China - Beijing Aproveche las 5 horas de vuelo para recuperar horas perdidas y dandose la casualidad de tener 3 asientos a mi disposicion, me hice una cama a estilo primera clase... o no. Me desperte para llegar al aeropuerto mas moderno que tuve la oportunidad de visitar, Mi experiencia estuvo acompaniada de un equipo de 20 espanioles insufribl...

With some time to spare in Xi'an before we caught our train we decided to grab a taxi to the Big Goose Pagoda, located south of town. We paid the 25 Yen entry fee only to find out you had to pay another 10 yen to climb the pagoda. Considering it's so overcast and misty in Xi'an we decided to pass on the climb. Leaving the pagoda complex we decid...

Not wanting to follow the droves of tourists, Japanese tour groups all with matching yellow jackets or get lost in the maze of tour leaders, their flags held high we got up early for our Secret Great Wall Tour. We jumped into the Leo Hostel's mini bus with another 4 backpackers and headed NW of Beijing. After 2 hours we had arrived in a farming ...

Hello people I, Vinny, have the reins for this one. Mike was continuing his sterling work with the other encounters whilst I, armed with Bruce Campbell, set about scaling the secret great wall of China. We are staying in a lovely hostel on the Da Zha Lan Jie pedestrian street called Leo Hostel (Polly we had unfortunately paid up for 5 nights her...

It's been over three weeks that I have left China to travel to Mongolia. But let me recap on my three days in Beijing as an introduction to another 2-3 days after my return from Mongolia. I arrive in Beijing after about 30+ hours from Jayuguan. In Beijing, I had contacted Yao who is a member of the HC. I was going to stay with him for 2 days. Vi...

My first impression of China, at the moment we landed in Beijing Capitol International Airport, we though that the fact that it looks like in the middle of rush hour is natural. After all, Beijing is the capital city of a 1.25 billion people, and home to more than 10 million inhabitants - it is quit natural that the major international airport l...

Do this Chinese every speak quietly???? or come to think about it stop pushing???? I arrived in Beijing from my over night bus journey, caked in sweat from the night before climbing Tai Shan. Smelling particularly sweat that morning. Some bloke offered me a lift in his car, after negotiating a price he of course got lost and had to ask more dire...

250108 - 365 Inn, Peking, Kiina. Kommunistipuolueen johtamassa yli miljardin ihmisen poliisivaltiossa ei ole asukkailla ole varaa ainutlaatuisuuteen/yksilollisyyteen(esi m. Postissa tyontekijoilla on nimilappujen sijasta rintapielessa numerokoodi mallia 00200137).. Ehka osittain juuri taman takia Kiina onkin onnistunut yllattamaan erittain posit...

The journey up from Shanghai to Beijing was a relatively short 10 hour train journey that got me in to Beijing Railway Station at 7:00 am on Day 21. Meron was following me up on the later train and I was due to meet her outside the station at 9:00 am, however it soon became apparent that spotting her amongst the thousands of other people would b...

Beijing is amazing. The buildings are amazing, Tianamen Square is amazing, the people are amazing, the food is amazing, the beer is amazing (-ly cheap) and the toilets are squat down and not amazing. Tomorrow we'll be climbing the Great Wall so tonight is gonna be an early night as opposed to last night. We went to the bar district last night an...

Finally! I have my Chinese police report for my camera insurance and boy did I work for it. Gave him a lap dance and everything. Actually, from the moment I stepped in Beijing til earlier today I have been brushed off by all the Police Authorities. I was being honest with them and trying to explain where the theft happened and how but they kept ...

Hei, arghh, alkohan taa toimiin... sain noin kinkkikirjaimet pois paalta. Taa on kiinaotsikolla mutta kirjotan viela vahan Ulan Batoristakin. Kavin vikana viikonloppuna viela Choisin Lama temppelissa, jossa oli monta pikkutemppelia. Ja niissa oli tosi paljon kaikkia kuvia ja nukkeja siita miten kay jos ei ela hyvin. Ainakin kaikki vihaset jumala...

Guddi this one is for you (details): 5 June Got in Beijing late on the 5th. Flew from Okinawa to Taiwan and then to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong flew to Beijing. Took a local bus from the airport to Beijing (1 hour ride). Met with three of our friends (from Korea) at Leo Hostel close to City Center near Tian'anmen square. Hostel wasn't the greatest...

