Beijing: Welcome to the Exhaustion Olympics. Spoiler: Beijing Wins.
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Well, at least it's not Xinjiang-level tiring. That's top-tier exhaustion. All that driving there makes you lose the will to live.
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Xinjiang is definitely no walk in the park, not suitable for the elderly or kids. I averaged over 6 hours of driving daily in both Northern and Southern Xinjiang, especially on the Pamir Plateau. It was tiring, for sure, but not 'drive-till-your-back-breaks' tiring since I could switch drivers with my companions, and the beautiful scenery helped. In Beijing, however, it was all on my own two feet. I even needed acupuncture when I got back!
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Haha, Beijing is pretty exhausting, but Chongqing? That's truly next-level tiring.
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Chongqing doesn't require as much advance booking, so it's less of a hassle in that way.
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A more manageable way to do Beijing is probably one major attraction per day, and then exploring the surrounding area if you still have energy. But that's not very tourist-friendly for a short trip.
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Yeah, that's what we did – one attraction a day (except for one day), and we used the mornings to sleep in. Still, we couldn't keep up. The crowds make it even more tiring, and there's nowhere to sit.
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I travel a lot and consider myself a good walker, but even I nearly collapsed at the Military Museum. I'm literally sitting on the museum stairs right now giving you a thumbs up for this comment.
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Hahahaha, the Military Museum isn't even the worst! But yeah, crowds definitely make it more exhausting. Reminds me of when we couldn't find a place to eat at the Science and Tech Museum and ended up eating McDonald's on the stairs.
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How do you even get tickets for the Forbidden City? I try every day and can never snag any!
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How long did you try? I was clicking in and out of the payment page non-stop for a solid half hour before I finally managed to get through.
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When my husband and I visited, we stayed at a hotel on Fuyou Street near the 1st Ring Road, super close to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. We rented an e-scooter and used that to get around everywhere – so convenient! You can't ride it in Tiananmen Square, but it's fine elsewhere. We visited the Forbidden City, Prince Gong's Mansion, the National Museum, and Universal Studios. The food wasn't great, so we headed to Chongqing. I actually found Chongqing more tiring because of all the ups and downs. In Beijing, apart from walking within the attractions, we used the e-scooter for everything else.
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I'm actually curious – in Chongqing, I could always get a taxi wherever I wanted to go, and it didn't take that long. Why walk? In Beijing, it's often hard to get a taxi, and it takes ages.
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I wanted to ask, can you actually see Chairman Mao's body at the Mausoleum?
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Yes, you walk past it in a line. You get to see him for about 2 minutes.
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Haha, just saw this. Gotcha!
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Ah, it's that amazing 1.9m tall handsome commentator/guide!