We got a week off from work, something everyone refers to "hot weather week" even though the week is really interchangeable (it was originally scheduled for the week after we leave our internship). We decided to go to Beijing and Shanghai for our week off. We took a 4 day tour in Beijing and explored Shanghai on our own for 3 days.
The tour in Beijing took us to all the famous sight, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Summer Palace, along with some "shopping tourist traps" but we avoided buying anything. It was supposed to be a group tour but we only met new people on the day we went to the great wall. We met an older man named Nigel from Australia (he was raised in a bunch of places and can speak Spanish and French), he was in China doing some consultant work for mining. We also met a guy named Rico from Portugal that works for the shoe company Ecco.
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| Tianamen Square |
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| Forbidden Palace |
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| Temple of Heaven |
The tour quality was okay, a little rushed and our guides English wasn't that great and he smoked all the time, but you get what you pay for. The hotel we stayed at was amazing though (it had a window! our hotel doesn't have a window and you can never tell what time of day it is, its rather depressing), and it had the BEST breakfast buffet ever. Considering we struggle with eating this might of been our favorite part of the day, its a lot easier waking up at 6 if you know that you have good food waiting on you.
On our own time we explored a lot of the famous "fake markets" that sell tons of fake merchandise from Ralph Polo shirts, LV, Gucci, Prada bags, fake beats headphones, you name it they have it. These market merchants are famous for inflating the prices about 500%, especially since many foreigners visit. You have to play a rather intense bargaining game with them by pitching about 10% of the price and working up to the maximum your willing to pay. The shop owners act all scandalized and annoyed with you but if you walk away when they don't give you your price they eventually cave in. Makes me wonder how much all of the stuff originally costs, if they're willing to cut down so much on the price. I personally find it really fun watching a foreigner giving a Chinese shop owner a hard time with bargaining instead of being ripped off (I guess I tend to think everyone here wants to take advantage of you so its nice to see people stick up for themselves)
Beijing isn't what I expected it to be for a capital city. It's less metropolis than I expected and more of an awkwardly placed mix of cultural sites and a sort of old run down city. I'd like to come back and have more time to explore the famous sites like the Summer Palace, and learn a little more from an audio guide rather than a sub par tour guide.
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