(soft oriental music)
- Beijing is the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
And during normal Olympic years tourism and travel
would be buzzing with excitement.
While you may not see the best of Beijing
on this year's Olympic broadcast.
We thought we'd take you on a tour of Beijing, China.
The only city ever to host the summer
and winter Olympic games.
So let's take a look at the top attractions in Beijing.
(upbeat music)
Here we go everybody,
we're entering the Great Wall of China. Let's go.
The battling great wall is located one hour outside
of Beijing and no trip to the city would be complete
without seeing this wonder of the world.
(upbeat music)
- The battling wall attracts mostly local tourists
from around China,
and it is considered the best preserved part
of the entire Great Wall of China.
We are on the great wall.
We're walking up to the towers right now.
This is the iconic one that you see
on all the magazines and on, on TV.
It's very exciting.
There's hardly any tourists here.
It's mostly locals that are here visiting the great wall.
So it's really cool to experience it
with everybody that is here from China.
(upbeat music)
The battling great wall is three and a half miles long
with an elevation gain of a little over a thousand feet.
There are lookout towers and places to walk out
to viewpoints for better views of the wall and the valley.
Make sure to give yourself at least two
to three hours to explore the battling portion
of the Great Wall of China.
- Steep.
- We are still going up, up, up, up.
It's steeper than you'd expect.
It's a bit of a workout.
- It's getting steep.
And that was the Great Wall of China.
(soft melancholy music)
All right, we're about to enter
the Temple of Heaven here in Beijing.
- [Deb] The Temple of Heaven is located six kilometers south
of the Forbidden City
and is a massive 2.7 square kilometer complex
that was used by the Ming dynasty
to pray for a good harvest.
- So this is obviously the center prayer rock,
where people stand in line to stand
in the center of the Temple of Heaven and pray.
- [Deb] As you walk through the complex,
you'll pass different alters,
including the circular mound altar,
the Imperial vault of heaven
and the hall of prayers for good harvest.
- So we're off to the hall of prayer for great harvest.
Let's go.
- There are 92 buildings to explore at the Temple of Heaven
and a guided tour is highly recommended.
And one thing to make sure to test
are the echoes at the echo wall.
- So we're heading past the echo wall
and going into where they store the top.
(screaming)
You can hear it all the way around
and when they built this they didn't know that,
because it's a perfect circle
that surrounds this temple.
It's an echo.
- So we are walking along the corridor where they took
the sacrificial animals down here
and obviously slaughtered them,
and then brought them out
to the barrels over there to be burned.
Right, so sacrifice.
Hey guys.
(speaking Chinese)
(soft melancholy music)
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are about to enter the Forbidden City.
It's not so forbidden anymore people.
- So we've made it here inside the Forbidden City,
inside the main gate.
And man, you can just feel the history here
when you walk in.
It's been here for so long,
you wonder who walked along these stones.
It really is one of the most impressive places I've seen.
- The Forbidden City
is the number one tourist attraction in Beijing.
Built in the 1400s during the Ming dynasty
it was used to house the emperor's households for 500 years.
His wives, concubines, eunuchs and guards
were not allowed to leave
and nobody was allowed inside the inner circle.
Today it is open to anyone to tour the enormous complex
of more than 8,000 rooms and its imperial gardens.
- So we've entered into the inner workings
of the palace here.
This is where he had his concubines,
and all the secret stuff went down I suppose.
So we're getting a peak inside royal life here in Beijing.
So when you go to the Forbidden City, make sure you head
up to the hill to get an overview over everything.
- Jingshan Park is a royal garden above the Forbidden City
and takes you up to the highest point in Beijing,
offering an impressive overview of the entire complex.
It is definitely worth walking up the hill
to overlook the Forbidden City.
The moat is 52-meters wide
and that's because back in the day
an arrow couldn't shoot farther than 52 meters.
So it kept everyone safe.
So come on up here and you look
over the hole of the Forbidden City and Beijing.
- It's busy, but it's worth it.
(upbeat music)
So we're here in Tiananmen Square,
which is the largest square in the world at 100 acres.
That's pretty huge when you think about it.
