Saturday 13th May
09:45 – Air France flight from Heathrow to Paris
13:55 – Air France flight from Paris to Beijing (£321.18/person)
Sunday 14th May
05:55 – Land at Beijing Capital International Airport
07:30 – Taxi to Miyun/Xinchenzizhen (¥ 800)
09:30 – Arrive at Beijing Bailingquan Courtyard
(Day spent snoozing and reading thanks to glorious jet lag!)
13:00 – Lunch of chicken (complete with head), tofu, sticky white rice and fermented cabbage salad
(Continued snoozing/reading)
19:00 – BBQ dinner! Amazing chicken wings and spicy tofu skewers with some courgette and cabbage salads.
21:00 Lights out
Monday 15th May
09:30 – Wake up
(Lazy morning spent catching up on some reading and sleep!)
11:00 – Breakfast and lunch. Due to our late rising and poor Chinese. We think we may have confused our hosts! So breakfast and lunch was combined! Fresh and HUGE grapes, sweet plum tomatoes, spicy black pepper fried tofu balls, radish salad, and a whole white fish.
16:00 – Our host showed us the route up to the start of the wall, where we were to begin our run!
18:00 – Dinner! Yes, we did bring pesto and pasta with us which our hosts kindly cooked up for us.
18:30 – Prep back packs with water, food, tech and medical supplies
19:00 – Bed
Tuesday 16th May
03:00 – Up to eat overnight oats and asses the daylight situation
04:00 – Up to shower and get prepped to plod
05:00 – 50km Challenge!
13:00 – Challenge completed!
(Well deserved showers and snoozing)
18:00 – Dumpling dinner 🙂 (Paid cash for 3 days of bedroom, food and bottled water ¥880/person)
19:00 – Bed
Wednesday 17th May
09:00 – Up to pack
09:30 – Breakfast – Fried bread/muffin with hard boiled eggs and cherry tomatoes.
10:30 – Taxi to Beijing (¥800)
13:00 – Arrive at Beijing AirBNB (¥1,785/person for 4 nights)
14:30 – Hot pot lunch in Raffles Mall (¥140…and that served 3people!)
(Chilled afternoon researching Beijing whilst sipping on cold Chinese beer)
19:30 – Dinner at Jing Yaa Tang in The Opposite House in Satliun – Amazing chicken dish and pork ribs to start and then peking duck pancakes for main with plenty of veg. (¥150-250/person)
22:00 – Bed
Thursday 18th May
08:30 – Up (Thanks to E!)
09:00 – Breakfast in our flat – Porridge and nut butter
9:30 – Subway from Dongzhimen to Beijing Railway Station walk (via Costa for iced coffees) to explore the Temple of Heaven.
10:30 – Walk around The Temple of Heaven (¥30/person)
14:00 – New World Shopping Centre to get of of the sun and grab some food.
14:30 – Lunch at a Korean Bibimbap place in The New World Shopping Mall (Chongwenmen) (¥60-90)
15:00 – Zhengyang Gate (Qianmen) (¥15/person)
15:30 – Tiananmen AKA The Forbidden City (https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/tianan.htm). We could only get into the Zhongshan Park as we did not have photo ID on us to buy tickets to go through the Forbidden City.
Subway from Tian’anmen to Dongzhimen
16:00 – Milkopedia in Raffles Mall (¥35-50)
19:30 – Dinner at Tairyo in Satliun with Jenny (¥150-200/person)
Friday 19th May
08:30 – Up (Thanks to E!)
Subway from Dongzhimen to Andingmen then walk to The Orchid
10:30 – Brunch at Toast in The Orchid in the Hutongs (¥150/person)
Subway from Gulou Street to Olympic Sports Centre
12:00 – Walked around the inside of the Bird’s Nest (olympic stadium) (¥50/person) and the outside of The Water Cube (aquatics centre)
Subway from Olympic Sports Centre to Xiyuan
Tickets for the Summer Place (AKA Yiheyuan) by the East Gate (¥35/person)
Subway from Xiyuan to Dongzhimen
20:30 – Dinner at Dali Courtyard in the Hutongs with Sophie (¥160-200/person). Just pay per head and the food keeps coming; mushrooms cooked inside a palm leaf, chicken wings, stir fried veg, …
Saturday 20th May
08:15 – Up (Thanks to E!)
08:45 – Breakfast in our flat – Porridge and Mindful Bites nut butter
Subway from Dongzhimen to Tian’anmen East
10:00 – Take two at The Forbidden City (¥45/person)
Route through FC – through the Merdian Gate, West to the Hall of Martial Valor (Wuyingdian), up the west wing to Palace of Longevity and Good Health (Shoukanggong), turned at Imperial Garden (Yuhuayuan) walked back through the centre and left via Donghuamen gate on the East side
Subway from Tian’anmen East to Tuanjiehu (Sanlitun)
14:30 – Lunch at Moka Bros: Vegetable Spag Bol and cookie for H. Black rice and salmon sashimi plus a sweet potato brownie for E. (¥60-120/person)
Walk around Satlinun shopping centre
16:00 – Drinks at Homegrounds in Sanlitun – Evergreen juice for H
Home for change and shower
20:00 – Dinner at Mosto in Sanlitun. This was a pretty expensive meal in China and not our favourite. (¥200-300/per person)
We tried to find a froyo place and failed and so went to the cafe in The Opposite house. E had an amazing pudding of sticky coconut rice with mango and H had some sweet potato chips!
Sunday 21st May
06:00 – Up
Pack up the flat
7:00 Subway from Dongzhimen to T2 Beijing Capital International Airport (¥25/person)
10:55 – KLM flight from Beijing to Amsterdam
17:55 – KLM flight from Amsterdam to Heathrow (££321.18/person)
TTH x
