Presenting my:

Official Whoop-whoop Guide To The 2008 Summer (let’s-all-pay-thousands-of-RMB-for-tickets-to-the-Water-Polo-semi-finals) Beijing Olympics Guide!

The Forbidden City

Beijing is too big to walk around. Rent a bicycle.

Most of the roads in Beijing included a bike lane that was wide enough to never be crowded. Although the street names were mad confusing for a newbie, there are maps of the local area and the city as a whole posted up all over the place, especially at major street junctions.

We saw an awful lot more of the city than we would on foot or a tour bus, and had not trouble finding a place to park up, even around Tiananmen Square or in the main shopping districts.

Know where you’re going before you get into a taxi.

Beijing people don’t speak proper- it’s all rawrrrr rawrrrr rawrrrr like a puppy with a chew toy.

So even if you can speak Chinese and know the name of the place you’re going to, it can still be a struggle to get somewhere.
Make sure you have an address card from your hotel, the phone number of the restaurant, an SMS message with directions written in Chinese characters or some other fallback plan before you get into a cab.

Bars in Beijing are the bomb dizzle.

Every single bar friends took me too was great. The nightlife in Beijing is quirky, fun, boozy, and cheap. Drinks lists with Belgian beers and 5 kinds of Vodka were everywhere, and before all of the suckers turned up for the Olympics, a pint of Tsingtao was 15-20RMB. Here are my favourite places:

  • Salud - (Nanluoguxiang street)

    • An old timbered building (watch your head on the beams) that makes its own flavoured Rum behind the bar. 20RMB for a shot glass of ginger, apple & cinammon, orange & nutmeg etc. The Salud Special Spice flavour on the rocks was the best thing I drank in Beijing. And I drank a lot.

  • Poachers Inn - (Sanlitun area)

    • Poacher\'s Bar
    50RMB to get in sounds a bit steep, but that included a pint glass full of Rum & Coke. The music was mainly hip-hop which got the local kids dancing on the tables and throwing their hands way up in the ai-ir. Bonkers fun atmosphere, 10RMB beers, horrible toilets, a good place to pick up Chinese girls (probably).

  • The Tree - (Sanlitun area)

    • A real wood-burning pizza oven is going to make you sweat in the summer heat, but they have a list of maybe 40 imported beers to cool you down. Artwork on the walls shows naked boobies but in a classy way.

  • Pass By Bar - (Nanluoguxiang street)

    • The roof terrace will be open in August, and the big collection of travel books will remind you of the places you could have afforded to go to if you hadn’t just paid 5,000RMB for a hotel room.
    Again, 15RMB for a pint of TsingTao- why the hell can’t you get that kind of deal in Shanghai?

Beijing Duck is compulsory

Are you really going to be able to face the folks back home if you didn’t eat the local speciality? Top Shanghai blogger WoAiZhongGuo gave me a great tip for a place:

“Other than Charlie Chan’s restaurant in Cambridge, England (next to Oddbins- all major credit cards accepted) the best Beijing Duck in the world is at Da Dong“

There are two branches of Da Dong and both are very popular. We waited thirty minutes for a table on a Saturday- no hardship since there was free wine while you wait.
The food (200RMB for a duck, plan on around 300-400RMB for two including drinks) was fantastic, and at the end of the meal the waitress walks you to the door. Classy.

Beijingers live outside. Go and see

A Hutong is a side street where people sit around all day playing with their kids, washing clothes, eating, napping, and just hanging out. These Hutongs are an integral part of Beijing life- for now- and it’s interesting to walk or cycle around a few of these streets to see how the locals live.


Even better though is spending an afternoon in a park, listening to old folk playing music for their own pleasure, practicing calligraphy with water brushes, playing Mah Jong, etc.
Places like Bei Hai park, Ri Tan park etc. are daily hangouts, especially for the older generation who buy a yearly pass and spend a lot of their free time in the park.

These were just my impressions from one weekend in Bejing, maybe they’ll help someone out.

Salud Bar
Pass By Bar
Poacher's Inn

The Forbidden City
Calligraphy in Bei Hai park
Playing Accordion in the park

Sihe Hotel- a traditional style courtyard

If you want more information, here is a properly detailed guide to the Olympics with hotels, tips, and all of that gubbins.