Beijing Journey Tours

Travel Beijing, See It On Your Terms

2010-03-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Since starting our website, we have been pleased and surprised to see that our travelers are finding us from all corners of the globe. Although we have been in travel business for many years, we did not know what to expect when we decided to build and publish a website. It has turned out to be a wonderful decision, and a learning experience for us also. Travel should be about real exposure to the culture and thoughts of others. It should not be about just checking off your list the sights seen. You will soon forget the statistics and facts from guide books, but you will always remember the feelings you will get from taking the time to enjoy the places you have been. That is the advantage of a private tour, customized to what you want to do. It is also the advantage of independent travel.

We believe in serendipity. It is really some of travel's most memorable moments. We would like to provide you with the opportunity to experience serendipity.

We have been building some new web pages for walking tours, and soon will be adding more. The hutongs and the Great Wall are two of the best places in or near Beijing to take a walking tour. If that isn't your style, but you still want to experience Beijing more at your own pace, consider customizing your tour. Whether you call it custom travel or tailor-made tour in your part of the world, it is a great way to explore Beijing your way. A lot of people think if they see a city using a private tour, it will be expensive. That is far from the truth.

One of our services that has been under-utilized has been our cell-mobile phone rental with support service. This is a great option for those travelers who want to be totally independent and see Beijing on their own. It is also great for those travelers who do want to take some tours, but also want some free time to explore some other places they have heard about. This takes the uncertainty out of exploring. Call us whenever you need some help getting around the city. We can help you organize your day, tell taxi drivers where to go, suggest restaurants in the area you find yourself in; and if you think you are lost, we can help you get back to where you want to be. Besides that, you can call your home country at an extremely reasonable rate.

We are glad that we have joined the travel industry on the Internet. The people we are meeting have broadened our world also. Serendipity goes both ways.

Beijing-Tibet Tour, Visit the Roof of the World

2010-03-07T17:45:00.001-08:00

We have sent some of our travelers to Tibet after their Beijing tour, or as part of their China tour. However, we have not as yet put it on our website.
We are now working on adding several different tours. Beijing is the main entrance and exit for many of the travelers who visit China every year. Because we have seen more of our clients who visit Beijing wanting to visit Tibet, we are adding several combination Beijing-Tibet tours. We are going to combine our Classic 3 Day Beijing Tour, our Classic Beijing 2 Day Tour, or our 1 Day Beijing Tour with three different choices of Tibet tours. Since more and more travelers to China are considering visiting the major cities, like Beijing, as independent travelers, we are also recommending our cell-mobile phone service. It provides human travel support service. Just rent a cell phone from us, and call us for help with any questions you might have while in Beijing. Then we will send you to Tibet and help you plan your Tibet tour. We have been told that Beijing and Tibet are the two favorite places that our clients have visited. More about Tibet in a later blog post.

Travel to Beijing For Spring Festival

2010-02-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

Spring Festival is the perfect time to see Beijing at its best. Not only that, you can see Beijing when it is the least crowded. Many of the workers who live in Beijing have gone home to visit their families, roads are not crowded and the city is full of life. Fireworks boom, temple fairs can be found all over the city, great food is everywhere, and all the traditional sights visitors wish to see are open. Now is the time to experience Beijing like a local, and not a tourist.

Starting well before the actual first day of Spring Festival, the city starts to add more and more lanterns and traditional decorations. Fireworks begin to be heard each night. A not to be missed, and actually an impossible to be missed event are the fireworks. They are at their noisiest and best Spring Festival Eve. The best display is exactly at midnight. Spring Festival lasts for 15 days. If you should miss the first day, you will have plenty of other opportunities to see and hear them. Day 5 of Spring Festival, and Lantern Festival on Day 15 are great also.

Chengde, Imperial Summer Retreat of the Emperors

2010-01-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

We have been finding that more and more of our travelers have been to China and Beijing before. Some travelers also have a specific interest in the Manchu Emperors of the Qing Dynasty. For both groups Chengde is an ideal city to visit. Only a few hours by train or car, Chengde is an easy side-trip from Beijing.

