A quick trip to China leaves us longing for more

[Aussie Wendy]

For those who have followed me from PrincessinOz to see some pics of Beijing welcome. For others a quick intro to this story.

I am a 50 something Disney fan from way back who lives in Brisbane Australia and usually travels with my hubby and often my DD who is now 25. I have, not by deliberate planning, visited every park but newly opened Shanghai in the past seven years. Around early November I received a message from the Melbourne Disgirls that they had discovered an unbelievably cheap airfare to Shanghai and was I interested in joining them in exploring Shanghai Disneyland? Was I! Over the course of a couple of nights messages flew faster than the speed of light between us as we coordinated 5 sets of people to be in Shanghai at the same time. In the event I had work commitments that meant I had to be back a bit earlier than the rest but I could get away a week earlier. DD jumped on board and proposed we headed to Beijing first and DH decided he would be overwhelmed by all the girls (no, he had to work) so stayed home to feed the budgy and keep an eye on things.

Who I am: in Tokyo DisneySea in 2012



And DD ditto



Turns out the airfare was open jaw though with days of the week constraints so DD and I headed out on the Monday to Beijing for 4 nights, caught the bullet train to Shanghai on Friday where we rendezvoused with PrincessinOz (hereafter shortened to PIO) and her DM who had managed a flight out a day earlier and then Sunday am rendezvoused in the park with the rest of the gang who had arrived late on Saturday. As we had an early flight out Wednesday morning when the others were flying to Hong Kong Disneyland for 3 nights, we transferred to an airport hotel for Tuesday night and then flew home via Hong Kong on the Wednesday.

Obtaining our visas was a piece of cake with a Visa Processing Office in Brisbane city and we took the forms in personally. The forms were quite lengthy and while I took duplicates of everything they only wanted to see one set of hotel reservations once they had ascertained DD’s name was on the airfare itinerary as well as mine and she was my travelling companion in all the hotels where only my name + 1 was listed.

Visa photos were taken care of at the local Post Office who have a machine that prints the pic automatically to suit the country requirements – I wouldn’t go anywhere else now to get them taken as you can be pretty sure they will be right. We also had PIO’s useful experience to guide us on not wearing earrings etc. and just in case, made sure we wore conservative clothing (not that it says anything about that in the visa guide).

Disneyland hotel bookings (we did a split stay) were made online through the Shanghai Disneyland website after we created an account with them (using our email address not a mobile phone) and tickets were purchased separately later from the same site not as part of the hotel package. For these we were sent a confirmation form to print out and bring to the turnstyles with our passport. At this time only two day and one day tix were available.

Other hotel bookings were made using a combination of advice from TripAdvisor and either direct booking or via a third party co. Train tix were researched (e.g. times and types) using Seat61 and bought using China DIY Travel who I can highly recommend if you are happy to go and collect them yourselves. They sent comprehensive instructions including in Chinese to show to people, videos of how to collect the tix from any railway station and how to catch the train, favourite eating spots and all sorts of other useful info and only charged $10 per ticket for the service. Other companies will also arrange delivery to your hotel if you want.

We purchased a one month subscription for $17 of ExpressVPN and downloaded it onto our phone and made sure it was working before we left (having missed a free one week trial offer). This was to get around the Great Firewall. We also planned on using What's App to keep in contact with DH at home. We had a Vodofone and planned on using the $5/day roaming option (only for days you activate it) if we needed it (and ended up activating it on three days).

Happy to answer any other questions. Onto the show. Links to each day or site below.

Day 1 Arrival
Nihao Beijing
First explorations
Dinner

Day 2 Forbidden City, Jingshang and Houhai Lakes
Always start the day with a good breakfast
Ti'ananmen Square is off limits
In the Forbidden City
Everything is symbolic
Palace Overload
The Imperial Garden
Jingshang Park
Exiting the park and Dongcheng
Late afternoon at the Houhai Lakes
Sunset
Being adventurous

Day 3 Off to the Wall at Mutianyu
Sights en route
Mutianyu village and cable car
Walking the wall
Exploring the watchtowers
A steep climb
DD goes over the wall
The explorer returned
Dinner in

Day 4 The Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace
The Temple of Heaven
The Imperial Vault of the Heavens
The Circular Mound Altar and Pearl Market
Getting confused but we reach the Summer Palace in the end
Heading round the lake
By the lakeshore
Sitting on an island watching all the crowds go by
We close the park

