An ex-pat's guide to Beijing

[Duranee]

Camelliacity:

 

I was on the Princess web site -- but using the "Cruise Personalizer" section for my particular cruise (which you can't get into unless you are scheduled on one of their cruises). I went into their cruise excursions that they offer, for Xingang, and for their day tours into Beijing, it had a footnote that the ride was "approx. 3 hours."

 

On another cc message board (sorry, I'm not sure where I was reading it), someone else said it was a 2 1/2 to 3 hour ride, from port, into Beijing.

So, I'm guessing with all the traffic, etc. it will be close to a 3 hour ride.

[TWIND]

Hi All,

 

For those that have been fortunate enough to have seen Beijing under less taxing circumstances, whats an alternative ?

 

Easy answer is none;but, could Tianjin about one hour away be a possibility?

Has some history and a tour could be arranged? Might be fun to see another district of China versus 6+ hours (sounds like the I 405 , freeway at home?) commuting?

 

Cheers,

Denis & Ina

[Dorinda]

Hi Denis and Ina - we are on the Sapphire with you and intend to go into Tianjin. We have heard from crew members that it's not far by taxi and that there is good shopping.

 

See you on board.

 

Cheers,

Dee

[kaisatsu]

Since we lived in Beijing at the time, we decided to head to Tianjin a day before our cruise departure and explore the city. I believe it took us about half an hour by taxi to reach the port from Tianjin.

 

Tianjin is best known for being one of the significant international ports in China back in the early 20th century. There is a line of historic buildings that date back to this time and are often compared with the Bund in Shanghai. However, the architecture isn't nearly as interesting as Shanghai's, and I just felt that I was in a historic downtown from the same time period in the US. Interesting because I was still in China, but not particular noteworthy otherwise.

 

To me, the most interesting bit of architecture was actually our hotel. The Astor Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in China, and is worth dropping by for a look around. The walls of the old section are lined with photographs, and the first floor has a small collection of historical artifacts and displays of famous former guests. Most notably, the hotel was a popular spot with Emperor Puyi during his exile in Tianjin, and the hotel has his original gramophone on display. (I enjoyed re-watching The Last Emperor before heading to Tianjin.)

 

Tianjin does have a small market area that's been "restored" to make it look historic. It was a nice place to wander around for a short while, and if you don't have a chance to do any other market shopping in China, this could be a great opportunity!

 

Another option if you have a single day and don't want to head to Beijing is to visit the Eastern Qing Tombs, where the last of the emperors and empresses are buried. It's roughly the same distance as Beijing, but north instead of northeast. It's kind of off the beaten path, since the distance from Beijing makes it less popular, so it would be good to arrange a guide and transportation ahead of time. It's a good example of Qing-era architecture, and the tombs are said to be some of the best of all the dynasties.

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/qing_mausoleums/

http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/57315.htm

Map of the area: http://www.muztagh.com/images/map/map-of-hebei-large.jpg

The port is near Tanggu, east of Tianjin, and the tombs are northeast of Tianjin.

[TWIND]

Hi Denis and Ina - we are on the Sapphire with you and intend to go into Tianjin. We have heard from crew members that it's not far by taxi and that there is good shopping.

 

See you on board.

 

Cheers,

Dee

 

Hi Dee,

 

We are also looking forward to meeting you two on board the ship! Here is a link to Tianjin Travel.

 

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/tianjin/

 

Supposedly the third largest city in China, it is a co-sponsor of the Olympics? They have a fantastic new Olympic stadium and some great museums among other attractions. Some of the confusion about how long it takes to get there from the Port may be due to its size. i.e. city limit versus downtown?

 

Ina also loves shopping and I love picture taking. We are looking into a tour to do both! Its going to be a great cruise!

 

Cheers,

Denis & Ina

[mindyme]

Found this site for guide in Tianjin if anyone is interested

http://www.thatsbj.com/index.php?a=2&b=279830.

[Dorinda]

Meg - once agin - thanks for all the good info you so generously share!

 

Denis and Ina - we look forward to meeting you, too. See you on board.

 

Cheers,

Dee

[TWIND]

Hi Dee,

 

Here is a link to Tianjin's fantastic new Olympic Stadium. I managed to get one reply to my enquiry about a fulll day private tour from pier to Tianjin. My follow up questions have not been answered - yet?

 

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/25/content_6427187.htm

 

Cheers,

Denis

[Donyb]

Hello Meg...You have been such a great resource for us and I need to pick your brain on yet another issue.

 

I read the forum about debit cards in China and I'm a bit concerned. We are spending 4 nights pre-cruise in Beijing. Our touring and hotel is pre-paid through China Highlights. However, I was planning to use the ATM's at the local banks to get cash we need for incidentals. That is what we have always done on our other travels. Our bank is not national but I have always alerted them about the countries we would be visiting and we have not had a problem.

 

My questions: Have you used ATM's to get local currency? Have you ever had problems? Is your bank a national one (i.e. Bank of America, Chase, etc.)? Would we be better served in bringing US currency or traveler's checks and going to a Nat'l bank in China to exchange for local currency?

