Walker’s Memories: The Third Beijing Trip (April 25-28, 2019)

Number of days：4 days
Time: April
With whom：a person

DAY1: Kunming - Beijing - Dashilan (Zhengyangmen)

DAY2: Beijing - Capital Museum

DAY3: Badaling Great Wall - Wangfujing

DAY4: Beijing - Kunming

I was fortunate enough to be in Beijing for the third time. That evening, I visited Dashilan and Zhengyangmen to enjoy the night view and experience the charm of old Beijing. This is a place I had always wanted to visit, but I hadn't. The next afternoon, I headed straight to the Capital Museum, a place I had always wanted to visit. I hesitated before going to Prince Gong's Mansion last time, but ultimately chose Prince Gong's Mansion. This time, I made up for it by going to the Capital Museum. This trip to the Capital Museum was incredibly worthwhile because they had exhibitions from Jiangxi and Qinghai. Especially since I hadn't been to Jiangxi before, I got to see so many treasures. But my third day at the Badaling Great Wall was a bit disappointing. It happened to rain that day, so I had to hold an umbrella the entire time. The wall was shrouded in fog, making visibility extremely low. Because Badaling is difficult to access, I booked a direct bus online, boarding at the subway entrance near the Bird's Nest. But after getting off the bus, the guide, who was essentially my tour guide, pushed me to take the cable car up. Having previously researched travel guides, many people recommended climbing up instead. Since I preferred to climb on my own, I chose not to take the cable car. The guide seemed visibly annoyed. We agreed to meet at 4:00, but he called at 3:30 to keep me up. I didn't even get to see the Great Wall Museum, so I had to rush down. I've booked day tours and direct bus services many other places before, but this was the first time I'd ever experienced service like this. And this is Beijing, especially in the tourism industry...

After getting off the bus, since I had been to the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube before and the time was right, I planned to take the subway to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag-lowering ceremony. However, when I got off the subway and asked the staff which exit to go to watch the flag-lowering ceremony, the staff told me: it is only available during certain time periods and not today... Forget it, I might as well take the subway to Wangfujing for a walk. This is also a tourist experience district that most tourist cities have. Although each place is similar, it is still worth going to experience it. At that time, I really wanted to go to Shijiazhuang to see the Hebei Museum early the next morning, but considering that I would not be able to make it because my flight was too early, I would have to do it next time.