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Day 1 Nihao Beijing

Our day began with a 00.45am flight (yawn) (in economy). Since neither of us sleep on planes we occupied ourselves with various movies – several Disney of course! This was our first time flying with Cathay Pacific and we were very impressed. Lots of entertainment choices (though not quite as good as Singapore Airlines), excellent food (choice of 3 not 2 mains!) and the air con stayed cold and fresh never stuffy – a big thumbs up. I thought we took some pics of meals but obviously not. Our dinner was sliced duck with creamy coleslaw, for main I chose stirfry chicken with veg and rice, and a Weiss mango icecream bar. Both of us skipped the hot part of the breakfast before landing but it looked pretty good. The end of the trip was pretty turbulent – usual early morning thermals.

We passed over lots of fields and some cities as well as several areas with big high rise apartments surrounded by fields which looked very odd.




As part of our hotel deal we were met at the airport which saved us the worry of dealing with taxi drivers who can’t speak English and don’t understand the instructions even if written in Chinese that I have heard can be a problem. Our driver drove carefully through the crazy traffic offering us cold bottled water along the way and delivering us to the hotel door where we were greeted with hot tea and friendly staff.

We stayed at the Red Wall Garden Hotel situated in a hutong to the east of the Forbidden City and Wanfujing St tourist area. The hutongs are the traditional alleyways formed originally by adjoining courtyard houses. They originated in the Yuan Dynasty (founded by Kublai Khan in 1279) but most were built in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) Dynasties. Now they are occupied by several families and many courtyards have been built in to form more housing. I suspect this might have been a new build on a demolished site. We loved our stay here and plan to stay here if (when!) we return.

The entrance to our hutong

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The hotel

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A statue by the entrance to the courtyard

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And another

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Our room was twin bedded opening onto the courtyard at ground floor level. In summer I think this would be noisy with diners and people chatting outside at all hours but this time of year it was very quiet.

In the courtyard

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Our room

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Lots of traditional touches

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Cute tea service

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And old fashioned phone

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[PrincessInOz]

Oh! Wonderful!


You started a TR. I was out tonight and I was so pleased to see this waiting for me to read.

That's a cute hotel you found. Let's say "when" we return, we'll be staying there.

 

[PrincessInOz]

in Tokyo DisneySea in 2012

I meant to say....that's a great picture of you and Ghepetto!

Cathay Pacific and we were very impressed.

I was rather impressed by Cathay as well. I'll be happy to fly them again WHEN we go back.

 

[Fairy Floss]

I meant to say....that's a great picture of you and Ghepetto!

Made me remember we were there- my DD says " look! There's Papa Giuseppe"

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Great start to your TR Wendy. That hotel is gorgeous and I suspect you are right when you say that it is a new build.
The hutongs we saw 10 years ago were lovely, but very run down. I remember that most didn't have bathrooms and that every block or so, you walked past a communal one (obvious from the smell).
We entered a couple, one an old artists home and the other the home of a lovely old lady who took us into her courtyard to make dumplings. It was a fabulous experience, but neither of the homes had the modern wealth of that hotel.

I hope one day I'll be able to join you ladies on a Dis trip. The whole thing seemed like a wonderful experience.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

OOOhhhhh I can't wait to read about what you did in Beijing. I just started my pre-trip report. We leave in less than a month. We are staying near where you did, just mapped it, 950 meters directly to the west.

 

[zanzibar138]

Yay you've got a TR! Looking forward to reading some more about Beijing and getting your point of view on Shanghai

I'm so glad that everyone was happy with Cathay after my recommendation - I would have felt awful if they'd turned out to be no good lol!

And I will definitely be looking up that hotel *when* I make it to Beijing.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Our first evening exploring

We just dumped our stuff after our quick reccy of the room and headed out while there was still some light in the sky.

More views of the Courtyard as we exited





View down the hutong




A close up of an entrance to a courtyard house along the alleyway. Many were very prettily decorated.





We just wandered pretty aimlessly and in a very roundabout way we ended up in Wangfujing St. This is tourist-central. It is pedestrianised for a few blocks and lined with expensive shopping malls and all your known shops - and some less well known outside China.

