Beijing activities

The Great Wall of China

A must-see! There are multiple sections that are relatively close to Beijing. The best-known is Badaling, but most Great Wall reviews says that Mutianyu is much better, mostly due to the insane crowds at Badaling.

Unfortunately, Mutianyu is harder to get to, requiring either a somewhat lengthy bus-then-transfer-to-minibus ride (which did not sound like fun with small children) or a taxi/private car rental (which would have required us lugging the car seats all the way from Shanghai). In contrast, Badaling is accessible via train -- much more manageable, and no car seats required. And we figured that the cold weather would likely keep the crowds down.

The S2 train goes from Beijing North Railway Station to Badaling. Finding schedules online was a little bit of a challenge. This page currently has schedules, but that might change in the future!

Beijing North Railway Station is accessible via the Xizhimen subway station (line 2). There is plenty of signage in Chinese and English to direct you from the subway exit to the train station. Allow a few extra minutes to buy tickets at the station (it was 12 yuan/about $2 per adult; the kids were free) and get to your train. We didn't... and ended up missing our train! If you find yourself in the same boat and need to kill some time till the next train, there is a nice mall attached to the subway/train station. Plenty of restaurants and shops, and a fantastic fish tank on the lower level. And regular toilets, unlike the train station :)

The train ride takes about an hour, but the nice thing about trains is that the kids can get up and walk around, go to the bathroom, etc. Way better than a bus ride of the same length.

We were a little worried about missing the Badaling station stop, but it was very clear. It was the only station stop where the announcements were made in both Chinese and English :) Plus, pretty much the entire train got up.

Once we arrived, it was a short walk (a little under a kilometer) to the base of the Great Wall. There were signs, but we mostly just followed our fellow train travelers.

Turns out we were right about the cold keeping the hordes of visitors away. This is the main parking lot. Apparently, it is packed in summer, but on our visit, it was a ghost town:

This worked out really well for us, but I do think I'd opt for Mutianyu in summer, despite the hassle of getting there.

There are a variety of restaurants at the base of the Great Wall, but none up at the top, so bring food/water if you think you'll need it during your stay. Also, you might want to use the bathrooms at the bottom. The bathrooms at the top were probably the foulest bathrooms I've ever used in my life. Chinese toilets (which are stinky under the best of circumstances), port-a-potty style... ::shudder::

You can either walk up to the top, or you can take a cable car. Since we were getting a late start on the day (due to missing our intended train) and since it probably wasn't a good idea for me to hike at altitude while pregnant, we opted to take the cable car. It was 60 yuan (about $10) roundtrip for my husband and me. The kids were free.

Once you get to the top of the wall, you just walk... and walk... and walk. There are lots of steps, uneven terrain, and steep inclines, so it's a bit of a challenging walk for kids, especially little ones like Noob. And I can't see any way that you could bring a stroller up there. Needless to say, the Ergo was an absolute lifesaver. In fact, Littles got tired midway through, and Noob wanted to walk anyway -- so it was into the Ergo for Littles!

(This carrier isn't a great fit for her anymore; you can see how it hits her very low on her back, and doesn't support her bottom from knee-to-knee. But it's perfectly safe, just not quite as comfortable as it once was, for child and wearer. Still, better than having to either force her to walk or carry her in our arms!)

Despite the challenging walk, the views were absolutely worth it. Truly spectacular, and a highlight of our entire China trip.

Forbidden City/Imperial Palace

This is easily accessible from the Tian'anmen East or Tian'anmen West subway stations (both on line 1).

Unfortunately, our visit was a bust. It was freezing cold and so just a few minutes into it, the kids were literally screaming because they were so cold. So we ended up seeing just a handful of things before turning around and heading back to the hotel for some hot chocolate :)

If you plan to go during times of extreme temperatures/weather (hot, cold, rain, etc.), know that it's a pretty long walk from the entrance to the entire Forbidden City area (right near the subway exits) to the entrance of the actual Imperial Palace, where you pay your admission fee and all that. Both kids were already pretty cold by the time we got to the entrance, and it didn't get any better once we got inside. There are many "buildings" inside the Imperial Palace, but they are all open-air pavilions that provide virtually no shelter from the elements.

