escape to the countryside and lake yanqi near beijing
The pollution is hitting sky-high in Beijing again (anything over 200 is considered so bad that kids aren’t even allowed to go outside on school days). Just to show what it means, I got two identical photos here, one couple of days ago when the weather was fantastic and even made us realise that we really live in a valley surrounded by mountains. There photos are taken from our apartment window. Hard to believe that this weekend was actually sunny, as the sun is hiding behind all this pollution in the first picture…
So our weekend options were either to stay indoors (not very exciting) or go outside the city where the air was cleaner. Our friend knew a lake not too far away – Yanqi Lake in Huairou District (not far from the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall, which is one of the first places we visited in China [see post here])- so we all decided to explore a bit, and ended up having a great day followed by some shopping and a dinner in the city (luckily the pollution went down to 150 for the evening). This city just has it all, so we enjoyed for dinner Lebanese and Turkish dishes accompanied by some good music and belly dancing.
Like day a night, a clear day vs. super-polluted view (both warm and “sunny” days though)
Ready to explore Yanqi Lake
First we hiked up the mountain and then took these little track cars down
The park had some (so overpriced!) rides that we took
Bouncy castle was a hit with the twins
With kids the top activities are always related to water, sand or running & jumping things…
The city is just filled with skyscrapers everywhere
The streets are alive with vendors of all kinds, and rides of all types too
The shopping opportunities are endless and I like the mix of art and nature everywhere. Beijing must be the greenest city I have ever seen!
Restaurant called Thousand and One Nights. As often as possible we aim to try something new, and hopefully next time we find something from Macao as that has been recommended to us…
My star rating for Yanqi Lake – 北京旅游网 : Average
Address: No.3 Yanshui Road,Huaibei Township, Yanqi Town, Huairou District, Beijing 101408, China. Tel. 010-69661696.
Entrance fee: 25 RMB, opening hours: 8-18 (Lake Yanqi website)
“This place was a bit crowded and run down. The hike to the top was not very long so it suits smaller kids too, and the views were nice (although the lake doesn’t look very clean and it seemed to be overflowing a bit), and we all enjoyed the little car slide down. There are boating and small-scale amusement drives and bouncy castle for the smallest of the family, but they all cost separately in addition to the moderate entrance fee. Those rides are RMB 30 and up (app. $5 USD), which seems quite a lot for a minute of fun or so.
The most fun the kids had was at the entrance when we were leaving – the day was hot and the has a small square where cold and fresh water randomly springs up when kids run around and across the area…”
My restaurant rating for A Thousand and One Nights: Good to Excellent
Address: 1-4 Gongti Bei Lu, Chaoyang district (in Chinese: 朝阳区工体北路1-4号)
Restaurant website link
“This Middle Eastern restaurant in the heart of Chaoyang is just an excellent break from the local food with its fresh hummus, pitas and delicious meats. There is something for the whole family to enjoy and a rather authentic feel. Our kids loved to watch the belly dancers and when the dark fell the coloured lights in the trees, although some might find this a bit kitschy. A good selection of beer, some wines and cocktails are also available. in summertime the patio is great if the pollution is not sky-high.”