This is Sheng Xi Fu Chinese Hat store, an old Chinese brand with a big reputation for quality and workmanship. Chairman Mao and Premier Xhou have been customers.



Snacks for sale


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Looking down Wangfujing towards the new Omega clock tower (the chimes on the hour were very sweet).


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I presume this is a Spring display

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[Aussie Wendy]

Dinner

As you can see it was getting dark and we were getting hungry. Where to go?

Not the expensive Peking duck restaurant tonight (we should have done as then never quite made it to one).



Instead we found a place on the upper floors of a shopping mall (always head upwards if you want to find food, unlike Singapore where you always head to the basement for the local’s food court). This was a chain called Macau Tastes and yes they sold Portuguese custard tarts – how could we resist. They came out first, warm and delicious (and better than our Hong Kong ones back in 2015).



I took a bite before I remembered I needed to take a piccy.



DD had dumplings and noodles. It was such a big serve we should have shared it.



I tried sticky rice and pork in a lotus leaf – I needed PIO to tell me how to unwrap it! I have tried this at dim sum before and liked it but in this meal size it got a bit sickly. We waited ages for this to be made.



By the time we got out it was fully night. We made a half-hearted attempt to find the infamous night market down Dong’anmen St with its fried scorpions and other exotic wares for sale. However, after one or two long blocks, we decided we were getting too sleepy to keep walking. The street was pretty.



Consulting maps we navigated our way home. On the way we passed this beautiful church.

We love the contrast between west and east




St Joseph’s Church was originally built by the Jesuits and finished in 1655. According to one source, at the time the Jesuits were the only group of people from Europe given permission to live in the capital city on account of their insight into astronomy. Over the next 200 years it was destroyed by earthquakes and fire and anti-western sentiments. It was rebuilt after the Second Opium War but the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 again burnt it to the ground. It was rebuilt in 1904 using Romanesque Revival architecture but was used a school during the communist era. It was finally restored and reopened for Catholic services in 1980 and was further renovated in 2000.



Every bank building we walked past had mostly lions but some also had a Qilin, a mythical beast that brings prosperity. I think this may be one of the latter as it has hooves (though not cloven so don’t quote me!)




Along every street we came across people dancing, boom box playing, to mostly old style 1950’s or nostalgic Chinese tunes…if they weren’t dancing they were practising Tai Chi or similar gentle martial arts. This is a bit blurry as we didn’t feel like dodging the traffic to get closer. Passers-by were being enticed to join in..



Our welcome hutong after dark but we were looking forward to exploring tomorrow.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Wow! Amazing pictures of Beijing. Now I really wish I'd gone to Beijing as well!


We really should have made the effort to find a Peking Duck restaurant!
Those Po-tarts look delicious.
The sticky rice with lotus leaf? Looks like you were managing just fine!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Great start to your TR Wendy. That hotel is gorgeous and I suspect you are right when you say that it is a new build.
The hutongs we saw 10 years ago were lovely, but very run down. I remember that most didn't have bathrooms and that every block or so, you walked past a communal one (obvious from the smell).
We entered a couple, one an old artists home and the other the home of a lovely old lady who took us into her courtyard to make dumplings. It was a fabulous experience, but neither of the homes had the modern wealth of that hotel.

I hope one day I'll be able to join you ladies on a Dis trip. The whole thing seemed like a wonderful experience.

I hope so too. It was lots of fun visiting the parks and exploring with fellow enthusiasts. Maybe we need a group trip to Paris.....though Tokyo is closer! and I didn't have long enough and got sick in the afternoon on our one and only visit to Tokyo Disneyland park. Then we'd have to add HP at Universal in Osaka!

 

[shushh]

Love the hotel! Great mix of new with Chinese features. I read with interest. Other than our recent visit, I last went to China when I was 10 with my parents. And it was VERY different back. Unfortunately as a 10 year old I don't think I appreciated what I was seeing and experiencing. And sadly I was somewhat scarred by my experiences. Which explains the "not wanting" to visit China until recently.

