China
I was very fortunate to be able to visit China in June 2018, before the outbreak of Covid. I researched as much as possible before booking accommodation, and though the general consensus online was that the Dong Cheng District was the best location in Beijing, I would urge anyone who plans to visit Beijing, to book their stay at one of the 4-5 star hotels in the city centre instead. It may cost a bit more, but you will be in close proximity of all tour operators and just be more safe in general. I was extremely lucky to have booked a lovely bed & breakfast with a fantastic owner/host, but in a very secluded area in the Dong Cheng District which could only be reached on foot, which made things very difficult when joining on to tours. The fact that you are not allowed to use social media or messenger services, made me feel even more cut off from the world.. I pre-booked the below tours: Tour 1: Beijing Historical Tour including the Summer Palace, Lama Temple and the Panda Garden and Tour 2: Badaling Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The tour guides were amazing and both experience were fantastic. The only advice I have is that you can enjoy the tour and scenery, without spending money at the Tea, Jade and pearl factories and do not to buy any herbal Chinese medicines from any of the homeopathic stops as you won’t be able to bring anything into the UK through customs. The Panda Garden was one of the highlights of my tour. It turns out that watching a giant bear munching on a bamboo branch is all the therapy I needed! I was also persuaded by one of my tour guides to dress as a concubine for a photoshoot at the summer palace, and then raced to the top of the Great Wall by the other tour guide, during a 35 degrees Celsius heatwave, but I still thoroughly enjoyed these excursions. If learning sacred knowledge about the Ming dynasty interests you, you may also enjoy evoking Buddhist divinities by burning incense at the Llama temple and don’t miss The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses in the Lama Temple. This houses a magnificent 80-foot high sculpture of the Maitreya Buddha, which is carved from a single piece of sandalwood and took 3 years to ship to this location!