Memoirs of Beijing

I’m lazy and once in awhile I dream about staying in 5 star hotels and enjoying their benefits. During the tombsweeping day holiday, I stayed at Beijing Pullman Wanda Hotel. I was thinking of doing it once every quarter but towards the end of May, my friend gave me his hotel voucher for a one night stay in a deluxe room at the Grand Millenium Beijing.

Location

Grand Millenium Hotel Beijing is located in Chaoyang District along East Third Ring Road. It’s a 3 minute walk to Jintaixizhao subway station line 10 and if you’re lucky with a view of CCTV Tower. It’s part of the Fortune Plaza complex with a mall beside it.

Deluxe Room

Their website was bragging of city view for deluxe room. When I entered the room, the first thing I see is the bathroom area with bathtub and separate shower and urinal rooms. The main part of the room has a sofa with table, a large desk with chair, a king size bed and a flat screen TV on the wall beside the bathroom window.

The city view? The service apartment in the other building. It was a bit of a letdown considering they said it’s a five star hotel with a five star price. The TV was hooked to the internet with a wireless keyboard. The router they installed cannot handle the load that it kept making irritating noises. I just hooked my laptop and watched House episodes. The TV selection was better than Pullman with more English channels.

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For the 3 day weekend during Easter, we had our first 3 day holiday which is Tombsweeping Day.  To save some money from travelling, I decided to live in style here in Beijing and checked-in at a 5 star hotel outside the city center.

My choice:  Pullman Beijing West Wanda

Introduction / Location

Pullman Beijing West Wanda is a 5 star hotel located at the west side of Beijing.  It’s part of the Accor Hotel group and has 312 rooms. Getting there is quite easy as you can take subway line 1 to Babaoshan Station.  Take exit D and you have the option to ride a tricycle/tuk-tuk for RMB 5 or walk for roughly 5 minutes to the hotel.

Beside the hotel, there’s a cinema with IMAX, Mcdonalds, KFC, Carrefour and Wanda Plaza.  Across the hotel is the Laoshan Cemetery.  Creepy eh!  hehehe..

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My sisters and mom just left from their vacation two weeks ago and life is back to normal.  Hahahaha!  If you want my sister’s account of her travels in the city, check her commentary on her blog site.  As for myself, I did all that I can do in Beijing on my first year here with Marco.

So.. before we take into consideration as to how many days.. we must consider what kind of trip would you like to have.   Do you want an amazing race adventure or a light and easy trip?   When you’ve decided if you want to kill or relax yourself, decide how many days would you like to stay in the city.  3, 4 or 5 days?

In any case, here’s a 3 day itinerary for you.  When I say 3 days, that’s 3 whole days so make the necessary adjustments.

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If Shanghai is considered as the financial capital of China, Beijing is considered as the cultural capital.  Beijing is in northern China surrounded by Tianjin and Hebei.  It is the seat of the national government and has been the capital of numerous dynasties.  That’s why, wars were fought in Peking, former name of Beijing and numerous cultural structures abound in this municipality.

Here’s a list of the cultural marvels which you can visit while you’re here in Beijing.  I will be posting the most frequented spots which tourists visit.

1.  Great Wall of China (长城) - “He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man”.  This is one of the famous sayings which is associated with this landmark structure.  This wall is a must-see place and what’s the point of going to Beijing if you don’t visit the Great Wall.  There are 4 parts of the wall which you can visit: Badaling (tourist bus aplenty), Mutianyu (fewer compared to Badaling), Jinshanling/Simatai (hiker’s haven!) and Huanghuacheng (with a lake view).

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The lead up to the Olympic Games brought a flurry of construction in Beijing.  Buildings sprung up left and right as if everyone’s in a mood to construct.  Here’s a list of the modern marvels which you must see when you’re in town for a visit:

1.  National Stadium aka Bird’s Nest - This 91,000 seating capacity stadium is located north of the 4th ring road at the southern part of the Olympic Green.  It’s the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympic Games.  It is also where the athletic events are being held.  Rumors said that it will be the home of Beijing Guo’an after the Games.

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Have you ever lose anything valuable in your life? Sooner or later, you would do so either by theft, leaving things unattended or forgetting where you left it. We normally see signs to never leave our valuables unattended. However, what can we do if this theft happened at the airport?

A friend of mine went home two weeks ago. He checked in as business class and his luggage had a lock. When he arrived at his destination, he found the lock broken and some items missing from his luggage. The thieves pilfered his Chinese CDs and brand new mobile phone. He was pretty pissed off as he can’t believe the nerve of the thieves taking something from someone who’s in business class. Did he recover anything? Nope not even a cent. The airport manager did apologize to him though.

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