Take your camera along on this trip. There is nowhere else that you will find and be able to see the wonders of nature or into the past like you can in Beijing. The steep cliffs that surround the Great Wall are awe inspiring.

1. Great Wall of China

A wall of about 3100 miles in length was constructed between the years 221 to 207 B. C. This is a wonder of the world. It is surrounded by spectacular views of deep cliffs.

2. Forbidden City

Known as the Former Palace, it consists of 9000 rooms and 70 structures which are mostly surrounded by high wall. Be sure and see this. It is one of a kind.

3. The Summer Palace

If you have time, spend a day here. In the residence there is a long corridor with lots of beautiful paintings. A bridge with 17 arches gives you a wonderful view of the home, grounds and gardens.

4. Lama Temple

Built in 1694, it was the residence of Prince Yin Zhen. There are five large halls, delicate archways and courtyards. You will find a lot of Buddhist art and Tibetan style murals.

5. Tiananmen Square

The People’s Republic of China is represented here. The square is surrounded by Tiananmen Gate, The Forbidden City, The Great Hall of the People, The Monument of the People’s Heroes and the Mao Zedong Mausoleum.

6. Temple of Heaven

Built between 1406 and 1420, this is where the emperors prayed. The Temple of Heaven was a place of reverence where many prayers were given to plead for blessings upon their crops, harvests and rain.

7. Silver Fox Cave

Beautiful stone flowers, formations, artifacts and waterfalls are seen as you ride along in a boat. And it is all below ground level. In the cave you will find it warm in the winter and cold in the summer.

8. Ming Tombs

The tombs are 31 miles northwest of Beijing. This is the burial place of 13 out of 17 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Two of the tombs were excavated in 1958 and are open to the public.

9. Bei Hai Park

Built for recreation by the emperors, you can rent paddle boats on the river and just relax in the beautiful setting. This is a great place to sit back and relax from the hustle and bustle of the city.

10. Beijing Aquarium

See fish of all kinds, including sharks and the dolphins put on a show. There is a beautiful rain forest. Adults and children alike will like spending time here.

Travel to Beijing, China and enjoy the trip. It is a great place to visit. You may want to brush up on your Chinese before you go.

Now if you have traveled to China for a vacation holiday or on a business trip, people will inevitably ask you whether you have visited The Great Wall of China? Why is this tourist attraction in China so attractive? It is because if you have not gone sightseeing at the Great Wall of China, then your China vacation is missing out a great deal. Here is why.

The Great Wall of China is an integral feature of the geography of Northern China and has captured the imaginations of people throughout its long and distinguished history or some people may wish to think of as its notorious history. The Chinese call this magnificent wall Wan Li Chang Cheng when literally translate means Wall of Ten Thousand Li. A Li is a Chinese measurement of distance such as a mile or kilometer.

The Great Wall of China saw its first piecemeal construction from the fifth century BC down to the 16th century AD as a strategic deterrence against raids, plunders and even invasions from northern nomadic tribes of which the Chinese at that time regarded as hostile barbarians.

When the Chinese were unified under Emperor Qin Shi Huang or Shi Huangdi in 221 BC, the first emperor of China started the construction of the Great Wall to protect China’s northern border towns and villages against the Huns, Xiong Nu tribesman. The words Xiong Nu when directly translated from Chinese literally means Fierce Fury. You can imagine how the Chinese was so fearful of this tribe by labeling it with such a name.

The Xiong Nus were finally driven to the far flung corners of the Gobi desert after 3 Chinese military search and destroy expeditions. Even then, the walls failed to curb the invasion of China by the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty) and the Manchurians (Ching Dynasty).

Historical records showed that as many as 300,000 men working for ten years on the first phase of the wall’s construction. Stories of hardship and thousands of tragic death suffered by the conscripted laborers are passed down to show that Shi Huangdi was a hated tyrant.

Constructed mostly with bricks and masonry, the wall was built by Chinese rulers of 10 dynasties and the length of the wall, meandering through mountains and valleys totaled an incredible 25,000 km or almost 16,000 miles long.

Since the 1950s, five parts of the wall have been restored and like most tourists, I visited the wall from the Badaling section one winter afternoon in Nankou Pass after a visit to the Ming Tombs. I was awestruck with the wall structure as well as the fantastically stunning winter scenery and landscape.

The second most popular access to the Great Wall is through Mutianyu, northeast of Beijing in Huairou County. The advantage of visiting the Great Wall of China from this point is that it is less crowded than the Badaling access. Is it any wonder then that tourists visiting China usually include a sightseeing trip to the majestic Great Wall of China?

