Return to China

Being an economic, political, and cultural powerhouse, Beijing needs very little introduction to most travelers. With a population of roughly 22 million it is also one of the largest cities in the world. If going to China there is also a good chance that this is where you would initially land, basing the start of your travels from here.

Somewhat surprisingly, in spite of living nearly four years in the country, Beijing was not a city that I spent much time in at all, only using it as the occasional travel hub as I moved from place to place. This was almost entirely due to the fact that I lived in Lianyungang, a smallish (for China!) city of 4 million people, with terrible connections to much of the country. Beijing was either a hellish bus ride of around 11 hours, or a relatively expensive flight that never seemed to connect well with my time off.

Flash forward a few years, and now Lianyungang has high speed train connections, meaning that it only took us around 4 hours to get to the city! We arrived at our hotel in the Wangfujing district just in time to get lunch at a nearby Szechuan place. After filling up on delicious, spicy food we were taken to rent city bikes, which you simply unlocked with an app on your phone and our first real introduction to the city was as we rolled through it on two wheels!

We rode not only past iconic landmarks such as Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, but also through the Hutongs, which quickly became my favorite part of the city. Hutongs, for those unfamiliar, are the narrow streets and alleys that seem to be everywhere around the center of the city. Not only is this a nice break from the bustle of the main streets, but it’s also a way to take a glimpse of Beijing of the past. While some of these alleys have become major tourist attractions, many remain quite quiet and retain much of their local feel. Our bike tour came to an end in pretty much the perfect way: enjoying a beer in the beautiful courtyard from one of the first breweries in Beijing!