BEIJING CHINA: Suggested 5-day Itinerary

Looking back on our Beijing trip, here are a couple of tweaks to the itinerary I'd like to suggest:

If one is not inclined to watch the flag raising and lowering (but I still say one should watch this fascinating act of nationalism), Day 2 should already include the National Grand Theater and can be inserted between Tian’anmen and the KungFu show.

On Day 4, since the National Grand Theater will be transferred to Day 2, one can roam around other parts of the zoo and aquarium where the Panda House is or spend more time at the Summer Palace (I fell in love with the place, it’s so pretty!)

So the itinerary will now look like this -

Day 1: Saturday

11am-12:30pm Cebu to Manila

12:30-5:30pm Free time in Manila

5:30pm Check in at airport

7:30am-12:05am Manila to Beijing

Day 2: Sunday

12:05am Arrival at Beijing Airport, Immigration

1:30am Check-in at City Walls Courtyard House

8:30am-10:00am Jingshan Park

10:00am-12:00nn Temple of Heaven

12:00nn-2:30pm Peking duck at Quanjude and bank for FOREX

2:30pm-4:30pm Forbidden City

4:30pm-5:30pm Tian’anmen Square
(suggested change) 5:30-6:30pm NATIONAL GRAND THEATER 

7:30pm-8:30pm KungFu show at the Red Theater

9:00pm Back at City Walls Courtyard House

Day 3: Monday

7:30am-8:15am Travel time to Ming Tombs

8:15am-9:30am Ming Tombs

9:30am-10:30am Jade Factory

10:30am-11:30am Lunch at local restaurant

12:30pm-1:45pm Travel time

1:45pm-3:30pm Mutianyu Great Wall

3:30pm-5:00pm Travel time back to city

5:15pm-6:30pm Acrobatic show at Chaoyang (specify Chaoyang coz there are 3 acrobatic shows in Beijing)

6:30pm-7:30pm Dinner at local restaurant

7:30pm-9:00pm Chinese massage

9:30pm Back at City Walls Courtyard House

Day 4: Tuesday

8am Check-out from City Walls Courtyard House

9:00am-10:00am Cloisonne Factory in Beijing

10:00am-11:30am Panda House

11:30am-12:30nn Lunch at local restaurant

1:00pm-5:00pm Summer Palace

5:00pm-7:30pm Travel time and dinner at local restaurant

7:30pm-9:00pm Olympic Green: The Water Cube and Bird’s Nest

9:00pm-10:00pm Travel time to airport

11:00pm Check in at airport

Day 5: Wednesday

1:00am-530am Beijing to Manila

9:30am-10:30am Manila to Cebu

10:30am Cebu: Home sweet home

If given the chance to go back to Beijing, I would go back to the Great Wall, still at Mutianyu, and slide my way down the mountains (we couldn’t do this during our trip because it was raining and the slider was suspended); and go back to Summer Palace, beautiful!  And of course, explore other places too!

Taken from right side of the plane of the Beijing-Manila flight

How much did our trip cost?  Find out here.


What are some tour options and prices?  Find out here.


Fall in love with Beijing!

BEIJING CHINA

In this blog are our actual tour itinerary (including time spent per place and suggested changes to the itinerary), costs of the Beijing trip, tour options and prices. 

Picture-perfect Sunrise on Sept. 22, 2010

ITINERARY:

Our itinerary is from Cebu Phils to Manila Phils to Beijing China to Manila Phils to Cebu Phils.  It was a full but relaxed itinerary, with lots of time to take photos!  See suggested changes to itinerary at the bottom.

