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Travel

Olympic host Beijing goes for the gold with visitors. By David DicksteinPublished: August, 2007

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It wasn’t the awe of actually climbing the Great Wall of China that had me overjoyed, but the body language a kind grandfather used after I granted his request to pose for a picture with his family halfway up the centuries-old Wonder of the World. After the big smiles and the click of an analog shutter, the elderly man beamed excitedly alongside a lookout tower in the Juyong Guan section. He then placed his left palm on my admittedly round belly, lifted his right arm and made a muscle. Did he ever brighten my already bright day. The reason is this: In America I’m considered chubby, but in China I’m strong! Having visited China eight times in the past seven years, six of those itineraries involving Beijing, this well-fed American can say with a straight, jet-lagged face that the courteousness extended by the camera-bearing grandfather is typical of the people. With the exception of motorists who show no mercy toward foreigners, the Chinese I’ve encountered have been genuinely warm and friendly. This Eastern hospitality will come in handy when China expands its welcome mat to fit the some 200 other countries next summer for the XXIX Olympiad, Aug. 8-24, 2008. Nearly a million overseas visitors are expected for the Summer Games alone, and China’s capital is spending billions for what marketing experts are calling a “coming out party” for the most populous country and fastest-growing world economy. With China pulling out all the stops to make the games a world-class spectacle, right down to teaching English to millions of citizens, a pandemic of Olympic fever among foreigners is understandable, especially with the lure of attending a debutante’s ball where the belle is a city that traces back more than 3,000 years. Olympic planning The games are still a year away, and yet tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies and top sporting events are already hotter than XO sauce. A ticketing process meant to keep distribution fair to the public began in April with a 3-month-long application phase. Allocation, result notification and payment processing for applicants commenced in July and will continue through September. During Phase 2, those who didn’t apply earlier can buy remaining tickets from October through December. Remnant tickets will be sold during Phase 3 from April 2008 through the end of the Olympics. For my money (and time), the sanest way to experience the Olympics first-hand is via a travel package that covers event tickets, sightseeing, hotel accommodations, ground transportation and most meals. City Travel and CoSport offer complete ground packages, the kitchen sink option running about $5,500 a person. No surprise, nearly everything will cost significantly more during the Olympics. A 5-star hotel, for example, may run $450-$700 a night, more than double the usual rate. A silver lining is that the Chinese government is keeping the ticket price for most events below $100, well under what was charged in Athens in 2004. Take the Olympics out of the picture and Beijing’s annual visitorship of 4-5 million is astounding for any metropolis, let alone one that requires a visa from practically all foreigners and is the foundation of a communist nation. The city has more than 200 points of interest open to the public, but for traveling families short on time, budget and endurance, the number of must-dos is quite manageable. Beijing’s gold-medal stops No. 1 is the centrally located Forbidden City, 148 breathtaking acres of vermilion-clad temples and glorious gardens where 24 emperors created a home from 1420 through the end of imperial rule in 1911. Self-guided audiotape tours of the hallowed complex are available at the main entrances, but there’s always the option of going with a tour operator, overpriced and restrictive as that choice might be. Neighboring the world’s largest palace complex is Tiananmen Square, the world’s largest central city plaza. Chairman Mao’s mausoleum, the Chinese Revolution History Museum and the Great Hall of the People are among the significant edifices surrounding the site where various historical events have been staged, most infamously the massacre of hundreds of protesters in 1989. A half-day is enough time for the spry and non-lingering to conquer the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, but to do justice to the Beijing area’s other indisputable, irrefutable must-do, a full day should be devoted to the Great Wall. Winding across 4,163 miles of mountain, desert, highland and grassland, the engineering marvel made mostly of brick and stone is best explored with a tour group, something this free-range-loving traveler rarely recommends. Families with young children or seniors should consider tours going to the Badaling or Mutianyu sections as they both offer a cable-car ride up and down the mountainside. So what if you didn’t earn the right to wear your “I climbed the Great Wall” T-shirt? Badaling, an easy 50-mile drive northwest of Beijing, is the most visited and commercialized location, so if you go that route be prepared for crowds in a circus-like setting and the enticing, yet disenchanting aroma of the busy KFC. To its credit, the Juyong Pass has not yet met Colonel Sanders. Many guided tours of the Great Wall include a stop at a factory store, but a reward for putting up with that obligatory detour is a more enchanting stop at the Ming Tombs. The resting place of 13 emperors and their splendid treasures has nearly 600 years of history. Not to be missed is Spirit Way, the sculpture-dotted ceremonial path leading to the tombs. Larger tours usually make time for only one tomb visit, and it will be either Changling, where Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty is buried, or Dingling, which features an underground palace. If your family hasn’t gotten its fill of temples, palaces and shrines by visiting the Forbidden City and Ming Tombs, there’s a couple more worthy of your precious vacation time. The Temple of Heaven in gorgeous Tiantan Park just a few minutes from central Beijing is home of the iconic three-tiered Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, one of the finest examples of Ming architecture and perhaps the most sublime object of beauty in China. Dating back nine centuries to the Jin Dynasty, the amazingly preserved Summer Palace is graced by one of the most magnificent gardens in the world. The landmark is located just 10 miles from midtown, but that equates to about an hour’s drive in notorious Beijing traffic; these days the blaring din of car horns sadly drowns out the charming ding-ding of bicycles in the big city. Plenty of tour operators can take you to the Summer Palace, but with self-guided audio tours available at the entrance and taxis being dirt cheap compared to ours in America, you might instead try beating to your own Chinese drum. Other visits Avoiding tourist traps is easy in Beijing because the vast majority of the city’s points of interests are centuries old, though that doesn’t stop the ambush of hawkers of postcards, hand-crafted cloisonné wares and questionable jade at strategic entrances. Still, some cheesy entertainment can be a lot of fun for the family. Take in an exciting and colorful Chinese acrobatics show in Chaoyang Theater before Cirque du Soleil steals away the last remaining balancing and contortionist acts in the country. And by all means bypass the countless KFCs, McDonald’s and Pizza Huts and treat yourself once to an authentic Peking Duck dinner. Beijing’s famous, albeit touristy Quanjude or Bianyifang restaurants have served crispy-skinned roast duck with a unique theatrical bent for over a century. Worry not over the high fat and high cholesterol for tomorrow; a remarkably friendly local might put his hand on your belly and call you strong as well. David Dickstein is a regular contributor to OC Family Magazine.

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