4 Days in Beijing

At the end of 2018, Cris and I were living in Hangzhou China, working on a project for Cirque Du Soleil. Due to some unforeseen immigration issues, and the impending holidays we found ourselves with quite a bit of time off. When you are on tour or relocated for a project, the holidays tend to be about traveling rather than spending time with your family, for us this meant 4 days in Beijing prior to New Year’s.

We arrived late on the evening of December 27th and made our way to the hotel. We ended up using our credit card points to book the hotel and it was a bit pricier than we normally paid to travel but It was the last trip of 2018 so we didn’t really mind. On the way to the hotel, it became clear that Beijing was a city of luxury or at least perceived luxury. In front of our hotel, there were a few car dealerships that included Mclaren, Lamborghini, and Rolls Royce to name a few. We pulled up to the hotel and it was opulent, to say the least. The interior of the Legendale Hotel has two grand staircases flanking either side of a gold-trimmed lobby. Since it was still close to Christmas there was a two-story Christmas tree perfectly decorated with red ribbons, gold ornaments, and a giant star surrounded by mountains of fake presents. We made our way through the check-in process and went to our room, it too was trimmed in gold and marble. At this point, we were starting to feel like we had booked a room in a movie set meant to feel like a palace. Tired from traveling we decided to go to bed early so we could start exploring early the next morning. The other thing to note about our arrival in Beijing was that it was absolutely freezing. When we got off the train it was -11°C but felt like -22°C (12°F but felt like -8°F). We were not at all prepared for these temperatures. I had packed jeans and a few pairs of socks, and Cris had basically the same. So the first order of business would be to go shopping. We found a shopping mall on the map and headed out in the cold. About halfway there we met a Mexican man at a crosswalk that was also freezing, he looked a bit lost so Cris asked if he was ok. After a brief conversation, they had exchanged Whatsapp contacts with a plan to message when either party found warm clothing to buy. 😂 We carried on and found a shopping mall a few blocks away, excited to be out of the cold we rushed inside. Unfortunately, the mall was open but the shops were closed, finally after waiting almost an hour we were able to buy some thermal base layers, gloves, and hats. I got redressed in the fitting room of a department store and then we were finally ready to explore Beijing.

Day 1- Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City

We made our way to Tiananmen Square, the square is huge, it is number seven on the largest city squares in the world. The square is named for the Tiananmen (“Gate of Heavenly Peace”) located to the north, the gate is the front gate of the Imperial Palace. It is hard to stand in the square and not think about the events of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, but more than that for me it is a reminder that China is still very much under Communist rule. A large untouchable photo of Chairman Mao has been overlooking the square since 1949, a not so subtle reminder that the People’s Republic of China is run by the Communist Party. From the square, your attention is directed at the entrance to the Imperial Palace so after spending a bit of time walking around we decided to head towards the Forbidden City.

We paid the entrance fee for the Forbidden City and again were impressed by the monolithic gate that served as one of only two holes in the walled city. The entrance gate, like the surrounding wall, is 7.9 meters (26 ft) high and 6 meters (20 ft) deep. The walls are tapered at the top to serve as another layer of defense. Once we were inside the palace walls we were struck by the difference in the architecture. Outside the walls everything is oppressive block architecture but inside everything is colorful and opulent. Every building is decorated with reds, greens, and golds, and every roofline is ordained with perfect figurines. The difference is incredible.

The Forbidden City is huge so we spent the rest of the daylight hours walking around the UNESCO site. As the sun started to set we headed back out toward Tiananmen Square, as we arrived we noticed a large crowd of people gathering with cameras so we stopped to see what the commotion was all about. We had accidentally timed our exit with the “Flag Ceremony”, a twice a day ceremony with hundreds of spectators. We watched as about 50 soldiers marched out into the square and ceremoniously lowered the flag. As soon as the flag was down they marched back towards the palace and the crowd disappeared as quickly as they had formed.

Day 2- Summer Palace

On the Second Day we headed to the Summer Palace, The Summer Palace was originally built in 1750 but destroyed during the Second Opium War of 1850. The current Summer Palace was rebuilt between 1884-95 to serve as a birthday present and residence of Empress Dowager Cixi. If you don’t know anything about this woman you should Google her, she is one of the most influential women in China’s history.

The Summer Palace is situated on a hill and is almost completely surrounded by Kunming Lake. The day that we visited it was very sunny but quite cold and the lake was mostly frozen. Children and adults alike were playing on the ice. Vendors would happily rent you skates, sled-like chairs that you push around with ice picks, or even ice bikes. Instead of taking to the ice we began the hike up Longevity Hill to visit the Tower of Buddhist Incense. The hike up was made mostly of stairs that were placed in the 1800’s so they don’t exactly comply with modern-day regulations, but we made it to the top in about half an hour. We were lucky that it was so cold because there weren’t as many tourists as there would be in the summer. The top of the tower offers an incredible panoramic of the lake and the lower sections of the temple. We carried on to the interior of the Summer Palace. The interior of the Palace is a labyrinth of buildings, temples, and monuments. We wandered around stopping to take photos and admire the ornate decorations on all the buildings. As we made it to the Back Lake, we heard 2 teenage boys laughing and coming in our direction, it turns out they were on a scavenger hunt and needed a photo with a foreigner so Cris obliged 🙂 before we made our way down the stairs to the Suzhou Market.

