Beijing was my first city in mainland China and I lived there for five years (after working in other cities/provinces in China for almost 3 years). I've been to 56 cities in China-more than any of my Chinese friends been to. I've traveled to these places in a budget and stayed in budget hostels (some are rickety and had bed bugs and rats on the door) and ate in budget restaurants, which included, budget fastfoods, too. I can't even remember the names of these places anymore, but I used to have a map pasted on the my apartment wall where I circled every villages/countryside, cities and islands I've been to.If you are a traveler in Beijing, forget all about your visual notion about old China. Beijing has changed a lot since I arrived in 2002 and left in April 2010. Don't anymore worry about getting lost in the streets as
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