I have to admit I was initially quite impressed with Beijing. This is mainly because Beijing looks so very Chinese, in a cliché kind of way. There are still so many traditional, old buildings all around Beijing, which gives one the impression that the city is filled with interesting history. This is the complete opposite of most northeastern Chinese cities I've been to, which have practically no traditional buildings anywhere. Of all the Chinese cities I've been to, I would say Beijing is the most appropriate for anyone planning to come to China for tourism purposes.
There are countless tourist sites to see in Beijing: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Olympic Bird's Nest Stadium, the Badaling Great Wall (八达岭长城), and so on. I went to all of the above and I would have to say the Badaling Great Wall was my favorite. It didn't blow my mind or anything, but it was a pretty neat and unique place. I heard horror stories of how crowded Badaling can get, but there wasn't really that many people there during my visit, and 90% of them wouldn't climb to the top of the wall (which requires quite a bit of steep stair climbing). On the other hand, every other place I listed above was freakishly crowded with hordes of mostly Chinese tourists. Let me say this: Chinese tourists are very unpleasant to be around. Constantly getting into my shots (photos), bumping into me, hocking up loogies, talking loud as hell, and so on. All of those horror stories you heard about Chinese tourists are true (and about Chinese mainlanders in general).
Another nice thing about Beijing is that I felt way less like an outsider there. While Beijing's got nothing on Bangkok in regards to international tourism, there's still a noticeable amount of foreign tourists all over the city. Instead of getting the unwelcoming stares I often got in the northeast, I found more people just giving me a quick second glance, rather than a full-fledged, obnoxious stare. Admittedly, many people still stared at me, but nowhere near the frequency that I got up in the northeast. I also noticed several women giving me the "I like the way that guy looks" kind of stares. That's always a refreshing, confidence-increasing feeling for a man. I also got a lot of those positive looks from women in both Shanghai and Dalian, but very little in Harbin or Mudanjiang.
Beijing did impress me in regards to its women. It didn't beat Dalian, but I would say it's my second favorite place to look at women in China so far. The best looking women I saw were around the office areas - tons of women dressed to impress on their way to the office. I would imagine there's lots of dating opportunities for foreign males in Beijing. Regardless, I've heard countless times that Beijing women don't make good girlfriends and are overly materialistic. I cannot verify that, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's true. Honestly, the same could be said about many other major metropolitan areas all over the world - this is not unique to China.
Beijing cuisine is not all that bad - it's at least better than northeastern Chinese cuisine. I ate Peking roast duck twice over my 7-day stay in Beijing, and both times I thought it was pretty good, but not spectacular. It's tasty, but definitely overrated and not really worth its price. Just as I had expected, there's also countless other regional Chinese cuisines available in Beijing. I found myself mostly eating Xinjiang noodles and Sichuan dishes. If you haven't figured it out already, I strongly prefer Xinjiang and Sichuan cuisine over any other regional cuisine in China. In my opinion, those two cuisines are the only two that could pass muster to more internationalized palates.
On the downside, Beijing is relatively expensive. It felt like the most expensive city I visited on my entire trip (almost equal to Shanghai). I paid over 20 yuan for practically every meal I ate, and hotels in Beijing are a bit too pricy. I stayed at a Home Inn that's down a random street and is about a 10-minute walk from the Jianguomen (建国门) subway station. The room was medium sized, but nothing too fancy. The price per night was 228 yuan, and that's after getting 17% off with my member card. Compared to Dalian and Harbin's 100 yuan per night rooms at Home Inn, it's easy to see that Beijing is more expensive.
Another massive downside to Beijing is its atrocious air quality and traffic problem. I've never seen more traffic jams in China than I did in Beijing, and I've never seen air (in the entire world) as bad as I saw in Beijing. I admit, it's not like walking into a post-apocalyptic war zone or anything, but it's still pretty damn bad. The air looks hazy and dusty with not a cloud in sight. I constantly kept thinking to myself: "it cannot be good for this nasty air to going into my lungs day after day." Actually, I only saw a few days of clear skies in my entire month in China, but Beijing is undoubtedly the worst. Just the dirty air alone is enough for me to never consider Beijing as a place to live.