Taiwan is also known as Treasure Island for its beautiful scenery and landscapes. The island is a popular destination for tourists who want to enjoy its grand mountains, theme parks, beaches, and cultural offerings. Enjoy its friendly people, fine weather, excellent tourist facilities, and convenient transportation.

1.) Mt. Yushan

Don’t miss seeing the Jade Mountain, Mt. Yushan, which is Northeastern Asia’s highest peak. Exercise your limbs by climbing this 3,952-meter-high mountain. You’ll be treated to crisp mountain air and a breathtaking view at the top.

2.) Yang Min Shan National Park

This a favorite place due to its hot springs, wonderful flora and wildlife and spas. Its mineral springs are popular with people from Taipei. Just 45 minutes by bus or 70 minutes by train, visitors can go hiking or have a picnic here.

3.) Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

This palatial structure is also known as the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Built to commemorate Chiang Kai Shek, the building represents the flag of Taiwan with its blue roofs, red flowerbeds, and white walls. Lush gardens flank the hall, and it is located close to the National Theatre and National Concert Hall.

4.) Penghu

Penghu is an archipelago of 64 islands between Taiwan and the mainland. It has sandy beaches, fishing villages, and delicious seafood. Its only city of Makung is a beautiful place with an outdoor market, fishing harbor, and temples.

5.) Tienhsiang

Located in Tienhsiang is the Taroko Gorge, probably Taiwan’s most beautiful tourist attraction. It is 19 km long with cliffs dropping away to a rushing river of water. The Eternal Spring Shrine straddles a waterfall and is a memorial to the 450 workers who died constructing the Taroko Highway.

6.) Lung Shan Temple

Also known as the Dragon Mountain Temple, this temple is very impressive for its architecture and religious practices where worshippers give offerings to the various gods here, the main one being the Goddess of Mercy. Offerings such as fruit, flowers, and money are made here to the deities, and this is done by burning paper money or putting it in the offertory box. The temple is situated in the Wanhua district, just near the Huashi Night Market.

7.) Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall

Don’t miss this great hall where a 30-foot statue of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, who played a pivotal role in Taiwanese history, adorns the entrance. Tourists can watch the changing of the guard. They can also watch world-class shows in the theatre on the upper floors.

8.) The National Palace Museum

Comparable to the best museums in the world like the Louvre, the National Palace Museum contains one of the most extensive collections of Chinese artifacts and objects d’art. It is twin to the Palace Museum in Beijing, which was split in twain by the civil war, which also resulted in the formation of Taiwan. It contains masterpieces which provide glimpses of Chinese craftsmanship.

9.) Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world standing at 509 meters. Opened in November 2003, it is shaped like a Chinese pagoda with 8 floors in each pagoda roof and was designed according to traditional feng shui principles. It is situated near the Taipei Exhibition Convention Center, the Grand Hyatt Hotel, and the Japanese department stores of Sogo and Mitsukoshi.

10.) Guang Hua Night Market

This is a street food market made up of food stalls catering to local residents. This exciting array of snack shops offer tasty and cheap treats such as soup made from beef bone stock and different kinds of dumplings, pancakes with tangy sauce, and roti bread. In the market you will find locals who come here to grab a bite or buy food to take home.

The Far East stretches all the way from Japan down to Bali, and there are many countries that can be visited in this region. The two most popular cities visited in Japan are Tokyo and Kyoto.

The top hotels in Tokyo are the Hilton Tokyo Hotel and the New Otani Hotel; both have five star ratings, and the Hilton Tokyo hotel has an indoor swimming pool, fitness complex and a wide selection of bars and restaurants. There are 806 rooms, all housed in one building, which is located in a buzzing area of Tokyo. The New Otani Hotel also boasts a five star rating, and has become one of the favourite hotels for government leaders, business executives and discriminating travellers. The hotel is located in a serene 10 acre Japanese garden that dates back to the 16th century. In Kyoto, the two top hotels are the Righa Royal Hotel and the New Miyako Hotel. Both hotels offer excellent cuisine and accommodation, and are conveniently located.

If visiting Beijing, then a hotel that is close to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square while offering world class accommodation is what would be required. The first choice would be the Marco Polo Beijing Hotel, which offers first class and stylish accommodation. Another excellent hotel in Beijing is the Shangri La Hotel, which is superbly located in a beautifully landscaped garden.

Hong Kong has a large variety of hotels that offer accommodation for the most luxurious to the budget conscious traveller. It is quite difficult to choose the best hotels of Hong Kong, but the Shangri La Meridian hotel is conveniently located and is an award winning hotel. The second choice in Hong Kong would be the Intercontinental Grand Stafford Hotel, which is also an ideal place to stay and its location is convenient for both sight seeing or business visits.   

