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Will be in Beijing 3/4 days


trisha2766

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I will be in Beijing (with my husband) for 3 or 4 days and I have a few questions.

1) My Mandarin is, unfortunately, still quite limited. And I imagine my accent is horrible. How difficult would it be for us to get around to the major tourist spots on our own, that is without some sort of guide? I'm guessing we could do it, but I wanted ask and make sure.

2) We will probably be staying at the Downtown Holiday Inn (we won't have a choice with that). Any kind of estimate of how much it would cost to take a cab/taxi to the major tourist places - including places further away like the Great Wall/Ming tombs? Is there a cheaper, but still convenient way to go to those places?

3) We are interested in buying some musical instruments, like a pipa and erhu. How difficult would it be for us with limited Mandarin to buy something like that? We would then have them shipped back slowly (and cheaply).

4) Also, we would like to go to the big book store in Wang fu jing - would we have problems asking for information or paying for stuff? I have titles of at least some of the stuff I'm looking for. Would we be able to ship some home from the hotel?

Thanks!

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Well you came to the right site, hopefully you will get some nice answers from the regulars here. I just moved to Beijing two weeks ago and I managed to get around just fine by myself with very limited chinese ability, Taxi's are really cheap, just try not to move around during rush hours b/c it will just cost you more, your other alternative is the subway which can take you to anywhere in the city, and also to major stations (rail/bus/airport) its 2 kuai per trip on the subway so its like 30 cent per entry/exit and you can buy tickets at cool little boths right in the stations.

Just be prepared for crazy lines at most ticket counters, especially the Forbidden City ( I had to literally push people out of my way to get to the counter, its stressful... but kinda fun nonetheless.

As for going to places like the Ming tombs and Great Wall, i would try and find a shuttle bus or something that could take you out, or get on a local tour bus with a load of Chinese people, its pretty cheap from what I've heard and you will get to go to a lot of stuff in one day. I'm sure your hotel will have some type of resources for you to use. Have a good map of the streets and a good Subway map and you'll be good!

Gosh... what a few beers and some food will make me type up ...Good luck !! Drink plenty of water its hot here! :P

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1) Thousands of tourists navigate the city on their own every day, so you shouldn't have a problem either (just don't go drinking tea with strangers that seem over-friendly...).

2) Taxis are quite cheap and especially for tourists usually the most convenient way to travel - unless you're good with maps and public transport, in which case public transport (especially the subway - your hotel would be close to Chegongzhuang station) would be an option.

3) I wouldn't recommend buying these in shops catering to foreigners, so your best bet would be to go to a place that has a lot of music shops, such as Gulou Dong Dajie near the drum tower or the street that goes south from Hepingmen (I think) and try your luck until you find a vendor that speaks English and seems trustworthy.

4) They seem to have some English speaking staff floating around the "Chinese as a foreign language" section, but in general the staff's English skills most likely would be limited. Paying is not going to be a problem - you don't need language for that - but to ask for stuff, it'd probably help to get a print-out of the books' names in Chinese.

Enjoy your stay!

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2) Even if you're not good with maps and subway, if you have a long way to go, you might want to consider taking the subway to the stop closest to your destination, and then hopping into a taxi from there.

Re: Great Wall/Ming tombs. Is renting a taxi for a day for a flat rate still a reasonable option in Beijing? About how much would it be?

just don't go drinking tea with strangers that seem over-friendly...

Reference to this thread, which you should read if you havne't yet. [Don't get paranoid over it, but just be aware.]

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I don't know the current price. Some years ago, we hired a taxi driver with the car the whole day to a suburb place, Hong Luo Tempe, and the cost was something like RMB300, in case no taxi back since tour spots are always crowded in Beijing. We hired the taxi, which would wait for us at the gate of Hong Luo Temple. This is just for your information. If you would go to the Great Wall or any place further, you may ask the hotel and could they reserve a whole day taxi for you and how much is it.

Locally, sure, there are many tour buses go to those tour spots everyday. You may ask your hotel front desk to know where are the starting stop for those tour buses. I think some tour map has those tour buses route and stops in Chinese because I am a Beijign local person and I only use Chinese maps... I am sure that they should have English maps too.

