I was in Beijing with 6 of my friends last week from April 3 to April 7. Here’s a summary of my journey.
• Visa application isn’t so difficult. You will get approved as long as you have an detailed itinerary (diy is ok), 2-way ticket, a few money in the bank, COE, ITR, hotel booking is a must and travel tour package will definitely help. I recommend asiatravel.com because their packages are so cheap but nothing was sacrificed.
• We had no issues with the Chinese immigration. We brought with us pretty much everything like a copy of our COE, IT, return flight ticket, hotel & tour booking and itinerary just in case they ask for it. They didn’t even ask any question.
• Lesson learned– if you are to take a cab from the airport to the hotel, I suggest you take the metered taxi because it’s cheaper. I regret not following the recommendations here about not riding a car for rent because we paid 350yuan compared to just 130yuan for 2 cabs. We arrived the airport at around 12 midnight so we thought being together in 1 suv is a better option as it could be safer. But taxis there are safe and definitely cheaper. Also, if your hotel is near your destination I suggest you just ride a cab instead of the subway especially if there’s 4 of you paying the taxi fare. Subway is cheaper because it’s only 2yuan per round trip regardless of the distance but it could be very stressful kase super dami tao palagi sa loob ng train. While a taxi ride can be more expensive by 20yuan which is only 150 pesos but a lot convenient and less stressful kase minsan haba ng nilalakad sa subway station pag my line transfers.
• 1peso = approx. 7yuan. I strongly suggest mag paconvert na kayo dito sa Manila before you leave or sa NAIA meron. We only brought with us USD and bihira ang money changer sa Beijing. Dapat sa Bank or sa loob ng mall minsan meron. Sa airport naman may extra charge na 2yuan.
• Spring just started when we were there. So super lamig sa umaga and gabi then maaraw & mainit na may malamig na hangin. So denim jeans is a must, with probably 2 layers of light jackets or 1 makapal na jacket with gloves. But when we left last Sunday hindi na masyado malamig tolerable na yung hangin.
• Buy a lot of water from 7/11 or supermarket .90 or 1.5 yuan lang sya but very expensive sa mga restaurants dahil they don’t have house water or even tea (unbelievable) and sa mga tourist spot mahal rin.
• They have malls but most of the items are sold at regular price. H&M was on sale dun lang ako nakabili. But the rest I find them expensive and even toys same lang rin dito.
• Wangfujing – madaming street food but we were not brave enough to eat them esp the scorpion. They also have night market that sells souvenir items.
• Food is everywhere. May maliliit na restaurants with of course authentic Chinese food na mura lang that ranges from 8 to 25 yuan. Dami rin ang titinda na moving stalls. I love the fruits on stick na may asukal parang bananaque. Riast duck is also a must try.
• Rest rooms are ok. Mostly squat type. May madumi may malinis pero really stinky. But for me it was tolerable naman. We will see girls not closing the cr door while they pee and really dirty bowls. So you should pee before you leave the hotel.
• We stayed at Dragon King hostel. It’s nothing fancy but I like it because it’s cheap and clean plus the receptionists are accommodating. They have towels & slippers.
• On our 1st day we went to ming tombs, jade factory, great wall, tea house and passed by the Olympic park. All through the tour package of asiatravel.com worth only USD30 including lunch. I enjoyed the tour especially great wall as the place is really amazing and the toboggan ride was really fun. So we didn’t really climb a lot because may cable car & sledge which is not included sa package (fee is 80yuan cable car & toboggan). Pagbaba ng great wall may mga stalls that sell souvenirs. I suggest bumili na kayo because bihira rin yung bilihan dun and much cheaper basta marunong kayo tumawad. Also, don’t buy the snow globe or umbrella kung wala kayong checkin bags because immigration will confiscate it sa departure from Beijing to Manila. Super sad nga ako & I cried because the snow globe is for my daughter’s collection.
• 2nd day we went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen square, Yuyuantan Park and Wangfujing ulet to eat roast duck for dinner. Magaganda yung place and we saw a lot of cherry blossoms pero nakakapagod kase madaming lakad. Also, we went there on a weekend so super daming tao.
• 3rd day we went to the zoo where the panda house is (20yuan). I was so disappointed kase aside from madaming tao because we went there on a holiday weekend, the place is not well maintained, walang attendants sa park, the animals look sick and sad especially the Pandas. There are 3 small pandas na hindi masyadong gumagalaw and seem tired or sleepy. If you will go there I suggest you take a cab dahil malayo yung subway station sa zoo because the Beijing zoo station is not yet operational which we were not aware of. Then we went out to look for the underground mall (ito yokado) based on my research katabi sya ng mc do. We saw an underground mall similar to 168 mall in divisoria beside mc do as soon as we went out ng zoo. Pero hindi pala yun yon kaya wala kame nabili na souvenirs. From the zoo just take a cab and show your map sa driver kase sa kabilang side pa pal yun. The mall has a big sign Ito Yokado sa harap beside mcdo. We went to Sanlitun to check this new mall like BGC with a lot of bars sa kabilang street. If you want to go luxury shopping then that’s the place to go. If not baka ma bore ka lang. Next we went to the Olympic park. We arrived at 4pm and stayed until around 9pm to see the lights from the birds nest and water cube mas maaappreciate mo kase sya sa gabi. If you will take the subway train get off Olympic green station para mas malapit sa mall were you can go grocery shopping for Chinese food / pastries for pasalubong and birds nest & water cube is near too. Kase if you get off Olympic park station agad super haba pa lalakarin mo though madami ka makikita na stalls selling souvenirs. After, we headed back to our hostel.
• Overall, nagenjoy naman ako. But I wouldn’t recommend. The places are really nice, food is good and cheap, shopping is expensive, transpo is very good but the walking and the crowd made it a little stressful. Buti nalang my best friend who works in China and speaks mandarin was with us so it was easier for us to haggle and go around places. If not I’m sure it’s going to be more stressful since bihira rin yung marunong mag English even in some restaurants.
