Beijing in late nov


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watsup

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Oct 11, 2006
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I am going on a 10 days free and easy trip to Beijing at the end of nov. Never been there before so would like ask those who are familiar with that place for advices.

1) Any recommendation for a budget accommodation for 2? Minimum clean beds with private washroom facilities. And maybe also a well insulated room considering the time of the year i am going over. I have not book any hotel yet. Intend to search around for lodging. Possible to get one for less than 300RMB per day?

2) Where are the must go places over there?

3) Besides Beijing itself, is it advisable to travel outside the area to other nearby towns or citys? Not sure if i will get bored staying 10 days in Beijing or not. Just for info, my return flight will be from Beijing.

4) What kind of cold weather clothing is needed? I do not intend to bring many clothes though.

Anything else that i might have missed?

Thanks in advance :)
 



I am going on a 10 days free and easy trip to Beijing at the end of nov. Never been there before so would like ask those who are familiar with that place for advices.

1) Any recommendation for a budget accommodation for 2? Minimum clean beds with private washroom facilities. And maybe also a well insulated room considering the time of the year i am going over. I have not book any hotel yet. Intend to search around for lodging. Possible to get one for less than 300RMB per day?

2) Where are the must go places over there?

3) Besides Beijing itself, is it advisable to travel outside the area to other nearby towns or citys? Not sure if i will get bored staying 10 days in Beijing or not. Just for info, my return flight will be from Beijing.

4) What kind of cold weather clothing is needed? I do not intend to bring many clothes though.

Anything else that i might have missed?

Thanks in advance :)

go out of beijing.....the rural area is an eye opener....10days in beijing city only is really a waste...below are wat can be done in 1 day
1. tian tan天坛+ tian an men + gu gong+ lama temple...
2. birdnest stadium + cubic +some spare time for shopping
3. yuan ming yuan圆明园 + yi he yuan颐和园 + beijing uni, + qing hua uni....
4. Si ma tai great wall...司马台
5. Mu tian yu great wall...u can spend a few days here actually...there are other tourist attraction...(慕田峪 is situated in 怀柔district. google 怀柔 to find out more)

I will always tell ppl to avoid the Ba da ling great wall...total waste of time and lots of ppl. but its a TOURIST must go places....u think abt it....

go cheng de summer palace...haha..its abit weird to visit summer palace during winter..I nvr been there....and its kind of a regret for me.....this will easily take 3-4days....

bring ur long john along....late nov is COLD.....when the wind blow..its like scratching ur skin from front to back.....its good to bring those full face cotton mask and body lotions....it helps alot..
 

go out of beijing.....the rural area is an eye opener....10days in beijing city only is really a waste...below are wat can be done in 1 day
1. tian tan天坛+ tian an men + gu gong+ lama temple...
2. birdnest stadium + cubic +some spare time for shopping
3. yuan ming yuan圆明园 + yi he yuan颐和园 + beijing uni, + qing hua uni....
4. Si ma tai great wall...司马台
5. Mu tian yu great wall...u can spend a few days here actually...there are other tourist attraction...(慕田峪 is situated in 怀柔district. google 怀柔 to find out more)

I will always tell ppl to avoid the Ba da ling great wall...total waste of time and lots of ppl. but its a TOURIST must go places....u think abt it....

go cheng de summer palace...haha..its abit weird to visit summer palace during winter..I nvr been there....and its kind of a regret for me.....this will easily take 3-4days....

bring ur long john along....late nov is COLD.....when the wind blow..its like scratching ur skin from front to back.....its good to bring those full face cotton mask and body lotions....it helps alot..

Hi LiuLangMao, thanks for your valuable advice... will certainly visit some of the places you mentioned. For 司马台 and 慕田峪, is it advisable to treat it as a normal day trip? Which means to say go there in the morning and return to Beijing in the evening. Or should i go over there and stay for the a couple of days? If i have to stay there, will finding accommodation be a problem?

