Where to SHOP in BEIJING

1. Wangfujing
One of the famous shopping streets located in Dongcheng district. Surrounded by shopping malls, shop lots and a snack street in the hutongs of the main streets. Read more... 

2. Sanlitun Village

The combination of leisure, shopping, dining, arts and entertainment in this village provide you a shopping-as-entertainment experience. The playful architecture with cosmopolitan feel stands out this village compare to other more traditional design of shopping centers in the area. You can find famous international brands here. 

3. Yashow Clothing Market

This market is located next to Sanlitun Village, compare to Silk Market, this place is much cheaper if you know how to bargain hardly. Try to slash 75% of the retail price provided by the sellers, because normally they will give a high price in upfront.

  

4. Silk Market

This is one of the Beijing's most famous indoor shopping market for tourist. You can bargain aggressively for stuffs such as garments, shoes, bags, watches and fabrics here... But I still find it more expensive than Yashow Clothing Market.

5. Nan Lou Gu Xiang (南 锣 鼓 巷)
This is one of the shopping streets I like where you can experience the Hutong culture, specialty shops and distinctive foods. Located around the area of Bell & Drum tower. You can try the lamb kebab here... 

What to SEE in BEIJING

You can travel by yourself easily in Beijing where most of the tourism spots are link by their subway. The following are the tourism spots suggested for your visit:

1. Great Wall of China

"He who has never been to Great Wall is not a true man" is a phrase derived from Chairman Mao to describe those who can't overcome obstacle and achieve their goal is not a hero. Now I can understand why Great Wall is used in the phrase. Because to climb up to the Great Wall is not an easy job, the stair is steep and the stone step is small.  

The Great Wall has history around 2700 years and it was build to prevent China against the invaders from the North. You can visit Great Wall at Badaling which is easy to reach by train and bus.

2. Forbidden City

Build 1406-1420 by million laborers. Home of the emperor and his household until 1924. Located in the heart of Beijing. Read more...

3. Tiananmen Square
The world largest square, surrounding by Mao's Mausoluem, History Musuem, Great Hall of the People, Forbidden City and Qianmen St. Near National Grand Theater.

4. Qianmen Street

2km long street located just South of Tiananmen square, now meticulously restored to reflect Qianmen's 600-year traditional shopping history and architecture.

5. Summer Palace

This imperial Chinese garden was included in world heritage list under UNESCO, year 1998. It is an outstanding expression of the creative art of Chinese landscape garden design, incorporating the works of humankind and nature in a harmonious whole (UNESCO). The main garden is dominated by Kuming lake and longevity hills, you can also see the 728 meter elaborately painted long corridor and Empress Cixi's marble boat here.

6. Lama Temple (Yonghegong)

It was the residence of the Prince Yong of Qing Dynasty (Emperor Yong Zheng) before it was converted to Lama Temple in 1744. The three things you must not missed seeing here are: the Niche of Buddham which was carved out of nanmu with three layers filigree; the Five-Hundred-Arhat Mountain carved out of red sandalwood; and an 18 meter hight Buddha which was carved out of one grand piece of white sandalwood.

7. National Stadium

The "hemispherical dome" (天圆地方 doctrine) is used in the architecture design in Beijing's National Stadium where the "Bird's Nest" shape is round and the National Aquatics Centre's shape is square. In between, there is a dragon venture. This signified the important of Feng Shui in Chinese architecture and living.

8. Houhai Bar Street

A happening night life place where you can stroll, drink and eats a long the banks of the picturesque Qianhai, Houhai and Xihai lakes. There even have boat services to ride and enjoy the sightseeing. It is close to Bell and Drum towers.

9. Bell & Drum Towers

The Bell & Drum towers were once the time-announcing center of the capital during Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. But unfortunately, there are only one remaining watchman's drum out of 25 previously.

10. Beijing Hutongs

The word "hutong" refers to alley which is almost disappearing. You can tour on foot, bicycle or pedicab to visit atmospheric alleys and courtyards.

 

Foods in Beijing you should try...

What are the foods you must try when you visit Beijing? 

