On my way to Australia, I had a 13-hour stopover in Beijing, the capital of China. I always…
Times visited: 1 (1 day in 2015)
Cities visited: Beijing
UNESCO sites visited: Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang
I’ve had many plans of visiting China over the years, but the strenuous visa process has always kept me from going. But I did go to China once, on a 13-hour stopover in Beijing en route to Australia. I’ve also since visited Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau but I see those as separate countries.
I was able to get a free 72-hour visa for my stopover in Beijing, allowing me to get out of the airport to explore the city a little. I had big plans for that trip but it ended up going completely wrong, and that was due to my stupid self as I hadn’t learned any Chinese beforehand and expected the locals to speak at least some English (how entitled can you be…?). I quickly learned from my mistake though as I was stuck in the metro system for over three hours while trying to find my way to the Imperial Palace. In the end, I just got out at some random station and made my way using a map.
With about an hour left before sunset, I was finally ready to explore the Imperial Palace and the Forbidden City, which was high on my wishlist. I also wanted to explore Tiananmen Square, the largest square in the world, but I didn’t have enough time for that…
I didn’t really get to enjoy Beijing because of my mistake and I was also unable to take any good photos due to severe fog and a lack of photography skills at the time.
