May Day in Beijing with My Child
Since the pandemic started, I’ve barely ventured out. This year I just couldn’t stand it anymore and decided on a short trip — taking my kid to Beijing for a stroll during May Day. Originally we planned to leave on the evening of the 30th, but my son’s school let out early and my boss kindly gave me an extra day off, so… we ended up taking a night train to Beijing on the 29th. In hindsight, this turned out to be a mistake. I’m not a twenty-something youngster anymore; overnight trains, even in a soft sleeper, just don’t work for me. I lay there wide awake the entire night until dawn.
We arrived in Beijing on the 30th and devoted our first day to Happy Valley — a decision that couldn’t have been smarter. We got to Beijing West Railway Station at 7:30 a.m., took the subway straight to the Lavande Hotel near Happy Valley, checked in, had breakfast, and headed straight for the park.
We entered the park around 9:30 a.m., and many rides weren’t open yet. We first queued for the family roller coaster, which is said to be the least terrifying in the park — but I nearly died of fright! Then I went on the river rafting ride. Those two rides nearly finished me off, so I said no to everything after that. No choice — for all the remaining rides, I just waited in line with my kid and let him ride alone. Apart from being a little scared on the Sun God Tower, he wasn’t fazed by anything else.
Our day at Happy Valley was a blast for the kid. Here are a few takeaways: 1. Pick rides that suit you — overdoing the thrills was my downfall. 2. Arrive as early as possible and prioritize the major rides. In the morning, we queued for the roller coaster, rafting, and jungle train for no more than 20 minutes each. In the afternoon, when my son went for a second round, wait times started at an hour. 3. There’s a KFC inside the park, and the food is decent, but avoid peak meal times — it gets insanely crowded! 4. At the entrance, there’s a paid mini-train that circles the park — great for when you’re dead tired. It moves at a snail’s pace; I can’t comment on the scenery because I dozed off for the entire loop, but my kid loved it. 5. If you plan to spend a full day, stay at a hotel nearby because you’ll be exhausted. 6. A word on rain ponchos: For our first water ride, the rafting, I bought a park poncho for my son — it was long enough and kept him well covered. For our shoes, we slipped plastic bags over them. I used the free ponchos from the park, wrapping two around myself. An older lady sharing our raft even joked, “Did you wrap yourself in cling film?” I could have died laughing! The bottom line: bring your own poncho if you can, and ideally shoe covers too — they’re pricey inside the park.
DAY 2: On the second day, we went to the LEGO Discovery Center on Tianjie in Chaoyang District. As a huge LEGO fan, my son had been longing to go there for ages. After switching hotels to the Ji Hotel on Tianjie, we entered the center right at 10 a.m. The tickets were booked on Ctrip, and entry was hassle-free. It wasn’t as big as I’d imagined, and there were activities all day, but you needed to reserve in advance. Overall it was quite enjoyable, and most importantly, the kid was over the moon. Something I really admire about my son: as long as he likes something, no matter how bad the environment or how crowded it is, he’ll be happily bouncing around.
DAY 3: Our target on the third day was the Forbidden City. I’d bought afternoon tickets online in advance, but visiting the Forbidden City during May Day was a colossal mistake. We walked over 30,000 steps that day and were completely wiped out. It wasn’t so much the crowds inside the palace, but that both Tiananmen East and West stations were closed, and no subway or bus could get us through. My son and I had to walk all the way from Xidan. What an ordeal! That evening, when we went to a shopping mall, my son kept asking every shoe sales lady, “Which shoes won’t hurt my feet after lots of walking?” My heart ached for him. As for the Forbidden City itself: In my opinion, besides the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Treasure Gallery is the most worthwhile — the artifacts are truly remarkable. Next time, though, I’ll definitely hire a guide (not an audio guide, mind you) to really delve into the history and stories; otherwise it feels dull and hard to appreciate.
DAY 4: Originally, we planned to visit World Park today (a spot my son had specifically requested), but after yesterday’s excessive walking, his feet were practically wrecked, so he himself asked for a more relaxing alternative. So off we went to Beihai Park for a boat ride, hoping to capture that “Let’s row our little oars” charm. We arrived at the park around noon and queued for a four-seat electric boat for about twenty-some minutes, which was the fastest among the lines. At 140 yuan for an hour, the price was acceptable. We explored every boatable corner of the lake. I timed our outing carefully; we should have had plenty of time to return, but I foolishly forgot to account for the wind. On the way out, we had a tailwind and moved quickly; coming back, we fought a headwind, and the boat crawled. We nearly exceeded the hour, but my clever son rushed to return the card at the very last minute. Good heavens! Going over would have cost another full hour’s fee.
In the evening, we met up for a meal with my younger brother’s family. We hadn’t planned to travel together, but it was a happy coincidence to see them. The two little ones played joyfully until 11 p.m. and were in tears when it came time to say goodbye.
DAY 5: We were due to head back in the afternoon, so in the morning we visited the National Museum of China, which we had reserved. Passing through Tiananmen Square, I snapped a series of photos of my kid to mark our capital trip. I have a special attachment to Tiananmen; every time I come to Beijing, I love to visit and it always leaves me feeling content.
The National Museum wasn’t too crowded, since everyone enters by reservation and there’s crowd control at the entrance. Inside, the kid was most interested in the science and technology exhibition; he didn’t quite grasp the rest, and his clueless mom couldn’t really explain the significance of anything either.
What captivated me the most was this set of jewelry and this embroidery piece — I absolutely adored them.
For the return trip, we bought high-speed rail tickets on the Fuxing train. From Beijing to Hohhot took just two hours — now that’s impressive speed!
Lessons from this trip: When the entire country is on holiday, try to avoid traveling if possible — too many people, too much traffic. If you must go out, steer clear of areas with road or station closures; when no vehicles can get through, it’s all on foot and your feet will pay the price. Over five days, we walked a total of 100,000 steps, and my kid powered through the whole way. We mainly relied on the subway and buses. Despite such a tiring journey, as we were about to leave Beijing, my child clutched his subway card and sighed, ‘Goodbye, Beijing — who knows when I’ll be back. I really don’t want to leave.’ That’s my kid: no matter how tough or tiring it gets, if he’s passionate about something, he’ll stick it out to the end.