Dumplings or Jiaozi

You must try dumpling - the common dishes of Beijing, but which one is nice? I have tried dumplings in Wangfujing street, but sad to say that the dumpling skin is hard and the filing is little. We tried the dumplings in Feather dumplings 鸿毛饺子restaurant too, comparison it was nicer. Feather dumplings restaurant  is a franchise store with around 25 branches and the number one seller dishes will be the leek dumpling. A dumpling filing consist of minced meat and finely chopped leek arouse great aroma in your mouth with a dipping sauce made of vinegar. There are even free dumpling soup provided in one of the corner in the restaurant. 

Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Bun)

This is one of the dim sum I like, although it is a common food in the Southern such as in Shanghai, but I would like to try it in Beijing too. When you bite the Xiao Long Bao, the soup in side will split all over your mouth when you bite it. I tried something different type which consists of crab meat as follows.

 

 

Cold Noddles

Korea is famous for cold noodles which also known as Raengmyeon. The noodle is chewier and the cold soup is refreshing. If you like cold noodle, you should also try it in Beijing. Beijing (northern) people like cold dishes where you can see people like to relish cold side dishes such as salad with their wine in the restaurant. What are the difference between Korean and Beijing cold noodles? I can't really tell. But the cold noddle I tried in Korea was hardly bite off and I need a scissor for it. 

  

Beijing traditional snack
Douzhir (fermented bean drink) 豆汁, sheep offal soup 羊杂碎汤, baked sweeten wheaten cake 糖火烧, butter fried cake 奶油炸糕... are all famous snacks in Beijing, but whether you like the local taste will be another question for you. I have tried the snacks in Hugo temple snack, but it was hard for me to accept the taste...Read more

Lamb kebabs
You can easily get lamb or other meat kebabs in Beijing's stall.

I was being scammed in Beijing, China

I promised to write this scammed incident in my blog but I wait until now only I put down my words. Before I departure to Yangon, Myanmar, I have send a letter to the Tourism Quality Supervision and Management Offices in China to complain against the dishonest of the hospital/ company which the travel agent brought us to. But it almost one month and I didn't receive any reply from the authority.

I am writing this is to prevent the same incident happened again and hope tourists in China will be more alert. The incident happened like this. Me and my husband had been brought to a place, called by the travel agent as a Tibet hospital. Why we being brought here is because the China government would like to promote the Tibet art of healing to tourist so that people are aware of their existence.

When we walk through the main entrance, the photo displayed are the top politicians in China. They even mentioned that this is one of the government department to promote Tibet culture. After that the person brought us to a room and a lady started to share the knowledge of health. After the lady finished the sharing, she went to invite her so called head to diagnose our health by seeing only our palm lines which is the uniqueness of Tibet art of healing.

The Head came in together with two boys and the two boys will be helping us to massage our foot. But this is one of the tactics they used to hold us and prevent us walk away. The Head then introduced himself and asked where do we came from, after knowing where we from he started to put some relationship with our local famous Chinese hospital leader so that the whole scammed looks real.

After diagnosis my palm, he started to told my health condition and problem, if I didn't treat it, it will become worse and hard to get pregnant in future. Then he introduced their Tibet herb and he wrote 900 x 3 is equally to RMB1800, converted it was just around RM900. The price is considered reasonable for me but I didn't decided to buy. Then he started pursuing and mentioned the seriousness of my case. At last, due to my husband is very caring for me, he pulled out his credit card and purchased the medicine for me.

When the slip came back, it is RMB5400 (9 bottles with 20 pills in a bottle) rather than RMB1800. And he mentioned that he wrote the times 3 at the bottom at his note. We didn't argued it and at last we signed for the bill.

When we back to Malaysia, I checked the ingredient of the herbs Er shi wu wei gui jiu wan (二十五味鬼臼丸) we brought and I found out, it is just a normal medicine. Then I checked on the web for the same manufacturer printed in the bottle, the price is only RMB87. That's means 9 bottles is only cost RMB783.

So ridiculous! But what goes around comes around, I always believe that a person's actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person. 

I managed to capture this photo together with the Head which I kept it as my proof for my complaint.

The medicine and credit card slip.

  

Unique Chinese ancient design

Despite of the fast changing of Beijing city, more and more modern buildings pop up overnight. A part of the Beijing city still preserved the design of Chinese ancient architecture.

A well mixed of westerner and Chinese cultural in the buildings imposed a different feeling. What would I said, "the communication between old and new generation?!!" And you will not be surprised to find a Starbucks or Costa Coffee sitting in an old traditional Chinese architecture.   

