Tips for Beijing

I'm flying to Beijing tomorrow morning and will be there for a week and a half. I won't have a ton of free time, but am interested in any suggestions you guys have for must-see or must-do activities. I already have plans to see the Great Wall and Forbidden City.

Also, if anyone has a good recommendation for a tailor in Beijing, I'd love to hear it. I'd just be looking to get some custom shirts and pants done.

 

I'd buy some sort of air filtrating, face device.

 

I'd buy some tech or gadgets and try the food!

 

I don't really have any first-hand advice since I haven't been there myself yet, but from what I hear from my family members who have been there (who are Chinese by the way), I think the only major tips I can remember off the top of my head is to for the love of God, don't drink the water and only eat food from restaurants that you see other people eating.

 

Asked my friend who lives in Beijing. He says:

"Sanlitun is a must go hang out spot"

"Elements near the worker's stadium if he is into night clubs"

"鬼街 if he is looking for some typical oldschool beijing food and snacks and hes not afraid to get sick"

and of course the regular tourist stuff like the great wall.

 

I'd say try the food and interact with others while speaking english. majority of chiense people know english these days

 

You will see a lot of asians. I promise you that.

 

Thanks for the tips everyone!

Little update on how things are going for me so far:
Navigating and communicating have been difficult with the language barrier, but I've gotten by fine for the most part (aside from getting screwed with some counterfeit money the first day).
Yesterday I visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace. Today we went to the Great Wall. All the sights were amazing.
Last night I went with my friends to a club called Mix and had a blast! Bottle service was about the price we'd pay for a cover in NYC which was awesome.
The air quality is only a bit worse than I'm used to, but I've been told it's unusually good now.
Keep the tips coming. I'll keep you guys update and will hopefully have some good pics to post when I'm home.

 

Id really appreciate if you could upload some photos, especially of the great wall

 

Alot of the tourist areas are very very crowded. Especially if you are visiting the great wall, research a bit on alternate entrances. Last time I went, I did a climb on a less well known entrance onto the wall. There were only 3-4 people along the entire hike and the view was spectacular--much better than trying to cram with like 100 people walking along a wall lol

 

If I send you paypal cash, will you ship me a cool souvenir? Something you can only find at chinese street vendors? c:

I'm minoring in chinese, and we get extra credit for show and telling of chinese cultural things. I'm too lazy to make chinese crafts, but an authentic chinese trinket could earn me some buX

 

How would a fake 100 yuan note be (given to me by a taxi driver as a scam)? There's a few pretty interesting ways you could tie that into life in China. That would also be really easy to ship.

If not, I'll keep my eyes open for other stuff.