 

Any suggestions, as always, would be appreciated.

 

Nancy

[kaisatsu]

I read the forum about debit cards in China and I'm a bit concerned. We are spending 4 nights pre-cruise in Beijing. Our touring and hotel is pre-paid through China Highlights. However, I was planning to use the ATM's at the local banks to get cash we need for incidentals. That is what we have always done on our other travels. Our bank is not national but I have always alerted them about the countries we would be visiting and we have not had a problem.

 

My questions: Have you used ATM's to get local currency? Have you ever had problems? Is your bank a national one (i.e. Bank of America, Chase, etc.)? Would we be better served in bringing US currency or traveler's checks and going to a Nat'l bank in China to exchange for local currency?

 

While we were living in China, I was actually still being paid in the US, so we used our ATM cards every time we needed to draw money from our US account (my husband was earning RMB locally, so for daily expenses we used our Bank of China account). We had a Bank of America account, and never had problems accessing it. Because of BoA's daily withdrawal limits, sometimes we had to spread it across more than one day if we were buying something like plane tickets that cost more than $200 (yes, everything is cash!).

 

The only real issue is that not every ATM can take foreign bank cards. In one case, we had a problem because the ATM couldn't accept our 4-digit PIN (Chinese accounts use 6 digits), but that was just once. As long as you stick with the bigger banks, you probably won't have a problem. I've never encountered a Bank of China ATM that couldn't take a foreign ATM card (that's not to say they don't exist, but I imagine they're a pretty safe bet), and you might also have luck with Bank of Beijing, but I'm not as certain. There are Bank of Chinas all over the place, so just ask at your hotel where there's one nearby. Or you might just ask them where the closest ATM that takes foreign ATM cards is. They might know!

 

HSBC ATMs are harder to find, but in some cases they're one of the best options, especially if your US bank charges a lot for foreign withdrawals. The HSBC ATM at the Holiday Inn Lido (not convenient unless you're staying there) will actually request the withdrawal from your US bank in dollars and then HSBC will handle the conversion themselves! I'm not sure if all HSBC ATMs do this, but it's pretty handy! It's also pretty popular, so the machine was often out of cash!

 

As for non-national US bank cards, I'm pretty sure you won't have a problem. A friend of mine visited and had a card for his small local Indiana bank, and I believe he was able to use it with no problems. If you've used it overseas before, I think you'll definitely be fine. But if you're concerned, you may want to bring along some traveller's cheques just in case. If you can get them inexpensively, I always figure that they're good to have around, since we can always just cash them back home if we don't use them.

 

Cheers!

-Meg

[Donyb]

And yet again...Thanks Meg.:)

[fredmar]

Did anyone notice if there are elevators in the silk market. Iask this as I have a son in a wheelchair. Thanks.

[kaisatsu]

Yes, there are elevators at the Silk Market (and most of the major markets, I believe)!

 

Cheers!

-Meg

[Donyb]

I'm calling Meg to answer yet another question. We are considering taking the fast train from Beijing to Tianjin. I looked at a web site that China Highlights gave me since they are doing our hotel and touring in Beijing. I have some concerns from what I read.

 

1st - We would buy "soft seats" but it says if someone is in your reserved seat, find another one. I have visions of fighting with some little Chinese person over having my seat!! Anyway, do you have any experience with the fast trains? Also, it says that luggage fits under your seat and overhead. We each will have a large suitcase as we will be away for quite awhile. Will these fit under the seat?

 

2nd - the web site says that sometimes there can be many steps and some have a ramp next to the steps to drag suitcases on wheels. How difficult do you think it will be to schlep our luggage.

 

3rd - the web site says that English signage is minimal. If we have specific info written in Chinese (as someone on these threads suggested), do you think it will be fairly easy to get a taxi in Tianjin to take us to the Renaissance Hotel where we do our cruisce check-in?

 

Any help you can give would be appreciated.:)

 

Nancy

[kaisatsu]

I'm calling Meg to answer yet another question. We are considering taking the fast train from Beijing to Tianjin. I looked at a web site that China Highlights gave me since they are doing our hotel and touring in Beijing. I have some concerns from what I read.

Well, my only train experiences were overnights, but I'll see what I can answer! :o

 

1st - We would buy "soft seats" but it says if someone is in your reserved seat, find another one. I have visions of fighting with some little Chinese person over having my seat!!

Unless you're travelling during a holiday, high-travel time, I don't think you'll have too much trouble. We've travelled by soft sleeper and hard sleeper before and never had anyone take our births. During the peak holiday travel times (especially Spring festival) you'll have people riding in every available space (including the bathrooms) and it could easily be a problem. In general, however, I would think that if you found someone in your seat and you couldn't find another seat, just take your ticket to someone in a uniform and gesture wildly. ;)

 

Also, it says that luggage fits under your seat and overhead. We each will have a large suitcase as we will be away for quite awhile. Will these fit under the seat?