It's bigger than the Red Square in Russia
and it is pretty magnificent to be standing here.
This is one of the only gates that left here in Beijing,
and right beside it, you can see that there is another gate
which is actually the guard gate.
So that is to look over that one and protect it.
There are only two gates left here in Beijing.
(upbeat music)
- So we are in the heart of Tiananmen Square.
This is where all the action happens.
Behind me is the government building
and the people's monument commemorating all the wars
and all the people who have died for China.
You have the national museum on one side,
you have chairman Mao's tomb on the other,
and you have Tiananmen gate,
the oldest building in the square built 600 years ago.
(upbeat music)
- Make your way to Lama Temple.
- [Deb] Lama Temple is a Buddhist temple
and monastery in Beijing.
And while it is a functioning temple, it's also
a popular tourist attract that is open to visitors.
- Well, we're about to go into
the gate of harmony and peace
and this is where everybody burns their incense.
- So the final temple is the temple
of 10,000 happiness and it is a treat.
There's a 26-meter high Buddha in there that is carved
out of one single sandalwood tree.
It's made the Guinness book
of world records and wow, it is impressive.
- Wow. This is the temple to come to.
(upbeat music)
- Take a stroll to the Drum and Bell Towers.
You can walk up and get a panoramic view of the area.
The bell and drum towers date back to the 1200s
and were used to announce time until 1924.
They now offer great views
of the historic Hutongs of Beijing,
another, not to miss attraction in the city.
- Go for a walk in the Hutongs of Beijing.
- [Deb] Hutongs are historic narrow alleyways
that are residential neighborhoods of Beijing.
They were nearly demolished
to make room for newer buildings,
but luckily they have now been designated historic sites.
- Make sure you come to the Hutong area
and visit Pipe Street for a great old Chinese experience.
- Get lost walking through the maze of streets
or take a rickshaw ride to explore the entire area.
Well, I don't think there's anything more authentically
Chinese than going for a rickshaw ride downtown
here in Beijing.
Rickshaws take you through the back streets of the Huangs
to the manmade lake in Beijing, Houhai or back sea.
This artificial lake is surrounded by shops and tea houses
and you can take boat tours
or just simply walk around and enjoy the energy.
It really is a fun way to explore the city.
(soft music)
A lesser known museum in Beijing is the Xuannan museum.
It's an exhibit hall of Chinese drama, folk music, business
and old Beijing culture.
It's a hidden gem in a very busy city.
Okay. We're at the Chang Tuet temple. (laughs)
- [Speaker] Changchun, Changchun.
- Changchun. (laughs)
Chang, yeah.
Almost, Stephanie says I got it so I believe her. (laughs)
Just go with it.
While visiting the museum for some reason,
they had Dave and I dress up and do some wrestling.
I don't know maybe they just wanted to see the foreigners
make fools of themselves, but we had a lot of fun.
This was the type of wrestling
that they did at the Olympic games.
I think Dave and I are not very good at it.
- But we're fashionable.
- We are.
(soft oriental music)
- So we had a time here learning some wrestling
with Fu, he's been my instructor.
You may see me at the next Olympic games with him,
you know maybe.
Good job. Thank you.
- Thank you.
(speaking Chinese)
(soft oriental music)
Well we're a little bit of Chinese calligraphy here
we're gonna see how artistic we are and hey,
we're lucky we get to put on a costume.
He was much thinner than me.
This is what the king would wear.
- [Deb] Calligraphy is a sacred art in China
and it dates back 6,000 years.
An interesting cultural experience
is to try your hand at it, when in Beijing.
Most hotels and tour operators offer classes to tourists.
- Wait, yeah,
- Yeah.
- Do it, raise up a little bit. Yeah.
- Okay.
Had a great time learning calligraphy here.
If you come to Beijing
make sure you give this a try.
It tests out your artistic prowess.
(upbeat music)
- Come to the famous Bird's Nest stadium.
- This is where the 2008 Olympics took place
here in Beijing.
- Bird's Nest stadium is the national stadium
of Beijing and it is also being used again
for the 2022 winter Olympics and Paralympics.
You can catch concerts, sporting events, cultural events
or you can simply tour the museum for a backstage look
at this historical site.
