Day 1 in Beijing (1/4)
So in September 2024, I made a trip to China to participate in a conference. Before going to Changchun, where the conference took place, I spent four days in Beijing. This is my report of these four days, divided into four parts. This post is day 1 of my way too short trip to Beijing.
Travelling to China
So first things first. Before being in China, one has to travel to China and that’s not as easy as elsewhere. Couple weeks ago, I had to get a visa first, although this year free tourist visa were available. Nevertheless, because I was partaking in a conference, I needed a working visa. As my nearest embassy in Düsseldorf had closed for the summer, I had to get this in Frankfurt. On the day of departure, I came back to Frankfurt, because my flight was leaving from here as well. Of course I flew Economy Class, which is really small and sleeping during the 11 hour flight was impossible.
When I arrived in China, it was around 8 o’clock in the morning. The air was hitting like a wall when leaving the plane, because of the humidity. Totally jet-lagged, I scanned my fingerprints, filled out an entry form and went through a lot of security and passport checks. Finally free, I first found a coffee at the airport, which was really good and for a high-quality coffee like this, relatively cheap (ar. 2,50 Euro). I took 20 minutes to finish this as I was naturally slow due to the weather and lack of sleep.
Finding my hotel on day 1 in Beijing
I then decided to take the Beijing subway to go to find my hotel. I have never used a better organised subway in my life! Everything was very clear, all signs also in English and finding the way to my subway station was super easy. Taking the subway from the airport costs around 3 Euro, but that is a special train. Later when I was using the subway, I simply used the NFC chip on my phone and my Visa. It is super simple: you scan your phone when you enter the subway. The company then charges you a whole day (ar. 1,50 Euro). When you leave the subway, you scan your phone again, the day-ticket gets cancelled and a single fare is charged (ar. 40 cents). Super cheap, super easy.
After leaving the subway, I entered the city of Beijing for the first time. It is busy. VERY busy. Bikes, motorbikes, cars, buses, people. So many people. Everybody is going somewhere and all do it at the same time. It looks like a human Tetris, but it works. I saw not one incident during my time here. For Europeans it can be quite difficult to cross the street, but after a while, you simply go with the flow. I then searched for my hotel. I used an eSim and GoogleMaps for that, but it was not very accurate. I found the hotel eventually and was greeted very nicely. I kicked off my shoes and took a really good nap.
The Temple of Heaven
After a while, I decided that I can’t waste my time and got up. I planned to visit the Temple of Heaven this day. And you have to plan, because for the most monuments you have to buy tickets beforehand. You can try to go there spontaneously, but you will have to wait a lot. So I took the subway again and arrived at the Temple of Heaven. The temple was used by the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray for a good harvest. It is a circular building with three roofs and is surrounded by a platform. Many people are here and take pictures, so I did as well. It is truly an architectural masterpiece, wonderfully preserved and restored.
What I also liked was the park around the Temple. After visiting the busy temple, I trolled around the park for a while. There are lampposts that play Chinese music, birds were chirping and the wind breezing. It was simply wonderful. I surely was still jet-lagged, but I sat down on a bench for at least an hour and simply watched people passing by, looking into the amazed faces of children who probably never seen a foreigner and enjoyed some peace. It was truly wonderful. At my way back, I grabbed something to eat (beef-soup and a beer for 6 Euro) and returned to my hotel room for a long-awaited sleep. The first day alone was so full of impressions, that I needed to write that down.