We really should have saved ourselves the admission fee and turned around at the entrance. It wasn't worth what we paid (40 yuan/about $7 per adult, plus a little more for audio guides that we barely used) for the little that we saw. The walk to the entrance would've given us enough of a taste of what it's all about without tormenting the kids any more than necessary.

Tiananmen Square

This is directly across from the entrance to the Forbidden City, easily accessible from the Tian'anmen East or Tian'anmen West subway stations (both on line 1).

It's just a big square with a lot of monuments :) Plenty of room for the kids to roam, and gawk at Communist-era architecture and statuesque soldiers. There are a bunch of museums in the buildings surrounding the square, too.

There is a lot more to see in Beijing, but that was all we had time for! Still well worth the trip!

Navigating the Shanghai and Beijing subway systems

Noob and me on the Shanghai metro

As I mentioned in my last post, we navigated both Shanghai and Beijing by subway, almost exclusively. Much cheaper than taking taxis everywhere, and much more convenient and safe, too, when you're traveling with small children who still require car seats.

Finding your way around
If you've used subway systems just about anywhere else in the world, the Shanghai and Beijing systems are pretty easy to figure out. Ticket machines, station signs, and train announcements are in English as well as Chinese, so you don't have to worry about deciphering Chinese characters to find your destination.

Fares
Fares are pretty cheap by American standards. Most of our rides on the Shanghai metro were either 3 or 4 yuan (about 50 or 66 cents) one-way. The Beijing subway is even cheaper, with a flat fare of 2 yuan (about 33 cents) one-way. In both systems, kids under 1.2 meters ride free.

Security
Many stations have security checkpoints, where you must x-ray any large bags. There are no metal detectors or other security checks if you don't have bags.

Exits
Most stations have multiple exits. It's a really good idea to figure out the numbered exit for the place you're trying to get to, if at all possible. We took the wrong exit out of the metro when going to Yu Yuan Gardens, and ended up taking a roundabout walk of about 15 or 20 minutes to get there. On the way back, we followed signs to the metro, and discovered that there was a different metro entrance that was maybe 5 minutes away :)

Crowded trains
The trains can be quite crowded, especially on weekends and during rush hour. Noob was almost always in the Ergo, which helped tremendously: We didn't have to worry about cramming a stroller onto a packed train, or about him getting lost in the shuffle. We had to pay closer attention to Littles, to make sure she made it onto the train with us and didn't get crushed by passengers who didn't notice her!

Interestingly, we found that in Beijing, people were very accommodating and almost always went out of their way to give up their seats immediately for my mother-in-law (who is in her late 60s) and the kids, and for me if I was carrying Noob, even on the very busiest trains. In Shanghai, this happened probably less than 50% of the time.

Beggars
Technically, soliciting isn't allowed on the subways, but we ran into a couple of beggars on the Shanghai metro. You can usually tell when they're coming because for whatever reason, they all have these karaoke-type machines that they sing into. So when you hear random music on the subway, it's probably a beggar coming through.

One incident that still haunts me is when a woman came through with a boy who was maybe 10 years old. There was something wrong with his eyes. We had read that people do sometimes intentionally disfigure/disable kids so that they'll be able to get more money begging, and both my husband and I got the strong sense that that was the case here. If you've ever seen Slumdog Millionaire, it was like coming face-to-face with that. It makes me sick that someone could do something like that to an innocent child. We didn't give any money, so as not to encourage that kind of behavior to continue.

Littles did notice the beggars and so we explained to her in very simple terms what they were doing and why. With older kids, you may need to be prepared for even more of an explanation.

Where to stay
In Shanghai, we stayed near the Xujiahui metro station, which is on the 1 and 9 lines. We rode the 1 and 2 lines the most by far, so staying on or near one of those two lines is a good idea.

