A family-friendly tourist destination

When friends from back home told me they were coming to Beijing for a holiday with their family, I was naturally delighted. But I was immediately struck by the boldness of their plans — was a sprawling city of 20 million people really the ideal destination to bring three kids of primary school age?

Beijing’s traffic is notoriously congested, and notable too for some drivers’ lax interpretation of road rules. Crossing a busy intersection can be a major undertaking at the best of times, if not occasionally terrifying. Imagine having to navigate the city with children in tow.

It turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong. The whole ensemble literally hit the ground running, overcoming jet lag to cross-off Beijing’s tourist sites from their list one by one, and with a vigor I had entirely underestimated.

Wangfujing night market and its array of weird, edible delights on sticks bewitched the kids on the first night.

The hutong, Tian’anmen Square, the Forbidden City, Houhai and the Summer Palace fell one by one. The group’s preferred mode of transport was the metro — perhaps to sidestep the issue of crossing busy roads — but taxis, buses and trains were all employed in their quest to conquer the capital.

At each of these tourist spots, the children found themselves the center of attention, as domestic tourists coddled, prodded and joked with the three children — a novelty in itself and not lost on passers-by — which they seemed to revel in.

“This is crazy, who brings their kids to China on holiday?” my friend joked.

Lama Temple, the Bird’s Nest, and Olympic Park fell next. Evenings consisted of visiting night markets, shopping or visiting local eateries.

A trip to the Great Wall was planned. Eschewing the hard-trodden tourist path that leads to Mutianyu, the family instead embarked on a trip to a much more distant section farther north on a section of the unrestored “wild” wall.

Wouldn’t the kids prefer the toboggan slide down from Mutianyu, we suggested.

But they had other, more offbeat, plans.

After a 3-hour bus-and-taxi ride, the fearless five then scaled the very heights of the wall on a long and seemingly quite strenuous hike. More impressive still, the youngest of the group was only 5 years old.

More irksome still, a week earlier my wife and I had hiked the Great Wall and had barely managed to recover from it. The tourists from rural Scotland just seemed to bounce back, with superhuman resilience.

Many trips and several meals later, and the holiday was drawing to a close. I asked a slightly more tired looking dad how the whole trip had turned out over a beer on the last night.

The kids had had a fantastic time. The range of sights, the food, the friendliness of the people had ensured its success. Transport had not been too much of an issue and the metro had proved the most practical option to get around the city.

It seems that the trip had set the bar high for next years’ vacation.

“Where will we go next year — how do you top the Great Wall?”, my friend asked. “New York, maybe?”

I emailed them after their return and asked them about the trip. The excitement about the holiday had not worn off and the kids were still crazy about China. I asked if they were off to the Big Apple for their next trip.

“Nah, the kids want to go to Shanghai next year,” came the answer.