- Doing some Hua family dining tonight with Peking duck.
One of the most famous places here in Beijing
to get the dish.
(upbeat music)
- [Deb] Peking duck is the national dish of China,
that was once only reserved for royalty and VIPs.
Today, no trip to Beijing would be complete
without giving it a try.
- So it's pretty cool.
You eat your appetizers or all those things that we had,
and then they bring the duck to your table
and cut it right in front of you.
And they only use the best portions of the duck as well.
So it's gotta be succulent and it will be tasty.
(upbeat music)
So when you get your Peking duck,
you've gotta put it together.
And this is how you do it.
You start with a pancake, you roll it out in your hand.
You take the first piece of duck,
you dip it in the first sauce, spread it on the pancake,
place it in there.
Grab another piece of Peking duck,
put it in the second sauce, which is soybean sauce,
and then you spread that on the pancake as well.
And then you start adding all of your fixes.
Whatever you like.
Then once it's finished, you just fold one side,
fold the other side, bring the two hands in
and you're ready to eat.
(upbeat music)
All right, well we're making dumplings here at
the Chinese Royal Gastronomy Museum,
and we'll see what kind of cook we are.
I'm ready for surgery, dumping surgery happening.
- The Royal Gastronomy Museum
is a walkthrough Chinese cuisine history.
We had a chance to explore displays of imperial cuisines
followed by making our own dumplings.
And we learned how to make authentic Chinese dumplings.
We then got to sample our meal
with a cultural show for entertainment.
Okay. It's dumping time.
They brought out the dumplings that we made
and I'm about to taste it.
Best dumping ever.
(upbeat music)
- When you come to Beijing, you have to try a hot pot.
It's not only a meal, but an experience as well.
So we've got beef, we've got mushrooms.
We've got actually a bunch of different kinds
of mushrooms in there and who knows what else.
But it looks good.
- Look at that plate of goodness.
So you put everything in the hot pot
and let it heat up and then cook it.
And then I put it in to,
my peanut sauce and eat it.
Let's see if I can eat it really delicately.
That is so good.
(upbeat music)
- Come and learn the art of bean curd and how to make tofu.
So this is how to make bean curd with Dave.
Starts off with yellow beans, like this,
put them into the hole, like that.
Add some water.
And then really it's all in the way you turn it, right.
So we start counterclockwise, with one or two turns
and then we turn back this way.
Two turns, three turns, four turns. So it gets easy.
You can see the beans go down
in between the two rocks like that.
And it all comes out like a goo like that.
And we're ready for our next step
in making bean curd.
- So once the bean curd has boiled, you scoop it out,
and put it in a mold in here and then you press it down.
And then once all the water is out
you just lift this off and you have your finished product.
- Welcome to Silk Street.
It used to actually be outside
where they sold a lot of knockoffs.
Now they've moved it inside and covered it,
but it's still a pretty cool street.
- Silk Street is a multi-floor shopping market in Beijing
that is famous for it's knockoff name brands.
It's a popular tourist attraction to go
and pick up your souvenirs from China.
- It's a good in China to get a brightening.
- Yeah.
Next time must come back though, yeah.
(upbeat oriental music)
- Taking the subway here in Beijing,
it's actually pretty simple.
You can go to one of the machines,
you choose which line you're going to
but you need to know what station you're also going to,
because it charges you by distance.
Don't worry about it.
Once everything here is in English,
so you can figure it out pretty easily.
You'll go through security, come downstairs to the subway
and then shows you which side you should stand on
depending on what the end station is.
So it's pretty simple to get around
and I think anybody can do it.
So the machines here in Beijing are pretty easy.
All you have to do is you come up here.
The English button for everything.
And then what you do is you have to know what line
and where you're going.
We are going to line 10 and we're going to Guomao Station.
So you just hit the station that you're going to
and it tells you how much it costs, two tickets,
total six Yuan, and then all you do is insert your money
and your tickets come out and you're good to go.
- And that is your tour of Beijing.
It's definitely a city that is out of this world
with so many things to see and do
and thousands of years of history.
If you have a chance to make it to China
make sure to add Beijing to the top of your list.
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