My 12 Hours in Beijing

(Editor's note: Staying true to form, Google has found another way to screw up my blog / website. If you want to see any of the pictures, which were shown in their entirety while I was creating this blog, you'll have to click on the cut-in-half versions published by Google. Seriously, I haven't used blogger once since 2008 that I wasn't displeased by Google's service.)

If you've got a 12-72 hour layover in Beijing, here are some do’s and don'ts based on my trip.

Flying from Ulaanbaatar to Bangkok I had a 12 hour layover. For US citizens (and citizens of many other countries, but not all) China will allow a visa exemption if you are in transit from one country to another and your stay in Beijing is less than 72 hours. This seemed like a good opportunity to squeeze in a decent side trip on my way back to Thailand. In the end, I got to see a couple of Beijing highlights, but it was not without its difficulties.

I had two choices to make the best use of my time there. One was to keep my flights as planned and arrange a tour ahead of time. What I was finding on the internet for daytrips to and from the airport was pretty expensive if you were not part of a larger group. So I ruled this option out. The second option was to change my flight so that I left two days later. This is the option I attempted and this is where the problems began.

First I tried contacting the airline I was ticketed to fly on from Ulaanbataar to Beijing, Hainan Airlines. They told me I had to contact China Southern Airlines. Receiving no cooperation from their website with every link going to a dead end or requiring me to enter a mobile number that I didn't have, this proved fruitless. So I decided to change my flight once I arrived at the airport in Beijing. 

Because I intended to stay in Beijing for a few nights, I checked my bag only to Beijing even though I could have sent it all the way to Bangkok. Thinking I would be automatically stamped with a 72 hour visa exemption and given the green light to pass through immigration and then go to the ticket counter to change my flight, I hustled past all of the intolerably slow, would-be immigration line time-wasters, and arrived at passport control first in line. I was immediately sent to another agent because I didn't have a visa. Fortunately there was no line there either, but unfortunately they would only give me a 24 hour pass because my flight was in 12 hours. I said I wanted to change my flight and was sent to a transfer ticket counter down the hall. What happened next still makes no sense to me. The guy said I had to retrieve my luggage because it wasn't checked through to Bangkok before I could change my ticket. Why he couldn't change my flight before I picked my backpack off the conveyer belt will forever remain a mystery to me, but it was clear that this guy had no intention of being the least bit helpful, so back to immigration I went. The first thing I saw was about 300 people in line. Luckily there was still no one at the visa exemption counter and I was able to explain to the lady what the ticket nazi had said. She called her boss over who with no preamble just said, in a rather stern manner, “blah blah 24 hours blah blah,” and walked away. To no avail, I pointed at the large sign that stated 72 hour visa exemptions and explained that I would be changing my flight as soon as I got through to the other side. I took the 24 hour stamp and passed through, happy I didn't have to go back to the main passport control line, but disappointed in the ever-ticking, now 10.5 hour clock I would be fighting against for the duration of my Chinese vacation. Do:  Arrange your flights for maximum layover before arriving. 

I grabbed my backpack, wishing I had checked it through to Bangkok, and headed for terminal 2 from terminal 3. This takes about a half hour. For 30 Yuan I was able to leave my backpack at the left luggage place and head for the tour info counter. There was a bit of a language barrier here, but what I gathered was the tours were scheduled a day or two ahead of time, but they could arrange a private taxi to take me to the Great Wall for an exaggerated price. I hesitated and then agreed because I had little time to plan and do stuff outside the airport and way too much time to stay in the airport. The tour agent then for some reason knocked 20% off the price and I was on my way. Do not: Pick up your luggage in Beijing if you were unable to arrange a multi day stay ahead of time. Check it to the final destination. 

The Wall is an hour away, I would have 2 hours once I got there and then another hour back. I had negotiated an extra half hour at the wall, which would later prove paramount to the success of this mission. As soon as we got to the entrance of the Wall I was led to a ticket counter and had to buy an admission ticket and a shuttle bus ticket. Every time I turn around in Asia, someone has their hand in my pocket. First they tried to get me to buy a cable car ticket. Without even asking the price I said didn't need it; I would walk. Do:  Buy the cable car ticket to get up to the Wall, especially if you have 1.5 - 3 hours at the Wall, or do not enjoy sweating profusely before boarding a 5 hour international flight later in the day. 

