China Travel Forum

[Doris Eaton]

hello !
I'm gonna be in Beijing during the olympics and I've started to do some research.

I've understood that not many Beijingers speak any english and that it's

recommended to bring along chinese addresses to the places you want to

visit to show the taxi driver.

I found a guide book for the classic tourist places but nothing about good

shopping places.

I've tride to find it on the internet with little success. Does anyone know of a good website or a good book with chinese character addresses to the major markets for printing?

I'm gonna be in Beijing during the olympics and I've started to do some

research.

Thanks!

[Silk Road]

Well, maybe Nyght_tiger gave you all the answers allready but I can give you one good internet tip:

www.muztagh.com

There you can find maps and addresses to most of the markets.

I agree with Nyght_tiger that the internet character is a good thing to know about and it almost looks like he/she described:
http://www.silk-road-china.com

I can also give you a suggestion of a good guide book; "The Isider's Guide to Beijing". Not a good phrase book but very "up to date" when it comes to shopping, restaurants, night life and more touristy type of things to do in Beijing.

Good luck!

[Zimmer]

I went to china for a few months two years ago... i found it was worth having a notebook with you and when you do find someone who knows english to get them to write down in chinese characters (and maybe phonetics) things you've been frustrated you couldnt say!

One important one for me was 'internet' as in internet cafe which wasnt in my couple of year old phrasebook... i was looking around for weeks before i found my first one, id been walking past these things, often situated on the floors above the shops without even realising! think the symbol for internet was a three sided square (missing the bottom side) with a cross in it but its hard to remember now. but we managed to get that information just off the street.

I ont know about addresses as such, i found our guide book or the internet (if we booked a hostel) had the chinese characters there already or we'd just go exploring by ourselves.

The younger looking student-age chinese have a better understanding of english, it might be worth asking a few to see if any of them could help you? a couple of times we got a free guide for the day when we got chatting as students wanted to practice their english with us, there was no catch and we'd buy them dinner to say thank you.

we found those who could communicate with us very friendly and eager to help, id suggest making the most of the opportunity when you do find someone you can communicate with.