In Beijing, we stayed near the Jianguomen subway station, which is on the 1 and 2 lines. Again, these were the two lines that we rode the most by far. The 2 line basically goes in a big loop around the center of the city, and the 1 and 5 lines cut through the loop. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City are both on the 1 line, and the trains to the Great Wall leave from Beijing North Railway Station, which is on the 2 line (Xizhimen station). So if those are your primary destinations, staying anywhere on the 2 line or on the 1 or 5 lines within the loop will put you in a good spot for sightseeing.

To/from the train stations
The subway systems in both cities connect to most of the train stations. Note that there are multiple train stations in each city, and they are often quite far away from each other, so you want to make sure you go to the right station!

The high-speed rail train between Shanghai and Beijing generally arrives at/departs from the Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. This is almost at the western end of the 2 line, so it's a good distance from the downtown area. I think we allotted about 60-90 minutes to get there from Xujiahui.

On the Beijing end, the high-speed rail trains arrive at/depart from Beijing South Railway Station, on the 4 line. It took about 20-30 minutes to get from there to Jianguomen.

To/from the airport
We took a taxi from the Shanghai airport to our hotel, but on our way home, my husband took a taxi with all the luggage, while my mother-in-law, the kids, and I took the metro.

Pudong International Airport is the eastern end of the 2 line. Again, this means that it's a good distance from the downtown area. In addition, the trains serving the eastern stations are shorter than the trains serving the rest of the 2 line, and run less frequently. This means that at Guanglan Road, you have to get off your train to transfer to another train. This might not be so bad when you're coming from the airport, but going to the airport, we ended up being on one of 2 or 3 six-car trains that then had to jam onto a single three-car train. As you can imagine, it was absolutely packed! Honestly, if I had to do that journey again, I don't think I'd take the metro, at least not with small kids. And if you have large amounts of luggage, definitely forget about it.

It might be better coming from the airport, since you'd probably be able to get a seat or at least stake out some personal space right away, which would help if the train did fill up at subsequent station stops. Then at Guanglan Road, you'd be transferring from a small train to a bigger train, which shouldn't be a problem. But still, be prepared for a long trip. It took us about two hours total.

Another option is to take the high-speed rail train, which runs between the Longyang Road station (also on the 2 line) and the airport. This is a little pricier (50 yuan/a little over $8 one-way, or 40 yuan/just under $7 if you have an airline ticket receipt or other proof of purchase), but still way cheaper than a cab.

The kids' health and safety in China

By far the biggest challenge during our trip to China was ensuring that the kids (the two outside ones and the one inside, too) stayed healthy and safe. To be honest, I didn't even really research much about this topic ahead of time. In retrospect, this was probably a good thing, because it turns out there were a lot of considerations, and I might have gotten scared off from doing the trip at all :) I will say that I'm very glad that we went and would do it again in a heartbeat, even knowing what I know now. So keep that in mind as you read the rest of this post…

Water
Drinking tap water in China is not recommended. We used bottled water for drinking, cooking (the service apartment that we stayed in for most of our time in China had a small kitchen), and teeth brushing. We did use tap water for bathing, hand washing, and dish washing.

Bottled water is cheap to buy, and hotels also provide bottled water. In the service apartment, the room had a water dispenser (like a water cooler that you might see in an office in the USA). A big bottle of water for the dispenser cost about $2 and lasted for 3-4 days.

Littles is old enough now to get her own cup of water, so we had to make sure that she knew to always get water from the dispenser, not the sink like she does at home.

Food
I've never been so thankful for the FDA. Say what you will about it and its regulatory teeth (or lack thereof), but at least in the USA, I have some degree of confidence that 1) food is generally produced in a safe manner and 2) if there is a food safety problem, it will be publicized (in a language I can understand) and addressed appropriately.

I had no such reassurances in China. Milk has been tainted with chemicals, produce has been grown using human feces as fertilizer, etc. Since we were doing a lot of our own cooking, we did most of our food shopping at Western grocery stores, rather than Chinese markets. Much of the food there was imported, which meant that the prices were (significantly) higher, but we had more reassurance that the food had been produced under safe conditions. When eating out, we just used common sense, and stuck to restaurants that came recommended or otherwise seemed reputable.