It had been a few years since I had been there. A group visiting from the Philippines had shown interest in going, so I accompanied them. I was interesting in seeing if Chengde should be considered as a tour offering for other travelers. After viewing it through the eyes of the group, I would say definitely that Chengde is well worth a visit.

Chengde is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Manchu Emperors, beginning with Emperor Kangxi came here to escape the summer heat of Beijing. Set in a mountain valley. Chengde is still a great place to enjoy the mountains and the countryside, while visiting a wonderful historical site.

The imperial retreat of the emperors, Bishu Shanzhuang, is set in a beautiful pine woods. Twice the size of the Summer Palace in Beijing, the simple elegance of the architecture, the quiet walking paths, tree-shaded lakes, and gorgeous gardens will definitely make Bishu Shanzhuang a place to remember. The emperors originally used the grounds for hunting, so do not be surprised when you turn a corner and see a deer looking at you.

Besides the Bishu Shanzhuang, the Emperors built several outstanding temples. Eight of them remain. We visited four of them. Putuozongcheng Zhi Miao is the largest, and often called the Little Potala Palace because of its resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. We also visited Puning Si, the highlight of which is an absolutely magnificent, 75 foot tall, statue of Guanyin.

We have just added two more web pages to our website. Both are about Chengde. We decided to add a five day tour that includes three days in Beijing and two days in Chengde, but for those people only interested in Chengde, we can easily offer them a two or three day trip to Chengde. It is also possible to visit Chengde in one long day, but we believe that travelers would really prefer to experience all that Chengde has to offer with a longer tour.

We have also added an additional information page with more photographs. My tour group's suggestion to visit Chengde has proved to be an excellent one. I loved their enthusiasm for what we saw, and I must say, I felt the same way they did. I do hope other travelers will take the opportunity to see a place near Beijing, but off-the beaten path.

Beijing Journey Tours and Wangfujing Street

2008-11-06T17:15:00.001-08:00

We have been adding more pages, with pictures, to our website. We would like to show our travelers some of the places they can visit, and give them a short introduction to the place. Beijing has so much to offer. It is not only an old, historical city, but it is also vibrant, modern city.

Wangfujing is the premier shopping street in Beijing. Because it is so close the many of the major historical sites, it is an ideal place for travelers to visit if they are interested in doing some shopping, eating or people-watching. New malls stand next to century-old, traditional shops and restaurants. It is a great place to visit during the day, but we would definitely recommend a visit here at night. The historical sites are closed, but Beijing life for the locals, as well as the tourists, is in high-gear on Wangfujing Street. Come and enjoy!

Beijing Journey Tours and Our Thoughts About Specialization, Value, and Cost

2008-10-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

As we increase our knowledge about Internet marketing of our business, we have come across a multitude of information on how to get higher Google rankings. We now have a fair understanding of how to be seen when a potential client does a search.

However, a few other terms have shown up in our readings. We have come across a number of articles talking about making sure your travel company specializes in a particular type of travel. We do believe that we already meet that goal, as we specialize in tailor-made tours for corporations and independent travelers. Another two terms that were used were value and cost. These two terms are what are really giving us some thought in the current market. We truly believe we are giving our travelers a good value. We want to show them the best of Beijing. We want them to also experience Beijing, not just view it from a tour bus window. We have all heard of the tours that give you a photo opportunity in front of the Eiffel Tower, but you never get a chance to reach the top and view the entire city of Paris. We understand the first tour costs less, but we wonder about its value. In the current market, we wonder what future travelers are honestly looking for. We have found in the past that value is what has brought clients to us. Now we hear more and more tour companies saying that the bottom-line cost is driving more people. We find that sad and hope that is not really the case. Travel should be more than just saying you saw a place. It should leave you with memories that excite you. Your pictures should tell stories that you will never forget, and bring a smile to your face when you look at them. Here is hoping for better economic times, and the hope that people will not put off the adventures that travel can bring to them right now!

