Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fengtai covers the southwest corner of Beijing's urban area, stretching from along the South
Second Ring Road down and out to the west beyond the Fifth Ring Road. One of the larger
urban districts, it takes up 306 square kilometers (118 square miles) of land and is home to
2.1 million people.
The district is primarily industrial, but there are a few sites worth a visit, such as the
kitsch but fun Beijing World Park (Guogongzhuang subway station, Line 9 and Fangshan
Line, exit D,
www.beijingworldpark.com.cn
or
www.kinabaloo.com/wp.html
)
. The park
has carefully copied miniatures of iconic buildings from around the world, including the
Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, Angkor Wat, and Stonehenge. Other sites to visit in
Fengtai include the historic Marco Polo Bridge (also Lugou Bridge, buses 309, 339, 624)
and the Wanping Fortress, right at the start of the Marco Polo Bridge. Qinglonghu Park
(
www.bjqinglonghu.com
)
is also a nice spot to come for a weekend picnic or to lie on the
beach beside the lake.
Not to be forgotten—nor confused with the often identically named park at the Olympic
Water Cube—is the Happy Magic Watercube (
欢乐水魔方水上乐园
, 11 Xiaotun Lu,
小屯
路11号
, tel. 10/8860-9999). This is reported to be the world's biggest water park; not just
for little kids, it has slides that would cause the most seasoned rollercoaster rider to hesit-
ate. With a capacity to entertain around 30,000 people a day, perhaps the most challenging
thing of the park, however, would be deciding whether or not to join the enormous mass of
life-vest-wearing bathers bobbing in the wave pool. The park is open from around late May
until the end of August (dates vary), and entry fees are RMB200 or RMB160 for kids un-
der 1.5 meters (5 feet). To get here, take bus 338 or 507 from the Yuquanlu subway station
(Line 1, exit D2) and get off at Meishikou (
梅市口站
).
There are some worthy shopping destinations to bring you south, including some of
Beijing's most exciting markets. Get lost in the Muxiyuan Markets (Dahongmen subway
station, Line 10, exit C2), where all things haberdashery can be found building after build-
ing and lane after lane. Stroll until your legs ache at Xinfadi Market, an immense collection
of warehouses supplying much of the city with its produce. This is the epitome of whole-
sale, and is an astounding demonstration of how much food passes through this city. Entire
warehouses are dedicated to a single produce item, such as mushrooms, eggs, or beef, and
