I have always been curious of China and its culture. I didn’t want to travel to China at first because I needed to apply for a tourist visa but I just went for it because I didn’t know where else to travel plus I really wanted to visit the Great Wall of China. I also wanted to go to Bali instead but my body’s deffff not Bali-ready so we just booked tickets for a week’s stay in China. Here are the places that we were able to see on our three day stay in Beijing!

Quanjude Wangfujing Roast Duck Restaurant

I travelled to Beijing with my mom and my boyfriend. We arrived at midnight on Monday, September 18th so we had to catch up on some sleep.

We went out at around lunch that same day and we went straight to QuanJude Wangfujing Roast Duck Restaurant to try some authentic roast duck. The waitress showed us how to wrap the duck before eating. I really thought that I was just going to eat it with rice but it was more complicated than that. lol

Wangfujing

Since we were already in Wangfujing, we just walked around the area. If you want to go shopping in Beijing, go to Wangfujing! It’s an area with a lot of malls and they carry a lot  of brands, from small fashion brands to luxury brands. It’s like Beijing’s own Times Square.

We took a little detour to the Wangfujing Food Market to try local Chinese delicacies. If you’re the adventurous type, you will definitely love it here. We just ate food which we were familiar with because we don’t like to eat insects. lol

Forbidden City

We started our second day in Beijing with a visit to the Palace Museum. It is widely known as the Forbidden City and it used to be the home of Chinese emperors for a very long time.

On the day of your visit, make sure to eat breakfast. There are a few stalls selling snacks and drinks at the entrance but I didn’t see any food stalls inside the museum. The walk from the Tiananmen Gate to the other side was quite long and tiring so make sure to bring a bottle of water as well.

I looked it up online and an estimated 14 million people visit the Palace Museum annually. That’s about 38,000 daily so expect to rub elbows with a lot of people. We were there on a sunny day so it was pretty crowded when we visited.

It cost us 60 yuan to go inside the palace. You can just buy the ticket at the museum’s entrance.

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square is a city square across the Tiananmen gate of the Palace Museum. It’s a huge part in China’s history because a lot of civilians died here after weeks of protest.

We didn’t know that it was just across so we didn’t visit the square before going inside the Palace Museum. We had to take the Sightseeing Bus No. 1 back to Tiananmen Square after exiting the museum on the other end.

Temple of Heaven

Our last stop on our second day in Beijing was the Temple of Heaven. We weren’t able to reach there in time for the main temple to be open but we were able to go to the surrounding spots inside the temple. We just paid 15 yuan to go inside instead of the normal 34 yuan.

I really enjoyed walking through the grounds of the temple. It was already late in the afternoon so it was already getting a bit cold and I really love how green the whole place was.

Great Wall of China – Mutianyu

On our last full day in Beijing, we went to the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall of China. This was definitely the highlight of our trip to Beijing.

There are a lot of tour companies that offer packages to the Great Wall but we chose to book our tour with Travel Great Wall because their itinerary didn’t have any shopping stops and it was a small group tour. They also picked us all up at one meeting place at a specific time so we didn’t have to travel to other hotels to pick up other tourists.

Our tour guide Emma was also very helpful and informative. She gave us a brief history of the Great Wall while on the way. When we arrived, she gave us our tickets and we rode the  cable car up to the Wall. We paid an extra 120 yuan per person to ride the cable car up to the wall and the toboggan down from the wall.

I’m such a scaredy cat when it comes to heights so I was actually quite nervous before riding the cable car. I had been on one before but this was my first time to ride on an open cable car but good thing I actually made it out alive. lol I bought this souvenir photo of us  because I don’t think I will be riding this again in the near future. ;b

When we got to the wall, I just took photos at every corner of the wall. Visiting the wall is actually one of the things in my bucketlist so I was very excited to actually be there.

We rode the toboggan on our way down the wall. I seriously think that this is the most fun thing to do in Beijing. The toboggan ride was also the reason why I chose to visit the Mutianyu part of the wall. lol I know, it’s such a shallow reason but I think I definitely made the right decision!

After the super fun toboggan ride, we ate lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Our lunch was already included in the tour and the food was delicious! All that walking up and down the wall definitely made me hungry. lol

The day after, we bid goodbye to Beijing and rode the bullet train to Shanghai. Our short stay in Beijing was definitely one for the books!! ❤