Day 1: Saturday

11am-12:30pm Cebu to Manila

12:30-5:30pm Free time in Manila

5:30pm Check in at airport

7:30am-12:05am Manila to Beijing

Day 2: Sunday

12:05am Arrival at Beijing Airport, Immigration

1:30am Check-in at City Walls Courtyard House

8:30am-10:00am Jingshan Park

10:00am-12:00nn Temple of Heaven

12:00nn-2:30pm Peking duck at Quanjude and bank for FOREX

2:30pm-5:30pm Forbidden City

5:30pm-6:30pm Tian’anmen Square (we waited for the flag lowering)

7:30pm-8:30pm KungFu show at the Red Theater

9:00pm Back at City Walls Courtyard House

Day 3: Monday

7:30am-8:15am Travel time to Ming Tombs

8:15am-9:30am Ming Tombs

9:30am-10:30am Jade Factory

10:30am-11:30am Lunch at local restaurant

12:30pm-1:45pm Travel time

1:45pm-3:30pm Mutianyu Great Wall

3:30pm-5:00pm Travel time back to city

5:15pm-6:30pm Acrobatic show at Chaoyang (specify Chaoyang coz there are 3 acrobatic shows in Beijing)

6:30pm-7:30pm Dinner at local restaurant

7:30pm-9:00pm Chinese massage

9:30pm Back at City Walls Courtyard House

Day 4: Tuesday

8am Check-out from City Walls Courtyard House

9:00am-10:00am National Grand Theater “The Egg”

10:00am-11:00am Cloisonne Factory in Beijing

11:30am-12:30nn Panda House

12:30nn-1:30pm Lunch at local restaurant

2:00pm-5:00pm Summer Palace

5:00pm-7:30pm Travel time and dinner at local restaurant

7:30pm-9:00pm Olympic Green: The Water Cube and Bird’s Nest

9:00pm-10:00pm Travel time to airport

11:00pm Check in at airport

Day 5: Wednesday

1:00am-530am Beijing to Manila

9:30am-10:30am Manila to Cebu

10:30am Cebu: Home sweet home

Looking back, there are a couple of tweaks I'd suggest to the 5-day itinerary.

How much did our trip cost?  Find out here.

What are some tour options and prices?  Find out here.

Enjoy your future Beijing trip!!! 

Beijing China: TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

Day 1 in Beijing: TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
(Destination 2 of 6)

An Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing, as inscribed on the UNESCO world heritage list.  According to UNESCO.org, 

"In its overall layout and that of its individual buildings, it symbolizes the relationship between earth and heaven – the human world and God's world – which stands at the heart of Chinese cosmogony, and also the special role played by the emperors within that relationship."

The majestic Temple of Heaven

The Temple was my third favorite place among the places we went to (first being the magnificent Great Wall and second the serene Summer Palace).  Even with lots of tourists milling around, the place was silent and still reverential.  From the entrance, one cannot help but stare in awe at the majestic Temple.  Repainted before the 2008 Olympics, the colors were so vibrant and alive on top of the (off) white stone base. 

Lamp stands and old paper money burners align the way to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  The temple was used only by the Emperor to offer sacrifice and pray to the god of heaven for good harvest during winter solstice.  It is said that his successful reign is dependent on the harvest of the season.  

Altar inside the temple

The temple design has the dragon and phoenix designs all over, then representing the emperor and empress, but now symbolizing husband and wife.  The color blue symbolized heaven.  

The dragon design is dominant all over the place, as shown in this water spout, at the base of the Temple.

Dragon & phoenix design

Dragon door knocker

Dragon water spout

The doors to the Temple have round gold designs (those are actually the nails), nine across and nine down.  The number 9 is the number of the emperor.  If you count the steps, they are also grouped by nine.  The door knocker also has the dragon design, symbolizing the emperor.  Yellow and red are considered imperial colors and are dominant throughout the imperial structures we saw in Beijing.

Copying a scene from Karate Kid 2

And on that particular day when we were scheduled to visit Temple of Heaven and Forbidden City, my husband wore yellow shirt, I wore red blouse and my son wore a red shirt with yellow print! Talk about imperial colors...what a coincidence!

Outside the Temple is an extensive park and garden with centuries-old trees lining the walkway and greens all around.  From a (home) city with no "green" public park, the place was really a refreshing sight. 

More photos...

(Left:) A centuries-old tree; (Middle:) My family, "where to go", lampposts

Our group

Next stop is our Peking duck lunch...