How to be a tourist guide in Beijing

[zerolife]

I remember once when I first came to Beijing, I was in Tiananmen square, and there was a section cordoned off, and there were lots of people starting to crowd around to watch, and the crowd kept getting bigger and bigger, so I thought "hmmm I guess I came just at the right time" because it looked like they were going to be staging some big event/activity. And so I stood around waiting for whatever it was that was going to happen, and then after about 15 minutes a bunch of guys came out, lowered the flag and walked back inside and that was that. Bit of an anti-climax really.

they do it once in the morning (raising the flag) and once in the evening (lowering the flag). The ceremony for raising the flag is more interesting but you gotta get there very early in the morning.

I see some great and useful suggestions from the posters before me. Just wanna add a few more

1) I was surprised that no one mentioned YuanMingYuan (Old Summer Palace) just outside Tsinghua University west gate. I think it's at least as beautiful (but in a different way) than YiHeYuan (Summer Palace). Do make sure you go there in the summer when the lakes and rivers are filled with water. btw a Chinese tour guide told me that foreigners are not welcome there because it was destroyed by westerners. I don't think there is any truth in this as I went there with Americans / Europeans numerous times and never had any problems. However I do agree that it's less known than the "new" Summer Palace.

2) While there, I would recommend to head down the road and into Peking University for dinner. There is a restaurant called Yi Jia (if I remember the name correctly), excellent food for a very good price

3) Steak & Eggs in JianGuanMen area (where many of the embassies are) offers great American food for a bargain price. Personally, I think it's better than most of the places in the US. The owner is American.

4) Do not go to Quan Ju De for peking duck. Yes, it's the most famous place but in my opinion, it's a rip off. The cheapest duck is approx. double than other restaurants but in no way better. Beijingers usually do not go there (i was told by quite a few Chinese friends).

5) That's BJ is an excellent (and free!!) magazine about Beijing for foreigners. You can find it in some western restaurants (I usually get it from Tafi at WuDaoKou for those students in the area)

6) Houhai is a great place for a cup of coffee late in the evening. Unlike many other areas, it's relatively quiet. Also there is a interesting restaurant around the lake. Their speciality: female breast. No, I have not tried it and I'm not planning to in this life.

7) Some restaurant offers snake wine (I forgot the Chinese name). As the name says it's somehow made from snake. I wish I had a chance to try it...

XiaoFeiYang is my favorite hot pot place. It's different from others as you do not need any sauce for dipping. The flavor is supposed to come from the ingredients in pot, in any case, it's very yummy. They have a few locations around Beijing.

[msittig]

I'm not a local, but whenever I hit the 'Jing I try to catch a BJ opera show at the Chang'an Theater, on Jianguomennei. The place is huge, impersonal and doesn't "hold your hand" if you're an average tourist, but puts on impressive shows. Some performances have English subtitles on LCD screens to the side of the stage.

[Long Zhiren]

4. Olympic facilities are a good one - the Birds Nest and Water Cube, again at the 4th north ring. We went in April while they were still under construction but I understand you might actually be able to do tours now? Even if not, you can get nice and close and my visitors really liked the idea of seeing it being built. Of course, they're nearly done now but still, some people might be interested to see them anyway.

I heard you can't tour inside them quite yet...

How about now? or by January? What do you call the places in 中文? or will taxi drivers understand if you just say it in English?

I have to play tour guide in January. In-laws want to see pandas. Is the zoo okay? It looks cheap but what could go wrong?

They want to see 北京 opera too. I hate those things. Is there one that might be quite a bit shorter time-wise than the norm? Maybe a little more acrobatic or entertaining for foreigners [or sane people]?

[Long Zhiren]

Opera anyone? Or is it just me that can't stand it? Thanks.

[simonlaing]

Beijing opera with subtitles isn't half bad, the through in some kung fu which is less common in the South.

People I have been with have really enjoying acrobatic shows. In Shanghai, the portman has the B team and in the North at the (circus metro stop) there is an A team performance which is incredible 6 motorcycles riding around in a tiny sphere. Wicked.

Opera in Scichuan can be good they have a fast changing mask performance which is neat and leave you wondering how they did it. I went a wedding where there was this performance and it was fairly good.

For friends coming from other parts of China taking people to a musical or dramatic performance is often possible on the weekends. I had a friend that was into it.

But definitely acrobatics rocks, even seeing them a second was pretty cool.

have fun,

Simon:)

[roddy]

Some more notes after a few days of tourist guiding again.

Qianmen: Is now a bit of a joke. The much-vaunted trams weren't even running, the shops were vacant and the whole place feels like a badly planned theme park. We didn't get more than a few hundred meters down the street before giving up. It was a bit of a mess before, but at least it was lively. Didn't see what Dazhalan is like now, but if they've done the same there then someone needs a slap.

Forbidden City: Pesky 'guides' and tat-sellers outside as usual, massive number of Great Wall tour touts actually inside the place - they're targeting Chinese tourists so you might escape their attentions. Surprised they're able to operate so openly and in such numbers - came through the ticket gate and there must have been about 20 of them milling about. As i think I've said before, the museum bits on the east side of the complex are well worth seeing - some fantastic stuff on display and the extra 10Y ticket means it's quieter than the main strip.

