Okay, this post is long overdue.

After spending 3 years in Beijing, I have collected a list of things to do/places to go.  This post is assuming that you have already looked at the regular things, such as Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Wangfujing, etc.  Some of the stuffs in the list are actually going to these touristy areas too, but with ways that you may not have thought about.  So here it is,

20. Walk around in Chaoyang Park on a nice sunny day.  Take a detour to the Solana (蓝色港湾) for the massive outdoor mall that reminds me of Whistler ski village.    

19. Take the subway (try to avoid line 1) all day and pay 2RMB. Go from the northeast corner of the city down  to the southwest corner.

18. Take a cheap bus (with the IC card 公交卡, which is 60% off all rides),  which turns out to 3RMB to go to the Badaling great wall (八达岭长城).  The bus stop is at the Arrow tower (箭楼) near the Jishuitan station (积水潭) on line 2.  You will have to wriggle your way through fake Transit workers telling you that “you are too late for the bus”, “all buses broke down”.  But just walk pass them and head towards the tower.

17. Spend the entire day at the Forbidden City (故宫). Don’t try to squeeze 3 sights in the same day even  though there are other sights nearby to see.  Avoid the crowd by going onto the side, take lots of pictures, walk really slow.

16. Go to a networking event at night – check out the FC club (fcclub.com), Network Club (thenetworkclub.com), Beijing Energy Network (google group), Web Wednesday and Linux User Group (tech groups), and many chambers of commerce.  Meet the other expats and other people and feel the energy of the city.

15. Take a bus or subway to Sun Kong place (新光天地) at Dawanglu station on line 1 (大望路).  Admire the brands in the mall, and then, walk OUTSIDE towards the south side, across the overhead highway and the river, and you will see a long distance bus station and a local market.  You can observe the huge difference just by walking 2 minutes apart.

14. Practice your negotiation skill at Yashow 雅秀市场 (next to Sanlitun) or Xiushui market at YonganLi station (永安里，秀水市场).  If they offer you a Polo T-shirt for 300RMB, reply them with 30RMB, and then smile and wink at them. They will probably take  your offer.

13. Roam around the universities – Tsinghua, Beijing university – buy some cheap English books for 10RMB.

12. Watch a movie at the Broadway movie Center (百老汇电影中心) at Dangdai MOMA (当代MOMA).  It’s in the middle of a complex that has 7 different buildings, but with a skywalk that link them through. Pretend that  you want to buy a  unit, and then go check out all the buildings!  The coffee shop there (Kuberick) offers free refills of regular coffee (iced or hot).

7 buildings connected with a skylink

11. Shopping for clothing at the Beijing Zoo market – There are several clothing malls around, but don’t waste your time. Go straight to the one at the basement (Julong Fuzhuangcheng, 聚龙服装城) – you can find an entrance next to the McDonald’s.  Can’t really negotiate and bargain – because they are offering quite a good price compared to other places already.  The place closes at 3 so go there early.

10. Go hiking at Fragrance Hill (xiangshan, 香山). Try to avoid the time when leaves turn colour (i.e. Autumn) because you will see TOO MANY people.

9. Take a bus to Cuandixia ( 爨地下) They only have 1 bus that goes there from the furthest west station on line 1 pingguoyuan (苹果园) and it’s an 1.5 hr bus ride. The return bus is at 3:30pm and again, there is only 1 per day.

8. Wander around in the small alleys (hutong, 胡同).  You can start from nanluoguxiang (南锣鼓巷), and walk up north, and then east will get you to the drum and bell tower (zhonglou 钟楼，gulou 鼓楼).  Just get yourself lost – a taxi is only 10RMB to start.

7. Eat a local breakfast that consists of: tofu with a  spicy sauce (dofu nao 豆腐脑, or literally tofu brain), deep fried donut (youtiao 油条), a basket of meat buns (baozi, 包子), and wonton soup with dumplings (jiaozi, 饺子). All these will probably set you back for around 5RMB, if you get it off the street.

6. Check out all the conferences and exhibitions in town – they are mostly free and you can get into it by providing them (a fake one will also do) a business card.  Some of the cooler exhibitions are: Auto show (I think you need to pay, but lots of cool cars and models), Camera show (highly recommended! Free and lots of models!), Art shows (or see the listing about 798).

5. 7-9-8. Spend a whole day there, spend 2 if  you have to. Enough said.  I don’t recommend other art districts yet at this point because they are not yet mature enough to make it a worthwhile trip.