As for 承德, not sure if it is advisable for me to go there or not... seems pretty far and like you said, it is a summer palace... :)
 

If you have time, can try 金山岭长城, just adjacent to 司马台,but prepare to spend one whole day trekking. Heard 箭扣长城is even tougher.
Avoid 八达岭and居庸关。
If you like artistic stuff, can try 798艺术区。
when you are at lama temple, don't miss the confucius temple and imperial library国子监 nearby.
As for the birdnest and water cube, try go in the evening, when they are lighted up.
Remember to go 什刹海area, where there are old hutongs and drum/bell towers.
 

I have just returned from Beijing less then 2 weeks ago, visited Beijing, Chengde and Tianjin within 7 days, visited itinerary like Birdnest, cube, Ming's Tomb, Tian an men, forbidden city, temple of heaven.

I guess try not to stay in Beijing for the whole 10 days imo.
 

Been there a couple years back, end Nov. Its pretty cold since its getting into Winter, but not too bad. Most travel agency cater about 3 days for BeiJing, but they do not cover certain places that you can go on free and easy.
You can get around easily via their "MRT" equivalent. I suggest you hunt accomodation that's near one, so getting around is easy. Night shopping at Wang FuJing is nice, with skewer BBQ foodstalls. 4yuan or 5yuan a stick.
Places like Great Wall BaDaLing is not crowded at all, since its not the tourism peak period.
Towards the end of the forbidden city is the yu hua yuan. Out from the gate at the rear, across the road is the Jing Shan garden, where you can pay a small entrance fee to go in. Its where the locals go to relax, dance, etc. Nice for photography of garden scenery, locals at play.
TianAnMen Square is nice to go towards the evening, where PLA march in to perform flag lowering ceremony. There'll be alot of locals there as well to watch it. You can take photos of night scene around TianAnMen with a tripod. I think there's a similar flag raising ceremony as well, in the morning.
There're more non-tourist destinations that you can go, but I guess being free and easy, and first time there, you've opportunity to get lost, and spend sometime finding your way around. That itself is quite nice, once in a while. :bsmilie:
 

Hey I’m a beijinger.
About the hotels, you may book
http://www.homeinns.com/resvhomeinns/home/index.aspx
or
http://www.htinns.com/?utm_source=b...ex&bdclkid=8xJGOVzyqahaqQbkAYSBr4WEd_uVbtMv3J
they are very popular in china which are the franchise style. Normal rooms are below 300RMB(150-250 most of them). The most important thing is the location of the hotels are all good, would be convenient for you to go around in the city.

Besides, in Beijing north\western\eastern parts or zones are good, don’t book hotels in the south part of Beijing!

To add some places of interest,南锣鼓巷(nan luo gu xiang).

It will be cold. You need to wear a sweater and a jacket!
 

Hi LiuLangMao, thanks for your valuable advice... will certainly visit some of the places you mentioned. For 司马台 and 慕田峪, is it advisable to treat it as a normal day trip? Which means to say go there in the morning and return to Beijing in the evening. Or should i go over there and stay for the a couple of days? If i have to stay there, will finding accommodation be a problem?

As for 承德, not sure if it is advisable for me to go there or not... seems pretty far and like you said, it is a summer palace... :)

司马台 can be a day trip...unless u wanna trekking..I doubt there is any hotel nearby....maybe u can check out 密云县hotel..
慕田峪....unless u wanna visit the others tourist spot...or else dun need to stay...or u wanna trek from jian kou to 慕田峪..than must stay over night to go up early in the morning.u can check out 怀柔县,

金山岭 is also nice.. its 1 part of the great wall I nvr been to ...would love to go next time if got chance...

personnally I dun like ba da ling.....I have been to many part of the great wall....even the 2 extreme end 山海关and 嘉峪关 ....but 司马台is my fav..maybe that time still young..can climb..now go must take cable car liao...hahaha...
 

