After nine years of living in Beijing, Wai Hing Lam from Germany, Gloria Rodrigues from Malaysia, and their two girls, Elli (4) and Edna (2), have come to call it home. Pictured here with their housekeeper Xiao Hong, they share some of their family’s Beijing favorites.
Place to Bring Friends From Home
The atmosphere at Panjiayuan makes everything interesting for our visitors – people are everywhere, vendors sell everything under the sun and the best thing is that all our visitors go home with something they really like, whether antique or new.
Indoor Play Space
Definitely A-Z Kids. Our girls like the ball pit and the mini supermarket with all the plastic food.
Getaway
Our family goes to Hong Kong once a year during big sales. We stock up on children’s items.
Outdoor Play Space
Elli loves Chaoyang Park for the rides and the fishing pond.
Beijing Daytrip
We love the Great Wall at Chuandixia in the Mentougou district. There are many well-preserved courtyards and old temples. The view of the village from the surrounding hills is beautiful, especially during summer. And don’t miss the Tanzhe and Jietai temples in Mentougou! At Jietai temple you can see the Jiulong Pine Tree (Nine Dragon Pine Tree), which is said to be over 1,300 years old.
Beijing Street
Wangfujing. We love to shop at the New China Children’s Store for toys and birthday gifts. Whenever we have first-time visitors to Beijing, we take them to Wangfujing for a walk along the night market food stalls – they have lots of interesting-looking food there!
Lunch Spot
East Ocean Seafood has great dim sum and very good quality seafood. They keep our children happy by giving them helium balloons, and at the end of the meal the children can feed the fish in the pond.
Restaurant for a School Night
Lau Pa Sak is a Singaporean restaurant across from the Canadian Embassy. It serves great hawker-style food; the prices are good and the staff are friendly.
Would you like to share your Beijing Favorites? E-mail editor@tbjkids.com
