Americans First Time in China… NOT AT ALL what we expected (Beijing, China) 🇨🇳

00:15:08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL5e6qk3sLE

Summary

TLDRIn this travel vlog, visitors explore Beijing, China's capital, on a short 144-hour visa-free transit. They begin their journey at Jingshan Park, which offers stunning views of the Forbidden City from the highest point in the old city. The park is tranquil, with vibrant flowers and greenery. The vloggers enjoy Peking duck at a local restaurant, a must-try delicacy often just called roast duck. They explore the drum and bell towers, despite the steep stairs, and are thrilled by the drum performances. A visit to the serene Shichahai Lake completes their day. They encounter friendly locals and appreciate the city's surprisingly peaceful and green environment. The travelers rave about the local food experiences and share practical tips like using Alipay for payments. Beijing's electric cars and the polite atmosphere contribute to their pleasant impression of the city.

Takeaways

  • 📍 Jingshan Park offers stunning views of the Forbidden City.
  • 🌿 Beijing surprises with its tranquility and greenery.
  • 🍽️ Peking duck is a must-try delicacy in Beijing.
  • 🚗 The city is quieter due to its electric cars.
  • 🥁 Drum performances at the tower are a highlight.
  • 📱 Use Alipay for easy transactions.
  • 🕌 Explore Shichahai Lake for a peaceful experience.
  • 👫 Friendly locals enhance the travel experience.
  • 🍜 Previous meals included spicy Kung Pao chicken and beef.
  • 🚶 Walking through both historical and modern parts of Beijing highlights its unique charm.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video begins with the hosts expressing excitement about visiting Beijing, a city with over 20 million residents and rich historical significance, using a 144-hour visa-free transit. They make their way to Jingshan Park, known for its high vantage point overlooking the Forbidden City. Upon arriving, they are pleasantly surprised by the quietness of Beijing despite its size, attributing this to the prevalence of electric vehicles and abundant greenery. At Jingshan Park, the hosts enjoy the peaceful atmosphere, admire the variety of flowers, and take in the scenic views over the Forbidden City, learning a fun fact about the artificial hill created from the earth excavated for the Forbidden City's moat. Despite initially noting the tranquility, they humorously retract this when encountering many tourists at the viewpoint.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:15:08

    The hosts then navigate through their culinary adventures, recounting their first dinner in Beijing where they enjoyed dishes like Kung Pao chicken and a spicy beef dish. They then proceed to try the famous local delicacy, Peking duck, at a roast duck shop conveniently located en route to the Drum and Bell Towers. They describe the duck as perfectly cooked and flavorful, paired with a Chinese salad that complements the meal excellently. After visiting the Drum and Bell Towers, they appreciate the traditional drum performance and enjoy a coffee break, noting the friendliness of the locals and the usefulness of mobile payment apps like Alipay. Their day concludes with a visit to the scenic lake area surrounding the Hutongs, remarking on the peacefulness and friendliness encountered throughout their initial day in Beijing.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the significance of Jingshan Park in Beijing?

    Jingshan Park offers the highest point in the old city and provides amazing views over the Forbidden City.

  • How is Jingshan Park artificially created?

    The hill in Jingshan Park is made from the excavated soil of the Forbidden City's moat.

  • What type of transit visa is used for visiting Beijing in the video?

    A 144-hour visa-free transit is used.

  • What are some activities the visitors enjoyed in Beijing?

    They enjoyed walking in Jingshan Park, trying Peking duck, visiting drum and bell towers, and tasting local sweets.

  • What type of food did they try in Beijing?

    They tried Peking duck and also mentioned having Kung Pao chicken previously.

  • How is the transportation in Beijing described?

    The transportation is described as quiet with many electric cars.

  • What kind of drum performance is mentioned?

    A powerful drum performance at the drum tower is mentioned.

  • What payment method is recommended for tourists in Beijing?

    Alipay is recommended for its ease of use over cash and credit cards.

  • What surprise did the visitors experience regarding Beijing's environment?

    They were surprised by how green and peaceful Beijing is, unlike typical noisy cities.

  • Where did they end their day in Beijing?

    They ended the day by exploring the peaceful lake area, Shichahai.