If travelling to Manila, the two top hotels to stay in would definitely have to be the Richmonde or the Holiday Inn Galleria. Both hotels offer all modern amenities and are highly rated by visitors. If one hops over to Cambodia for a visit, the best hotel in Siem Reap would be the De La Paix Hotel, which is a stylish hotel with all modern facilities and warm and friendly staff.

Moving on, Bangkok in Thailand is another city that has some superb hotels for visitors. The top choice in Bangkok would be the Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa, which is located a boat ride away from Bangkok’s famous sites, and the second choice would be the Conrad Hotel, which has been thoughtfully designed in the Thai architectural style.

In Kuala Lumpur, easily the top hotel located in the city’s heart is the Shangri La Hotel, which offers superb and spacious accommodation – and the hotel’s surroundings are spectacular. The other top hotel in Kuala Lumpur is the Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel. This hotel offers the luxury of excellent five star accommodation plus recreational and business facilities.

Singapore has a number of world-class hotels also, but the Raffles Hotel (that dates back to 1887 and has seen a number of celebrities staying there), is definitely a hotel that is in a class of its own.

Ras Ethiopian (Beijing)

The best way to kick off your Asian travels is in China’s progressive and even tragically hip capital city of Beijing. Traditional relics like the Tiananmen gate stand juxtaposed against the imposing modernist architecture of recent history, most notable in the Dashanzi Art District. The People’s Republic of China has its financial industries mainly in Shanghai and Hong Kong, but Beijing remains the nation’s true cultural and political center.

Sitting in Bellagio, still busy at 2 AM

Beijing, a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the People’s Republic of China.

The guides are full of essential hints on where to go, things to see, Beijing’s Museums, shopping mall and flea markets, quality places reasonably priced where to eat or sip a famous Pilsner, clubs and discos, budget hostels and cheap hotel deals to book, emergency numbers and more.

It was formerly known in English as Peking. Beijing is also one of the four municipalities of the People’s Republic of China, which are equivalent to provinces in China’s administrative structure.

Flashbooking is a growing cheap hostel Beijing and hotels directory specializing in budget accommodation for independent travellers, students, adventurous backpackers, international volunteers, families and all the ones that travel on a budget.

Beijing Municipality borders Hebei Province to the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.

Flashbooking accommodation database is easily available online and comes completed with all relevant information about youth hostel and hotel location and map, description, services, hostel contacts, customer ratings, six pictures and updated prices inclusive of taxes and services together with instant real availability.

Beijing is China’s second largest city in terms of population, after Shanghai. It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city.

Flashbooking having the reservation final price is also convenient as it does give the transparency our users pretend while booking. Having the final total amount of your booking means you do not have to worry about other extra surprises! Flashbooking cheap lodging solutions are all available for online bookings and divided by Countries.

It is also the focal point of many international flights to China. Beijing is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural center of the People’s Republic of China, while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic fields.

For this and other reasons Flashbooking is becoming a recognized source of information and services for who loves creating a trip by him/herself and book bed nights securely online. In fact, thanks to a secure server certified SSL provided by Thawte (the global certificate authority) Flashbooking is able to guarantee instantly confirmed and secure online reservations.

Travellers have free access to the updated list of Europe hostels and budget hotels, North and South America hostels, Caribbean and Central America hostels as well as for Asia cheap accommodations, Oceania youth hostels and Africa hostels. Flashbooking’s happy travellers can book their rooms and beds not only in cheap hotels or youth hostels but also consider other budget accommodations inbed and breakfast Beijing, Guesthouses, Campsites, apartments, farm houses and much more.

With the monthly newsletter, Flashbooking puts at travellers’ and partner hostels’ free disposal some useful information tools as pocket travel guides of the top world cities: the Amsterdam City guide, the London City guide, the Barcelona City guide, the Paris City guide, the Rome City guide, the Florence City guide, and the freshly issued Beijing City guide!

In general, these guides have been written for giving the essential information about the most visited cities in the world and in particular for any traveller or first-time visitor. For a short visit, a week-end, a city break, these free pocket guides are useful printable and downloadable tools available onlin

The Chinese New Year is celebrated with much colour and enthusiasm and spans 15 days from the start of the New Year. This year Beijing will be celebrating the Chinese New Year on January 26th, this year is called the year of the Ox. This year will be the year 4707 according to the Chinese calendar. The Chinese follow a lunisolar calendar, incorporating both the phases of the moon and also the revolutions of the earth around the sun. The Chinese New Year is also called the Spring Festival. Even though the New Year falls on the 26th of January the festivities are not restricted to this one day. Normally the celebrations go on for days, with various festivities being held to herald in the New Year.