Beijing Journey and Cell Phone Rental, Support Services

2008-10-07T05:46:00.001-07:00

Our most under-utilized service is our cell phone rental. This surprises us as so many more independent travelers are coming to Beijing. Our American friend really was the idea for the service being offered. She was working here temporarily, but wanted to be able to get around the city, see the sights, and meet friends on her own. Since her Chinese is limited to the bare-essentials, this desire became a problem. She, many times, had to stop people on the street to ask them if they would let her use their phone. Obviously that led to the telling of some very good stories. She found all the people she asked to be quite polite, and also, a bit amused by this. Since we were the people she was calling for help, we know this to be true.

We finally suggested she buy a cell phone. We still receive her phone calls, but now we recognize the number calling us! Which then gave us the idea of offering this service to other travelers who like independence. We know that travelers want to be able to use a taxi, find a good restaurant, call home, set-up the order of their day, meet a friend, and ask any number of other questions. We know they feel more comfortable being adventurous if they have a friend to call for help. It allows a traveler to be spontaneous, walk a different way if they suddenly decide to. We believe in serendipity, and we hope that our travelers do also.

We hope that more people in the future will see the value of renting a cell phone. We have found that most people visiting here think that they have to pay the extremely high prices that international companies charge their customers when they want to use their phone outside their home countries. We feel our support service and our rental cost is quite a good value. We haven't as yet offered this service to our corporate, MICE clients, but see that it could also be of value to them.

Beijing Journey Tours Visits the New Qianmen Market Street

2008-10-04T11:00:00.001-07:00

Located on the south side of Tian'anmen Square, Beijing's Qianmen Dajie was the city's busiest and most famous street during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. In recent years it has remained a popular shopping street, but definitely needed renovation. Using research and photos from the 1920's and 30's, it has been undergoing a massive refurbishing for the past year. Although not yet totally completed, it opened days before the Olympics. We visited it in late August. Many of the oldest, and most famous stores and restaurants of Beijing have located here. The restaurants were filled with both tourists and local Beijingers wanting to try dumplings and roast duck. We really think that Qianmen Street will be a worthwhile place to visit for travelers and and locals alike. We wandered through the old silk stores and were surprised by the reasonable prices and quality of the goods. This looks like it will become a good place to shop in Beijing when more stores move back here. We thought we would like to try the old theater, showing movies from the 20's, at a later date. It might also be fun to ride the restored trolley.

A Visit to Confucius Temple by Beijing Journey Tours

2008-10-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

We hadn't been to the Temple of Confucius since the renovation of the temple had been completed. Our American friend went there during the Olympics and was quite impressed. She had been there last year while it was being worked on and wanted to go back to see how it had all turned out. We were also impressed.

Amazingly, tourists have not found it. Which is surprising, considering its history. We visited the Confucius Museum on the grounds and thoroughly enjoyed it ourselves. It tells us about the life of Confucius, his beliefs, and how that fits into the history of China. We think travelers to Beijing would find it interesting.

Mainly though, we think travelers would especially like visiting the Temple of Confucius and the Imperial College because of the peacefulness of the place. It is a nice place to just stroll through; enjoying the atmosphere of old China, admiring the beautiful architecture, and learning a little history besides.

We have always included the Confucius Temple in tours for people who have a little more time in Beijing, but now we think we would like to recommend it to people who also want to get the feeling of old Beijing. The walk to the temple goes through a quiet hutong, and gives the traveler a look at the daily lives of many Beijingers. Since it is located near many of the most important, and therefore the most frequently visited places; it would be a good place to stop for a quiet, but interesting break.

Visiting the Real Beijing

2008-09-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

In the not-so-long-ago past, people were content to visit another country and see its famous sights. Although seeing the must-see sights of Beijing is still apart of any trip here, more and more people are asking to experience Beijing; to have a more in-depth view of the city. They want to see the real Beijing, and they want to meet people and have the chance to talk with them. In Beijing, a hutong is one of those places.

Whether you take a stroll through the hutong areas of Beijing, or rent a bike or a pedicab, you will see another side the Chinese capitol. Real Beijingers live and work here. If you take the time, you will have the opportunity to see what daily life is like for the average Beijinger. Perhaps you will also have the opportunity to visit a home and have tea with the people who live there. We would be happy to arrange a trip through a hutong for those that would wish to do so.