Bird's Nest and Water Cube: Found these surprisingly disappointing. A grey December day maybe didn't help, but there were as many souvenir touts as tourists outside and an almost complete lack of maps or signs to show you where to buy tickets or how to get around (and it's a pretty big area). Ended up not going in in the end.

Nanluoguxiang: Nanluoguxiang's conversion to a Tourist and Shopping Culture Entertainment Street is now pretty much complete. Those of us who remember when there was nothing there but the Pass By Bar and old ladies discussing the cost of 蜂窝煤 might find it a bit hard to take, but if you're going to convert a hutong into a strip of cafes, shops and bars then this is a relatively decent way to do it.

798: The Dior exhibition on at the moment is pretty good fun, and a bargain at 15Y (free on Thursdays ). Ladies and Scotsmen will want to watch out for the mirrored floors. Some nice places to eat, but I think if you want something reasonably priced / Chinese then you may need to head out of the 798 block.

Xinjiekou: Although the west side of Xinjiekou appears to have caught the Xidan department store plague, the other side of the road is still there - the DVD to clothes ratio has shifted in favour of clothes unfortunately, but you can still wander up and down quite happily, fueling yourself with snacks.

Eating: Ate at . . .

麻辣诱惑 at the new Xizhimen shopping center - there are a few nice looking places in here. The 麻辣诱惑 isn't as nice as the Dongzhimen one, but food and service were good. Although the 土豆泥 is smaller than it used to be, bit of a blow. 94Y for two.

Grandma's Kitchen. Three times in five days. It just kind of happened that way. Guomao and the new Beixinqiao place. With locations near Yonghegong and the Forbidden City / Tiananmen this is probably a good 'coffee and a rest' choice, although you also have the Vineyard near Yonghegong. Coffee and cake 50Y+.

Yunmadun. This is at the east gate of Beishida and probably not worth a special trip, but I live fairly close. Very nice environment, good food and service. Get the sofas downstairs if you can. 127Y for two, although I had leftovers for tea.

隆福寺小吃店 off Wangfujing (actually just off Dongsi (Dongdan?) I suppose. Apparently this is very famous, I'd never heard of it. Rough and ready, pay with little paper tickets, sit on plastic chairs, traditional Beijing snacks, no English at all. Ideal for convincing your guests how totally you've assimilated. If you're walking there from Wangfujing pop into the Cathay Bookshop on the way for the utterly random collection of second-hand English books.

Getting around: Beijing's now easier to get around than ever. The roads are much less congested - you might end up in a queue at lights, but the risk of an hour of stop-start traffic seems to have disappeared. That also means that bus travel is a lot more feasible, especially if you can use the excellent bjbus.com to figure out your routes. There also seem to be a lot more buses on the road, and seats are no longer mythical objects hidden behind a mass of commuters - I think I got to sit down more often in the last five days of bussing about than in the previous five years. You've obviously got the new subway lines as well, which are opening up bits of Beijing previously unknown to civilization.

[Lugubert]

the good one in Xi'an

Which museum is the good one, and which are the less good (or bad) ones?

[roddy]

I think it was the Shaanxi History Museum - although given that it's now the best part of a decade since I've been to Xi'an . . .

[jbradfor]

Any suggestions on Art Museums in Beijing?

I heard of the "Beijing Art Museum" (http://english.bjww.gov.cn/2006/7-25//02543.shtml) -- is that any good? And isn't there one right near Tiananmen Square?

A couple years ago I was in an Art Museum whose name I've forgotten. I recall it was just to the west of Wangfujing street, pretty far north past all the "good" shopping. It focused mostly on more recent Chinese Art, rather than Dynastic art, which meant that most of it was pretty bad since art for art's sake is pretty recent under the CCP. But it was still interesting, in part as they did have some propaganda art, and there was some interesting recent work.

[rezaf]

My cousin is coming to China and we're gonna go to Beijing for two days but I've no idea where I should take her for sight-seeing cuz it will be my first time in Beijing(actually second time but first time for sight-seeing). Any suggestions for a two-day trip? Also do you have any recommendations for a not so expensive hotel with good location?

thanks in advance

[imron]

merged question with answer.

[roddy]

Bumping this to recommend the 北京自来水博物馆, known in English as the Beijing (Running Water / Tapwater / Waterworks) Museum, depending where you look. I'd wanted to go here for ages, but only got around to it a couple of days back. It's tucked in round the back of Dongzhimen - head north from the bridge and it's in a 小区 on the right. 5Y entrance, and you've got a few of the early twentieth century buildings that used to house pumping equipment and steam engines, big bits of pipe, various bits of machinery and a nice big lawn badly in need of some watering. I wouldn't trek across the city for it, but if you're in the area it's a quirky use of an hour or two.

