Novotel Peace Beijing

... 250-300 meters. There were all sorts of guys trying to offer us lifts. We took 2 cabs quickly into town for $4 each. The Novotel Peace Hotel is in the centre of town with spacious rooms. This time there was no issue getting an extra bed in each room. ...

... . Upon arriving in Beijing, we quickly passed immigration and picked up our bags for the ride to the hotel.  The Novotel in Beijing was wonderful - very contemporary and close to many of the sights (and shopping).  We meet up with a few more of ...

... these two sites we would be happy as we were flying to Xian to see the Terra-cotta Warriors next.   We arrived at the Novotel Peace Hotel, after a bus trip from the airport into town. Jena had some vouchers for very nice hotels in China so we used ...

... finally get to bed. I woke up to paddy fields and mountains which were a refreshing change from Mongolia. We arrived in Beijing at about 3.00pm this afternoon. After eventually getting some money changed we went to McDonalds. Nigel and I then went ...

... busy day in Beijing, and I am really sad to leave the city. This morning we woke up and went straight to Beijing International Studies University. It is one of the more prestigious Universities, and it specializes in Tourism and languages. We got a ...

... in the end my 'superior' chinese ;) gets me silk pajamas for my mom for about $3.50 each). A particularly interesting part of Beijing to me were it's hutongs, traditional homes dating back to the 13th century. The only problem was that more were smashed ...

... that not everyone can afford to buy a car yet because it is one busy place. Most of the tourists we saw in Beijing (I'd reckon over 95%) are Chinese themselves. Still plenty of Europeans but we didn't see many European kids there (not exactly school ...

... for the lake/bar area of Houhai. This is a cool area, lit-up bars and shops surrounding a small lake in central Beijing. We had fun visiting a few local spots and somehow found energy to enjoy dancing till 1:00am before making ourselves go back to ...

... the land around there is home to many fruit orchards to supply Beijing. This evening we went to an acrobatics show in the main Beijing theatre, which was pretty good. Food was next, and it was the usual selection that had been pre-decided so we could ...

... drank it too quickly. I walk from the restaurant via the "Hutongs", which are small traditional streets (like alleys) hidden in Beijing. They had a night fruit market, and I pick up some huge sweet smelling peaches. I then walk back towards the ...

Pintoo and Krishna - will be the first to arrive; then Virginia from Sidney; then Dutti from Munich. More once we're there!! Well, we all met up as planned, and then the exploring began. The first day after a good night's sleep, we spent the morning ...

... to see the blond`s tummy, so he picked up the edge of her shirt to peek. Lots of bilingual laughter. Our hotel, Novotel Peace, near Wangfujing, a pedestrian friendly four or five blocks of malls and shops, was a 10-minute walk from Tianamen and ...

... fly i remember why it is that i hate flying with such a passion. its not right. and here i am now in beijing staying in the novotel (decided to treat myself after 7 months roughing it most of the time!).  ah yes for room service and pools and ...

... after walking through the Forbidden City, but everyone was exhausted, so we are putting that off until Friday before we leave Beijing. The pollution is pretty noticeable, my roommate has had a sore throat and her eyes have been bothering her a lot. ...

... that approaches the tombs.  It is lined with 36 stone statues of officials and soldiers, beasts and animals. We return to Beijing and make plans with our local tour guide, Echo, to eat at one of the local eateries and forgo the typical tourist ...

... more. Dr. Crowe said it was expensive, but it is one of the only places to buy authentic stuff. Cloissone is one of Beijing's three treasures, along with jade and Peking duck. It was kept a secret from the outside world until the 1980s, but China is ...

... to change / Guide to offer other ideas/suggestions for dinner en route to hotel-Most of the other students went out to the bar section of Beijing to celebrate the final night of the trip. Since we had a long previous 48 hours and had to be up at 5:30am to ...

... Hill beyond. The last trip of the day includes Olympic Park, home of the 2008 Olympics.  We see both the Bird's Nest (Beijing National Stadium) and the Water Cube.  Wish we could have been here for the actual games, but oh well... We were ...

... cell phones and newly poured concrete diminish the "specialness." Next up, and our final stop on Katherine's fantastic Beijing tour (she planned everything), is the ridiculous Olympic Village. The 2008 games saw the construction of massive athletic ...

... terrible Chengdu earthquake. I'm really writing this from Orlando (we just got back about an two hours ago!). The Internet situtation in Beijing wasn't very good so I couldn't post while I was there and we were super busy trying to see everything. We did ...