Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bicycles and Scooters
Cheap bicycles and electric scooters can be found just about anywhere in the city, including
supermarkets such as Carrefour and Walmart. There are clusters of bike shops around par-
ticular streets, including along Dongsi Beidajie and Dongzhimen Neidajie in Dongcheng
district. Expats on their way home frequently also try to hock their old pedals on The
Beijinger website and on Beijing Café, so it's well worth putting out a call on either site if
you're after your own set of wheels.
Camera and Camera Equipment
Camera shops can be found everywhere around the city, especially in the electronics zones,
but there is no place better to get your fix than the Wukesong Camera Market, just a
10-minute walk directly north from Wukesong subway station (Line 1) in Haidian. This
amazing market is packed with vendors selling all brands of cameras and camera equip-
ment, both amateur and professional. You'll find the latest Canon or Nikon body or lens,
as well as secondhand collector items. A good deal of the products are genuine but may
not come with international warranties. Bargaining margins are also limited. The Lomo-
graphy Gallery store, just north of Taikoo Li Sanlitun, will satisfy those with a Lomo
fetish. Film, on the other hand, isn't so ubiquitous, and neither are good developers,
particularly if you'd rather your photos didn't come back in an odd shade of green or
blue. A few places that professionals and photography lovers choose to use include 798
Photo Gallery ( www.798photogallery.cn ) in the 798 Art District; Green View Club
( www.greenviewclub.com ) , also in 798; and Photo Chance ( www.photochance.com ) , just
west of Dongsi subway station (Lines 5 and 6) near the National Art Gallery.
Clothes
You don't need to look far for clothes in Beijing, but not every place will carry what you're
after. The Zoo Markets, a seemingly endless collection of buildings (located in Haidi-
an, just near Beijing Zoo subway station on Line 4), is the place to go for wholesale-
priced, no-name clothes and accessories. It's best to take a friend who is familiar with the
area, otherwise be prepared to wander aimlessly, perhaps fruitlessly, in a search for gems
among the thousands of racks of semi-terrible garments. Silk Street, the market complex at
Yong'anli subway station (Line 1), and the almost identical Yashow Market, beside Taikoo
Li Sanlitun, are the places to get classic fake Gucci, Prada, and the like. Hongqiao Mar-
ket ( www.hongqiao-pearl-market.com ), just meters from Tiantan Dongmen subway station
(Line 5), is similar again but has a much stronger focus on pearls and jewelry. If you can
stand an atmosphere that borders on harassment and the need to bargain like you're bank-
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