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  • 00:00:00
    good morning you guys from China we're here  in the capital of Beijing which is a mega
  • 00:00:03
    City and has over 20 million residents  and it's over 3,000 years old which is
  • 00:00:08
    so crazy to me I know I'm so excited to  be here you guys so we are utilizing the
  • 00:00:13
    144-hour visa-free transit so we only have  a few days here it's the perfect amount of
  • 00:00:18
    time for us to get our first impressions  of the city and this country look how
  • 00:00:22
    beautiful this place is too we have perfect  weather today it's going to be a fantastic
  • 00:00:26
    day we're just heading over to jingshan  park right now it's supposed to have like
  • 00:00:33
    the highest point in the old city and offer  like really amazing views over the Forbidden
  • 00:00:38
    City so that's what we're headed now so the  first thing I noticed when coming here to
  • 00:00:43
    Beijing is how quiet everything is for a  huge City with so many people like we're
  • 00:00:49
    walking down one of the main roads now and  most cars are electric which is really nice
  • 00:00:53
    so I can talk on the side of the road  without worrying about the noise it's
  • 00:00:56
    just so surprising how quiet and peaceful  everything is Plus all the greenery it's so
  • 00:01:01
    pretty [Music] okay we just made it to Jing  Chan park it was 10 R&B a person to get in I
  • 00:01:16
    did read that they raised the prices slightly  between April and May because there's so many
  • 00:01:21
    beautiful flowers and so obviously the  entrance goes up because more people
  • 00:01:24
    come to visit the park and immediately as  soon as we stepped in you can just like
  • 00:01:28
    smell all the flowers and see all of the  beautiful flowers so yeah excited to be
  • 00:01:32
    here wow look at these red ones  these are so pretty they smell
  • 00:01:41
    amazing wow this park has such a great Vibe  it is so quiet and peaceful it's great to see
  • 00:01:49
    everybody enjoying it especially all the locals  everybody with their huge lenses taking so many
  • 00:01:54
    photos and the variety of flowers is blowing my  mind a little bit so QA Boll Montage of all the
  • 00:02:00
    [Music]
  • 00:02:14
    flowers okay I think we made up to the main  viewing point up here that's where all the
  • 00:02:32
    people are lined up it overlooks the entire  forbidden city which is so cool snagg us a
  • 00:02:38
    spot how beautiful is this view right I know  I love all of the orange roofs this is so nice
  • 00:02:45
    and the weather today is so good right so this is  actually an artificial Hill so whenever they were
  • 00:02:51
    building the Forbidden City and like Excavating  the moat basically they took all of the dirt
  • 00:02:55
    from the moat and put it in this big pile here  and this hill now looks over the Forbidden City
  • 00:03:01
    so that's how this hill was made it's pretty cool  actually I know fun fact I wonder if they planned
  • 00:03:05
    it that way or just happened to be I think they  did plan it it's like very funu everything is
  • 00:03:09
    very methodical I think perfect it's okay man  thank you thank you beautiful you guys thank
  • 00:03:18
    you okay got my photo that was interesting what  were you taking a photo of this the sign at the
  • 00:03:32
    ground says the central point of Beijing but it's  so funny I was standing next to it and then like
  • 00:03:36
    10 people like one after after just go in front  of me for their photo I keep trying but I don't
  • 00:03:41
    think I'm going to get up there people just go  in front of me I can't be passive here can't be
  • 00:03:45
    passive so that thing I said earlier about being  very quiet and peaceful I take it all back now I'm
  • 00:03:50
    just joking it's just so busy up here there's so  many people enjoying the views of the Forbidden
  • 00:03:54
    City everybody's so friendly too been asking  everybody if I can take photos of them and
  • 00:04:00
    said yes good start for our time here in Beijing  yeah it's so it's so fun it's just I love it so
  • 00:04:08
    at the very top Viewpoint you can go to the other  side not facing the Forbidden City it's a little
  • 00:04:12
    bit quieter not quite as crowded but the views are  just as good I feel like I'm very surprised by all
  • 00:04:17
    the greenery here in Beijing you have the river  over here behind me and all these trees it is so
  • 00:04:22
    beautiful I need food time you hungry yeah  I'm hungry everything takes a lot longer
  • 00:04:31
