Last April, during the Easter holidays I decided to make a short visit to China and Japan. I hadn't been to either of these countries before despite having been to Asia so I was excited! The main reason for my trip was that my uncle was working out in Tokyo, with my parents having been to visit him and loved it, I decided I had to go before he left.
I flew with AirChina from Heathrow to Beijing, with a short layover in Doha. The flight was okay although I was glad to touchdown on the other side. I had carefully planned my trip to make use of the 72 hours visa-free in Beijing. Arriving in Beijing, security was tight and after answering what felt like 100 questions on where I was going, what I was doing and what my plans were, I was allowed through to collect my luggage. It is important to note that you cannot leave the city you land in when making use of the 72 hours visa-free. You also need to prove that you have a ticket to leave China, this must be to another country and you cannot return to where your journey started from. Therefore my route was Heathrow - Beijing - Tokyo (Haneda) and I made sure I had proof of this to hand when landing in Beijing.
I made my way to the Dongcheng district which is known as the cultural area of Beijing. It is home to the famous Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the National Musuem of China as well as the colourful Lama Temple. This was also where the hotel was, The Emperor Beijing Qianmen. I would recommend this hotel as it was in a good location and was reasonably priced (breakfast included). There was even a pool! The area provided lots of street food as well as cheap restaurants so on my first evening I enjoyed the local delicacy of Peking duck!
I spent the day after my arrival exploring all of the above along with making a trip to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium and also to the Chaoyang theatre to watch the flying acrobat show (must do!). Unfortunately I ran out of time but I wish I had made it to Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven and Beihai Park (these will have to wait for next time). Be prepared to walk a fair distance although make use of the cheap and accessible metro system!
The Forbidden City
Lama Temple
The Bird's Nest, 2008 Olympic Stadium
The Great Wall of China
The following day I headed to The Great Wall of China. I had dreamed of visiting here so it was a special day for me. I'm not a fan of joining pre-organised tours so instead I had spent lots of time researching how I could get there myself. It turned out to be pretty easy and cheap too. I made my way to the Huangtudian railway station and jumped onto the S2 train heading to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. You cannot book the S2 trains so as you can imagine they fill up fast and as a result I ended up sitting on the floor for the 90 minute journey. Although for 6 RMB (68p!) I can hardly complain! The views were incredible so keep a look out. Once arriving I was herded (quite literally) onto a free shuttle bus which took a 10 minute journey to the cable cars (this was the second stop on the bus route). I bought a cable car ticket (80 RMB) as well as an entrance ticket (45 RMB) then took a cable car up to tower 14. I walked along the Great Wall to tower 6. I was slightly disappointed at how busy it was (what was I expecting?!) but I was blown away at the views. It really was amazing. I would recommend taking sturdy shoes as the path was steep in places and very slippy! At tower 6 I got the toboggan back down to the bottom. Be careful with this though, as it took me away from where I started and I ended up very lost! I headed back to the train station and after a looooong wait, caught the train back into central Beijing.