Nope. This is the biggest reason we didn't want to take the train when we headed to our cruise. Having travelled in a soft sleeper, which is the highest-end train ticket there is in China, the only luggage space we had was about 12 inches under the lower sleeping births and in bed with us! We figured we'd be travelling with a large suitcase and a carry-on each (it would have been more, but our airline back had a one-bag 25kg luggage limit), and I didn't want the hassle of trying to find space for them. I know we could have just piled them in the aisle, but we aren't the types to inconvenience other people and get annoyed when other people (Chinese or otherwise) do. There's probably space at the ends of the cars, but if you left your bags there, you'd probably need to stay with them to make sure they didn't get off with someone else at an earlier stop!

 

2nd - the web site says that sometimes there can be many steps and some have a ramp next to the steps to drag suitcases on wheels. How difficult do you think it will be to schlep our luggage.

At Beijing and Tianjin stations, you probably wouldn't have too big a problem, since they're both big cities, which tend to be a little better about accessibility. However, you'd need to be able to lift your bags on/off the train (probably two steep steps) and I'd be ready for a flight of stairs to or from the platform. It depends on how the station is laid out, which tracks your train is on, etc. There may be an elevator, but I'd be prepared for at least a flight or two just in case.

 

3rd - the web site says that English signage is minimal. If we have specific info written in Chinese (as someone on these threads suggested), do you think it will be fairly easy to get a taxi in Tianjin to take us to the Renaissance Hotel where we do our cruisce check-in?

Beijing and Tianjin will likely be the two ends of the train route, so that's not a big issue. And Tianjin would likely have signs in Pinyin, but as always in China, I can't guarantee it! :) A taxi driver could probably get you close to the Renaissance in Teda. Ours didn't know exactly where it was, but we could see it from the main road we were on and pointed it out. One super-important thing to note - There's a Renaissance in Tianjin, too! So don't just show up with the Renaissance logo, or you'll likely end up at the one downtown! Of course, they could certainly help you hop in another taxi and get to the one in Teda if that happens! We had no idea there were two until we showed up the night before just to see where we were going, and the reception staff had no idea what "Princess cruises" was and said no one had their rooms booked for the next day! (Talk about a panic attack!) One good safety measure is to have their phone number with you (according to the website it's 86 22 66218888). If the driver has a cell phone, he can call and get directions. We've done this a lot!

 

 

So let me just say that you're extremely brave to try the train! My advice is to give yourself plenty of time! The best part of that is that Princess let us check in first thing in the morning, despite the times on our documents. There were no lines, which turned out to be a huge benefit, since people who came later were stuck in line at the port for hours! Plus, as some of the first people on the ship, we had plenty of time to explore on our own, which was nice!

 

Good luck!

-Meg

[Donyb]

I knew you would show up if I just called out to you!!! Thank you again. While I like the shorter travel time with the train, I think we will pay the extra money for the car transfer which will take us directly to our check-in hotel for the cruise.

 

I so appreciate you and the info you have. Thank you again.

 

Nancy

[thebeijinger]

Hi there!

 

I was perusing your site and noticed that you have a link to us on your site -- thanks for that – and this is just a quick note to let you know that we've changed our URL – from the original www.thatsbj.com to the new www.thebeijinger.com.

 

Pop by and you'll notice the content remains the same, as always, including:

 

-- Beijing's most active free classifieds;

-- An oft-used (and occasionally abused!) bbs

-- Our extensive Beijing directory and events listings

-- The online archive of articles from that’s Beijing magazine

-- A large collection of Beijing-related links

-- An online gallery of Beijing party and event photos

-- And our new web-only content posted daily in our tbjblog

 

Thanks again for linking to us and please send us a message any time if you have any questions!

Victoria

 

the Beijinger Web Editor

[Lobbylin]

Kaisatsu

Came across your thread and loved it - completely agree with everyone elses comments! Thank you for taking the time to write all this

 

THANK YOU!

[Mr Retire]

Thanks so very much for all the information,We will be cruiseing in May,09 out of Beijing,However, we are planing a 7 day 6 night stay in Beijing before joining the ship and i have printed a copy of your tips for our group(9 person) again thanks

[kaisatsu]

I'm glad people still find it useful! From what I hear of my friends and colleagues who are still over there, a few things are starting to become outdated (i.e. as mentioned above, the magazine changed from That's Beijing to The Beijinger just before the Olympics), but hopefully the gist of the information is still accurate. Especially regarding the tourist sights.

 

Enjoy your trip! And I envy you the chance to have a traditional Chinese foot massage! It's been 2 years now, and I'm starting to go through withdrawal! ;)

 

-Meg

[sailaway5]

Just found this thread and have printed out many useful hints which I am sure will be valuable in our future trip to Beijing.

 

Thank you for the many valuable hints. I am sure others will also benefit from this guide which is why I have bumped it to the top.

[mustgo]

Great information here for anyone headed to Beijing