Part 1: Things To Do In Beijing

https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.wealthyaffiliate.com/uploads/100972/wysiwyg/blogs/100972/images/Travel Temple of Heaven1.jpg" width="400" height="267" /> 

I don’t wanna bore you with how my first international flight went: Manila-Hongkong-Beijing. It went fine and I hid my excitement and fear (in one!) successfully—with grace and poise.

Since Beijing was my first city in mainland China and I lived and lived there for five year (after working in the other provinces in China for almost 3 years), I’ll talk about it here more often. I’ve been to 56 cities in China—more than any of my Chinese friends been to. I’ve traveled to these places in a budget and stayed in budget hostels and ate in budget restaurants, which included, budget fastfoods, too. I can’t even remember the names of these places anymore, but I used to have a map in my apartment where I circled every villages/countryside, cities and islands I’ve been to.

So, what are my Top 10 Things To Do in Beijing?

1.) GREAT WALL OF CHINA. For sure, this is the first image you see when asked about China. Therefore, this grand work architecture that runs from the East to the West of China is a must-see of all tourist destinations in the country.

2.) TIANANMEN SQUARE. This might be just a square, a concrete huge square with tourists taking pictures (with matching V-signage) with Chairman Mao’s portrait as the background, but this is the same place where the infamous 1989 protests happened and hundreds (or maybe thousands—who knows?) were arrested and gone.

3.) FORBIDDEN CITY. The grandeur of this palace amazed me big time. It has 9,999 rooms but they’re not all open to the public, of course. If you are a history buff, it will take you 5-6 hours going around.

4.) TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. When you buy the ticket at the entrance, ask for the free brochure and read it for a while so that you will appreciate it more when you’re inside. Take note of the architectural wisdom in building this structure. On a very clear day, this temple is very photogenic!

5.) SUMMER PALACE. This is the farthest tourist attraction in Beijing. This involves walking and climbing hills and of course, ancient relics, courtyard houses and boating in the lake, if you fancy it. Spending a day here is ideal.

These are the big 5 most famous, must-see places to visit when traveling in Beijing. I’ll tell you the details to each one of these in a separate travel blog entry in the future.

Tomorrow’s entry would be from 6-10.

ORIGINAL POST:
http://budgettravelmall.com/2010/10/part-1-things-to-do-and-see-in-beijing/