The Olympics are now over, and many people from all over the world have visited Beijing. We, at Beijing Journey Travel, have seen more and more people interested in the Beijing of today. As we enter the fall of the year, we would like to explore more options for our travelers. We would like to provide them with authentic experiences that are ones they will remember always.

Beijing Journey Tours is a Destination Management Company

2008-09-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

We have doing some research on search engine optimization; tags, RSS feeds, etc. There is so much to learn! Maybe we are old-fashioned, but it seems to us that working hard to make your business better; what you have to offer in terms of your products, service, reliability, etc. is still what a business is all about. As we look further into expanding our business through our web site, we still are looking for even better ways to provide our travelers with quality tours and outstanding service.

Our American friend brought us an article from United Hemispheres Magazine. In each edition of the magazine they have a feature article called Three Perfect Days. In August their feature article was Three Perfect Days Beijing. We were happy to see that many of the places that we take our travelers are ones that are recommended in the Hemispheres article. This is especially true for our MICE corporate event clients. (meeting, incentive convention exhibition) We also had to smile that our American friend had encouraged us to include the newly re-opened Prince Gong's Mansion on our If You Have More Time web page.

Whether you are an independent traveler or part of a group, and are interested in a tailor-made tour; check-out the article. It will give you some ideas, and we can give you many other exciting alternatives. One of our own favorite activities is having tea in the kitchen of the Forbidden City. Hoping to hear from you soon! We trust you will love your journey in Beijing!

Beijing Journey Continues into the Land Of Search Engine Optimization

2008-09-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

We never expected that so many other things would be going on in the Olympic Park besides the Olympic events. The children in the park were enjoying the water spouts, and we enjoyed the live entertainment. We recorded part of a show we saw, and have included it on today's blog. Definitely, being able to record what we see and hear is a way we can share with others the many great sights and sounds around Beijing.

We are discovering that Search Engine Optimization can be quite enjoyable. We have up-dated the look of our web site, Beijing Journey Tours; and have also changed some of the pictures. We have started this blog, and have been learning some new things just by doing it. We certainly did not know anything about downloading videos before this.

Part of running a tour agency is looking for new and exciting places to take our visitors. We have been investigating some new sights that we hope will interest our future travelers. We plan on adding them to our Customized Tours and If You Have More Time web pages soon. We definitely plan on adding the new Qianmen Street and Zhongshan Park. Of course, before we even write about these new additions, we will be suggesting them to visitors. One of the sights we have already added to our Beijing Classic Tour is a stop at the Olympic Park. So, as always, if you are interested in visiting us in Beijing, please let us know what you have read or heard about that interests you. We would be more than happy to include it in your tour.

Water Cube Video from Beijing Journey Tours

2008-09-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

We are still excited about learning new ways to promote our business website, Beijing Journey Tours . It's a good thing we are in the tour business! We really enjoy sharing our love of Beijing! This is the first time we have ever downloaded a video, and we see it as another good way to show all the wonderful places and activities that Beijing has to offer.

After seeing a great diving event, we stopped to take this video of the Water Cube as it changed colors. This particular change of colors was our favorite. The Olympic Park was simply an amazing place to be after dark. We loved the way the Bird's Nest looked with the Olympic torch glowing above it. The Bird's Nest's reflection in the water had us standing on the bridge just memorized by the sight. But our favorite was the Water Cube. On most of our tours, we have been including a stop just outside the Olympic Park; but without an event ticket nobody is allowed on the grounds at this time. This was our first opportunity to see the park from within.

We truly loved our opportunity to be part of the Olympic experience, and hope everyone who came to Beijing for the Olympics feels the same way. For those people beginning to arrive again in Beijing for business or travel, we think they will love it here now. The weather is great, and there is so many new things to see. We are especially looking forward to meeting the new people who will journey with us.

Zhongshan Park, Quiet Spot Next to the Forbidden City

2008-08-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

Our friend told us as long as we were talking about some of her favorite places in Beijing, we should also include Zhongshan Park. It is located literally next to the Forbidden City; and, in fact, used to be part of the Imperial Palace. Zhongshan Park was named for Sun Yat-sen; better known in China as Sun Zhongshan; considered to be the father of modern China.