    than you think with Tommy filming people  it it does take quite a oh we'll have a
  • 00:04:38
    quick trip to the park and then we'll go get  some food and now I'm like really in need of
  • 00:04:42
    food
  • 00:04:46
    thank so good so good so  beautiful you guys thank you great
  • 00:04:55
    manate awesome views great weather all the  friendly people yeah and yeah just great sites
  • 00:05:03
    of the whole city and I worked up an appetite  so what's our first meal here going to be peek
  • 00:05:09
    and duck peek and duck it's not actually our first  meal we had a meal last night which was delicious
  • 00:05:14
    so good what' you have oh we had officially  had Kung Pow chicken oh it was so good though
  • 00:05:19
    it was amazing and then we had this like um  this beef dish with like chiny celery it was
  • 00:05:24
    so spicy that it burned Tommy's tongue and made  it numb yeah my tongue was numb for like hours
  • 00:05:29
    but the host we had was so sweet he let us try  their plum wine too which was so so delicious
  • 00:05:35
    served with these flowers cheers to China huh  to China and we had a a beer a Chinese beer a
  • 00:05:42
    few beers cuz my mouth was on fire but such  good food so far anyway let's go eat [Music]
  • 00:06:00
    [Music] amazing thank you  perfect man so [Music] good
  • 00:06:07
    awesome
  • 00:06:14
    hello chances are if you're coming to  Beijing you're going to order the duck
  • 00:06:23
    so we're in the diman area it's basically  like the road that's leading from where
  • 00:06:29
    this morning jingshen Park to the drum and bell  towers that we're going to next and this little
  • 00:06:35
    roast duck shop just happened to be like on the  way um and I think a lot of the locals just call
  • 00:06:40
    it roast duck they don't call it like peeking  duck or Bing duck they just say roast duck and
  • 00:06:45
    the name of the shop is deanan roast deck so so  I was asking our waitress I was like oh can I
  • 00:06:52
    get shots of the chef preparing the duck she  pointed behind me right in the entrance door
  • 00:06:56
    when we walked in I missed it they have all these  ducks in this refrigerator system they take them
  • 00:07:00
    out hang them up outside this fireplace and then  inside you can see there's like 12 of them already
  • 00:07:05
    roasting in there and the guy takes them out  with the big hook and hangs them out to cool
  • 00:07:09
    off and then one of the guys goes to and cuts  them all up to smell at you guys I am uh pretty
  • 00:07:14
    ecstatic right now so I asked the waitress  what sh she recommends to go with the duck
  • 00:07:18
    and she recommend this Chinese salad which we've  never had before it already looks amazing it has
  • 00:07:23
    some of my favorite things cilantro sesame seeds  noodles looks amazing so you put this one here
  • 00:07:30
    with this okay okay dip this in here yeah okay  and then you put this with this and in here okay
  • 00:07:36
    perfect yeah why do you think she brought  Sephora I like it is time for the first
  • 00:07:50
    bite of roasted dck it looks just like oh  crispy so Juicy and Delicious it's so so good
  • 00:07:59
    I can't tell you how good it is cooked Perfection  so crunchy the meat is so moist this might be the
  • 00:08:08
    best duck I've ever had this is a Lotus Leaf  pancake look how thin it is then I'm going to
  • 00:08:13
    put some duck I'm going to dip the duck in the  sauce ooh that sauce is thick this is cucumber
  • 00:08:20
    and onion I have no idea if we're doing this  right or not I think this might be right the
  • 00:08:26
    duck is so salty and juicy and then the sauce  adds like a sweet touch to it and then with the
  • 00:08:31
    crunchy cucumbers and the refreshing onions it  is so good this is an excellent dish look how
  • 00:08:39
    delicious these look so these are just duck bones  that they cook with salt and pepper this has to
  • 00:08:45
    be my favorite part wow what a delicious meal  that was so good thank you guys byebye byebye
  • 00:08:49
    we read online they actually have to wait in  line to get to some of these duck places but
  • 00:08:53
    this is so convenient we just walked right  in and got a table it was only like $24 too
  • 00:08:58
    so not too bad yeah it was actually very  affordable that was for all of our all of
  • 00:09:02
    our food we did only do half a duck though  it was so good such high quality food though
  • 00:09:06
    yum
  • 00:09:15
    see I have tickets how much were that so it was  30 R&B for both Towers oh scarf 30 R&B for both
  • 00:09:26
    Towers so these are the drum and bell towers the  sign over there side only buy the tickets if you
