Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've bought tickets for the swimming and gym, my two favorit sports. I feel so excited to see this coming great event,and also I'd like to take the chance to have a sightseeing in Beijing, and other picturesque cities if possible. But just one thing bothers me- go alone or join a package tour group? Though I prefer to go by myself, much fun without the bondage or limitation of any kind, I'm afraid problems may arise due to different languages and unfamiliarity. Well, time is running out, and I should make the decision as soon as possible.
Cinlery,
We were in China this past April, visiting our daughter who lives there. I started planning our trip in September and we did not go on any formal tours but did use a tour guide in Beijing. She was wonderful, but will certainly be booked by now for Olympic time. For the other three cities (Hong Kong, Yangshuo and Xi'an) we stayed in, I made sure to stay at small places where the owners were fluent in English and there were reviews by other travelers mentioned how helpful they were. We also stayed in a Chinese hotel in Shenzhen but my daughter had booked the room for us and we didn't really need any help from the front desk.
The most scenic place we visited was Yangshuo, in South East China. China was by far the most un-English speaking place I have ever visited and it was at times challenging. Fortunately, our daughter had picked up enough Chinese that when we traveled with her we had no problems. I spent quite a bit of time on the travel forums figuring out what we really wanted to see and places to go. Yangshou, unfortunately will be very hot at this time of the year.
Oh, and you'll have to go to the Great Wall - go to Mutianyu or Simitai, NOT Badaling. We hired a driver for that day and went to the Mutianyu entrance. Badaling is closest to Beijing and has a reputation for being very, very crowded.
I would suggest you go with a tour group. It's safer, they know where you can go and they know the culture and can answer your questions.
We were in China 10 years ago. We started out touring on our own. Twice the military/police stopped us and said we were forbidden in the area. So we went back to the hotel and signed on with a tour group. It was great.
We lived in Beijing Feb/March. Were supposed to be posted there 2 years, we left in a month. Ate the contract, took a serious financial hit and walked away. I couldn't get out of Beijing fast enough.
Ugly dirty city. The smog is unbearable. There is almost nothing in the way of trees or plants. Dust, sand, pollution, highrises, freeways; Beijing is an industrial empire in the middle of an ugly desert. Horrible place, I like to refer to it as Hell On Earth.
Thank god for my American passport. The poor Chinese are stuck in that hellhole.
I loved China! Every day we saw beautiful parks and people excercising in them, gracefully doing Tai Chi or stretching excercises. The markets were exciting and inticing. The food was absolutely wonderful and inexpensive. Okay, except for the one where we saw the dog hanging.. The people there have been through so much, it was fascinating hearing about how people my age survived the cultural revolution and to hear how they picked themselves up. That made me grateful to be an American but sad to realize what was really going on in China not that long ago.
Did you visit South East China, azoria? Yangshuo was as beautiful as Hawaii in places. It was so very cool to see people farming with water buffalo or being poled down a river on a tiny raft.
I'm not saying that China is not terribly polluted but I think overall it's a lovely country. I'm glad my daughter was able to work there for a year (she decided to keep her contract even after a rough first two months) and happy that we were able to visit her. After she settled in, she discovered that she really liked China - it's an amazing country.
I didn't visit anything, all of Beijing looks the highrise/freeway same. We went to the Forbidden Palace, saw the *gardens* . Tienimen Square is across the street. You could barely make it out through the haze.
We lived about 2 blocks from Chouyang *park*. If a few dead bushes and a concrete lake constitute a park.
I've heard southern China is nice. Beijing is not.
Weather alert -February and March is winter in Beijing, it would be pretty strange to see flowering plants. Is this the park that was so unappealing to you? ChaoYang (Rising Sun) Park, Beijing (80 photos)
Had you taken the time to see Beihai Park you would have seen a lovely park with trees and pagoda's. The Summer palace also has a pretty lake and beautiful grounds. Did you go to Wangfujing street and it's outdoor night market? How about the great wall? Probably not a good place to go in the winter but another uniquely cool Chinese attraction close to Beijing. The hutongs are the old traditional buildings in Beijing and when you stay in one of them you can forget about the sky-scraper city part of China. Tour the Hutongs of Beijing
Azoria, it's too bad that you were not able to enjoy yourself in Beijing but perhaps just a little more research would have been helpful. I've heard similiar comments about our cities in the Northeast from people that are from the Southern States. February and March are probably the worst months to live at this latitude.
You didn't visit anything besides the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Tienimen Square is across the street. You could barely make it out through the haze.