As in most places where you can't drink the water, eating raw fruits/vegetables isn't recommended either, since they may have been washed in tap water. Even if you wash them yourself, they could have come into contact with bacteria that water won't get off. I was really careful about this, since I had Q to worry about -- some bacteria can have little/no effect on a healthy person, but can greatly affect a fetus. The others were slightly more lax, and were fine (for the most part). As much as possible, I did try to get fruits/vegetables with a peel for the kids to snack on (bananas, kiwi, oranges, even stuff like apples or carrots) so that I could take the peel, and hopefully any bacteria, off before eating it.

Unlike many places where you can't drink the water, ice in restaurants isn't a concern. For starters, it's rare to get water in restaurants (tea is offered as the drink of choice), and if you do, it's usually warm (apparently, the Chinese believe that cold water is not good for you). But restaurants that do offer ice usually make it out of boiled or filtered water.

Food allergies
Noob is allergic to peanuts, and Chinese dishes often have peanuts in them. We steered clear of restaurants that didn't have English translations for their menus, to avoid accidentally ordering a peanut-containing dish. Sometimes, this meant choosing a less-desirable restaurant option, like the time that we needed a quick meal and we chose McDonald's over a Chinese fast food place that had a Chinese-only menu. But I'd take a McDonald's meal any day over a trip to the hospital to treat anaphylactic shock.

Car safety
Things I learned about cars and driving in China:

• American driver licenses are not valid in China, so we needed to take a taxi or hire a car/driver whenever we needed to drive somewhere.
• LATCH (or ISOFIX) seems to be completely non-existent. This meant that Littles’ Go Hybrid Booster could only be used as a booster, not as a harnessed seat.
• The seat belts I saw did not have the auto lockoff capability that is common on cars sold in America. This meant that I had to use the built-in lockoffs on Noob’s convertible seat when installing it using the seatbelt (which was, of course, my only option, since LATCH wasn’t available).
• Many taxis have a cover over the back seat that prevents you from accessing the seatbelt entirely, making it impossible to secure a car seat.
• There are no car seat laws in China, so you won’t get arrested for not putting your child in a car seat. Of course, if you get in an accident, the laws of physics (specifically how they relate to unrestrained children in cars) still apply…
• And just FYI, emergency services are not as reliable in China as they are in the USA. We went out to dinner one night with some of my husband’s Chinese co-workers and passed an accident on the way. I asked the Chinese about how long an ambulance would take to arrive. They laughed. “Oh, maybe an hour? Maybe more?”

Due to all of this, we took public transportation whenever possible. We found the subway systems in both Shanghai and Beijing to be very cheap, convenient, reliable, and safe. And no concerns about waiting an hour for an ambulance after my unrestrained child went flying through the windshield.

Pedestrian safety
As scary as driving was, sometimes walking around didn’t seem much better :)

• We had to be heads-up at all times while walking on the sidewalk. There were tons of little motorized scooters that drove at relatively high speeds on the sidewalks, and sometimes the random car decided to hop up on the sidewalk as well. We had to keep a close eye on Littles, in particular. (Noob was usually on my back in the Ergo, so he was less apt to wander into the path of an oncoming scooter.
• Red traffic lights seemed to be treated as a gentle suggestion to stop :) Even with pedestrians waiting to cross the street – or actually in the process of crossing the street. This was especially true of the motorized scooters, as well as bicycles. I usually tried to hide behind a couple of other pedestrians crossing the road, figuring the cars/scooters/bikes would hit them first!
• The subways could be very crowded at times, with lots of pushing, and people weren’t always aware of the kids. The Ergo really came in handy, as it prevented us from having to deal with a stroller, and put Noob more at adult eye level. But we had to make sure one of us always kept a firm grip on Littles’ hand when boarding/disembarking, to prevent her from getting lost in the crowds, and sometimes we had to keep her from getting totally squished.

Despite all that… we all survived! We just had to be a little more careful about things than we do back home.