On the first day, all food consumed would have been cooked the day before. Families pay homage to the old and elderly, generally the oldest member of the extended family. Wealthy families have Lion Dance performances that are held. Kids, teens and young unmarried members of the family get red packets that have cash in them from the married members of the family. Firecrackers are also lit during this day and there are fireworks displays as well. On second day married daughters go and make a trip to their birth parents. Day three and four no visiting is done s it is considered bad luck.

The fifth day involves eating dumplings. The seventh day yusheng and tossed raw fish salad is eaten. On the ninth day prayers are made to the Jade Emperor of Heaven. The fifteenth day is celebrated with eating rice dumplings Tangyuan. Candles are also lit outside the house and the day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival. Families parade the street with lanterns. This is the last day of celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Staying a few days in Beijing would definitely be a good idea; one can stay at a Beijing Hotel while enjoying the festivities. For the luxury seeker a definite option would be a stay at a luxury hotel in Beijing such as Raffles Beijing Hotel.

The capital as well as one of the largest cities in the People’s Republic of China, Beijing serves as the cultural, political, educational, economic, and scientific center of the nation. Located in the country’s north-east corner, Beijing boasts of a diverse range of attractions, from magnificent palaces, temples, and historic monuments to interesting museums, incredible parks and gardens.

Just few to name are Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Summer Palace, Ming Tomb, Chinese History Museum, Chinese Science and Technology Museum, Chinese Military Museum, Yanhuang Art Museum, Temple of Azure Clouds, Wofo Temple, Yonghegong Lamasery, Big Bell Temple, and Ox Street Mosque. Further, people touring the place can also engage in a variety of recreational as well as fun-filled activities such as kite flying, martial arts, ice skating, and cycling. Above all, Beijing has also been chosen as the venue to host 2008 Summer Olympics, as a result of International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) exhaustive ballot.

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially referred to as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad or the 29th Olympic Games, will fall on August 8, 2008 and would last till August 24, 2008. The Summer Olympic Games, otherwise known as the Games of the Olympiad, is an international sport event that is held once in four years. It is conducted by the International Olympic Committee.

Majority of the games would be held at the city’s Beijing National Stadium. Further, both the opening and closing ceremonies would be held at there. In deed, the Beijing National Stadium would be the major field as well as track stadium. Other venues that have been chosen to conduct Olympic events include National Indoor Stadium, Wukesong Indoor Stadium, Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, Ying Tung Natatorium, and Olympic Green Convention Centre.

It is estimated that about 11000 competitors would take part in the 2008 Summer Olympics events. Almost competitors from almost every country take part in the events such as, Afghanistan, Antigua, Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Comoros, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Denmark, Arab Republic of Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Korea Democratic People Republic, Laos, Madagascar, Namibia, Netherlands, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Rhodesia, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, and Zambia.

Earlier, the summer Olympic Games consisted of only 40 to 45 events. But, now it has been expected that there would be more than 300 events for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Most prominent among the events that form part of the 2008 Summer Olympics are swimming, football, handball, cycling, volley ball, mountain biking, wrestling, judo, weightlifting, tennis, baseball, rowing, canoeing, slalom racing, fencing and shooting, kayaking, field hockey, equestrian, softball, triathlon, water polo, and synchronized swimming.

The 2008 Summer Olympics’ official mascot is Fuwa, which in turn stands as a symbol of peace and friendship. Fuwa has been primarily designed to convey playful qualities of five small children, who in turn form a close circle of friends. Fuwa is also an embodiment of five natural characteristics of four most popular animals of the country, such as, the Tibetan Antelope, the Fish, the Swallow, and the Panda.

The Olympic flame is also represented in Fuwa. In other words, Fuwa represents the five important elements of the nature, such as, the earth, the sky, sea, forest, and fire. Included in the Fuwa are Beibei, representing the fish; Yingying, which stands for the Tibetan Antelope; Nini – the Swallow; Jingjing, which represents the Panda; and above all, Huanhuan, representing the Olympic Flame. Above all, the Fuwa is the representation of aspiration as well as dream of people from all parts of the country.

The capital city has taken all steps to prepare and host the 29th Summer Olympic events as well as the millions of spectators and sports enthusiasts. As a part of this, majority of travel industries have also taken steps to make the 2008 Summer Olympics events eventful. Some of the hotels even offer special packages for those touring the place, especially to spectacle this event. These packages mostly include accommodation, dining, transportation to and fro events, gift package, city sightseeing tours, and excellent travel as well as concierge services. Apart from these, there are also provide special celebrations in connection with the 2008 Summer Olympics.