Travel: China - Beijing

[lymmlim]

Hi,


Any good travel agent do organised Educational Tour to Beijing ? I was thinking to go during PSLE 2009 Marking days ?

Thanks.

[MMM]

Original Title: Beijing in December


Anyone gone to Beijing in December before???

My colleague advised me against as it's cold. Anyone with experience. We are keen to go with grandparents and the kids (youngest 4 yr old). Was wondering if it is fine to do so or should avoid....

[wiimum]

Agree, it will be cold. Not advisable for too young kids. Perhaps Nov might be a better time.

[momoshop]

Hi


I am based in beijing now and I will say beijing/ China as a whole is not the best place for young kids.

1. In dec, the weather will be v cold and touch wood, but if the kids fall ill, the medical facilities here are not the same as SG for sure. When my kids fell sick, I bring them to the top hospital but even then, they do a mix of TCM and western meds. Not to mention they will likely put ppl on a drip without a bed sometimes, I was placed on a chair drip before. And one of my kids is allergic to TCM in general so it was a bit tough insistng on international brand names of meds from the likes of Bayer, etc.

2. It is not v kid friendly, no smoke free restaurant and often have to grapple with smokers. When i request for non smoking, sometimes they have this section but it is separate only by a window of beads, and the smoke will still come through. Dun be fooled by the No smoking sign, on many occassions, in non smokign restaurant and u still get smokers and if you talk to the servers, they will say it is open to the tolerance of guests - i.e. of no one complains,then they can smoke even if it is a non smoking restaurant. And when I was pregnant, I have to kick up a major fuss many a times toavoid the smoke but I gave up and prefer to eat at home

3. I will advise you to bring your own utensils as they do not have child utensils. Unless you go to the more branded or well known restaurant, but even then, sometimes baby chair will be limited.

4. How old are your other kids? In general, I find the sights in Beijing/ China less suitable/ fascinating forthe younger kids. Other than the abundance of space to run which is a plus point, the sights in BJ e.g. forbidden city, great wall etc, require patience from the kids and they are often not interested in those. My kids only adore the Zoo (which is v crappy) and the aquarium which is ok. When we went to forbidden city or the more historic sights, there isnot much in it for them. My boys are 3 and 4.

5. The touristy places are not exactly easy as well, in terms of being kid friendly. Toilets are always a problem. No diaper changing and they smell (i am not kidding, my eldest who is 4 and v toilet trained, insist on wearing diaper sometimes as he would say 'I smell something' and he refuses to go). When we want to rest our legs and let the kids have some break, there are only v chinese joints/ chinese 'fastfood' - which consist of meat + ricepacks/ instant noodles. No starbucks, or even Mcd, so be sure to bring your own snacks.

Hubby and I pack a full bag when we are on trip so the tods are less cranky, even if it means a simple trip to the Summer Palace.

However, a plus point is the Chinese are generally very tolerant of kids and will go out of their way to make the kid feel welcome, of course, subjected to the limits/ parameters they are in, e.g. no kid utensils etc in the more Chinese joints. When we went on a cruise recently to the Gorges, the hospitality shown to the kids was awesome, but we bring a lot of our own stuff, utensils,bottles, snacks, bread etc.

Hope the above helps. let me know if you need more info!

[karmeleon]

momoshop:

However, a plus point is the Chinese are generally very tolerant of kids and will go out of their way to make the kid feel welcome, of course, subjected to the limits/ parameters they are in,:)

They are, huh? The only reaction I got in Beijing was \"are the kids ALL yours????!!!\" (in Mandarin). :roll:

[momoshop]

karmeleon:

momoshop:

However, a plus point is the Chinese are generally very tolerant of kids and will go out of their way to make the kid feel welcome, of course, subjected to the limits/ parameters they are in,:)

They are, huh? The only reaction I got in Beijing was \"are the kids ALL yours????!!!\" (in Mandarin). :roll:

Yeah, we get that a lot, as my tods are 1 year apart, I keep getting questions of \"Oh, are they twins?\" or they will insist my no. 2 is a gal (when he is SO Obviously a boy with his Thomas shirt, Thomas shoes, army cap... sigh, we gave up explaining already).

We also have to \"endure\" quite a bit of the \"Can i take a picture of your kids/ with your kids\" and itis a struggle when my no.1 refuses. So I thought they must genuinely like kids.. I never fail to get a seat on the train when they seeme with the boys.. That is more than I can say when we were back in SG

[Merlion]

Pls note that China food can be quite oily and salty sometimes. You might want to remind the waitress that you prefer less salt, less oil. If not, most likely you will wake up middle in the night looking for water. :!:

[MMM]

Thanks for the response. I go to Shanghai very regularly and thot that it might be a good idea for the kids to see China. The purpose is to let them realise the importance of learning chinese. I think we drop the idea of going to Beijing during school hols. We are probably considering Korea. Though it’s cold but heard from my colleague who is Korean that it will be nice for a change and the theme parks have indoor play place,etc…

[kaydenbrown]

The kids will love the snow for sure!

[amylqf]

I recently bought my P2 child to Beijing. The weather is fantastic during June. not too hot and not too cold.


We are on our own, not joining any tour. The places that we went are not common sight-seeing location for adult, but they are all great for kids. My child enjoy this trip very much.

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1: 蟹岛 (highly recommended)
location: 东苇路，east suburb of Beijing. you can take a taxi there.
It is just a name, not a island and there is no crab there too.
There are a lot of stuff to play inside:
-mini theme park
-fishing (with airconditioning)
-mini zoo.

My daughter loves the mini zoo the best. It is better than Beijing zoo as the child can interact with the animal in near distance.
The entrance fee is only RMB5. you can bring your own vegetable or buy from there at rmb 3 per packet. You can feed all the animal there.
money, eagle, farm animal like rabbit, duck, goose, cow, goat, pig, etc. We saw peacock open up the tail too.

near by 蟹岛, on the same road, there is a 金盏郁金香花园。
you can pick fresh organic vegetable and fruit there.
There is a indoor swimming complex, just like our wild wild wet.
entrance fee: rmb 98-168 for adult, child rmb 60.
but we didn't go inside as we didn't bring out swimming custume on that day.

Day 2: Forbidden City. (this is suitable for primary kids)
Transport: take taxi or take mrt, line 1, alight at Tian An Men station.
Ticket: RMB60 for adult. free for kids below 1.2meter.
I rent a e-tour (a electronic device that give you a tour of forbidden city). I paid rmb 10 (about S$2, cheap tour guide, hehe) and rmb 100 deposit. You can get the deposit back when you exit at main gate.
We enter from the north gate, and exit at the south gate.
The place is too big. we just manage to walk through the center and my kid complain tired. Despite this, it is still a educational tour.

Day 3: china science center
For detail, pls refer to their website
http://www.cstm.org.cn

On the 1st floor, there is a small science center specially build for younger children. entrance fee: rmb 20 for child, rmb 10 for adult.
It is as great as singapore science center. The kids can spent whole day there.

Day 4: 索尼探梦 and 朝阳公园.
it is inside the 朝阳公园. enter from the south gate of the park.
The ticket is rmb 30. cover the entrance fee for the park.

索尼探梦 is a mini science center that supported by Sony.
but you can't find most of the stuff in other science center.
e.g. there is a device that explain how the eye focus.
At each station, there will be a big sony LCD screen to show you how to play and what is the principle behind it.
If the timing is right, you can catch a drama show too.

朝阳公园 has a lot to offer. playground, water activities such as rent a boat, rent a tricycle, etc.

If you have time, can book a puppet or acrobat show through http://www.chinapiao.com.cn