Things to buy in BEIJING

When you travel in Beijing especially with tour or free and easy travel, most of the tour guide will bring you to their identify exclusive shop. This is where they can earn their commission, therefore, beware and spend cautiously, there may be scam or buying unnecessary things here. I will share with you all later in my blog where I have been scammed for buying a high price Chinese herbs.

Of course, not to deny, there are still good things to purchase in Beijing. Hence, it is recommended to do some research if you would like to buy an expensive souvenir whenever you travel. The sales person there will be very pushy to ask you to purchase by mentioned that their sales is still zero, asked for your kindness to support them... Firmly say "NO" and go out from the building, but if you wanted to buy, you will be surprised that you can cut down the price half by using the same tactics.

What things you can consider to buy in Beijing, there are pearl, silk, Chinese tea leaf, jade, handcraft, local snack and books.

1) Pearl
The tour guide brought us to one of the pearl exclusive shop (Freesky Pearl) in the Olympics village. It is one of the favoured, beauty and longevity secrets for Empress Dowager Cixi. It is said that everyday she will ate high quality pearl powder getting from the Summer place's pond. According to "Compendium of Materia Medica" 本草纲目, pearl is non-toxic, rich in calcium, good for the appearance of the skin, improve eyesight and it can calm your heart. You can see the effect only you consume it daily.

A more convenience Bio-gold pearl cream is sold in the shop,  it contains bio-gold, pearl, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, ginseng extracts, ganoderma.

Pure pearl powder

 2) Jade
There are two categorized of jade: soft and hard jade. China only produced soft jade, therefore all hard jade is imported from Burma. In market, hard jade is more valuable and popular than soft jade, therefore you will be questioning why should we buy it from China? I think the main different is the way they polished and engraved the jade. Jade is loved by Chinese, it is mentioned that it has the life force energy. As human, we nurture the jade and the jade nurture us.

Laughing Buddha jade engraved it is said to bring good fortune to lady

3) Silk
Silk is a natural protein obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of silkworm. The silk made fabric is a luxury item in ancient China and commonly used by rich people and the Emperors. The benefit of using silk helps to prevent skin and nose sensitive, especially good for asthma, cotton will capture dust but not silk.

  
4) Chinese tea leaf
Chinese tea leaf is another things you can consider to purchase in China. There are many different types of tea leaf sold in China, the recommended tea leaf sold in Dr. Tea are Pu erh, TianQi flower, white tea, flower tea... Pur erh tea is produced in Yunnan province, it is good for high blood, diabetes and coronary heart disease. The taste is thick and the price sometime can be very expensive cause it is depends on the age the tea leaf was keep.

Kungfu tea demonstration by the promoter in Dr Tea exclusive shop

TianQi flower and white tea

   

Wangfujing street

Woman like shopping, so do I. There are many places you can spend your money in Beijing, it is a shopping paradise! But unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this round shopping, this was mainly due to my swollen leg and my tiredness.

There are many commercial streets, markets, departmental stores, supermarkets, feature stores...around in Beijing. Too many is my only answer, but the famous tourism spot for shopping area will be Sanlitun Ya Xiu Market, Wangfujing street, Silk market, Qianmen street, Hong Qiao Market (Pearl Market), and others.

We only manage to drop by few places, one of the place is Wangfujing 王府井street. There are many departmental stores around, book stores and a snack street. I like Wangfujing, this is because there have two bookstores around that area - Chinese and foreign languages bookstore. The book is cheap after the conversion rate, it only cost half of the price if I purchase the same book in Malaysia. Due to limited space I purchased for my luggage, I have to sacrifice for most of the book I liked. If not, I think I will bring back the whole bookstore. Haha...  

Wangfujing street

There are lots of departmental stores around the street, if you like shopping rather than book, you can enjoy this place as well

Beijing foreign languages bookstore is located nearby Wangfujing bookstore.

Wangfujing bookstore is one of the biggest bookstore in Beijing, there have 6th floors altogether and full of variety of books.