Although busy in the early morning with senior citizens doing their morning exercises, later in the day it is beautiful and quiet. Considering its location in the midst of the most famous spots in Beijing, it really is a hidden gem. We have to agree with our friend. We have often taken travelers there for a few quiet moments. We recommend it for our travelers who have taken our Customized Tours. We haven't as yet included it on our If You Have More Time page, but we now think that it is an ideal addition.

Beautiful Jingshan Park, Beijing China

2008-08-20T20:42:00.001-07:00

Our American friend has been exploring Beijing during her stay here. Beijing is quite busy at the moment. People from all over the world have come here to see the Olympics. She has decided to join in the fun and be a tourist also.

She is visiting some of the must-see sights, as well as some of the lesser known places. However some of her favorite spots to visit are famous, but not frequented by large crowds of tourists.

One of her favorite places is Jingshan Park. After visiting the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park is the ideal place to go to get away from the crowds, and yet to experience the history of Beijing. It is located across the street from the north gate of the Forbidden City. The best view of Beijing is from the Pavilion of Everlasting Spring, which used to be the highest point in the city. From the pavilion, looking south, you can see the golden roofs of the Imperial Palace. Looking northwards, the Drum and Bell Towers can be seen.

We have included Jingshan Park on our website on the If You Have More Time page. More and more people are traveling to Beijing for other reasons than the the traditional tour. If you are interested in experiencing the historical side of Beijing, yet want to experience Beijing in the places that Beijing residents visit, Jingshan Park is one of those places. After her glowing reviews, we will start suggesting it to more of our travelers.

Beijing Journey Welcomes Our American Friend

2008-08-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

Our American friend returned last week to Beijing for the Olympics and also for a friend's wedding. While here, she has been doing some exploring. We asked her to take some pictures, and also let us know of any places that she felt that other travelers might be interested in. Some of the places she has visited in the past week were places she has been to before, but some were new sights. She was particularly interested in how some historical sights have been refurbished.

We are always interested in adding to and refining our customized tour offers and we are particularly interested in adding more to If You Have More Time, so we definitely are interested in her unbiased views. More and more people are coming to Beijing for a variety of reason, and more and more are repeat visitors. We feel that it is important that we keep-up with all that is going on in Beijing.

If you have read our blog before, you will know that this is our first blog. We are still in the early stages of learning what this can do for our business. Right at the moment we are learning how it is possible to add a picture gallery to the blog. It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. Over time, we hope that we can share with you the many faces of Beijing. We are enthusiastic about our city, and we, at Beijing Journey, really want to share Beijing with you! So, for the time-being, we will add individual pictures, such as the one on today's blog of the edge of a Forbidden City's roof. The picture is a classic one, and one we particularly like.

Pictures From Our Arrival at Beijing Capitol International Airport

2008-08-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

Beijing Welcomes You!

The New Beijing Capitol International Airport

2008-08-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Olympics have come to Beijing! We have taken the time in the past few days to enjoy some of it ourselves! In the past few days we have taken more than a few pictures, and we would like to share them with everyone in our next posts.

The new terminal for international travel is now open. We were impressed with the beauty and efficiency of it all. The terminal is huge, but the train arrived immediately and took us to the customs area. Customs was an easy process, and our baggage was on the carousel when we entered the baggage area.

There is an air of excitement as soon as you enter the main terminal. The travelers are greeted by volunteers, and everywhere you see evidence of the Olympics. As we left baggage claim, there were cameramen just waiting for the athletes. As one would be spotted, people came running from all around to greet them. The rest of the passengers were greeted by the characters, and people waited in line to have their pictures taken with them.

Beijing Capitol International Airport is a great introduction to Beijing! We hope that all the travelers here will enjoy themselves, and hope that we can personally meet some of them when they use our services ar Beijing Journey Travel!

