3 Splendid Days in Beijing

04 November 2008

We’ve just come back from a great long weekend in Beijing. Very unlike us, this time we had actually booked a private tour guide to show us around the city and its surroundings. Usually we take it fairly easy with sightseeing on our city trips - of course we have a glimpse at some of the main sights, but then we also enjoy just strolling though the steets, getting an impression of different areas, looking at the shops, trying the food (of course!), and just hanging out. But given the short time we had in a city as vast and grand as Beijing, with so much too see but everything quite far apart, we decided to do otherwise this time.

Our programme was quite packed during daytime (and I think we’ve had our fair share of palaces and temples for some time now...), but it was definitely worth it! In the evenings, though a bit exhausted, we still did our "usual stuff", checking out restaurants, bars and food markets.

The city is certainly impressive – everything is just so grand and magnificent! To our surprise, we found the atmosphere in Beijing quite different from Shanghai - clearly less hip and stylish, but not as rough and seemingly far more relaxed. I don’t know how much of this is due to stricter regulations since the Olympics – but, as opposed to Shanghai, public parks and places were filled rather with lots of people gathering for collective gymnastics or ballroom dancing than with obtrusive street vendors.

There’s a lot more to tell, but I’m afraid I’ll have to leave it there… After these leisurely days of travel I have to make an effort now to catch up with my Japanese studies and prepare for tomorrow’s lesson. But have a look at the pictures (including some comments on the food) – only a fraction of what we’ve seen, but hopefully still a nice impression (as you can see, we had bright sunshine throughout our stay)!

A Few Impressions of Beijing