We arrived in Beijing by train in June 2015 as we had travelled the Trans Siberian Railway from Saint Petersburg (Russia) via Ulan Bataar (Mongolia) to Beijing (China).
China was the fifth country on our trip around the world in 2015. It was the only country on our trip, that we have been before.
Beijing
Hostel Red Lantern House
We stayed at Red Lantern House 2 during our first visit in 2011. Because we liked it so much we returned. This time we stayed at Red Lantern House 1 that is more focused on dormitories. Both houses are in the same street/area. Should we come back some day, we will stay there again. They are located in a real Hutong (not a tourist version of it), so China starts right at your doorstep. On the main street you find dumpling street stalls i.e. for breakfast and the subway stations are close.
Activities
City walk Hutong
As in LP described this is a nice walk. The Chinese tourist though don’t go left and right but stick more to the main road, which is unbelievable touristy. Don’t let that stop you! At the last part you walk by a micro brewery, don’t pass it. Many tasty beers on tap. We enjoyed ours very much!
Chairman Mao
Early in the morning we joined the queue to see the chairman, but before that we had to be yelled at by a woman at the “storage tent” in front of the mausoleum. She wanted us to give our bag to her. She repeatedly shouted (loudly): “2 camera, 1 iPad! Show me your eye cam!” We didn’t understand? What she wanted was a confirmation that these were really all the valuable items in the bag.
Inside the mausoleum in the first hall people laid flowers in front of a giant, in splendid white Mao sitting in an artificial green. Guards pay sharp attention that everybody keeps moving. After a small dark hallway the next hall opened. Dimly lit we saw Mao lying in a snow white glass coffin, covered by the red flag with hammer and sickle. The face – which was the only body part that you could see – glowed red, like the meat presented in a butcher store.
Walking by the chairman was an odd feeling, not only because this is the only place in China where the Chinese are quiet without exemption…
To add a little bit conspiracy here: Nobody would have noticed if this was only a great trick of Madame Tussauds. 😉
Still, as it is a symbol of Chinese national pride, it is worth going and observe what is going on around you. And: entrance is free! Be there early in the morning, they close at noon.
Visit the Birds Nest (Olympic Stadium)
No matter what you think of the Olympics, the architecture of the stadium is brilliant. We visited the area in the evening, as many Chinese use the area – a bit more in the direction of the park in the north – for dancing, aerobic, singing and karaoke. Big kites lid by LEDs flew in the sky. There are a lot of other cool light installations here too! It’s worth a visit, not to mention that it is for free.
Couchsurfing
For our last night we met with David, Professor for history at Renmin University. Our new Dutch friends that we got to know in the train to Mongolia joined us. We were very happy!!!
Together we went to a live podcast held by David about the history of travel. He pointed out, that this topic interests more and more Chinese students as the expression “gap year” is now in their phrase set. The location for this podcast was in an incubator that hosted many start ups. We met a girl who wanted to challenge Couchsurfing with a more elaborate app. Afterwards we went all together in a restaurant nearby. As we came back to the campus with David we talked to some Chinese that meet there every Friday at the so called ” English Corner” to practice their English.
Tip
Every Friday is a so called English corner at the Renmin University. It is behind the East Entrance straight behind the flag. Chinese meet there to practice English. They are very happy to practice it with foreigners! Maybe you have to register at the gate, so bring your passport or a copy of it. We could just walk in.
Back at Davids place we drank a last beer and said good night.
The next day we walked a little bit over the campus of Beijing University which has a lovely park with a lake. We had to show our ID at the entrance to get in.
Restaurants
Find us on Foursquare and you will find these tips there as well.
新疆风味
Xinjiang Fengwei Restaurant
Mao’er Alley
Moslem restaurant that is very popular in the neighborhood. Tasty dishes!
Xian’r Lao Man
Andingmen Neilu 252
Mapo Doufu, a traditional Beijing dish of pulped green beans in tasty chilly oil is a must! The dumplings come in many varieties, normal or fried, yummy! The sweet & sour chicken was good as well.
左邻右舍褡裢火烧
Zou Lin You She
Southeast of Wusi street (take the green alley to the south, the second street left, than at the next main street left again and watch out for the wooden sign!)
No thrills Chinese restaurant with finger long dumplings, tasty!!! The manners in here are typical Chinese! Look out for the wooden sign above the door. They have one – literally one – English menu.
At Beijing Western Train Station we boarded the train T-49 to Yichang.
3rd class, hard sleeper, 18 hours (if you can have any influence on the bed location while booking the tickets don’t take the ones next to the toilettes!!!)
Remark
Beijing is a town that truly fascinated us – again. Claudia even said “I fell in love with this city!!!” We definitely will come back for a third visit. We could even imagine us here for a year or two. We learned that the housing market – unfortunately – is as ridiculous and out of hand as in Munich or any other major city in the world – maybe worse … too sad!
Next part of our journey was a river cruise at the Yangtze river. If you like you can follow our journey here.
A description of our first visit to Beijing, Datong, Xian, Shanghai, Hong Kong and many places in between is available here.
Find tips and general remarks to China 2015 and the links to all the provinces we visited – from our start in Beijing in June, down to the south west, until our last stay Hong Kong in July here.
Thanks for reading.
Zài jiàn!
Safe travels
Claudia & Tom
