EAT EAT EAT .... and see the Great Wall. Haggle when you buy stuff. It's being a long time since I went to Beijing so can't give you any advice on the city. But if you or your wife can take a few days off, find a decent tour group and visit some of the tourist places away from Beijing. Most of the tourist destinations have modernized (clean bathrooms, convenience stores, and etc.) to cater to the growing Chinese middle class from the cities but still maintain some of the old world charm. I'd suggest go see them before they start putting a Starbucks on every corner (which is what I actually saw in Shanghai ).
Go shop! The shop keepers can tell if you're tourist and will rip you off hardcore. Whatever you think is cheap, you can get for cheaper. Depending on where you shop, if it's on the street, you can almost guarantee is fake, no matter what they tell you. (Gucci, Rayban, etc.) Cheap stuff but you get what you pay for. Eating is great there. Super cheap and authentic. When eating at restaurants, they don't give you free water, but instead hot tea. This was a bit of an adjustment for me, especially when I was thirsty as hell and a small cup of hot tea didn't really suffice. If you're not Asian, be prepared for some unusual stuff. I myself am Chinese food lover, but still had diarrhea almost every night. With that said, be prepared to squat in some public restrooms, not really a pleasant experience. Lastly, tour! China has a bunch of well known historical and nature landmarks. Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Imperial Palace, Great Wall, Emperors Garden, and I forget what else was specifically in Beijing. Hope you have fun!
I forgot, like other said, haggle as much as you can. No price is set ANYWHERE. I never came across a store that was not willing to bargain. But be aware that salesman are VERY pushy to the point that they grab on to you, it can be annoying.
the great wall is a no brainer. make it to the highest section there and you get to "buy" a certificate. and... watch out for mongolians, "damn mogolians! always trying to tear down the city wall"
In my limited experience, China has either GREAT hotels(expensive) or crap holes. There is not anything in the middle.
Learn the drunken style of boxing.. Then have a training montage where the master beats u silly until you get the 7 animal styles correctly.. After that, u must face the White Fox and destroy him because he destroyed your family...
The OP asked a serious question because he obviously need help when he travels to an unfamiliar place in near future. But then you jumped out from nowhere to talk about massage or prostitution. I really don't understand the point of your post. And this is not the first time I saw you raise the topic of prostitution or massage in this forum for no reason. If you are so much into prostitution and enjoy talking about the topic that much, you have come to the wrong forum. This is clutchfans.net and it's not for people like you to discuss prostitution.
What are you talking about? I was asking how much it costs for a really good massage in China? Like the ones at a hotel. You are a sicko. I didn't mention anything about prostitution.
Spin and deny it if you want to. Everyone with a normal sized brain could read between the lines and know what you wanted to talk about. And why did I call you out? Just because of this one post? No way. Like I said, I have seen times before in the past that you have raised the topic of massage or prostitution in unrelated threads. Can you use the search engine or do you need my help to do it?
Well, it's his private life and he can go to a brothel everyday for all I care. What annoys me is that he always starts talking about prostitution or massage in this forum for no reason. I think we have higher standard here than that.
i don't know about his other posts, but i've always seen mr.brightside as a comical relief. kingcheetah too.
For hotels, I recommend these two sites http://english.ctrip.com/ http://www.elong.net/ Prices here are the cheapest you can find on the web. For places to visit, Beijing is a historical city. Nuclear Yak's suggestion look pretty good if you only have 3 days. Don't worry too much about the bottled water thing. Stick to places that look "legit" and you should be fine. Just avoid the guys sitting in the middle of the street with bottled water. Or buy green tea/soda, things that can't be refilled. The only thing you need to worry about is getting ripped off a bit. But even then it's not too big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. I currently go to school/work part time in Beijing. And I'm already pretty "native" to the point where I'm not sure what a tourist should do. But if you have any particular questions, don't hesitate to ask here or PM me.
Thanks (and to everyone else as well). My wife will be staying at this hotel. Is it quality? If so, I guess I can just get a room here: http://www.bjswhghotel.com/index_en.html Their page claims they have broadband internet access. What do you do for a cellie?