Beijing Journey, Journeys into the Land of Spam and Search Engine Optimization

2008-07-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

We published our first blog of our lives a few days ago, then decided to do some more reading about blogging and search engine optimization. We found we have a lot more to learn! First of all, a blog won't be seen by anyone if you don't do something to optimize it. So the thought of us writing this blog just for ourselves seemed a little silly. We discovered that Google sees Beijing Journey as two words when your URL looks like http://www.beijing-journey.com. but only one word if you write it as www.beijingjourney.com. Our website is the second, but we thought that maybe it would be easier to find our blog if we wrote beijing-journey as the blog address. We then applied for a second blog. Then we found out we couldn't transfer what we had already written from the first blog to the second. Now we have received an email from Google indicating that the second blog might be considered spam, so they have put a block on it until they can investigate!

So we do believe we have more to learn about blogging and search engine optimization!

Which maybe is the point of all of this anyway!

In the past people put their business address and telephone number in a directory. They probably also put an ad in the paper. They hoped word-of-mouth would drive people to check out their business. There are more ways now to let people know about your business. However, the organization of the Internet isn't like a phone book, or even like the Dewey decimal system of the library. Search engines are now what find your business. Also, since the Internet is a lot less personal, it is difficult to judge if a company you find on the Internet is one you really want to do business with. A blog by the company gives the customer a little feel for the personality of the company when it is impossible to visit their business personally.

Which is why we will continue this blog. We do want to get to know our clients, and we do want them to get to know us. We also hope you see from our blog that we strive to do things right. This blog is a new adventure for us. We are learning new things about ourselves. And that is what travel is also all about. Travel is an adventure, a journey, and if you let it, a grand learning experience. Check out our website, http:///www.beijingjourney.com. Come journey with us!

Our Own Olympic Medal

2008-07-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Today was the day we were going to learn to blog. When we decided that our company, Beijing Journey Tours at www.beijingjourney.com needed an Internet presence, we never dreamed that creating a website was only the beginning of a very long process for promoting our business. Beijing Journey Tours has been in business for many years, but now the time seemed right to join the modern age. All of our business comes from other countries, so the Internet, of course, seemed to be the best way to reach new clients.

We thought that writing the website would be the most difficult process for us because we had never written a website before. We didn't even know about search engine optimization. Links, page rank, social networking, blogs, directories were not part of our vocabulary. When we published the website to the Internet, we were surprised to find that we didn't show up. Amazing! Well, that meant put away the books that talk about creating a website, and find the books that teach you how to promote your website! One of the best ways to have people find your website is to blog........or say the books! Who are we to question the experts!

So why do we call today's very first blog, Our Own Olympic Medal? Well, as we checked our website, www.beijingjourney.com this morning, our teeth almost fell out! We are page ranked! And our page rank was a 2! Now for those of you that have no idea of what this means, (and we didn't just a few months ago) this IS an Olympic medal for a website! Page rank is what Google uses to show the importance of a website, and now we are considered important enough by Google to be ranked! Now isn't that important enough information to finally start writing that blog?

So here it goes! This is blog #1 of our career as website writers. We haven't learned as yet how to link our blog to our website, so rather than word links, we are using web addresses. However, we at Beijing Journey Tours believe life should be an adventure, and you should experience and learn new things.

And Beijing is an adventure that shouldn't be missed! Not just now when the Olympics are going to take place, but any time! Beijing is an amazing place! There is so much to see, so much to do, so much to experience!

So, who are we? We, at Beijing Journey Tours, are a local Beijing travel agency. We have been in business for over 20 years. We specialize in customized tours for corporations, groups, and independent travelers. We take great pride in our business, and we want our clients to leave Beijing wanting to return. We named our company Beijing Journey for a reason. We believe that travel is more than taking a trip. We believe your travel to Beijing should be an adventure, an experience; a journey of a life-time!

So please do check us out. Our web address is www.beijingjourney.com. However, here is a list of specific pages you might be interested in clicking to directly.

OH!! I have just learned something new! I just figured out how to link without typing out the addresses!

Customized Tours

Corporate Travel

Tour Packages

Travel Services

So please do consider journeying with us! We are positive you will be happy! And we will continue our journey into the world of blogging!