Ted, for more than just Temples and the usual tourist sights Try these:-
I love markets so I would recommend a trip to the Panjaiyuan Market also referred to as the Dirt Market. It's a big bustling flea market divided into zones for books, artwork, ceramics, and lots of other stuff. It's open every day from 5am up to 6pm. You can get to it on the subway, get off at Jingsong subway station. Weekends are the most crowded.
Talking of the subway, it's a great way to get around and one journey cost 2rmb, you can find maps on google.
Behind Wangfujing Street is the Wengsheng Fu Snack Street it offers the chance to eat everything from fresh fruit kebabs and noodles to the more exotic starfish-on-a-stick and fried scorpions. Some of the freshest food you will find in the city as it’s cooked to order. It opens from 6pm to 10pm every evening and is worth a visit just for the smell of the food cooking. A full meal can be had for 5.00 yuan. Wengfujing street is the central shopping district but I'm sure your wife will take you there! Get off at Wangfujing subway station.
One thing that I haven't done yet is have a look at the Beijing acrobats at Lao She Tea House. Every evening they have a 90 minute show that offers a peek at the elements that make up China's traditional performing arts - Wang Limin's fish conjuring act, a selection from a Peking opera, acrobatics, and Sichuanese face-changing. But the tea ceremonies are the real highlights of the show they tell me. The current presentations highlight seasonal teas: oolong for autumn, black for winter, white for spring, and green for summer.
Any thing that offers tea, acrobats and a fish conjuring act it high on my list of must sees!
Lao She Teahouse
3 Qianmenxi Dajie Street
100051 Beijing, SHI
China North Shooting Park in Changping County. When was the last time YOU fired an anti-tank missile or shot up the range with an AK-47?
You can watch Japanese tourists really get into it while unamused Chinese soldier types stand by. To get there from Deshengmen take the 345 or 845 bus to Changping County. Transfer to number 11 minibus or take a taxi to "ZhongGuo BeiFang GuoJi SheJiChang" (Use your index finger and thumb to simulate a pistol so the driver doesn't think you're going to the airport.)
You can also take the 919 bus from Deshengmen to Nankou and transfer to number 11 minibus there.
Telephone: 6977-1368
How could I forget the Water Melon Museum. That’s right, Beijing has a museum especially dedicated to the watermelon. Located within the Watermelon Research Institute (watermelons are very interesting to research it seems) in China’s watermelon capital Daxing District, this museum exhibits 170 different types of watermelons and teaches you all about the history of this summer fruit in China. Visitors will also walk away knowing about the planting processes of melons and the knowledge that even the most obscure things are worthy of having their own museum. It' open from 9.30 to 5pm every day and you can take the bus No. 937 or 943 to Pangge Zhuang
Beijing Underground City.The most mysterious of the bunch, an entire underground city composed of a complex network of tunnels crisscrossing the city Nobody knows how long the tunnels actually are , well I don't and photos are prohibited. The tunnels were built between 1965 and 1975 when Chairman Mao was preparing for a potential nuclear war. There is very little information on how to get in or opening hours which adds to the mystery and appeal of these “hidden” tunnels all the more.
To get there take Subway Line 2 or Bus No. 22, 44, 48 or 88 to Qianme and call this number first! 010 6702 2657
Have fun!
Martin, the terracotta army is in Xi'An the capital of Shaanxi province. Xi'An lies to the southwest of Beijing. It is approximately a one-hour flight, or an overnight train ride from Beijing. Not that far really!