Another bad thing about Beijing and many other Chinese cities is how aggressive the people are. Their pushy body language, their harsh tones and loud way of speaking, their aggressive way of walking, their extreme impatience, their appalling customer service - China is a place that wears down even the most seasoned travelers. It gets annoying dealing with such rude and aggressive people day by day. Just walking around in any city in China, I constantly feel like people are about to walk into me and knock me over. I've never had this feeling in any other Asian country. I've traveled to many countries, and the people in those countries never even come close to being as rude as the typical mainland Chinese. They're in a league of their own.
In regards to transportation, Beijing is very well-connected, but in typical Chinese style, everything is overcrowded and unpleasant. The subway is very extensive, has countless stations, and only costs 2 yuan per ride, but just like in Shanghai, taking the subway in Beijing is a nightmare. It didn't matter what time I used it, early in the morning or super late at night, the subway stations were all always maxed out with people. Chinese people push very hard, smell bad, talk loudly, and make the whole experience unpleasant. Even when the subway is crowded in Bangkok, the locals don't do anything to make the experience any more unpleasant than it has to be. Not so in China. Needless to say, I recommend avoiding the subway as much as possible. I absolutely hated every minute of using it. Just look at the photo below. Does that look like your idea of fun? On a positive note, the buses in Beijing were fairly decent, and much bigger than most of the buses in northeastern Chinese cities.
Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I met both Bao3niang and magnum in Beijing. I met up with Bao3niang at the Forbidden City, and we eventually made our way to a Peking roast duck restaurant. Bao3niang is quite young (17 at the time I'm writing this), but he still has a very realistic, non rose-colored glasses outlook on Chinese society. I'm quite surprised and impressed the things he knows about Chinese society at his age. I sure as hell didn't know that much about American society when I was only 17. He also seems to be obsessed with Vietnam, but I'm afraid if he's wanting to escape China and its "negative" culture, he certainly shouldn't go to Vietnam, because China and Vietnam have tons in common in regards to culture.
Magnum joined us later the same evening, and we ironically returned to the exact same Peking roast duck restaurant and ate the exact same meal all over again. I was quite impressed with magnum. He turned out to be a little different than I had expected, and I mean that in a very positive way. He's well-composed and has polite body language, he takes care of his appearance and his body, he has a realistic outlook on life, he seems to have a lot of life experience, and he's a guy who seems like he works hard towards fulfilling his dreams and goals. I think he's got what it takes to live a successful "happier abroad" lifestyle. He seems like the opposite of the typical Western douche-bag one often runs into in Asia. I felt like him and I vibed quite well with one another. Hopefully I'll again see both magnum and Bao3niang in the future. Good luck in Chongqing, mag.
Conclusion: Beijing is probably one of the best Chinese cities one could travel to in regards to sight-seeing and getting a feel for what China is. There's tons of places to see, things to do, and food to try. Beijing largely fits what Americans envision China looking like. However, Beijing is a massive city that can overwhelm newcomers. It's well-connected in regards to public transportation, but most of it isn't very comfortable. The subway system is not for the faint of heart. Beijing has decent local cuisine and tons of other regional Chinese cuisine, as well as a modest amount of foreign restaurants. There's plenty of good-looking and fashionable women in Beijing, but not quite to the extent I noticed in Dalian. Beijing seems like a great place to date and play around, but not a great place to find Miss Right. The air in Beijing is some of the worst in the entire world and is very concerning. Beijingers, while still quite rude and aggressive, don't seem quite as xenophobic as their northeastern Chinese counterparts. If you're a tourist wanting to see China for the first time, I think Beijing would be a great place to start. Beijing is riddled with problems, but it does have some "Chinese charm" that is almost non-existent in northeastern Chinese cities.
Note: Unfortunately, due to not having enough days left on my Chinese visa and other personal reasons, I had to cut my trip in China short. I didn't get to see Shenyang, Chengdu, or Chongqing. The total amount of days I spent in China on this trip is 32, and I went to five cities during that time. Not bad at all, I think. There's a very good chance I'll wind up in China for a trip again next year. If I do, I want to spend my entire trip in the south. I've seen plenty of the north, and I'm very curious how the north and south compare. Anyways, I'm now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I will also make my way back to Penang (see my previous trip report here), then on up to Phuket, Thailand, and then finally back to Bangkok. It's been one hell of a trip to say the least!
