When booking our flights to Europe, a stopover in China wasn’t originally on the cards. But thanks to China’s 72-hour visa-free transit period, a quick visit to Beijing was a great way to break up the long journey on the cheap.
It has always been a life dream of mine to visit all the Seven “New” Wonders of the World. With one of these located in Beijing, The Great Wall of China, I was lucky enough to tick another one off the list…and it was amazing!
Here’s a little video of our time in Beijing… (watch in HD)
For those who are interested in visiting China’s capital, here’s a few things we learned along the way…
- If using the 72-hour visa-free transit period, ensure you satisfy the conditions for this. You must have a departure flight booked before entering China to prove your duration of stay. Have your departure ticket printed or saved on your phone to show Immigration upon arrival.
- Book your hotel before arrival. Assuming your Mandarin-speaking skills are limited, save yourself any potential hassles by having your accommodation sorted in advance, preferably one with English-speaking staff. We found that few people spoke English in Beijing (taxi drivers, restaurant staff, shop assistants). We were lucky enough to have some English-speaking staff at our hotel, including a tour desk which we used to book our Great Wall tour.
- If taking a taxi from the airport to your hotel, have the address printed in Chinese to show the taxi driver. As with all foreign country taxis, ensure the taxi is legit before jumping in…there are many fake “taxis” lurking around the airport. We were approached fairly quickly by a guy who was hanging around the taxi rank, however we soon suspected he wasn’t a taxi driver when he started walking us to his car away from the taxis. We soon turned around and convinced an actual taxi driver to take us…yes, for some reason they seemed very disinterested towards servicing tourists.
- Enjoy being social media free. Due to communist censorship in mainland China, you won’t be able to access your Facebook account. You might find that you can still receive notifications and messages, but you won’t be able to view them. For the Facebook addicts, there is an option to use a VPN (“Virtual Private Network”), which should be set up before arriving in China. Google also isn’t accessible in China, but Bing can be used as an alternative. There are no restrictions with Skype, so this is a good option for keeping in touch with relatives and friends.
- Don’t expect good quality wi-fi in hotels. Even the best hotels can have pretty average wi-fi. With this, download an offline version of the Google Map of Beijing before you arrive if you plan to do some exploring. It’s also a good idea to have important documents printed or saved on your phone.
- Don’t be caught cashless. We found that several places didn’t accept credit cards (eg. Entrance to the Forbidden City). Carry sufficient cash or have access to a bank for ATM withdrawal.
- If visiting the Forbbiden City, note that it is closed on Mondays.
- Visit the Great Wall of China. A visit to Beijing isn’t complete without a trip to this Wonder of the World. We chose to visit the less touristy part of the Wall called Mutianyu, which takes a little longer to drive out to, but definitely worth it if you don’t want to be photobombed by hundreds of tourists. If possible, go on a weekday to avoid the bigger crowds. Pay for the chair-lift (120 Yuan return, approx $23) which takes you straight up to the Wall, so you have more time exploring the Wall itself and seeing the older part of the Wall if you’re willing to walk a little further. Also, don’t be a silly sausage like me and wear a maxi dress – there are a lot of steep stairways to hike up!
- Check out the night markets. We won’t give away too much – just go and experience the sights, sounds and smells on offer. If you’re not too adventurous with food, don’t expect to eat dinner there…you may go hungry.
- Finally, add some extra meaning to the visit by reading up on some history before you go. Â We watched the film “The Last Emperor”, which was filmed at The Forbidden City and depicts the life of the last emperor of China. This made our visit to the Forbidden City all the more special and meaningful.
If you haven’t already added Beijing on your list of places to visit, do it, even if it’s just for a short visit like us. Be prepared for big crowds and a culture shock, but it’s all totally worth the experience!