This is one of the strangest things in the Summer Palace, the Suzhou Market Street is a 300-meter replica of a market street in Suzhou City in the Jiangsu Province, that was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). The emperor built the replica city to make one of his favorite concubines feel less homesick. Not only were the buildings and market stalls replicas of those from Suzhou City, he even brought locals to live there so that the vendors and people would have the correct accents to ensure his beauty would be happy. When the royals went there, eunuchs and maids of honor would act as peddlers, customers, and shop assistants to mimic market activities. Strange but kinda romantic no?

Day 3- Great Wall of China, Red Dog

We got up early on the morning of the 30th and headed for Mutianyu. Today we were going to take on the Great Wall of China. We arrived at about 8:00 am and it was absolutely freezing. We immediately bought more socks from the vendors in the parking lot and got in line to enter the Mutianyu section of the wall. This section is one of a few that have been restored and made accessible to tourists. This 2.2km (1.4mile) section is constructed primarily of granite and consists of 22 watchtowers. There is a cable car that will take you from the parking lot to the middle of the wall, where you can decide which direction you want to go. We decided to go from tower 14 to Tower 1.

As we made our way along the wall it is hard to imagine how all of this was built. According to historians the oldest sections of the wall date back to 770 BC and the most recent sections were completed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) which means the wall was in some form of construction for over 2000 years!! Standing on the wall its sheer size is overwhelming, it is 8m(26.2ft) tall, 5m (16.4) wide, and the full length of the wall is 21,196km (13,170 miles)! To top all of that it stretches along some very unforgiving terrain.

We spent hours walking up and down the wall and towers, it’s really impressive and the view was beautiful even in December. I’m sure the spring and summer views are spectacular. We reached tower six and noticed a toboggan slide that would take you back to the parking lot so we decided that’s how we would get back to the parking lot later! We carried on through the steepest section of the hike, tower four to tower one is nothing but uneven stairs that seem to never end. But once you are in the tower the view is incredible, you can see the full restored section behind you as well as the “wild” wall in front of you. I would love to visit other sections of the wall, I have heard stories of people hiking on the “wild” sections, maybe after lockdown!

We made our way back to the toboggan slide and zoomed down the hill on small plastic toboggans! Once we were back at the welcome center we had some dumplings that were pretty amazing and then we began the 1.5-hour journey back to Beijing.

Once we got back in town we headed for the Atmosphere Bar, on the 80th floor of the Shangri La China World Summit Building, the highest bar in Beijing. We arrived just before sunset and were able to get seats at the bar. The view from the bar windows is pretty amazing, and we got to drink very expensive drinks watching the city lights come to life.

Since 20 dollar drinks were not in our price range we found another place called the Red Dog on Culture Trip and decided to check it out. This place was much more our style! When we arrived there was only one other table of people. We sat at the bar and began chatting with the owner. She was from a place much more north called Harbin, which hosts an annual Ice and Snow Festival, and told us we had to go see it, which we did in the end. You can read about it here. The drinks were amazing and the bartender had just won some kind of award for mixology, The most interesting one was a cocktail called the Matterhorn which was topped with Tiramisu bubbles, it was incredible. We spent the next few hours chatting and planning our next adventure. By the end of the evening, we had exchanged contact information and had promised to return the next night to celebrate the New Year.

Day 4- Olympic Park

Day 4, our last day of 2018 and our last day in Beijing. We spent the day exploring the Olympic Village. The one thing that we really wanted to do was to take the tour of the National Stadium, affectionately referred to as the Bird’s Nest, but only the self-guided tour was available so we settled for that. We paid our entrance fair and headed directly for the top of the stadium. The tour gives you access to the roof of the building so you can walk along what was once maintenance platforms. There are a few viewing decks that have been incorporated and have placards with information about the building. The view is pretty impressive and gives you a great look into the stadium as well as the surrounding Olympic green. We continued exploring the stadium and the surrounding grounds until it started to get dark. I was determined to stay to see the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube light up, and I wasn’t disappointed. As it began to get dark both structures lit up beautifully!

It was now time to find a place to spend New Year’s so we headed back to the Red Dog, the owner had been so nice the night before and the drinks were great so we made our way back. The scene was a bit different, there were a ton of people and a live DJ. We managed to cram our way in the door and proceeded to dance and drink 2018 away.

All in all, it was a very quick 4 days in Beijing, but the city has so much to offer! I can’t wait to go back, I think we will try for the spring or summer next time, but if you ever have the chance you have to go visit!

Published in Collaboration with Next Stop Awesome

Also by Next Stop Awesome:

#RedAlertRESTART and #WeMakeEvents

Ice and Snow World: Harbin, China

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