The Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and Teianamen Square. If you’re planning a trip to China, each of these landmarks should be on your list. We toured each location during a trip we booked through Groupon and Rewards Travel China.
The third morning we awoke in Beijing we loaded our luggage on the tour bus. We’d need to catch a flight to Shanghai later that afternoon. After dropping off our bags, we headed to our final continental breakfast at the hotel before a trip to The Forbidden City.
READ MORE ABOUT OUR FIRST AND SECOND DAY IN CHINA
Originally we planned on taking a culinary tour in the hutong area on our own this morning. The tour we selected included shopping for ingredients in the market and then learning how to make dumplings in a hutong home. We ended up canceling. My advice is to only schedule private tours if the itinerary specifically says you have a day, afternoon or evening of free time on your own to explore. When we bought the trip we weren’t aware that we’d be required to attend multiple sales pitches during the tour. We quickly learned that if we tried to skip one of the stops we would allegedly be forced to cover our expenses to get home. The paperwork we received from Rewards Travel China didn’t mention anything about this, but we decided not to push our luck.
The Forbidden City has 90 different palaces with courtyards, a total of 980 buildings and more than 8700 rooms!
So, instead of shopping and cooking, we loaded on the bus with dozens of other travelers. This time we were dropped off at a Chinese Medicine Institute. After sitting through the doctor’s pitch about how good herbal medicine can be for chronic health concerns, he asked if we’d like to speak to a doctor about any health concerns. My suggestion is to leave at this point. Just walk downstairs and wait for the rest of your group to finish with the consultations. Depending on your health complaints/concerns the doctors will write prescriptions for herbs to buy at the institute. Please remember, you may not know what’s in these herbs, or how they could interact with any medications you may already be taking. It is imparative to speak to your doctor before you begin taking supplements.
I did learn that there are western-style restrooms at the institute, if you need to use one as you wait for the rest of your group. Just a heads up, you will need to supply your own tissue.
After wrapping up the medical stop, we headed to lunch. It was similar to the other meals we ate following our required stops around Beijing. If you’re adventurous, these meals will not excite you. Each one seemed pretty “American-friendly.” The table settings even included forks, for those who weren’t comfortable using chopsticks.
After lunch, there was one final stop on our checklist. Our driver and guide, Amy, took us to the Forbidden City. Amy guided us through door after door and layer after layer of the ancient city. As we deeper and became lost in the rows of ancient buildings, she explained the history of the unique location and why it was so special to the country.
The Forbidden City is in the center of Beijing. You can actually see a little bit of it just north of Chairman Mao’s portrait in Tianannmen Square. Workers started building the extensive city around 1370. According to ChinaHighlights.com, The Forbidden City has 90 different palaces with courtyards, a total of 980 buildings and more than 8700 rooms!Our guide Amy told us that it took about 14 years to complete.
Two dozen emperors used the Forbidden City as the Chinese imperial palace for nearly 500 years. Every person who entered the walls needed special permission from the emperor. It was forbidden to enter without that permission. Hence “The Forbidden City.”
After our visit to the Forbidden City, our time in Beijing ended. We jumped back on the tour bus and were dropped off at the Beijing airport. We split into different groups, (we were on several different flights) and caught our flights to Shanghai.
One thing Rewards Travel China does well is handle tourists at airports. As we got off the bus, another employee greeted us. His job was to make sure each of us checked in correctly and made it to the next flight.
It turns out it was a good thing he was there to help. There was some kind of problem with the reservations for three people traveling in our group of 40. They couldn’t board our flight and were forced to stay in Beijing while Rewards Travel China figured out the problem. The rest of us continued on our way to Shanghai. Rewards Travel China eventually figured out the issue. The three flew to Shanghai on a later flight and rejoined us the next morning.
The traveling for the day wasn’t over after we landed in Shanghai. Another guide met us at the Shanghai airport. She introduced herself by her English name of Ivy. We waited several hours for everyone else in our group to arrive.
After getting our luggage and reconnecting at the airport, we boarded another tour bus. We drove from the Shanghai airport to our hotel in Suzhou. The drive was about an hour.
Ivy checked each of us into rooms and made sure we were settled. This hotel was also extremely nice and would be considered at least 4-stars in the U.S. This time there was a queen bed instead of the two singles we had in Beijing. Our new room was also stocked with soda and tea, as well as a kettle to heat water. The TV was similar to the one in Beijing, but had just one channel in English.
It didn’t really matter. With the morning sightseeing, the flight, and the bus ride, we were exhausted by the time we checked into our room. We quickly went to sleep to rest for another day of exploring China.