  • 00:09:32
    can climb the very steep stairs both of them  have very steep stairs so there used to be a
  • 00:09:37
    tradition where at dawn they would I think  ring the bell and then at dusk they would
  • 00:09:42
    bang the drums hope I got it in the right order  um and so they built these drum and bell towers
  • 00:09:47
    all over China the ones specifically here in  Beijing are the biggest in China and they're
  • 00:09:51
    pretty massive and we're going to go climb up the  stairs on both and see the views over the city
  • 00:10:15
    [Music]
  • 00:10:16
    wow it is so stand look at those stairs it down
  • 00:10:29
    [Music]
  • 00:10:38
    [Music]
  • 00:10:47
    bra
  • 00:10:47
    Bravo wow that was so worth the wait I can't  believe how power hole those drums are that was
  • 00:10:54
    so cool that was fun right yeah that was so cool  how does one become a drummer at the drum Tower
  • 00:11:01
    that's what I saw I was like those guys just hang  out well I don't know what they do all day but
  • 00:11:04
    every hour an hour they bang the drums how justes  want to apply for that job I could get down with
  • 00:11:08
    [Music] that well that coffee was just  the pickme up we needed the lady was
  • 00:11:23
    so sweet too a delicious latte yeah and I  had a Lemon Hawthorne Green Tea it was so
  • 00:11:29
    so good it was perfect afternoon pick  me up for sure yes and now I'm ready
  • 00:11:33
    for another little sweet treat and ice cream  good idea the soft serve here looks so good oh
  • 00:11:37
    yeah
  • 00:11:43
    okay we just found a really nice pedestrian only  Street just kind of wandering around has lots of
  • 00:11:52
    like shops souvenir shop snacks to try and I  see my second sweet treat over there you can
  • 00:11:58
    never pass those down no ever since we had  them in Taiwan every time we see them I get
  • 00:12:02
    [Music] one these are so delicious  sugarcoated strawberries juicy
  • 00:12:12
    strawberry crunchy sugar let's hear the [Music]
  • 00:12:17
    crunch oh look at that strawberry it looks  so fresh dang that's good top tip if you're
  • 00:12:25
    coming to China download alipay on your phone  it's it's a um it's an app to pay for things
  • 00:12:31
    it's like cash L you connect your credit  card it's taken more than cash and credit
  • 00:12:35
    card like our credit cards aren't accepted so  you need to download alipay to pay for things
  • 00:12:39
    this is not an ad for alip pay it's starting  to sound like one it's a helpful top [Music]
  • 00:12:42
    [Music]
  • 00:12:42
    tip all right so we made it to the lake area  what's this place called you know yeah well
  • 00:12:58
    it's like a series of lakes but I think this  one in particular is the shahai lake and it's
  • 00:13:03
    surrounded by like a bunch of hutongs and  neighborhoods to explore it's really nice
  • 00:13:08
    it's so beautiful so quiet too I love everybody's  on bicycles or on these little Rick Shaws which
  • 00:13:12
    you can take a ride around on these little paths  pretty sweet way to end our day right yeah it's
  • 00:13:16
    been such a great day Beijing has not been what  we expected at all I definitely expected like a
  • 00:13:23
    loud crazy noisy traffic City and it's truly  been like the complete opposite everything is
  • 00:13:29
    quiet the cars are electric there's so much nature  yeah it's been such a great day everything's so
  • 00:13:34
    green people have been so friendly it's been a  great start toour our 4 days that's all we have
  • 00:13:40
    sad she thank you so beautiful thank you
  • 00:14:03
    this is so pretty this setting slightly stressful  situation just now I left my phone and my charger
  • 00:14:09
    sitting on a bench way down there and we're  already here at the temple and I was like oh
  • 00:14:14
    my gosh I left my phone on that bench it had  been like 10 minutes I ran down and some girl
  • 00:14:19
    was keeping an eye on it until I came back for it  so sweet like what also where's my brain I can't
  • 00:14:27
    believe I left it there but so [Music] sweet  perfect thank you what a perfect spot to end
  • 00:14:41
    our first day here in Beijing we're filming a few  more videos here which we can't wait to show you
  • 00:14:45
    guys thank you guys for watching we love all  you guys can't wait to show you more here in
  • 00:14:48
    China awesome man thank you [Music]
Tags
  • Beijing
  • 144-hour visa-free transit
  • Jingshan Park
  • Forbidden City
  • Peking duck
  • drum and bell towers
  • Shichahai Lake
  • Alipay
  • electric cars
  • tranquil environment