 

[darrenf67]

Just joined in. My wife and I are only just back from Beijing, Shanghai and HK ourselves. I will be interested to see what you thought

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Just joined in. My wife and I are only just back from Beijing, Shanghai and HK ourselves. I will be interested to see what you thought

Hello! We loved Beijing, liked Shanghai a bit less - bit more like Hong Kong (which we visited in 2015) - but enjoyed the park! Hope you got good weather as we (mostly) did.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Tuesday – always start a big day with a good breakfast

The day dawned beautifully and we had a great sleep with very soft beds and pillows – not the hard ones reported as common in China. Breakfast was served in the same room as their Courtyard Restaurant (that moves indoors in the colder months).



The lovely mural on the back wall



We took the opportunity to look around some of the other ground floor rooms, like the tea room where you can arrange for a formal tea ceremony



The downstairs guest lounge (I gather there was another on the first floor and a calligraphy room on the top floor which we missed).



Back to breakfast, there were lots of hot dishes to choose from – sweet potato, corn on the cob, fried rice, stir-fry veggies, congee, soup and wontons, pork buns, and a chef standing by to cook you one of several speciality breakfast items (which I admit we never tried). There were also the cold salads and meats, yoghurts, and a range of cakes, croissants, pastries and breads. We filled up on wontons which were amazing, as were the pork buns, and lots of veggies.



The speciality breads today were baguette and banana bread-slice yourself
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Our first plate (we did have several!)



Suitably prepared for the day ahead we headed out into the cold, sunny day.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Ti’ananmen Square is off limits today

This is Dongsi Sth St on our way to the subway. I liked the coverall for keeping legs and hands warm while you cycle (most in pretty material though not the front man using it on a motorbike here).



The subway was very easy to use with self explanatory automatic machines that had a button for English. You choose the line your destination station is on and the station and put your coins/notes in (some machines did not take 1Y notes and most didn’t take larger than a 20Y note). You get a cardboard ticket that you then put through the slot in the entry machines and retrieve to use again when exiting, like most subways the world over. Some you swiped smart card style. New to us was a security checkpoint before entering the entry turnstyle area so we got well used to carrying our bag loose to quickly drop on the conveyer belt.

Trains came every few minutes. Our first stop today was Ti’ananmen Square. When we exited we came across HUGE lines to pass through a security tent (that looked temporary). We were a bit unsure if we needed to go through these to get over to the other side to the Forbidden City (this hadn’t come up in my research!) Lots of people were looking baffled but there were lots joining the lines after asking security police, who were present in large numbers. We joined a queue hoping we weren’t wasting our time. A boy in front practising his English agreed we needed to go through here to access Ti’ananmen Square. We were so confused we neglected to take a pic of the lines! Actually the queues moved quickly and soon there we were – to find most of Ti’ananmen Square closed off to tourists. We later discovered there was an annual party conference being held with the President Xi Jinping himself in attendance – hence the unusual security measures.

So here are some probably rare pictures of an empty Ti’ananmen Square. This is looking towards the Great Hall of the People, home to China’s highest legislative body, the National Congress (and where the important conference was to be held) and the People’s Monument.



A zoomed in pic of the Monument to the People’s heroes, a 28m high granite column that honours the dead from the Chinese revolution.



The Chinese National Museum, our friend in line encouraged us to make time to visit but sadly we did not – next time.



It was too hard to try to work out if we could get round to Chairman Mao’s Mausoleum or if it was open and time was marching on so we headed straight for the Forbidden City.

This is looking towards Mao’s Mausoleum at the opposite end of the square. Ti’ananmen Square was where Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 but most of us in the west remember it for different reasons. It is one of the largest public squares in the world (800m x 500m) and most buildings date from the late 1950’s when it was expanded as a symbol of Communist power. During the Cultural Revolution it was the focus of mass rallies with up to a million Red Guards chanting Mao’s name and waving the “little red book”. It was the hoped for democratic reforms of Mao’s successor Deng Ziaoping that didn’t happen that led to the student protests and retaliation by the government in 1989.



We were able to access the subway under the road and come up in front of the entrance to the Forbidden City which is through the Ti’ananmen Gate (originally a gate in the wall of the Imperial City)



The entrance was bracketed by these two columns with dragons and phoenixes on them. Originally such columns were designed for commoners to address their grievances by writing or sticking up petitions but these examples apparently are purely decorative. One source says they watched over the Emperor when he was travelling and called him back if he spent too long away.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

In the Forbidden City

Approaching the Meridian Gate and Ticket Office. In summer they limit the number of tickets sold to 80,000 per day (you can prebuy on line). Today it was quiet. You have to show your passport when buying tickets here, as for many tourist attractions in China. From the Meridian Gate the Emperor reviewed his troops, passed judgement on prisoners of war and presented the new year Calendar to officials.