The Great Wall is just something everybody has to do. Maybe it cannot actually be seen from space and all the touristy renovated parts are not very authentic, but luckily the 4000 mile thing has some isolated visitable areas which are most definitely worth it. We jumped onto a bus from a local hostel to join a tour to the "secret wall," an area ...

After a few days rest, I flew to Beijing yet again to meet my brother and Hunter at the airport. I had a great reunion with Andrew and Hunter. Even though Andrew was coming out of a snow storm in Indy and Chicago, he made it to Beijing without a hitch. We stayed at the incredible Leo hostel in Beijing (wonderfully nice and clean and friendly) an...

We arrived in Beijing at the civilised time of 2:30 pm and found our hostel with no trouble whatsoever. The hostel was within 5 minutes walk of Tianmen Square so after a celebratory beer we headed out to explore. The square itself is enormous and is surrounded by Chinese Army officers who keep an eye on all the visitors. Apparently there are als...

Of the selection of Great Wall tours available, we opted to avoid the more touristy spots (which get incredibly crowded), for a tour called the "Secret Wall Tour", which offered walking on part of the wall further away from the city and away from the crowds. We got picked up from the hostel and driven perilously, horn blaring, to a dusty road in...

Hi everyone, We are now in Beijing, and the last couple of days in China before we head to Mongolia on Tuesday morning. I'll give you a round-up of what we've been up to over the last week. On Saturday 17th May we didn't get much done - after packing our things away and having some food outside at the hostel for lunch we checked out of the hoste...

And final destination by TS express, Beijing. The same night as we arrived we met 2 swedes and a english guy, who was gonna be my new travel buddy for a while. Chatting along we decided to do China for a month, everything thanks to old australian man, full-time traveler, amazing! In Beijing which by the was is extremely polluted we saw alot. So ...

Arrived today by train. Cant see much due to the polution! Seriously you cant see Tianamen Square from the doors of the Forbidden City... across the road! people walk around with face masks to reduce the amount of pollution they suck in... Did a half day trip to the Great Wall in Mutianyu. I knew it would blow me away but not as much as it actau...

There have been many changes in Beijing since I was here two years ago and in the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games which will be staged in Beijing there will be many more. Huge ambitious plans are underway to build five subway lines, including one connecting the airport with the city and lines to connect the Olympic Village and venues to the ci...

After our fascinating side-trip to North Korea, we headed back to Beijing (on the Pyongyang -> Beijing train) for another four days. Top on our list of attractions to visit was the Great Wall and Chairman Mao, along with some other minor sights around the capital. We had also agreed to meet up with our new friends Dutch Dutch and Roger for a ...

Beijing here i am :)) Actually kind like a confuse a bit when i was land to Beijing airport because it seem nobody speak English at all lol But yep finally i found the cab outside and it all good.The cab driver when saw me get to the car he change the music to English conversation for beginner learning 55! But it was nice i mean at first all the...

I assume that many Americans share the impression that I had before arriving in Beijing. I know it is communist and totally government-controlled and is just no good to its people in an abundance of cases (all of which I've heard awful stories about from my folks on the Soviet end) and yet modernizing and growing at a fantastic pace as the marke...

My plan for my first full day in Beijing was to see the Temple of Heaven, the Underground City, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. A big ambitious sounding I know, but they are relatively close to one another. I was a bit late starting my day, so I took off right in the mid day sun. Which is never the best idea here as it gets to about 35 ...

The Great Wall. Today I took a tour from my hostel to the Great Wall. This trip was called the Secret Wall trip and was supposed to take us to a part of the wall where no one else would be. No other tourists, no vendors, no cable cars up the wall, no nothing and the trip did not disappoint. It seemed a bit dodgy at first as we were dropped off o...

Last night was tons of fun. A group of us, about 12, went out for some food. First we went and grabbed some dumplings, then we went to this other restaurant for Beijing Duck. Which was super good, but I was glad we went as a group since its tons of food. They even make a soup out of the parts of the duck you don't eat. It was a great way to fini...

