Things You Must Prepare For Your Trip To Beijing, China (During Winter)

(Almost) Frozen Lake at Beijing Zoo

China is probably one of those country whose less likely to have tourist due to few reason like a large language barrier, making it hard to visit especially for people who don't travel often. It is also a fact that there is a minimal information on how to travel the mainland of China like Shanghai or Beijing.  Hence, are the things that you must prepare for your Winter Getaway to Beijing, China.

1. Booked Your Accommodation, Transfer and Tours Ahead Of Time

Taken Outside Our Accomodation

When we visited Beijing, we booked our accommodation through booking.com and our private round trip transfer from the airport to the hotel through klook. It is very convenient to booked a transfer especially if you are a large group. If you want to travel cheap then you should wait for promos during holidays. It is also advisable to booked your tours if no one in your group knows how to speak Chinese since there is a language barrier and you might have a hard time asking for directions. But if you wanted to do a do-it-yourself tour then plan your trip very well. I recommend going on a  subway since it is cheaper rather than getting on a taxi. 

2. Always Bring Your Passport, Lip Balms, Bottled Water And Small Bill Of RMB Whenever You Are Stepping Out Of Your Accommodation

Taken Near Our Hotel While We're On Our Way To Tiananmen Square

You can never forget to bring your passport with you whenever you are going out. There are some tourist spots where they ask for your passport (maybe perhaps for the purpose of verification of your identity). Also, when riding on subway do not forget to bring 1 RMB, 5RMB and 10 RMB as these bills are only accepted when getting a subway card. Bring also a bottled water since you’ll be walking for a very long time. The tourist spots in Beijing are so  wide to  the point that it almost takes an entire day to explore the whole place. I always tend to bring a small backpack with me where I can put things that are essential while traveling.

3. Download VPN and Translator Apps

     

Before going to China, it is a must to download a VPN in order for you to access sites that are blocked within the country. I recommend using VPN 360 since it works really well whenever I am using the WiFi of our hotel. You can download it on app store or play store. Remember to download as many VPN as you can since you can no longer download it while you are in their mainland. Rest assured that no crime can be committed when you use a VPN within their territory. Also, keep in mind that there are times that the VPNs are not working properly. It is also advisable  to buy a pocket WiFi. As for our family, we rented a pocket WiFi from Cebu pacific located at the NAIA Terminal 3. What’s good in it is you can bring it wherever you are and the battery last for a very long time and what’s good is that it is VPN ready which you can avail for only 390 pesos per night and can connect up to five persons. Lastly, you must have a voice translator with you since not all Chinese people knew how to communicate using the English language. 

4. Ready Your Winter Clothes

Going on a winter trip to China adds a difficulty to travelers since the weather there is really dry. Sometimes the cold is bearable but later on, it will be much colder than you expected it to be. Also, you don't need to buy branded nor expensive winter jackets, being 'ma-diskarte' will do. As for me, I bought some of my jackets in "ukay-ukay". I also recommend buying heat techs since it really is helpful to keep you warm during the winter season. I usually have a two to three layer of clothes including the jacket but if you get cold easily, then maybe you should have at least four or five layers of heat techs.

Taken While We’re On Our Way To The Great Wall of China

As you can see in the picture above, I bought my jacket from 'ukay-ukay' in Cubao, Quezon City for only 100 Pesos. The ear muffs I'm wearing is from a store (at the Tiananmen Square) at Beijing, China for 30 RMB or approximately 200 to 250 Pesos. The white turtle neck I wore is from Uniqlo which is 1250 Pesos but I bought it for only 970 Pesos since it is on sale. By the way, I brought six or seven jackets for "ootd" purposes. Lol. But it's up to you whether you bring two or three jacket but since I availed a roundtrip additional baggage from Cebu Pacific I brought that many with me, though I did not used all of it but my aunt were able to wear it since her luggage were taken by someone else by mistake.

5. Prepare The RMB Or Chinese Yuan

Finding a money changer at the center of the City in Beijing will be quite difficult since when we were there, we did not see a store that changes money. On contrary, there are money changer at Beijing International Airport and also here in Manila. But I suggest that you exchange your money while you are here in Manila (NAIA Terminal 3) in our case, we trade our Peso bills there for 7.6 RMB. Remember to be cautious when exchanging money because we had an encounter wherein some foreigners whose money wasn't accepted because they said it is fake. Ensure that when exchanging your money, you should have a receipt and/or a paper which lists the serial number of the money just in case.

Honestly speaking, when we visited Beijing we had a hard time exploring it to the point that we didn't get to visit some of the tourist attractions (like temple of heaven) as we already lack in time. Furthermore, there are few blog posts or any article regarding on how to travel Beijing so it adds to the difficulty in traveling the country. We also got lost multiple times but we believe that it is part of the exploration, there might be problems throughout the escapade but we were happy and that's what matters. Just remember to make and have fun because not everyone has the opportunity to travel and so I wish you an enjoyable and memorable once in a lifetime travel. Have fun!