beijing – the front door
this place is called 前门 which literally translates to the front door. it’s a fantastic place to eat and shop, mostly with traditional very very ancient stores that sells tea pots, tea, hats, peking duck (ORIGINAL PEKING DUCK but it’s not the super duper expensive place, this is the less fancy but lunch-type place), shoes, scissors, and i think there’s a place that you can watch traditional comedy shows.
my aunt took us here but we got lost and these are the pics that i took while getting lost!
this guy is someone that stands outside the shops and attracts customers by relaying off rhymes with two half pieces of bamboo that creates a rhythm. the original beatboxer kkkz?
i rarely put stuff under the cut but this post is gonna be huggeeee so:
if you ever visit beijing this place is very tourist friendly, it’s very clean and it’s not super crowded so it’s not bad. it’s expensive though because the brands are very old and hence charge an arm and a leg for stuff but comparatively to european shops it’s really nothing. there is an amazing hat shop that charges about 500 RMB for a really good hat, less than $80 and the price varies too of course
these metal fellows are telling a story of how they got their name because the emperor really wanted sweets one night and all the shops are closed except for theirs and hence the emperor wrote them a script (very…important and displays status and quality of one’s shop – i assume)
this is the fancy peking duck place though this isn’t the really fancy one but it has the same name. this one is mostly lunch sets that run you anywhere from 200 to 500 rmb for a lunch set (30$ to 80$). but if you want the super fancy stuff it’s about 3300 RMB ($530 USD) for 4-5 people, though being full is not guaranteed. it’s impossible to get a reservation there even if you’re willing to spend. i wanted to take my grandpa there but my mom said reservations couldn’t be made within the month. you can get peking duck pretty much in any restaurant so … you dont HAVE to go to the super nice place.
bought a pair of shoes here! love it!
THERE’s a uniqlo here! so never fear! if you wanna buy stuff but don’t know what to buy. therefore, you can tell, that this place is newly built. but it’s a nice area to shop and see sights, and it’s very close to all the main stuff like the forbidden palace and the tiananmen square and stuff.
bought some tea and stinky tofu!
tea demonstration. you’re supposed to buy tea afterwards. you aren’t forced to of course but it’s suggested that you do. it’s a nice place to rest if you can’t find one. and you get to buy some tea, so really not a lost
i wanted to take pics with the figurines too! but that lady refused to leave, fine… be in one of my pictures then..
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omgosh, beijing! i wanna go there one day, definitely. and original peking duck?! yummy!! i never tried that, always had to settle for the places around my area!
for some reason i thought beijing would be more crowded, but it looks pretty empty in your pics! whoa, 530$? that’s like 100$/person :O it does look fancy shmancy. but from my experience, the best stuff are the locally made stuff at night markets. :3 haha stinky tofu! it looks different from the one i tried at a night market in Taiwan but it does look delish!
and those tea demonstrations look so formal! when i went to Taiwan, we were obvious tourists and the ladies kept saying how we looked like super stars and how one of my guy friend looks like “Lady Kaka’s boyfriend” LOL!!!
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Funny how well UNIQLO’s sign already fits into the surroundings!
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I can’t believe we didn’t get to visit here – looks absolutely fabulous – and a lot of fun – getting lost is actually really enjoyable when traveling and when you don’t have any time restrictions – eventually, you’ll find your way back.
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