The large Book store, not only Wang Fu Jing. Xi Dan Tu Shu Da Sha is another major book store, maybe bigger than Wang Fu Jing. I don't think paying will be a problem if you know how to read the book price at the back of the book and you have Chinese currency with you. I am not sure how credit card works there since I only pay cash there.

I don't know too much of the musical instruments... I agree that sometimes that Chinese sellers may charge westerners higher. You need to know how to read the price tag or negotiate. It is better to have a Chinese friend going with you.

Also, if you have any specific question, I like to be helpful.

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About going to the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs or anything further away, I'd stay away from the tour groups. Many of them make their profit from commission they get at souvenir shops on the way which you are forced to spend a significant amount of time (~30 minutes) at. Taxis should be around 500 RMB a day, depending mostly on the distance you'll be traveling. Black cabs or the fairly ubiquitous minivans could even be a bit cheaper. However, most of these will not understand English, so the option with having your hotel reserve a taxi for you might be your best bet.

About bookstores, we have a thread here. I still find Wangfujing much better than Xidan; even though Xidan is indeed bigger than Wangfujing, their selection of Chinese learning material is deplorable. I haven't been to the bookstore at BLCU, but it appears many people like that one, too.

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Thanks for all your help! I'm relieved to know we should be able to get around by ourselves. We are going to China for an adoption and our agency has planned tours we could take, but from what I understand, they kind of suck. Like someone else said, they take you to places you really don't want to go to and pressure you to buy stuff you don't want. And they don't include other places that I would really like to see. I think we could see more on our own.

Its good to know that taxi's aren't too expensive. And knowing where to look for musical instruments is especially helpful too!

I need to get more familiar with Chinese currency though, but I have a little time for that.

It looks like we will only have 3 full days there though now and we may have to stay at the Sofitel (sp?). I wonder how much we can squeeze into 3 days?

Any idea how late places like the Ming Tombs, Summer Palace, Forbidden City, etc. are open? Can you go to the Great Wall at any time or is it closed off after some point in the evening? We tend not to be morning people and have slow starts in the day. On the other hand, I hear because of the time difference that we are more likely to be waking up pretty early.

Oh, and one more thing - the typical acrobat shows that tourists go to - how do they compare to a Cirque du Soleil show? We saw the one at Downtown Disney and it was pretty impressive. Unless they are just as good or better we may rather spend our time doing something else.

After Beijing we will be going to Zhengzhou and then Guangzhou.

Thanks again!

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Any idea how late places like the Ming Tombs, Summer Palace, Forbidden City, etc. are open? Can you go to the Great Wall at any time or is it closed off after some point in the evening?

At least with the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall, there's not much to see after sunset, and people generally leave before it gets dark. The taxi drivers will not enjoy waiting for you after dark either. I think it's similar with the Forbidden City, as I don't know what you'd do there in the dark anyway. It's probably best to do the sightseeing during the day (doesn't have to be 7am) and leave the evening for dining and shopping.

In 3 days, you can squeeze in all the major highlights (summer palace, forbidden city, hutong bike ride, great wall, Ming tombs and temple of heaven), but there will indeed be some squeezing involved.

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The first day I was in Beijing by myself I booked a walking tour around the city with these people. The guide they sent me was really excellent; I can't say enough nice things about her. She spoke fantastic English and was very flexible about where we went and how long to stay in various locations, helped me negotiate with some vendors, and gave me some general advice about avoiding rip-offs and general tourist stuff in Beijing (bring toilet paper for public toilets! buy the big water bottle! etc.) and was very open about politics and other cultural issues. The price was very reasonable too, only about $10.

I'd skip the acrobat show if I were you. The one I saw was really impressive and entertaining. But it's not more astounding than Cirque du Soleil, and it is quite expensive because it's aimed at foreign tourists.

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WOW, that is super cheap. We've been hiring a lot of private tour for our recent trips, due in part part to touring with a 2-year-old. In other countries, we've been paying USD300-500 for a full day tour. I just looked, and they do have a full day trip to Ming Tomb and Badaling Great Wall, USD160 for 2 people, including lunch and transportation. Assuming they are good at all (I don't know), I think that's a good price.

We've been very happy with taking private tours, in spite of the cost, espeically in places we don't speak the language. We weren't sure they were worth the extra cost over a group tour, but when our baby threw up all over herself at the start of our first tour in Korea, and we had to stop for a while to clean her up, we knew it was worth it :o

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May I ask what kind of books do you want to buy? Xidan and Wangfujing have different selections as gougou said. I usually don't look at Chinese language learning stuffs.

