[Shuie]

I got to spend a couple of weeks in Beijing ~2yrs ago for work. It is without a doubt the most amazing place I've ever been. We were really lucky because we had a great host who took us to some of the local places and always dealt with the cab drivers to get us from and to the hotel.

I was traveling with a vegetarian, but I cannot remember how to say 'no meat' when you order food. However you say it, it really just means that they scoop the meat out of whatever is ordered before they serve it. It was not a good trip for the vegetarian in our group.

It will be easy to find a guide to do the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City. They will probably take you to a 'Jade Museum' as well. Don't buy any Jade.

Try to see if you can get someone to take you to the Ho Hai neighborhood so you can walk around. It's amazing. Check out the show at a duck restaurant. The business card I have from the one we went to says 'Beijing Shichahai Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant'. Just make sure you can get a cab out of there and back to the hotel.

Go to the Silk Market, and then go check out the sky screen at The Place. These places were close together and easy to get in and out of from what I remember. Lots of ex-pats and westerners so the language barrier wasn't as challenging for us.

The first thing I would do is get a stack of business cards from the hotel to give to cab drivers or the people driving the rickshaws so you can actually get back from wherever you go. The cab thing really scared the hell out of me. From I saw and heard from the ex-pats we were working with it is not easy for a westerner to get a cab anywhere in the city. Beijing is absolutely huge and the cab drivers we dealt with spoke no English. None. If you just tell these guys to take you to the 'Holiday Inn on 5th Ring Road' there is no telling where you are going to wind up.

My iPhone 4 w/AT&T worked fine there.

I changed money at the airport and my Amex worked almost everywhere I went.