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Beijing, China
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Beijing, China
#6064: Visitors Walking inside the Forbidden City, Beijing, China
 Beijing, China
#6063: Starbucks Coffee Shop inside the Forbidden City, Beijing, China
 Beijing, China
#6062: Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City, China
 Beijing, China
#6061: Hall of Preserving Harmony, Forbidden City, China
Beijing, China
#6060: Hall of Preserving Harmony Rear, Forbidden City, China
 Beijing, China
#6059: Inside the Pavilion of 1,000 Autumns, Forbidden City, China
 Beijing, China
#6058: The Pavilion of 1,000 Autumns inside the Forbidden City, China
 Beijing, China
#6057: Imperial Garden Buildings, Forbidden City, China
Beijing, China
#6056: Architectural Detail in Imperial Garden, Forbidden City, China
 Beijing, China
#6055: Wangfujing, east of Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City, Beijing
 Beijing, China
#6054: Looking North on Wangfujing Street Business District
 Beijing, China
#6053: Clerk at the Red Wall Hotel in Beijing
Beijing, China
#6052: Old Chinese Couple Traveling on a Bicycle
 Beijing, China
#6051: Woman Butcher Selling Meat to a Customer in Beijing
 Beijing, China
#6050: Bright Lights along ChaoYang Road Shops
 Beijing, China
#6049: Neon Sign, ChaoYang Theater in Beijing
I visited Beijing, China with William, a good friend I made in Shenzhen. He and I spent about four days there together, after which my wife, Arlene, arrived from Manila to join us. William and I had traveled to Guilin together first before flying to Beijing, and his help was essential to making travel plans (he's Chinese and I could not get a grip on the language myself).

My wife was mistaken for Chinese by vendors, taxi drivers, and others, who spoke to her in Mandarin. She speaks Tagalog, Ilocano, English, and Japanese, but doesn't know Mandarin. She would respond "English, please" but they would continue in Mandarin.

By sheer coincidence, we were in Beijing the week of "National Day", 2004. This meant attractions like the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and others were at their peak of tourist traffic. For some reason, the government honored the celebration by giving these attractions special, shorter, "holiday" hours. This is why there are such huge crowds in my photos of the Great Wall. The crush of people there bordered on dangerous, and I was physically separated from my wife and William at the Great Wall.

Arlene and I stayed at a hotel in the Hutongs of central Beijing, north of the Forbidden City. It didn't work out so well, and we moved to the Red Wall hotel, which I would recommend.

Flying out of Beijing was a problem. The airport has two terminals, and we were careful not to exit our taxi until the driver showed our tickets to an airport staff person who confirmed which terminal we needed; we were directed to terminal two, and exited the taxi. Once inside, we were told we must haul our luggage by foot back to terminal one (and hurry). Back at terminal one, we were able to check-in, but on the concourse, we were told again we must return to terminal two.

We made it on the plan by guessing who to listen to. We were actually on two separate flights, and as I took off, I couldn't be sure if Arlene made her flight or not.

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This page last modified:2007-11-17

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