happy owl's life: Beijing Freezing Trip Nov 2012

Impulse trip to Beijing in Nov because of the 1-for-1 Jetstar tixs. It's a 多灾多难 trip even before leaving. Jetstar's service was terrible even before we board the plane. They cancelled the flight, tried calling us but was unsuccessful and did not follow up to inform us :( We only realise when we tried to do online check in and to our horror, our flight had been rescheduled to next day. We scrambled to cancel our first night stay in the hotel but still need to cover the cost due to the late changes!!! Our trip hit one of the earliest snow and heaviest rain within a day in Beijing. The saving grace was we still managed to have a great trip, the hotel was not exactly convenient but was a very nice boutique hotel.

Hotel Kapok (木棉花酒店)

北京市东城区东华门大街16号

We reached Beijing at an ungodly hours so we have no choice but to take a taxi. Found that Beijing taxi drivers generally dislike using the meter for tourist. Lucky we insist to use the meter, the price to the hotel was RMB94 (there was 1 driver who quoted RMB300!!!). For our returned trip to the airport, we took the airport express which cost RMB25 but there was a lot of lugging of baggage up and down the stairs.

Hotel Kapok is a modern boutique hotel which is clean and comes with all the basic amenities. We paid for SGD107 per room per night with no breakfast. It is located in between subway stations (Wanfujing and Tiananmen East). We tried both and agreed that Wanfujing is easier to safer to reach. The hotel concierge recommended Tiananmen East, the route is too quiet to walk at night.

Sightseeing


颐和园

颐和园

北海公园

前门大街

南锣古巷

王府井大街

故宫

798艺术区

北京小吃

First meal in Beijing - KFC. Bought at the airport, the 豆浆 is different from Singapore's version, I think they added milk. Quite nice nevertheless.

KFC Supper Meal

那家小馆（永安里店）
朝阳区建国门外永安里10号(新华保险大厦南侧)

Nice ambience, great with very nice palace food, we tried all the famous dishes such as 秘制酥皮虾, 皇坛子, 桂花山药. All of them are delicious. We paid RMB278. Definitely a nice restaurant to go to.

那家小馆

海底捞火锅(王府井店)

东城区王府井大街88号乐天银泰百货8楼(近王府井教堂)

We waited for an hour before we get our table but we are not complaining as we are pigging ourselves with the free fruits, drinks and snacks. Tried all the recommended items such as 虾滑，豆浆，血旺，羊肉, etc. The 豆浆 is not very nice, quite dilute. KFC's one is better. We paid RMB220. Good service and great to warm up the body in a cold night.

炸酱面

We tried 2 炸酱面 shops in Beijing - 老北京炸酱面老店(王府井) and 京味面大王(地安门店). Both are too salty for us but personally we prefer 老北京炸酱面老店 for the flavor.

老北京炸酱面老店

京味面大王

文宇奶酪店

东城区南锣鼓巷49号(黑芝麻胡同口)

Yummy and smooth yogurt, definitely recommend the 原味奶酪 but the 奶卷 is a bit too thick and milky for our taste.

北京烤鸭

Tried 2 Peking duck restaurant - 全聚德烤鸭店(前门店) and 大董烤鸭店(东四十条店). 全聚德烤鸭店 is a huge disappointment. Bad service and the duck is way to fat and oily. The 面皮 is too thick and cold and dry when served. 大董烤鸭店 is so much better in terms of service and the duck is leaner and crispier. The 面皮 is soft and moist even when cold and complimentary desserts after the meal.