Besides bookstores, there is a snack street around the corner. This is the place you can try their exotic snack foods and purchase their souvenirs. You can find their street foods such as Tang hu lu  (candied fruits on a stick), Chuanr 串儿 (meat stick), scorpions and bugs stick, fried butter cake and many more. Don't be surprise with the scorpions, sea horse...sticks, according to Chinese, scorpion is an expensive herb with health effects on the prevention of many chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Therefore, why not give it a try!

Wangfujing snack street

If you dare to try, it will be a good experience to eat their scorpions, sea horse and star fish stick. It is just RMB20 to 25.

Tang hu lu, a candied fruits on a stick

Fried butter cake

You can buy a variety of souvenirs in Wangfujing street

Transportation in Beijing

Traveling in Beijing is quite convenience because most of the attraction places are well connected by their subway. All you need to know is which interchange station to get off and get in. And it may be a bit complicated cause there have around ten lines for their railway. But if you have a good map, that will be fine.

We didn't prepare a map for our traveling, rather we used a brief map provided in our hotel. Therefore, the experience we got is to walk a very far distance until my leg swollen. My conclusion is prepare a detail map and a good shoe for traveling from a station to your destination. The photo below is the traditional Beijing cloth shoe I brought to substitute my shoe, it looks nice and it is cheap, just cost RMB58.

Old Beijing cloth shoe I brought after my foot become swollen for a long distance walk.

For my experience, the destination seems very nearby in the map, but in really case, I have been walking for almost 1/2 to 1 hour to reach the place I want. It was because we got off the wrong station or we didn't know the short cut, I think. Beijing is very big and their road is wide, for example the road in Chang'an Avenue is the longest and widest street with 10 lanes altogether. And you can have a nice view of Chang'an Avenue street went you visit Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.

This is one of photo I took on the road near Agriculture Exhibition Center and you can see their road is wide

During our traveling in Beijing, we have difficulty to get a taxi. One of the reason is the taxi stand in the famous city sights are always full of tourists and the number of taxi is less. We have been waiting for half an hour and we decided to walk to the nearest station as possible.

I remember that when we reached Beijing international airport in the mid night, no railway service for that time and the taxi stand is full with people. For our tiredness and lazy to queue, we paid RMB350 for whoever want to drop us to our hotel. I think it is an illegal cab service. It was scared experience too, the driver took us to another building that was very quiet to get his car and he drove very fast on the road.

Another experience, the taxi driver didn't want to fetch us to our hotel. We are quite frustrated until we got a taxi driver that is kind enough. We told him our experience, he mentioned that it might due to the different slang we have. Although we speak well in Mandarin and I even give them the hotel address in mandarin words, I really can't understand why they refused to fetch us. Besides, I also noticed that not all taxi driver known very well of Beijing street, the driver had to ask us to call to the hotel to get the direction by using our own mobile.

These are only my experience, may be others have good and pleasant experience with the transportation. One of the guide told us that it is better not to take a taxi who pull over and wait for tourists, in addition it will be more easier to get a taxi by walking a bit far away from the famous spot.

Pedicabs, the fare is depends on negotiation

Beijing subway map:  Line 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 15. The security is tied and we have to put our begs for scanned before entered the subway

Chinese ancient wisdom... the forbidden city

Recently I read a book written by Richard Nisbett "The geography of thought: how Asians and Westerners think differently... and why". There was one research done by given children 3 pictures of "grass", "chicken" and "cow". The children were ask to group and categorize them. And most of the children from China will group "grass" and "cow" together. In contrast, the kids from US categorized "chicken" and "cow" as one group.

The result above indicated that the kids from China tend to see things from the relations perspective (wholeness), whereas, US kids tend to see things as individual (an item itself). It was a quite an interesting research, but it might not suitable for now because most of the Asians are now influenced by Western and Asians education. But I do agree that it represented the traditional Chinese culture.

When I travel in Beijing, I noticed that the ancient applied the "harmonize" and "wholeness" principle well and it was reflected in their architecture. For example the forbidden city, the design of the building and structure are very symmetric. Even the staying place for their governance are well arranged in the forbidden city. Another well known principle is "fengshui" which emphasize the harmonize of the surrounding. Although I am not delved in "fengshui', but I am amazed with the Chinese ancient wisdom.

Jade in front of Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧太后 palace

Most of the gate are decorated with 9 x 9 array golden door nails, 9 is the biggest number in yang, therefore it symbolic highest imperial status

Cranes symbolize longevity