Calvin’s Hub

We arrived at Beijing at around noon time and after dropping our stuff in my sister’s place and having a late lunch at a food court, we went to our first Beijing destination, the Beijing Olympic Green.

The Olympic Green is the home of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and has become a Beijing tourist destination ever since.

It has many stadiums but the most popular ones and worth visiting would have to be the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and the National Aquatic Center.

It’s also the cheapest tourist spot which you can get to having no entrance fee and is accessible via subway which costs only 2 RMB (Php14) per person. Well there are entrance fees if you want to enter the stadiums but it’s not really part of the tour.

Olympic Green

GETTING THERE:
Take the subway and get off the Olympic Park station on Line 8. [Beijing Subway Map]

When you get out of the Olympic Park subway station, head right and you’ll see this cool looking arch (well the back of it anyway) and the Olympic TV Tower at the horizon.

After quite a walk and crossing the street you can take a shot of the TV Tower.

You can also see the Bird’s Nest and the National Aquatic Center a bit further. It has become quite a place for locals to spend their afternoons here so always expect a lot of people.

Too bad it was a foggy afternoon and we couldn’t get the blue sky on our shots.

The National Aquatic Center was a bit dull during daylight but it looks beautiful at night although my sister told us that they don’t turn on all its lights during weeknights.

On your way back, be sure to take photos of the different copper sculptures that litters the place.

If you’re going to take a leak, do so near outside the subway station. The portalets near the stadium reeks of urine. Eww.

It was quite a short tour but having seen the magnificent Bird’s Nest makes it a must-visit place in Beijing.

TOTAL COST:
Subway ticket to Olympic Park Station – 2 RMB

Next stop is Datong in Shanxi Province for the World Heritage Site, Yungang Grottoes. We had to ride a sleeper train at 12 midnight for about 6 hours to get there so we had a hearty dinner that evening.

Part 4: Going to Datong

• Touring Beijing in Winter Part 12: Old Summer Palace
• Touring Beijing in Winter Part 1: The Plan
• Touring Beijing in Winter Part 9: The Egg, Tian’anmen Square and Qianmen Street
• Touring Beijing in Winter Part 8: Jingshan Park and Forbidden City

Filed under: Travel