"Beijing - The Noble City" a Beijing Travel Page by AC1

During my 2 year stay in Beijing, I have played host to many visitors and friends. Getting around like a tour guide had become so routine that I have even drafted a "best route" to see Beijing depending on your length of stay and it is specially designed to cater to travel expectations of people coming from home. I have visited the Forbidden City, Shi Ma Tai Great Wall, Temple of Heaven etc etc.. for not less than 10 times each. Also, there is a hidden secret of Beijing that not commonly known to most traveller, FOOD!

Interestingly, I have deep interest in finding theme restaurants during weekends. Beijing is the city that you will never run out of choices for food. There was a saying in Beijing, if you visit every restaurant in Beijing without returning for the same restaurant, you need 20 years to do so assuming a restaurant meal per day!! Can you imagine that?!

Some of my favorate hang out...

Touristic places:
1. The Forbidden City
2. Summer Palace
3. Shi Ma Tai (Fishing in Great Wall!!)
4. Temple of Heaven

Interesting local spots:
1. Pan Jia Yuan Antique Market
2. Hong Qiao Shi Chang
3. Wang Fu Jin
4. Xiu Shui Jie

In most city, night life starts late and closes early. Most visitors find it very strange when they discover that in Beijing, the usual night life can start as early as 5pm and close at 5am the following morning. Some of the common things we do at night are singing, clubbing, pao-ba, feasting, latin, etc... The most popular one been singing. The best place for this is at Cashbox (QianGui). It is of a five-star hotel karaoke setup where by each room comes with its attached bath-room. We used to have birthday parties in Cashbox that can house as many as 50 guests or more in a room. The service there is simply 1st class.

Theme Restaurants:
1. The Red Capital Club
- A courtyard house turned into a restaurant. Used to be a place for the government officers to hang out. You can still find a limousince used by Chairman Mao in front of the restaurant. Very difficult to locate the place as it is hidden in the middle of hu tong.

2. Afanti
- A Xinjiang muslim restaurant full of fun and entertainment. If you want to find the best belly dancer, don't go to Egypt... it is right here in the middle of Beijing. Very good food with good entertainment. At the end of the dinner session, table top dancing (pop) has always been the top of the day. You can often find celebreties like Jackie Chan, Bill Gates, etc etc among the crowd.

For those people who are crazy about food like me, more Restaurant guides are available in my Travel Tips for Beijing. I also have a restaurant guide which is saved in Excel Spreadsheet format that allows you to filter the search easily . We used to share this file among the colleagues in Beijing office and friends. Currently, there are about 950+ restaurant listed in there. Let me know if you are interested to take a look.