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i will be there 10-20 november.....want to meet up ?

in between will be going up farther north to Chanchun, Jilin etc etc
 

Been there a couple years back, end Nov. Its pretty cold since its getting into Winter, but not too bad. Most travel agency cater about 3 days for BeiJing, but they do not cover certain places that you can go on free and easy.
You can get around easily via their "MRT" equivalent. I suggest you hunt accomodation that's near one, so getting around is easy. Night shopping at Wang FuJing is nice, with skewer BBQ foodstalls. 4yuan or 5yuan a stick.
Places like Great Wall BaDaLing is not crowded at all, since its not the tourism peak period.
Towards the end of the forbidden city is the yu hua yuan. Out from the gate at the rear, across the road is the Jing Shan garden, where you can pay a small entrance fee to go in. Its where the locals go to relax, dance, etc. Nice for photography of garden scenery, locals at play.
TianAnMen Square is nice to go towards the evening, where PLA march in to perform flag lowering ceremony. There'll be alot of locals there as well to watch it. You can take photos of night scene around TianAnMen with a tripod. I think there's a similar flag raising ceremony as well, in the morning.
There're more non-tourist destinations that you can go, but I guess being free and easy, and first time there, you've opportunity to get lost, and spend sometime finding your way around. That itself is quite nice, once in a while. :bsmilie:

Thks, Meerkat Mongoose. I will check out these places you mentioned if time permit. As for the flag raising ceremony, i will have to see if my body wants to wake up or not:bsmilie:

Hey I’m a beijinger.
About the hotels, you may book
http://www.homeinns.com/resvhomeinns/home/index.aspx
or
http://www.htinns.com/?utm_source=b...ex&bdclkid=8xJGOVzyqahaqQbkAYSBr4WEd_uVbtMv3J
they are very popular in china which are the franchise style. Normal rooms are below 300RMB(150-250 most of them). The most important thing is the location of the hotels are all good, would be convenient for you to go around in the city.

Besides, in Beijing north\western\eastern parts or zones are good, don’t book hotels in the south part of Beijing!

To add some places of interest,南锣鼓巷(nan luo gu xiang).

It will be cold. You need to wear a sweater and a jacket!

Thks for the link stacysui. I will go check it out. You mentioned 南锣鼓巷, may i know what is there to look out for? Also, since you are from Beijing, maybe you can tell me what or where to avoid doing/going? I do not wish to do something stupid and get myself into trouble ;)

司马台 can be a day trip...unless u wanna trekking..I doubt there is any hotel nearby....maybe u can check out 密云县hotel..
慕田峪....unless u wanna visit the others tourist spot...or else dun need to stay...or u wanna trek from jian kou to 慕田峪..than must stay over night to go up early in the morning.u can check out 怀柔县,

金山岭 is also nice.. its 1 part of the great wall I nvr been to ...would love to go next time if got chance...

personnally I dun like ba da ling.....I have been to many part of the great wall....even the 2 extreme end 山海关and 嘉峪关 ....but 司马台is my fav..maybe that time still young..can climb..now go must take cable car liao...hahaha...

Hi, LiuLangMao, I have no plan to do any trekking for now because i think the wind will be strong and cold during this time of the year. Unless someone tells me i am wrong. The only worry is i have is the transportation... Been searching the web and there are posts saying that the last bus leaving 慕田峪 and 司马台 for Beijing are pretty early... around 4pm if i am not wrong. Anybody knows?:dunno:

Also, since i am at this topic, i would like to gather more information on transportation to these 2 locations. How to get to these 2 locations by the fastest and cheapest method? Saw this website but dun know up to date or not.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/scene/beijing/mutianyu-review.htm
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/scene/beijing/simatai.htm

i will be there 10-20 november.....want to meet up ?

in between will be going up farther north to Chanchun, Jilin etc etc

Hi ed9119, I am afraid i won't be able to meet up with you. I will be there from 20-30 Nov. Might have a chance to meet you at the airport though :)
 

Hi, LiuLangMao, I have no plan to do any trekking for now because i think the wind will be strong and cold during this time of the year. Unless someone tells me i am wrong. The only worry is i have is the transportation... Been searching the web and there are posts saying that the last bus leaving 慕田峪 and 司马台 for Beijing are pretty early... around 4pm if i am not wrong. Anybody knows?:dunno:

i went to 司马台 in 2002, but I used my company car to go , But from what I know there is a 游12路 tourist bus that goes from 宣武门。

for 慕田峪, there is a 游6路from 宣武门 too.

But most of these 游X路bus operates only on Sat and Sun. as early as 0630 - 0800.

