The Amateur Traveler talks to Lee from Atlanta who is currently living in Qing Dao, China about traveling independently in Beijing,China.
Lee describes getting around by bus, subway and taxi, eating street food, and biking through the Hutongs of Beijing. He guides us to lesser known sites like Beijing’s underground city and the site of the old Summer Palace.
He leads us to the great wall at Badaling, Mutianyu, and Simatai. Lee also talks about side trips to see the Buddhas in the Yungang Caves near Datong and the nearby hanging monasteries and to see the Qing royal villas and replica of the Lhasa temple in Chungde.
We talk about where to find a guide (and why you may not need one), Chinese history and what Lee suggested his parents should bring to China.
right click here to download (mp3)
right click here to download (iTunes enhanced)
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Show Notes
Traveling to Beijing, China with a Tour – Episode 187
Boren Awards for International Study
preaching against the use of the fork
map of Beijing subway
Beijing, China
Kublai Khan
Ming Dynasty
Qing (“Ching”) Dynasty
Wade–Giles – old system for Romanizing Chinese
Pinyin – current system or Romanizing Chinese
Beijing’s Underground City
Hutong
That’s Beijing
Community
Amateur Traveler Chicago Meetup
Travel Blog Exchange Conference
Correction – the Finish Midsummer Festival is called “Juhannus”
Wow! the photo on Cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica – Episode 180
Traveling to Beijing, China with a Tour – Episode 187
Travel to Beijing, China – Episode 638
Travel to Beijing, China – Video Episode 69
Intrepid Travel China – Review of China Highlights Tour (Beijing, Xi’an, Suzhou, Shanghai)
by Chris Christensen
Chris Christensen is the creator of the Amateur Traveler blog and podcast. He has been a travel creator since 2005 and has won awards including being named the "Best Independent Travel Journalist" by Travel+Leisure Magazine.+Chris Christensen | @chris2x | facebook
4 Responses to “Independent Travel to Beijing, China – Episode 193”
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Tags: audio travel podcast, beijing, china, great wall, lee moore, podcast
Pak Tam, Montreal
Says:August 14th, 2009 at 8:40 am
2 clarifications :
1. “Beijing” is translated from the local dialect of the capital, which automatically became the official language after the fall of the empire. “Peking” is the cantonese pronunciation of the same 2 words meaning “northern capital”.
2. “The Temple of the Heaven” should be more appropriately translated into “The Altar of the Sky”. The building functioned as the private chapel for the emperor, who was actually called the Son of the Sky. There he would receive communion from and practice ritualized offering to Sky God, a rather faceless & distant deity, but chief among the Chinese pantheon.
Thank for your podcast!
Travel to Niue in the South Pacific – Episode 195 | The Amateur Traveler Travel Podcast - best places to travel
Says:August 15th, 2009 at 8:32 am
[…] Tam corrects a few things in Independent Travel to Beijing, China – Episode 193 Dean in Oregon is comforted by Travel to Thailand – Episode 129 as hi misses his daughter who is […]
Manuel Ortega
Says:April 11th, 2021 at 10:03 am
Enjoy this podcast series but would be helpful if episode production dates were indicated. For example, the US and China were largely in harmony before 2015 before the US began trade wars and antagonism towards China, which then changes many things and has contributed to increased racism against Asian people. And of course services can change over the years – metro/subway for example.
Chris Christensen
Says:April 12th, 2021 at 7:47 am
So the latest episode is 749 and I do 48 episodes a year. The math is left as an exercise for the reader.