluded part of the wall. Not to mention, who doesn’t want to ride the toboggan on the way down.

Summer Palace: My coworker Jade and I decided to explore Summer Palace before heading out to Shanghai. Admittedly, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into because the Summer Palace is hardly a stop-by, OK I've seen it kind of place. The Summer Palace is more like a small city instead of a palace. It’s a full day excursion and I highly recommend teaming up with an English-speaking tour guide. 

Wangfujing Street: Notorious for the night market where you can find street snacks including scorpions, snakes and lizards. I went in the morning but the menu was still the same. It’s worth a visit even you have no interest in eating cricket.

Jingshan Park: Located directly above The Forbidden City, the park gives you a 360 view of Beijing. It’s extremely well maintained and it’s a peaceful escape from the city.

Tips:

•    Please do not expect people to speak English just because you are at a famous tourist site. A little Chinese can go a long way.
• You can change currency at any bank. It is a very easy process.
•  Make sure you take a screenshot of the location you wish to visit before leaving the hotel. Tripadvisor has a tab for name/address in local language, you will find this very useful. Most taxi drivers do not speak English.
•   Most tourist attractions have an “All the way through ticket” which I recommend buying. It will allow you to all parts of the attraction.
•   Ladies, make sure to bring tissue with you wherever you go. Most tourist attractions have
•  traditional Chinese squatting toilets and no toilet paper.  

Disclaimer: These pictures do not do Beijing or anything about it justice. I hope I will be able to return and document this amazing city the right way.