Here is a collection of photos of the new Beijing Daxing International Airport, aka Starfish. As of late last month it has slowly been receiving domestic and now international flights. Nanyuan airport has now closed as a public airport with Beijing now serviced by the Beijing Capital Airport and the…
Somewhere to unwind in Beijing? Here are the top spa hotels.
It started from the minute I walked out of the Beijing train station, as soon as my foreigner’s face was hit by the Beijing sunshine or lack of, there was someone hustling for access to my wallet. ‘Hellooo, taxi…taxi, sir’. where do you want to go?’ said the suspiciously casually…
The Lama Temple in Beijing is a functioning lamasery for Tibetan and Mongolian monks practicing Tibetan Buddhism. It’s open to visitors, and is a very popular tourist attraction featuring well preserved ancient architecture and artifacts, along with friendly monks roaming the grounds! As a primer, the word lama is another name for a Buddhist priest, and a…
This was my first trip to the Badaling section of the Great Wall and went with a tour group and I’m going to tell you why that’s a really bad idea from the first-hand experience. After that, I tell you what you should really do. Jump to: How to Get…
The Ming Tombs in Beijing is a massive area featuring mausoleums for 13 of the 16 Ming Dynasty Emperors, also buried at the site are empresses and concubines of the era. Only a couple of the tombs have been excavated, many are still sealed awaiting the progress of technology to…
The Summer Palace is an imperial garden built by Emperor Qianlong in 1750 to celebrate his mothers birthday, it was later used as a garden where emperors and empresses would escape the heat of Beijing’s summers. The palace covers a staggering 290 hectares featuring a massive lake, temples, halls, pavilions,…
Tian’anmen Square has had its moments in history, but in front of me today I see a massive public space, full of people enjoying themselves in what is the heart of Beijing. It’s the largest outdoor square in the world and contains the Meridian Gate (southern entrance to the Forbidden…
The Forbidden City was once the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was originally constructed in the early 1400s. The city was once off-limits to the general public and home to 24 successive emperors. Now, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world…
Beihai Park in Beijing is over 1000 years old and covers an area of 690,000 square meters featuring a large peaceful lake, ancient temples, and an islet featuring a 36m high Buddhist shrine in the form of a Tibetan Dagoba. The ‘White Dagoba’ (also referred to as the White Pagoda)…
After nearly one month on the road things had started to catch up with me, I was tired. Apart from being on your feet 12 hours a day, walking up things, down things, getting lost then more lost, there’s also the mental load as you never stop thinking. Even simple tasks become…
Jingshan Park in Beijing is located in front of the north gate of the Forbidden City and is well worth a visit if only for the view of the city that it offers. Entry to the park is only 2RMB and the site, which covers 230,000 square meters, features a…
Sanlitun Village Beijing is a recently built sleek shopping complex packed with luxury brand names. I didn’t spend too long here as I was more interested in the Ya Show Clothing Market which is just next door. I did have a coffee at the Starbucks and used there free wi-fi! Brand name…
Well known and well visited by tourists, the Silk Market is seven floors of clothing, shoes, bags, fashion accessories, leather goods, traditional Chinese crafts, calligraphy, carpets, home fabrics, paintings, hand-knitted dresses, toys, trinkets and souvenirs, fine jewelry and more. There are also plenty of custom tailors for suits etc.etc. Most…
UPDATE: this market is no longer Sanlitun Yashou Clothing Market is five floors of clothing and fashion (notice its name can sometimes be translated as Ya Show or Yashou or even Yaxui!). Including men’s and women’s clothes, suits, women’s bags, luggage bags, leather goods, shoes and more. It’s located right…
Wangfujing Street is one of the largest and most well-known shopping streets in Beijing. Featuring a mix of large modern department stores, luxury brand name outlets, small retail shops, and markets. What’s interesting is that this has been an active commercial street for over 700 years! The street is pedestrian only for…
There is no shortage of places to go shopping in Beijing, if that’s what you’re into, you can find markets, retail department stores, mega-malls and the quirky side streets packed with all sorts of odd goods. You can haggle a great price on souvenirs, no-name, and copy goods at the…
The first thing that struck me about the Redwall Hotel was the incredible service provided by the concierge team. As soon as I put my foot on the steps of the hotel there was someone bounding out the front door to help with my luggage and escort me to the…
My first time on a train in China was on the overnight trip from Xian to Beijing. China has many different classes of train and this one was the ‘Z’ train. This Z train (the Z20) was no old rattler, it was near new modern, clean and very comfortable train!…