[Xiwang]

Underground City: 地下城

This is mildly difficult to find, but keep coming north from the north gate of the Temple of Heaven and look for the hutong it's in on your left, then keep going and look out for it on the south side. Staff were very friendly and they have enthusiastic guides with reasonable English. It's a fun visit, but you probably don't need to allow much more than thirty minutes, excluding finding-it time. Unfortunately all you get to see is tunnels, rather than the actual spaces - I'd hoped to see some of the actual rooms, but in effect you just get taken to the front of various bricked up doorways and told 'behind here is a library with space for sixty billion books'. Still fun though. No photos.

If you want to go to the Underground City, double-check before you go to see if it is open. The last time I went, there was a sign on the door indicating that it had been closed for years and vaguely implying that it might reopen at some unstated time in the future.

Because the entrance is not that easy to find, there were quite a few comments on the sign written by disappointed Western tourists. ("F*** Lonely Planet" was one comment left by a frustrated visitor.)

By the way, here are some cool pictures of the Underground City taken recently by a few people who managed to use some guanxi to get down there:

http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2009/11/17/chairman-mao%E2%80%99s-underground-city/

[tortue]

Just a note on the Great Wall: This week is just the time to go there!

I did Jinshanling to Simatai yesterday (Sunday), and we met less than 10 other (groups of) tourists all the way long! People just don't seem to go out during spring festival.

Also I found the vendors surprisingly friendly, after telling twice or three times only that we did not buy anything they let off.

I bought a drink once, admittedly more to let at least one of them make some business than out of urgent need. She left the place just after, so I asked her and she told me that my coke was the only one of the day and now she would return on her three hours walk home. Expensive coke, but still worth the investment...

[roddy]

Additional:

I've kind of changed my mind about the Silk Market and its unholy brethren, Yaxiu and the Pearl Market. I find it hard to like these places and can't imagine going there of my own free will. But damn, those visiting folk love it. There's a large range of tourist-friendly clothes, souvenirs and other assortments; the thrill of learning the arcane arts of haggling; and the rather odd experience of being pushed and pulled around by complete Chinese strangers. Tell 'em what it is, see if they want to go there, and if they do gird your loins and jump on in. It's their holiday, after all.

Beijing Zoo is sadly still a bit sad. I thought it might have raised its game since my last visit in I think 2007, but bar the addition of the new Olympic Panda House it's still pretty grim. Pop in for the pandas by all means (handily positioned by the front gate) but after that you're probably better off leaving. Do so by the north gate for the still charming Wutasi and Stone Carving Museum (free on Wednesdays).

If you want to entrust your charges to someone else for a day, or to get somewhere distant without having to do public transport or full-day taxi hire, take a look at the China Culture Center's offerings. Yes, you'll be following a guide with a flag, but they're well organized and friendly. Not cheap though.

The Drum and Bell Tower experiences have been, if not ruined, degraded, since last time I was there. The Drum Tower now no longer allows you to walk around the outside at the top, restricting you only to the south end. You get a view towards Jingshan, but you can't stroll around for the full 360 degrees - you can't even try and get zoom lens shots of the people on the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower allows you access to three sides, but keeps you behind ugly fences which come right up to eye level. 30Y for a two-tower ticket. They even X-ray your bags at both, I suspect as they were embarrassed by that stabbing during the Olympics. The attachment is an example of the views you can no longer have.

Can't remember if I mentioned 恭王府 before. It's ambitiously priced at 40Y a head, but is pretty nice. Mobbed with Chinese tour groups and surrounded by rickshaw offerers though. I wouldn't say it's essential, but worth considering if you are around Houhai / Beihai.

Think that's all . . .

Edit: Something I forgot - this. North end of Zhongshan Park, next to the Forbidden City moat, absolutely mobbed with folk carrying cards with details of eligible offspring. Given that you'll be passing by here anyway when you go to the Forbidden City, and the moat is worth a look and a few photos, it's an easy-to-see cultural spectacle. Not sure if they're all touting their own offspring - some of the conversations I overheard gave me the impression some of them were virtual marriage agencies. Nor do I know if they are there all the time.

Edited April 22, 2010 at 01:57 PM by roddy

[jbradfor]

Thanks Roddy, all good advice.

Very sad to hear about the changes in the Bell and Drum tower. My one-and-only time there I thought they were pretty cool. Not much there, actually, but had a good view of Beijing, umm, a good view of smog, and was one of the few actually old things left. And I was lucky enough to be there when they were playing the drums.

For 恭王府, my take is that if you are not going to any other places that have "Chinese Gardens" (e.g. Suzhou, or even Yu Garden in Shanghai), it's a must-see. If you are going or have been to others, it pales compared to those.

[zhouhaochen]

now, I might have missed it, but it seemed like the old observatory was not mentioned above and I dont think anyone should miss that, if just for its location. Its an old watch tower, right at the corner of the second ring road and Changanjie and the whole concrete jungle with a very quiet little museum with a court yard next to it.

Everyone has seen it driving by, but I dont know many ppl who actually visited, which is a great shame. They have the original instruments built by the Jesuits and later Chinese astronomers on top of the building, which are pretty cool!