Beijing

A May 2001 trip to Beijing by Irish lassie

Quote: We arrived in Beijing at the height of tensions over the U.S. spy plane, understandably nervous. However, the Chinese were very friendly, polite and helpful. So many Beijingers went out of their way to help us find good restaurants, shopping bargains, the best sites and invite us to their homes.

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Beijing

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Overview

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Go to the hutongs. This is the old part of the city, where the little houses can be 600 or 700 years old. They are quickly disappearing as China replaces them with tall new skyscrapers. They are incredibally samll, and whole families will live in the back room and open the front room during the day as a shop and sell things. You can take a pedicab tour that is an easy way to get around these narrow alleys and streets. Bargain the fare, some ask for as much as .00, we took one for .00.Quick Tips: You will also see the new successful entrepreneurs driving their shiny new Mercedes, yet state employees clean the streets with brooms made of sticks and tree branches. The city is working v...Read More

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Radisson Sas Hotel Beijing

Hotel | "Radisson SAS"

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I was surprised to see the large number of excellent four and five star hotels in Beijing. Every comfort that you could want is available in Beijing. Our hotel was $105.00 per night which is very reasonable for a Radisson (that was the conference rate and this is considered a four star hotel). Our room was Art Deco and the hotel had choices of Italian, Danish, or Chinese décor. They had two very good restaurants here, one the Danish restaurant which had a very good buffet, great pizza, soup and hamburgers. Their Chinese restaurant was also very good with some unusual dishes such as double boiled caterpillar fungus soup. The staff spoke fairly good English and were extremely atten...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on May 14, 2001

Radisson Sas Hotel Beijing
6A E BEISANHUAN RD
Beijing, China
86-10-64663388

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Temple of Heaven

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Attraction | "TaI Chi at the Temple of Heaven"

Havin' fun Photo - Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China

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Go to Tiantan Park or the Temple of Heaven on a Saturday morning. This is the temple that that is used as the example of a temple in China in Disneyworld. We arrived at 7 AM to see if we could find anyone practicing Tai Chi. We not only found Tai Chi classes but we found groups of people waltzing and singing and praying and playing badmitton! At 7:30 AM my husband and I were waltzing to Strauss waltzes, it was just so much fun. We watched classes of women performing beautiful dances with scarves and fans, we also saw people performing graceful exercizes with swords, and music accompanied all of this through hidden speakers. My husband was trying the sword exercises without a sword, when the cut...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on July 28, 2001

Temple of Heaven
Tian Tan North Rd.
Beijing, China 100050
+86 (0)10 6702 2242

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Jazz in China??? You bet

Story/Tip

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Jazz is alive and well in Beijing -- almost 50 years after the Cultural Revolution abruptly silenced it. At San Wei Bookstore (60 Fuxing Men Nai Daije; 86-10/6601-3204), the Wide Angle band plays Charlie Parker and Chinese-inflected fusion. Oldies but Goodies, a group of sexagenarians, appear at the Swissôtel (Dong Si Shi Tiao Li Jiao Qiao; 86-10/6501-2208). Leader Shengai Fan started on sax at age 11, when an American traveler gave him some Benny Goodman scores. At CD Café (N.E. Third Ring Rd.; 86-10/6501-8877, ext. 6156), you'll see saxophonist Liu Yuan, said to be China's best.