The Place — Attraction in Beijing

Not really a massive fan of malls, as they're usually places that I would normally avoid like the plague. But a recent visit by my daughter forced my hand. And the Place wasn't too bad as shopping malls go. It's got a number of the kinds of western brand names like Tim Hortons, Haagen Daz, H&M, Uni Glo to name but a few, mixed with other Chinese brand shops including a Huewai store.

Down below in the basement there's also a huge foodcourt with a wide variety of Chinese food shops.

But from my perspective, even with many people being present at any one time, you don't feel 'hemmed in' by large numbers of people around you. You have space to move around without being rushed along by the flow of the crowd.

A great place for non Chinese people to get a taste of shopping malls in China and for Chinese people to find a number of western outlets all...

Basically a mall but filled with all kinds of department stores of every brand you could possibly think of. In the same location you can go ice skating, the cinema or eat at a load of different kinds of restaurants from your "American" style steakhouse to simple coffee in Pacific or Atwosome coffee.

Nice to walk about the mall, the place is normally spotless. One thing to be wary of there are teams of one man and women roaming the mall who will introduce themselves to westerners and start talking English to you. After a while they will try and sell you something. Before then it all seems quite honest. I've seen this happen to other people recently. They even tried it on me 6 months ago. So be on the lookout for a smartly dressed man and women team. I had thought it was a general practise your English conversation at first and other may...

LED screen will show a "largest video in Asia" at 7pm everyday. Be prepared to break your neck looking up all the time. Surrounded by cafés, restaurants and shops. A relaxing night out. But there's a very happening night spot near Zara, Starbucks here called "Spark". Hip and beautiful people, might even catch a glimpse of Asian celebrities, but prepared to spend a lot if you have no invitation. When it gets dark, the huge screen lights up and you can enjoy different backgrounds. It’s a great place to take your special one for a date.l. There are many shops, and the best restaurants, including my favorite Indian Ganges, are underground, on B1 floor. Had hard time finding a nice restaurant before got...