by Andrew Porter

Created on: June 08, 2010

China is a fascinating place for a vacation. It is developing fast with some cities, such as Shanghai  and Beijing  very modern while others are still traditional and apparently unchanged for centuries. It is a country of contrast, with some wonderful sights such as the Great Wall and Terracotta Army.

In July 2007 I went on holiday to China. I wanted to see it before the Olympic Games, although I had perhaps left it a bit late to see Beijing before the massive construction activity had begun. We had pre-arranged accommodation, flights and some other transport and guides where needed, but otherwise we were on our own. Total cost of the two-week trip including international and internal flights was a little over £2,000 each (about $3000).

There are many international flights to Beijing from all over the world, and this is perhaps the best place to start when touring China. The flight-time from London Heathrow to Beijing with British Airways is about ten hours; a fairly long flight, but bearable and direct. Taxis are readily available at the airport, but pre-arranging a car makes the arrival less traumatic.

We stayed at the Peace Hotel which is hardly luxurious but comfortable, and inexpensive, probably costing about £60 ($100) per night for a double room including breakfast. It is in an extremely good location near many of Beijing's major attractions, with the Forbidden City visible from outside the hotel. There are several new, expensive, luxury hotels near Tiananmen Square which would also act as an ideal base while in Beijing and offer rather more style and luxury albeit at far more expensive "international" prices. We explored a few of them.

The Peace Hotel had little excitement to offer on our first evening so we took a short taxi ride to Raffles Hotel near Tiananmen Square, costing just £0.70. Raffles, while not having the history and character of the original Raffles Hotel in Singapore, did provide a touch of oriental luxury after our long flight, at quite un-Chinese prices, with a "Singapore Sling" costing £5.00 and the smallest Sherry in the world costing £4. Afterwards we walked towards Tiananmen Square and took a rickshaw ride round the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, initially haggling the driver down to £3.50, but ended up foolishly paying £14 because he did a far bigger tour and took us to Beijing Hotel for dinner. The Beijing Hotel is another very new hotel next to Raffles offering a range of

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