Beijing: Here We Go Again! D1

[Iris Marquardt]

Here's a version that's easy for foreign friends to understand, chronicling my tour and food review in Beijing:

• Arrived at Beijing early in the morning around five o'clock, after struggling to grab a supplementary train ticket. I stayed at Xizhimen Hotel, which had excellent service! The hotel staff let me check into my room earlier than scheduled, and when I returned from sightseeing, I found my room had been cleaned again and left with a fruit platter – what joy!

• The hotel's location is convenient, being within walking distance from both Xizhimen subway station and Xinjie Kou station (Xizhimen Station could be regarded as a major hub, ensuring easy access anywhere; while Xinjie Kou has many delicacies).

• First, I had a nap because of delayed awakening until ten o'clock, leading to missing breakfast and having lunch instead.

• For lunch, I went to the Ziguangge (Xizhimen branch). It costs two people 163 yuan. A couple of signature dishes were ordered: "braised pork strips", "mixed eggs and meat", yogurt and also an offering of "sticky rice sweet snack" (northwestern specialty) and chicken leg soup.

• By checking-in on "Dazhong Dianping"(similar to your Yelp or TripAdvisor), we were given red sugar sesame cakes.

• With lots of people there, at 10:30, mostly all tables were taken.

• However,米饭来得太慢了，甚至非常黏。其他菜还是很不错的，尤其是赠送的甑糕和烧饼。
  (However, the rice took too long to come out and was very sticky. Other dishes were generally not bad though, especially the offerings of sticky rice sweet cake and sesame cakes)
  Note: There is some colloquial terms here, so I made sure to convey the meaning clearly.

• Went to the National Museum of China.

• Tickets should be booked on time through the official account or website. Otherwise, it might no longer be available when you visit.

• The museum was huge; We toured around the National Museum for five hours but still missed one floor.

• I rented a tour guide machine, which cost me 48 yuan. But note: This tour guide system only automatically senses narration in one of the exhibition halls.

• Resting area is available in case we get tired. Experiencing an virtual reality gallery, I had a taste of the artistic world created by Italian artist Caravaggio.

• Then had dinner at Haidian Huangzhuang, which mainly houses education and tech companies. I tried McDonalds, one local beef noodle store called Xi Bu Luangxiang.

• Coincidentally, I encountered a group of senior high students nearby from RenDaFuZhong (one of the top secondary schools in China).

• Last event, I watched live comedy performance called 'Happy Journey' by Happy Magua, one of the famous comedy groups. Though the seating was quite tight.

• After returning back home at 9:30 pm on Line 4 subway, not crowded.

• Well, sleep time now. I'm preparing myself for visiting the zoo tomorrow!

[Dallas Durgan]

I'd love to visit the museum.

[Ms. Alberta Moen]

It feels like it hasn't been too crowded recently. You can usually get a reservation if you keep refreshing the mini-program around 5 PM every day.

[Karen Zulauf]

You should definitely go to the Daxing Wildlife Park. The one at Xizhimen is too small and mainly relies on its pandas to attract visitors.

[Katrina Ziemann]

The weather was great when I went yesterday, and I saw plenty of animals.