4. Nanluoguxiang – 南锣鼓巷 – just explore around there.  There’s a hotel that was converted from  a courtyard house, and you can go in and check out the hotel room.  The yogurt is quite  famous and there is one that you will need to line up, and that store closes whenever it’s sold out.  There is also one store (more like a neighbourhood co-op) that sells crafts that the seniors in the neighbourhood created, and also has a small exhibition about the history of Beijing in general.  Very informative.  I also highly recommend the Tibet bar – and try out their Wheat wine.

3. Go skiing in the winter – there are shuttles that leaves from Dongzhimen 东直门 McDonald’s at 8am. You just need to pay 120RMB or so, and everything will be taken care of.  Cannot compare to Whistler, but it’s a nice fun way to get around town.  If you can find a few friends with cars, drive around there and stay overnight for the hot springs.

2. Bar hopping between Sanlitun and Gongti – More western = Punk, Vics, D lounge, Tun, Xiu (Thurs nite), Q-bar, Latern;  More local = Latte, Bobomee(?!), Club LA, China doll, Mix.  More russian = Chocolate

1. Buy yourself some BBQ Sticks (chuanr, 串儿) and some 3RMB Tsingdao beer, and sit away in Sanlitun village.

Also, as an online resource, check out sites like thebeijinger.com or cityweekend, or grab one of the free magazines.  They are lots of help too!

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This past week I was extremely busy, mostly because there was a flurry of technology/travel conferences in Beijing.

Tuesday May 25 – Startup2Startup event with the gang from “Geeks On A Plane”
Wednesday May 26 – Travel Global Summit
Thursday, Friday May 27 -28 – CHINICT (chinict.org)
Saturday May 29 – China Webmaster Conference by Comsenz
Sunday May 30 – Technology and Scientific Exhibition
Monday May 31 – TMT China by China Entrepreneurs
Tuesday June 1 – Software Exhibition

It wasn’t until today that I finally had some time off.

I had always wondered why all of these conferences are all packed within the same week. My friend Beijingdaze had a very good comment on this, that “this is the same as why there are 5 stores selling the exact models of cellphone next to each other”. Well, I guess this is China specialty (中国特色)!

I also noticed that I had recently been blogging quite a lot about iPad, which I must admit, had been driving a lot of my traffic. (almost getting more pageviews than Wherefun.com?)  However, since the theme of my blog is regarding technology, sustainability, and life, I really should talk about the other two subjects also!

So, I’ll make this a life post.

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A few simple observations when I’m in Beijing’s McDonald’s.

1. I noticed there is an open access point called McDonald’s. With joy, I knew they are offering some free internet.   With a catch  - only 30 minutes per day. You will also need to enter your personal information, such as ID card, name, and email address because it is REQUIRED by law to do so. (互联网上网服务营业场所管理条例第23条)

Think about all the Starbucks and Hotels and Restaurant access points and how you can just log on with a simple WEP password or more likely no password.

Once the 30 minutes are up, you will need to purchase credits -

• 24 hrs for 10RMB (about 1.5USD)
• 1 month for  48RMB  (about 7USD)

The company that operates behind this teamed up with Y5zone – one of the Wifi operators in Hong Kong, which pretty much put the entire city into a paid wifi zone.  Looks like this business model is coming soon in Beijing.

2. Coffee drinkers

While ordering a meal, I noticed many people opted to get coffee instead of the regular pop.  Now, I think it’s only recently that McD began to offer free coffee refills in China.  I can see about 30-40% of people in the restaurant having a coffee mug in their hands during peak lunch hour.

So, what does that mean?

Starbucks and chain cafes had long had a foot hold in Beijing. They are able to get away with charging 15RMB (2USD) for a tall (smallest) coffee of the day.  A specialty coffee of the same size is 24RMB (3.5USD).  Almost on par with US, one may say.  But, here is what 15RMB in Beijing can get you:

• A McChicken Combo in McDonald’s (yes, the burger, fries, and medium drink)
• 15 cups of soydrink
• 10 days of milk
• 2 bowls of beef noodles

Obvioiusly, Starbucks  or similarly priced coffee were not for mainstream consumers.

Now, with McDonald’s making their coffee cheap (at  8RMB, or 1.1 USD), and offering free refills, coffee is about to hit to the mass market.  Along with the Taiwanese 95degree chain hitting up China, coffee will make a good run to the traditionally tea-only culture.

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