Through the gate to the courtyard beyond. In this part of the outer court, the five marble bridges signify the five virtues of Confucius. The centre bridge over the Golden Water River is reserved for the Emperor only, the two flanking it for royal family and the outer two for officials.



The Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420 during the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle. It involved 1 million labourers, 10,000 craftsmen and on completion was the largest palace complex in the world covering 729,000m2. This is taken from the Emperor’s bridge looking towards the Gate of Supreme Harmony.



Looking back at the Meridian Gate and the five bridges. This courtyard can hold 1,000 people. The central ramp in the front carved with dragons is reserved for the Emperor (carried over it by his eunuchs who walked on the steps either side).



Detail of the steps



A particularly fine lion (this one is a female as it has the baby lion under her paw) – I particularly like the seeming delicacy of the draped cloth in bronze.



Detail of some of the painted woodwork inside the Gates (that precede each main hall).




The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the most important and largest structure in the Forbidden City and the first of three great halls that make up the outer court. It was first built in the Ming Dynasty in 1420 but was actually named the Hall of Supreme Harmony in 1645 under Qing Dynasty Shunzi’s reign referring to the harmonious co-existence of all creatures on heaven and earth. It was burnt down by fire several times and this structure was rebuilt in 1695. It is now the largest surviving wooden structure in China. Important events included New Year, winter solstice and the emperor’s birthday celebrations, imperial weddings, announcement of the Palace examination results and the launching of major military expeditions. It stands on three terraces of white marble.



Close up view.



The Emperor’s ramp showing the dragon relief



Inside view . The columns supporting the roof are carved from a single tree trunk. The ceiling above the throne is decorated with a coiled dragon from the mouth of which is a chandelier-like set of metal balls. Called the “Xuanyuan Mirror” it harkens back to a mythological Chinese ruler, the Yellow Emperor. According to legend, the metal balls will fall and strike dead any invaders of China.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Everything is symbolic

Outside on the terraces, a fearsome tortoise, symbol of longevity



A crane, ditto



The sundial, a symbol of continuity for the Empire.



One of 308 gilded bronze vats used to store water in case of fire (of course they failed to hold enough and the palace burned several times).



Pavilions to the side of the courtyard



The Royal Guardians are on the eaves of every building. At the tail of the procession will be an imperial dragon, representing the authority of the state. At the head of the procession will be a man riding a Phoenix, one legend suggests that this represents a minion of the emperor who grew greedy for power and was hanged from the roof gable for treason. Another version of this figurine is an immortal riding a fenghuang-bird or qilin while another interpretation is that this is a person serving the emperor, being watched by the following beasts. In between the man and the dragon are mythical beasts, usually an odd number of them. The mythical beasts are set to pounce upon the man and devour him should he stray from performing his duties with faithfulness and rectitude. The most important building (e.g. the Hall of Supreme Harmony) has 9 mythical beasts, an auspicious number for the Emperor. So I guess this pic is from there?
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The second hall, the Hall of Middle Harmony and distant views of the city and mountains showing how clear the day was.



The throne inside the Hall of Middle (or Central) Harmony. This was the smallest of the 3 outer court halls and was the Emperor's robing room. Incense burners shaped like mythical beasts (I couldn't work out where they were) are said to speak in tongues and travel great distances in a single day, hinting at the Emperor's divine powers.



The Hall of Preserving Harmony, used for banquets and under Emperor Yogzhen, the setting for the civil service exam.



The central dragon walk for the Emperor leading from the terrace is a stunning feat of art and engineering (20,000 men and 1,000 horses took a month to move the 180 ton block of marble 50km from the quarry. The carvings always include dragons, symbol of celestial power and the Emperor.




More lions, the female lion with a paw on a cub represents a prosperously growing family and clear never-ending succession.

 

[PrincessInOz]

You're really making me want to go back to China and see more. I think I've decided I need to go to Beijing, Xian, Guilin (and the Li River), Chengdu, Shangri-la, Zhangjiajie Stone Forest, cruise the Yangtze and maybe see if there is a cruise down the Grand Canal. Is that a 7 week trip??? LOL