Beijing Day 1: Wangfujing

Ben’s suite is just around the corner from Wangfujing Street. Location wise, this is perhaps a great place to stay as it is very central in Beijing.

Wangfujing Street is Beijing’s popular shopping street. It’s like Robson Street in Vancouver or Times Square in New York.

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The name Wangfujing means the Well of the Prince’s Mansion. During the Qing Dynasty, this street is where a number of residences of princes were located. Right in the middle of Wangfujing is a well famous for the sweetness of the water.

That well is no longer there. All that is left today is the marker above.

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Wangfujing Street is lined with malls and plazas. Many of the famous departmental stores were first opened on this street. The more famous of which is the Dongan Department Store and the Wangfujing Department Store.

Part of the street is pedestrian only. It’s very wide and spacious. It is bustling with people most of the time. So it was exciting to walk the street everyday.

The street is not long. Maybe it is about 300 meters or so.

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Wangfujing  Snack Street is almost famous for it’s night food market. You’ll find all sorts of street food there. But it is mostly a tourist trap.

You can even catch a live … Beijing opera show. It was nice sitting down at the food stalls and watching the opera even though we don’t even know a single word at all! One thing we were curious was whether the actress was a he or she.

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Strictly for the tourists are exotic food like deep fried scorpions, star fish, etc. Some of the crawlies are even alive and moving.

Not for me.

It is almost entirely that the tourists are the ones who tried it. Ben said that his Beijinger friends told me no locals consider this a local delicacy at all.

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Grilled meat skewers are more of my cup of tea. I just love the lamb skewers in Beijing.

I noticed not all meat skewers are grilled here, some are deep fried. The lamb skewers here are a bit more expensive. The cheap ones are found in the hutongs.

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I would not mind trying sugar coated fruits like above. Call Tang Hulu, one just gotta try this in Beijing which is popular during winter. Not everyone like this though.

Other than shopping there are a lot of famous restaurants. There are too many for us to even consider trying all. The more famous restaurant branches of Beijing includes Quanjuede Roast Duck, Gobouli steamed buns, Donglaishun Muslim Hotpot, just to name a few.

I love Wangfujing Street. There are so much to see and so many things happening here.

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