I went 慕田峪 in 2006, took a bus 916(daily bus, whole day also got, just like we take bus from town to bedok) from 东直门, and reach怀柔, from there, I took a cab cost me abt RMB40. once u get off the bus, lots of taxi driver will ask u to take their taxi. just walk a bit far away, grab one of them to tok abt price and agree on it, if u r not happy with the price, just walk away to get another driver, no need to feel pai sei.

most of them are honest ppl, they just want to make a livng, once the price is agree, they will stick to it. But not to say there are no nasty driver around, I have met some nasty A**H*** before. just dun look blur and be tough.

my advice, once u reach beijing, go to wang fu jin and buy a china guide book, cheap cheap RMB30~40 only, but that is if u can read chinese pretty well. in fact I brought 2 , its more useful than lonely planet. I believe the site that u saw it ok, most of the bus route dun change easily. I checked my guide book printed in 2002, almost the same thing.

there are no such things as cheapest and fastest, both do not co-exists, if u can get both, than there must be something that will be compromised. I always tell myself, if I wasted 1 whole day sitting in a bus and the scenary along the way is not that fantastic, than my holiday have been cut short 1 day, I would rather take a plane or pay more to do a overnight train, or even book a taxi. I ever paid RMB600 to get a taxi just to see a glacier, climb the hell out of me in high altitude, but its all worth it, cos the memory is priceless. the glacier was not in any lonely planet , I found it in the china guide book, and the only transport is via taxi.
 

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I'm also going to Beijing for 15 days around mid Oct, but this time, I'll fly to Xian (Bingmayong) for 3 days. By Nov, Xiangshan (NW of Beijing city) would be excellent for photography with red leaves...but end Nov might be a tad too late. It'd largely be a photoshoot trip for me this time, plus scouting for affordable paintings. Since it's going to be very cold in late Nov, advisable to bring spare batteries for your camera. I last shot the Great Wall in the midst of winter, and my battery gave up on me. Have a nice trip.
 

actually got cure for the battery in cold weather......but more troublesome lor...have to take in take out and try to keep it warm....or else just buy a few more battery....compare to the trip cost hundreds or thousands....the $20, $30 dollars really mean nothing lah....
 

my advice, once u reach beijing, go to wang fu jin and buy a china guide book, cheap cheap RMB30~40 only, but that is if u can read chinese pretty well. in fact I brought 2 , its more useful than lonely planet. I believe the site that u saw it ok, most of the bus route dun change easily. I checked my guide book printed in 2002, almost the same thing.

u can get your winter clothing there as well if you want to pack light and not pay the ridiculous winter clothing prices in Spore.
 

Will be in Beijing mid Oct, second time. Weather just nice cooling but not cold. Last trip in 2006 most tourist site under renovation for Olympic games. Will visit Gugong, Tian Tan, Mu Tian Yu, Birdnest and try Roast duck.:thumbsup:
 

Just came back from Beijing. As I am not knowledgable in Chinese history, i did not enjoy some of the places (Gu Gong, Summer Palace) as I could not appreciate it. However, if you are, I think you can really spend lots of time appreciating what there is to offer.

As for Great Wall, the trek from JinShanLing to SiMaTai is unforgetable. You will not regret it.;)
 

Just came back from Beijing. As I am not knowledgable in Chinese history, i did not enjoy some of the places (Gu Gong, Summer Palace) as I could not appreciate it. However, if you are, I think you can really spend lots of time appreciating what there is to offer.

As for Great Wall, the trek from JinShanLing to SiMaTai is unforgetable. You will not regret it.;)

Agreed, i did the trek as well, it is really worth going, forget the over restored and touristy BaDaLing. JishanLing to SiMaTai much better, but be prepared to trek 4-5 hours on uneven walls and hotsun. Journey there took abt 3 hours.

GuGong visit is a must, anyway its very conv in the center of the city. but avoid weekends. its very crowded.
 

oh yes, another place worth visit is the 798 art zone in beijing.
it showcases local talents on arts including photography, worth a look.
 

How about the lenses to take while travelling in China?;)
 

was living in beijing for a year 4-5 years ago...
i think everyone already tell you a nice place to go...
for additional you can go to xiangshan (a hill not far from beijing), its very nice at autumn, all red leaves...
if you like to go for nightlife go to houhai area... or sanlitun area...
you can go to wukesong photography center for photography stuff, got my first dslr there :)
anyway.. enjoy your trip :)
 

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