Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Prostitution
, though illegal, has made a big comeback - witness all the new “hairdressers”,
saunas and massage parlours, almost every one a brothel. Single foreign men may find them-
selves approached inside certain hotels (not fancy ones, or Western chains), and it's common
practice for prostitutes to phone around hotel rooms at all hours of the night - unplug the
phone if you don't want to be woken up. Bear in mind that consequences may be unpleasant
if you are caught with a prostitute.
Beijing, and China as a whole, has become more tolerant of
homosexuality
in recent years;
it's been removed from the list of psychiatric diseases and is no longer illegal. Still, the scene
is fairly tame and low-key (see
Gay Beijing
).
TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN
Foreigners with kids can be expected to receive lots of attention from curious locals -
and the occasional admonition that the little one should be wrapped up warmer.
Local kids generally don't use
nappies
, just pants with a slit at the back - and when baby
wants to go, mummy points him at the gutter. Nappies and baby milk are available from mod-
end hotels have
baby-minding
services for around
¥
150 an hour.
Breast-feeding
in public
is acceptable, though more so outside the train station than in celebrity restaurants.
Sights and activities
that youngsters might enjoy are the
zoo and aquarium
,
pedal boating
on
Houhai
, the
acrobat
shows, the
Puppet Theatre
and the
Natural History Museum
.
If you're
tired of worrying about them in the traffic, try taking them to pedestrianized
Liulichang Jie
,
the
Olympic Green
, the
798 Art District
, or the parks -
Ritan Park
has a good playground
and Chaoyang Park has boating. Note that most Beijing attractions are free for children under
1.2m high.
Check
beijing-kids.com
for more suggestions and advice.
TRAVEL ESSENTIALS
Costs
In terms of
costs
, Beijing is a city of extremes. You can, if you wish to live it up, spend as
much here as you would visiting any Western capital; on the other hand, it's also quite pos-
sible to live extremely cheaply - most locals survive on less than
¥
2000 a month.
Generally, your biggest expense is likely to be
accommodation
.
Food
and
transport
, on
the other hand, are relatively cheap. The minimum you can live on comfortably is about £15/
€18/US$25/
¥
150 a day if you stay in a dormitory, get around by bus and eat in simple res-