In fact, recent years, I most books that I bought in China were from the internet because the same books on the internet store are less expensive, and free delivery. Sure, if you don't stay in Beijing long, it is not easy to reserve books on the internet.

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Jane_PA - I am mostly interested in children's books. Some simple board books, regular story books to read to young children and maybe some Magic Tree House and/or Goosebumps books in Chinese. I know places here I can order them from, but they are very expensive. And I don't quite know enough to be able to order from the Chinese sites. And since Elina isn't going to be doing special orders at least for a long time, I want to stock up a bit.

Oh, and maybe some simple activity books in Chinese for kids - connect the dots, mazes, pre-writing practice - preschool stuff. Our daughter will only be 2, but I don't know when I will have a chance to buy stuff like that again. I want to make sure she still has as much exposure to Chinese as possible.

I also want some dvd's, I was going to start a different thread about that, but I like to see if you can buy some Xi Yang Yang on dvd, and some other cartoons and some TV shows. I have no idea what those may cost though.

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Hi trisha2766 ,

I a chinese guy living in beijing , most of you mentioned are not problems.

1) My Mandarin is, unfortunately, still quite limited. And I imagine my accent is horrible. How difficult would it be for us to get around to the major tourist spots on our own, that is without some sort of guide? I'm guessing we could do it, but I wanted ask and make sure.

Here are lots of foreign visitors , and lots of chinese could speak english.

2) We will probably be staying at the Downtown Holiday Inn (we won't have a choice with that). Any kind of estimate of how much it would cost to take a cab/taxi to the major tourist places - including places further away like the Great Wall/Ming tombs? Is there a cheaper, but still convenient way to go to those places?

Taxi fee is much cheap ,with in 1 kilometer ,its 10 yuan(RMB , 1$ = 6.77 )

3) We are interested in buying some musical instruments, like a pipa and erhu. How difficult would it be for us with limited Mandarin to buy something like that? We would then have them shipped back slowly (and cheaply).

I am not very sure where are the stores ,but its not hard to find ,when u are here ,you could consult the locals.

Hope those are helpful.

Thanks

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry - just now had a chance to follow up again.

How far away are Wangfujing and Xidan from each other?

Would they both have the newest Chinese Breeze books? As well as regular Chinese books?

Anyone know if book2 of Travel in Chinese is out yet?

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I also want some dvd's' date=' I was going to start a different thread about that, but I like to see if you can buy some Xi Yang Yang on dvd, and some other cartoons and some TV shows. I have no idea what those may cost though.

Would they both have the newest Chinese Breeze books? As well as regular Chinese books?

[/quote']

Trisha2766, if your time is tight, no need to go to Xidan Bookstore in my opinion, if Wangfujing Bookstore has not the complete series of Chinese Breeze, you can go to Wangfujing Waiwen Bookstore (王府井外文书店) to buy them, which is located near Wangfujing Bookstore. 王府井外文书店:

http://beijing.aibang.com/detail/16943480-418982106

Also as mentioned in my Number 24 post in this thread:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12443-looking-for-a-good-bookstore-in-beijing/page__st__20

“In Wangfujing bookstore, the 对外汉语 section is on the third floor, in addition, you could also go to the second floor to search in the children books section. I agree with Flameproof in number 16 post, some CHINESE children books are helpful for foreigners to learn Chinese.”

You can buy Xi Yang Yang dvds and others at the underground / 地下一层音像部 in Wangfujing bookstore.

Anyone know if book2 of Travel in Chinese is out yet?

Book 2 + DVD (RMB 75.00 yuan) and Book 3 + DVD (RMB 75.00 yuan) are both available on the third floor in Wangfujing Bookstore.

Hope you have a nice trip in China.

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Thanks! My time will be limited.

I have most of the Chinese Breeze books, but I know there is at least one more new one out. Its nice knowing what floor to find things on too ahead of time!

Now for the big problem - how will I be able to control myself from buying too many books? That's hard enough in English bookstores around here - but this may be my only chance to go to a Chinese bookstore! My husband will think I nuts!

And our suitcases are full - so they will have to be mailed back!

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