My two hours were now counting down and unknowingly, I was almost an hour away from the actual Wall. First I strolled down a street of souvenir shops and restaurants to reach the shuttle bus that would take me to “the real entrance of the Wall”. 5-10 minutes later I was walking, now slightly uphill past more shops and last second chances to get a cable car ticket. Do: Get the cable car ticket

Cable car route up to the Wall

Finally I got to the entrance to the stairs to get to the wall. The ticket taker asked in a rather puzzled tone, "You want to walk?" I spent the next 6-7, 5 minute intervals stopping to wonder just how much further it could possibly be, and why the hell didn't I buy a bottle of water at the bottom of the Great Stairs of China. 

Somewhere near the top of the stairs, I bought a water from a lady who told me to take the right fork to watchtower 6. Much closer than the left fork to watchtower 8. Thank you, concession stand lady. 

Drenched in sweat, I arrived to the Wall with about 30 minutes to hike back and forth, up and down, the Wall. Here is a little of what I saw. 

I climbed the Great Stairs to prove I was worthy to climb the Great Wall. I'm going to that little building you can barely see on top of the hill.

Do you see the Wall behind me? Me neither. Thanks, European tourist lady. 

Do you see the Wall behind me now? Me too. Thanks, guy from Michigan.

It's a pretty cool, long, winding wall built to keep Mongolians out. I flew right over the top, straight from Mongolia.

From here I hustled my sweat-laden self back to my ride to go to the airport and get some well-intentioned, but horrible advice. 

Back at the airport, I still had 5.5 hours until my flight left. I went back to the same tour desk to ask how to get to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The lady started to tell me how to take the subway and then just said screw take a taxi. It'll be like 100 yuan. So I do. That was a mistake. Do not: Take a taxi from the airport into the city. Do: Take the airport express and then transfer to the subway. (Unless you have more than two people and are on a really tight budget). After an hour and a half in the taxi, I was about five blocks away from my destination, but had only moved about 10 meters in the last fifteen minutes. I had to get out and walk.

My taxi is parked in that traffic somewhere. 

Here's a little bit of Beijing I saw on my walk. 

Then some girl started chatting me up as I walked. I was pretty sure she was trying to hustle me in a manner I wasn't quite sure of at that point, but as long as she didn't impede my progress to Tiananmen, I didn't care. It turns out she gave me some pretty useful info, like the subway to airport route is super cheap, easy, and fast. She also asked me what I knew about Tiananmen Square. I told her about the protests back in the day and she said she had no clue about that because the government censored all of their news. I wasn't buying that. A couple blocks away, she wanted me to go look in an art store, so I said, "No time for love, Dr. Jones," and fled for the Square. 

I found it and as is my right as an American, I was waved through security past all the Chinese peasants that were likely to start an uprising. 

Once inside, I found all the buildings looked alike and there was a lot more room than I had imagined. Probably enough to stage mass political protests and drive around in tanks. 

Once inside, I was trapped. Everywhere I turned I was told I couldn't go that way or I had to buy a ticket to go into some park. I had a flight to catch, so I turned to go back from whence I came. A man with a bullhorn was pretty adamant that I not go back through the gate I was at. He was small and unarmed, so in the greatest act of defiance seen in Tiananmen Square since June of '89, I shrugged my shoulders to indicate I didn't understand what he was saying and I walked right past him. About 200 meters further on, I was at the front gate, where uniformed men making up for a lack of bullhorns with sticks and stun guns, turned me away. 

I was pressed for time and now had to go back past bullhorn man and into the unknown. I winded my way through the maze of people forced to go the exact opposite direction I needed to go. At one point I was stuck behind a giant wall and a lake, not knowing if there was even an exit ahead of me. 

I went a good 2 km out of my way to get back to the subway, and I grew sweatier and stinkier all along the way. But, I made it. The subway / airport express route took a third of the time of the taxi/walk route and cost one fourth the price. All the signs were in English. And I even had time for pizza and beer back at the airport. You can do a lot in 12 hours, but you can do a lot more in 72. So, if you're passing through Beijing, Do: break up your flights and stay a couple days, no visa required. Just arrange the flights before you get there. Do: use airport express/subway to get from airport to the city and back. Do:  buy the cable car ticket to get up to the wall. And as always, a little planning ahead of time will go a long way once you are there. But if you're like me and just wing it when you get there, you can still get a lot done. Just keep an eye on the clock.