Beijing Travel Tips

In planning for our trip to Beijing, we received a few tips and suggestions. After 'experiencing' Beijing, I have a few more tips to add to the list.

1. When taking a Taxi, make sure you can see the driver's credentials, which are usually located on the passenger side glove compartment.
2. Do not take a Taxi when the driver approaches you with a 'good price'. It is a rip off. Walk to the street and hail a cab. Make sure they flip the meter. Taxis are very inexpensive. You can get just about anywhere in Beijing for under 30 RMB (under 5 USD).
3. A Taxi is available for hire, if the light be the rear view mirror is red.
4. If your water bottle isn't sealed, don't drink it.
5. Don't drink the tap water, not even to brush your teeth. Use bottled water (it is very inexpensive).
6. Pearls, where do I start. All the vendors say they are real. They will even pull out scissors and cut a piece off, showing you that the color runs through and it is not plastic. The vast number of pearls is completely overwhelming and the prices they start at are crazy. As a reference point, I bought a pair of pearl earrings with 14kt gold backs for 12 RMB. She started at 100 RMB. Most jewelery is in silver and the gold will discolor, so if you must have 14kt gold, they will go and get different posts / backs for earrings. My advice for purchasing pearls....assume they are fake and pay a price that you are comfortable with.
7. Saturday and Sunday are very busy with tourists, primarily folks from other parts of China.
8. Taxi drivers speak very little, if any English. Make a map of Beijing with bubbles / call outs that have destinations in English and in Chinese so you can just point to the bubble.
9. A Taxi from the Airport to Beijing should cost no more than 100 RMB. We paid about 70 RMB, but traffic was quite good, so there weren't any delays.
10. The Summer Palace is beautiful. Rent an electric boat to get amazing views from the lake.
11. Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is wonderful. You can take a gondola up, walk the wall for about an hour, then take a tobaggon down to the parking lot area.
12. A Taxi to / from the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is about 1000RMB. If you choose a taxi, then don't pay them the full amount until you return from the wall....this ensures they won't leave you without a ride back to Beijing. You can also find a car / driver who will take you for about 800 RMB round trip.
13. Shopping is quite interesting. Silk Street is extremely pushy and the sales people like to touch and pull you to look at their wares. Personally, I hated this market. The Pearl Market near the Temple of Heaven is nice and is a little less pushy. Behind the Pearl Market is another 'new' pearl market. It is quite nice with tons of display cases and very few shoppers. I enjoyed this market quite a bit and did most of my shopping at Jewelry Jun. Yaxiu market was probably my favorite market. The sales people were nice and it wasn't an overly stressful experience. There is also a very modern mall next to the market.
14. Bargaining is a skill. If you have ever been to a market in Mexico, I would say the atmosphere is similar, but the intensity is about 3 fold. Remember, the vendors will never sell you something if they don't make some money on it!
15. Tour guides will approach you all over the city. We were approached by Dina at the Forbidden City and paid 200 RMB for about 2-3 hours of her time. We didn't negotiate the price with her, because we thought 25 USD was a fair price.
16. Western toilets aren't very common, so unless you have mastered the local facilities, I would advise searching out chain restaurants and hotels for bathroom facilities. The most interesting toilet facility was a room with about 5 holes in the ground. No screens or partitions between the holes. I turned around and decided to wait. I should have taken a photo, though!!!
17. It is uncommon to leave a tip in Beijing. We got some pretty strange looks when we tried to give the taxi drivers and restaurant servers a tip. In the end, we stopped tipping and things were a bit smoother. So, no need to tip.

Beijing is an amazing city filled with great history, culture, and sites. Enjoy!