Trip

Mikael and I prepared our trip to China, like a military operation, since we only had 8 days there and we wanted not to waste any minute.

It was decided to first buy books, then choose a hotel, centrally located, with a reasonable price and a descent service. After 2 days of reading, and researches, we finally selected the "Taiwan Hotel". Located 2 minutes walking from the famous Wanfunjing Shopping Street, and 10 minutes walking from the forbidden city. Actually, it turned out to be also like 20 minutes drive, maximum, from ALL the places we wanted to go to, in Beijing. The price per night was about 440 Yuan (like $50), for 2 people. In other words, a great price ! Clean, nice, excellent services were all there. It is recommended to reserve using the following web site.
http://www.sinohotel.com/

This web site really helped us to confirm what the book were saying, and provided a better price as an INTERNET special deal.

Then, we prepared, more or less the week, leaving some space of surprises and changes. Here is the plan that we actually did and it turned out to be a good one, and one we could recommend for someone who likes shopping and touring.

Friday afternoon

• Arrival at the Hotel
• Going to Wanfunjing Street to get a first look at the famous Beijing Street
• Walking around the city at night - Embassy Area is nice

Saturday

• Week-end Market
• Golden Resource Mall (Biggest in Asia)

Sunday

• High Tech Malls in Zhongguancum

Monday

• Silk Market (clothes, jewels, some small electronics, Souvenirs)

Tuesday

• Pearl Store
• Pearl Market
• Toy Store

Wednesday

• Forbidden City
• Hutong
• Quanjude Restaurant (Pekin Duck)

Thursday

• Ming Tombs
• Great Wall

Friday

• Friendship store (not good)
• Kite store
• Electronic Store (East Side) Not as good as Zhongguancum. Less choice
• Lama Temple
• Hutong next to Lama Temple
• Tea House
• Confucius Museum (next to Lama Temple)

Saturday

• Silk Market for latest shopping
• Wangfunjing Street