Beijing

  

      It was snowing heavily outside the Sunrise Hostel. How I wish I could stay one more night in Beijing but my night train to Shanghai about to leave in 4 hours. Been staying in Sunrise hostel for 5 days with some new friends from France and Germany, I remember the first day I arrived in Beijing, I had no idea where I would stay. Then I ran into this super nice doctor from Indonesia, we happened to ride the same shuttle bus from airport to Beijing Railway Station. He was my first hero from my China trip. Doctor Sugih helped me to find Sunrise hostel, I was so lucky to actually meet him in the airport.
      The next thing, I didn’t want to leave my room because it was too cold outside, I hated the cold, my ear hurts and I wasn’t so excited to explore the city. But then I fell in love with the parks, the Great Wall, the people, my travel buddies, the culture, almost everything I saw here – even my dorm room and this small restaurant, they already like a new home to me. I guess this is what I like most about traveling. Meeting people from all over the world, completely different background, culture , languages. Walid, Salah, and Salim paid their meals and ran to the Beijing South  station to catch train back to Shanghai. I couldn’t run as fast as those crazy big guys, my high-heel boots just not the right shoes to run and since it was my very first time walking under the snow,  I let them go and take my time enjoying Beijing . I was giggling happy thinking about our trip to Summer Palace, walking on the frozen Kunming lake, long journey to Great Wall Mutianyu and the night market where the boys ate worms and scorpions. Super good times !

That happy girl

Temple of Heaven

Wear a comfortable shoes for a half day tour in Forbidden City

Feel free to check my previous post about Great Wall Mutianyu ,Summer Palace, Qianmen Street, Wangfujing Night Market, China InstaGoodies. I spent totally 5 days in Beijing. It's too bad I didn't go to the Olympic sites, Drum and Bell Tower and museums, but if you only have 5 days to explore Beijing then I would recommend you to visit those places and Temple of Heaven, Lama temple and hutongs.

Day 1 : Arrived in the morning * Dongcheng district * Wangfujing Night Market
Day 2 : Half day tour at Great Wall Mutianyu * Wangfujing * Hutong
Day 3 : Half day tour at Summer Palace * Lama Temple * Hutong *
Day 4 :  Shopping and breakfast at Qianmen street * Tiananmen Square * Temple of Heaven
Day 5 :  Half day tour at Forbidden City then back to hostel, check out..next stop : Shanghai...

Here's a budget for 5 days in Beijing. I brought cash $400 to cover my travel expenses for 5 days in Beijing and another 5 days in Shanghai. It turned out that the ATM machine in Shanghai kept my credit card forever, so I survived with $400 til my last day in Shanghai. But really speaking about budget it really depends on how wise you spend it on entertainment, food, transportation, etc.
I personally spent $25 - 30 / day ( accommodation, transportation, meals, admission fees to tourism places ) in Beijing and Shanghai...and was lucky enough I got $450 for return flight tickets Jakarta-Beijing-Shanghai-Jakarta with AirAsia :)

Sunrise Hostel = RMB 55/night for dorm room ( RMB 55 X 4 nights = RMB 220 )
Shuttle Bus from airport, Line 3 to Beijing Railway Station = RMB 16
Metro = RMB 2/ single trip ( RMB 6 - 8 per day )
Entrance Great Wall Mutianyu = RMB 45 ( Plus RMB 80 for round trip cable car )
Entrance Summer Palace          RMB 40

Entrance Lama Temple             RMB 25

Entrance Temple of Heaven      RMB 35

Entrance Forbidden City           RMB 60

Ticket train to Shanghai            RMB 616

Food                                          RMB 20 – 40 / person

normally 5 of us ordered different kind of big meals, like meat, rice, soup and vegetables and share the costs. That way is much easier and cheaper. Avoid eating at the big restaurant in the main touristic street, Clement found us a really nice and cheap restaurant just behind Wangfujing street. Too bad I forgot the name. Other option, fast food restaurant like McD, Burger King, Yoshinoya for those who don’t really like Chinese food.

Temple of Heaven

Lama Temple, Beijing

Kunming Lake, Summer Palace

The room in Sunrise Hostel Beijing

Sunrise Hostel Bar

Time to leave Beijing. Next stop : Shanghai. I took some photos inside the train just in case if anyone of you wonder how's the train with soft sleeper looks like in China. They're sooo comfortable, wish we had things like this in Indonesia.

Beijing South Station

Soft Sleeper D313