Advantages: Excellent quality food, great taste, top service, easy to get to, real value.
Disadvantages: None

...The Peking Duck on Smithdown Road was an eating experience not to be missed. It's been recently taken over and is a real family business with the lovely, helpful sons providing service. The food is fresh, hot, tasty and very well priced. The cleanliness and general feeling of quality is unquestionable. We went initially to the Sunday afternoon buffet and was very impressed with the range of starters in particular. We then returned for a meal and ordered a set menu. The chicken and sweetcorn soup was one of the best I've ever tasted. The spare ribs were sticky and rich, the duck gorgeous and we asked for more pancakes with no extra charge. The lemon chicken had a real lemon taste and the beef in blackbean sauce so tender and tasty. We could fault nothing and recommend it fully to everyone. There is free parking in a car park over the road... Read review

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Advantages: Raffles! Friendly staff, immaculate rooms
Disadvantages: Expensive bowling alley

...Wow, what an amazing hotel - and a true bargain at that. It is actually now owned by Raffles with one part of the hotel being Raffles and the other Beijing Hotel. We visited Beijing in January this year staying for six nights in the Raffles section of the hotel. You know that you are arriving somewhere nice when your taxi door is opened as soon as you get there and friendly men smile at you and welcome you to the hotel. They grabbed our cases and brought them inside for us. The reception is clean and warm (a must as it was minus five outside!!!). The staff welcomed us to the hotel and could not have been more friendly and helpful. An added bonus was that we had booked through Expedia (therefore only paying £60 per night) and been told that we were not getting breakfast included. The reception staff said that as it was low season... Read review

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Advantages: Just my opinion
Disadvantages: None unless you are the oppressor

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Advantages: Team Spirit and full support of the nation
Disadvantages: Strong competition

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Advantages: Cheap place once you've got there
Disadvantages: the problems one experiances are basically due to the language barrier

...Beijing isn't all that I was made to believe it to be it has a touch of the oriental old style with areas such as the Summer palace and the Forbidden city, which are a must see for those who intend on taking back photos of the ancient dynasties. However those who have visited know of how metropolitan the city is it's streets are crammed full of people busy with city life, much the same as London or any other major city. There are towering offices that seem to travel miles into the sky, roads that weave in and out and to be honest leaves the best of us wondering where we are. The city is terrific there are more things to do here thatn in most cities around the world and whats more it's cheap. Areas for shopping are basically well established market places, these include the silk alley, San li Tun (otherwise known as the bar street... Read review

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Advantages: greates square on earth
Disadvantages: great crime happend there 1989

...Place of heavenly peace ... thats the english meaning of Tiananmen. It's kind of ironic that the place, where thousands of peacefull students died in the upset of 1989 has this name. Can we ever forget this pictures? As if I hear the words "Vietnam" or "Korea" I have to think of crying children with burned skin, thanks to US-american napalm, so if I hear "Tiananmen" I have to think of a lonly student in a white shirt, staying in front of 4 tanks. I was in Beijing in february of 1998 and also visited this place. It was a strange feeling. Me, grown up in the communistic part of Germany, faced with one of the greates crimes in communistic history. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sdc/tiananmen.html But the people here in Beijing, whats about them? They are trying to forget. As US-americans are trying to forget their crueleties in vietnam... Read review

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Advantages: Good rooms and beds, 3 restaurants
Disadvantages: no pool

...I had the pleasure of staying in this hotel when I travelled to Beijing in July, for a week. This hotel was great. Our rooms were furnished with many accessories such as hair dryers; not that we used them, TV, radio; there was English radio there, air conditioning, thank god, a mini bar and a safe. There were three restaurants in the hotel, and a massage parlour and a beauty salon. One disadvantage was there was no pool. But the views were excellent, since it was in the middle of the city, one thing that did restrict the views was pollution, not that a lot but still, but that was nothing to do with the hotel! It was situated near many western restaurants (in case you get sick of Chinese food) and the people at the desk will ring up and order pizza for you to take to your rooms for no more than it costs to buy! (Usually it costs 15% extra... Read review

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Advantages: good sport
Disadvantages: demonstrators

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Advantages: central location
Disadvantages: not luxury

...If you have ever been to Novotel in Europe, you would expect novotel hotel to be average Well the Novotel in Beijing is a totally different story, first of all the location is very very central, right at the store step of Tiannanmen Square and right next to the Oxford Street equivalent in Beijing. Secondly,the hotel entrance is certainly the grandest I have ever been in a novotel with a grand staircase and lots of fresh flowers. The rooms are only average to be honest, but if you happens to stay on the executive floors they are very pleasant and a little bit more luxury than a normal 4 star hotel in Beijing. The only complain ? The food there is only average, in fact I should say do not have a high expectation and you will feel better when you taste it! But with prices for around 50 pounds to 70 pounds per room per night. Novotel... Read review

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Advantages: Delicious, freshly prepared food
Disadvantages: None

...I popped into the Marble Arch Pret a Manger to discover that, horror of horrors, they no longer made my favourite lunch time snack - the magical Goan Crayfish wrap. Although taken aback by this devastating news I decided to try a different wrap - Peking Duck with Spring Onions. I am pleased to be able to report that this was delicious and more than made up for my initial disappointment. This wrap cost about £3.50. I also tried a Mango fruit crush to accompany the Peking Duck wrap and this. too, was outstandingly good. There is no doubt in my mind that Pret a Manger offers excellent freshly prepared food in a no nonense format, far superior to any similar lunchtime offering. The coffee is good too. I have no hesitation in recommending Pret a Manger to you if you haven't already tried them.... Read review

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