A two-day quick tour in Beijing City Area — Saturday (April 12th, 2008)
Last weekend I lead a 2-day quick tour for my US good friend Jack and his son Bruce. They lived in QianMen Hostel near Tian’an Men Square. On Saturday morning, I went to the hostel and got ready to start off with them.
Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven（天坛，tiān tán）. It was Bruce’s third time to China but first time to Beijing so everything was very fresh to him. When we first entered the park, we heard the beautiful music of Tian Mi Mi and a group of old people were doing fan-dancing (people hold 1 or 2 fans to dance, especially old people). 
Also lots of people were playing shuttlecock (毽子，jiàn zi). This kind of sport has a long history in China but seems unfamiliar with westerners. Jack said they do not have shuttlecock in US. “Hello! Welcome to Beijing! Go! ” An old lady threw a shuttlecock to Bruce and let him kick it and play it with her. Bruce hurriedly use one of his feet to catch it…There are 3 famous spots inside this park; the ticket costs 35 RMB for each person including all the 3 spots.
Our second stop was the Imperial Palace, also called the Forbidden City or the Palace Museum（故宫, gù gōng）, you cannot miss it whenever you come to visit Beijing. 
The ticket price is 60 RMB each person and you can rent an automatic guide(Audio Guide Device) at the ticket office. There are no toilets inside so you have to pay 1 RMB for peeing outside. We went through Tian’an Men and towards the south gate of the Imperial Palace. There is a small place to eat near the south gate selling Chinese set-meals for 18 to 25 RMB per set. My friends and I had our lunch there. You need to take a taxi from the Temple of Heaven to the Imperial Palace although not very far.
Coming out of the Imperial Palace from the north gate we entered JingShan （景山，jǐng shān） Park, our third stop. 
The ticket price of this park is 2 to 5 RMB per person according to different seasons. You can take a full view of the Imperial Palace from the top hill of JingShan Park. Coming out of JingShan Park from its west gate, we entered Beihai（北海，běi hǎi） Park; it was the fourth stop of our tour. The admission fee is 20 RMB.
At the end of the day, we took a walk in some of the Hutongs in Qianmen Area. Hutong（胡同，hú tòng） is one of the distinguishing features of Beijing. Some Hutongs are just residential areas; others are commercial areas with many shops selling antiques or silk stuff. If you want to buy anything in those kinds of shops, you can talk about the price with the seller. Usually the seller can speak good English but if you can speak some Chinese, I believe you can cut down much price. J Here are a few sentences could be useful for you. “能便宜一点吗？” [néng pián yi yìdiǎn ma]（Can it be cheaper?）“能再便宜一点吗？”[néng zài pián yi yìdiǎn ma](Can it be a little more cheaper?). “还是有点贵。” [hái shì yǒu diǎn guì]（Still a bit expensive）“成交！”[chéng jiāo]（That’s the deal, I will buy it!）
My friends and I had our dinner in a formal small restaurant in a Hutong there. Usually if you go with a Chinese guide, you can directly let him or her order the food using the Chinese menu provided by the restaurant. Although most Chinese restaurants only have 1 menu, some restaurants may charge foreigners double price if they presented you with a bilingual (English & Chinese) menu. It is good idea that you give your Chinese tour guide money and let the guide pay the bill as he or she invites foreign friends. Such method is also practical for shopping, especially for shops can discuss price with the owner. Chinese dishes are usually much cheaper than most kind of western food in China. If you do not like hot food or spicy food, I think you’d better tell the waiter about it. This sentence is very useful for you- “有口味清淡一点的菜吗？”[yǒu kǒu wèi qīng dàn yìdiǎn de cài ma] （do you have dishes with bland tastes?）“肉菜”[ròu cài]（meat dish）“素菜”[sù cài]（vegetable dish）.
Here are the Chinese dishes I ordered that day which they enjoyed a lot:
宫保鸡丁[gōng bǎo jī dīng]( chicken cubes with peanuts; diced chicken with paprika; diced chicken in chilli sauce; stir-fried chicken with dried red pepper)；
日本豆腐[rì běn dòu fǔ] (Japanese beancurd)；
耗油生菜[hào yóu shēng cài](green cabbage in oyster sauce)；
海鲜汤[hǎi xiān tāng] (seafood soup)；
米饭[mǐ fàn](rice)；
（冰, bīng）啤酒[pí jiǔ](beer or cold beer, Tsing Tao beer is very famous, YanJing beer is good too).
|