I got up early this morning to make sure I got there this time before the city shut down. Going on a weekend wasn't the best idea, but I didn't really have much of a choice. The place was super packed, mostly with Chinese tourists. Which makes it a little more challenging as you have to push and shove your way to be able to get any pics, then wh...

JAL airlines is truely the best airlines i have ever flown, omar and i had 30 hours of travel but since we got free drinks it passed rather quickly. between bottles of sake and gin and juice we had a great time. When we get to the airport we run into someone that is staying at our hostel so follow him back. our hostel is great meet many people d...

We left Ulaanbaatar on the evening of the 3rd, and travelled through the top of the Gobi Desert. Unfortunately our cabin didn't have air-conditioning, so do we open the window? sauna or sandstorm?...we opted for the sandstorm and really DID wake up with the Gobi Desert in our mouths/ hair/ eyes/ ears/ nose/ coffee mugs/ cutlery/ sunglasses/ shee...

Lots of news in the meantime. John is pregnant...alright. We got to Beijing late night a few nights ago and miraculously found Erin who had to take a bus on the highway in order to get to our Terminal to meet up with us, never believe those Native Americans aren't resourceful. Anyway we found our hostel after much much searching all the while wa...

Go to the Summary Page ___________________________ I arrived in Beijing on the 1st of July, and took a cab with Herve, Dave (Canada) and a Mongolian traveller whose name has flown away. I stayed at Leo Hostel, not far from Tiananmen square. The street is a market street, full of shops and stalls. Very lively, and so noisy! The Chinese sellers ke...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen.....'n' that. I have arrived in Beijing, and other than having potentially lost my new book (there is a small chance it may still turn up in the hostel room.....maybe...) and sustained a nasty bout of raging bullfrog-itis (sounds more interesting than the tonsil thing), I am having a FAB time. There are 2 main factors...

After months of planning, the day is finally here! UA 889 flight was on-time; departing SFO at 11:05am and arriving at PEK at 3:35pm. Don't remember much about the flight except that I hated the airplane food and wished I had my own personal screen. I probably would have choosen Cathay or Singapore Airline if they had direct flights to Beijing. ...

So the time came for me to leave Mongolia, I can't say I wanted to as I enjoyed my time there so much. However I'm travelling the world and I have to move on at some point, China next stop. The train from UB to Beijing was a pretty straightforward affair, and the border crossing was way quicker than the Russia-Mongolian crossing! Even though the...

We hopped on a soft sleeper train to Zhengzhou, where we battled the crowds - and the railway staff - to buy tickets on the D train to Beijing. Just a warning - if you need tickets on the D train, you have to go to window 18, even though there are no signs telling you this anywhere in the ticket hall. The sleeper train was great, but terribly ov...

Hej Travelpoden! Tagresan upp till arlanda gick ganska smartfritt om man bortser fran, "simon : Mongomojjena" fran Linkoping som satt bredvid oss. Dessa tva medelsaldersmaen 35+... och tva damer (23) borjade diskutera att det nastan var 10 ar mellan dem. Resan fortsatte med hogintellektuella diskutioner och dunkande fjortistekno fran mannens mob...

Tis i from the land of China.. :) Well i finally arrived to Beijing on the train from Ulaan Bataar at 15.30 on the 1st October. The train ride took about 36 hours and was exactly the same cabin type to what i had traveled in from Moscow to Mongolia, so all was very familier.. Rob and i shared our cabin with a Mongolian Lady and a Mongolian man (...

So back on the train again heading for China! We shared our compartment with a couple of Irish girls called Kira and Catherine and had a nice chat with them on the way to Beijing, with Irish a couple of comparments down. Rich, Frankie, Pi and Eva were a few carriages down, their trip sounded somewhat more eventful than ours. An english guy they ...

After our flight from Hong Kong we somehow managed to take buses and the subway and find Leo2 Hostel in Beijing where we stayed our first night. The next day we moved nextdoor to a nicer hotel for less money but the hostel was still a great place to meet people and find out information. On our first day we visited the Forbidden City which is whe...

" The colossal flyovers and multilane boulevards heave with two million cars as the must-have commodity once a tv or washing machine is now a vw passat or a buick. Yet a ample pockets of historical charm survive, especially along Beijing's characteristic hutong, the maze of narrow alleys that shelters the city's delightful courtyard architecture...