4 offbeat places to visit in Beijing this weekend

Image: Bridget Colla via Flickr

What's the matter? Demonic temple statue got your tongue? 

There are more amazing historical sites, museums and tourist attractions to visit in Beijing than you can shake a chuanr stick at, but it seems fair to say that sometimes the more bizarre-minded of residents here wants to take a quirky day trip somewhere that offers more than just a history lesson. Luckily, this wonderfully madcap city has plenty of surprising attractions that may well leave you with more questions than answers.

Here are some of our favourite weird and wonderful Beijing places to spend a surreal weekend at. Love them, leave them and try and fail to summarise their appeal in concrete terms to your more skeptically-minded friends.

Longqing Gorge

Image: Bridget Colla via Flickr

We're sure the rest of Longqing Gorge, which comes complete with sparkling waters and the kind of preternatural beauty rarely seen inside the Sixth Ring Road, is lovely and well worth a visit. However, we're not here for waterfalls or sheer cliffs or even lazy hikes through the natural vista; no, we're all about the dragon escalator, which is clawing its way towards the history books as one of the world's longest outdoor escalators. There's also bungee jumping on offer, for those of you too xXx-treme to appreciate a slow ride up a symbol of national identity to the top of a dam. 

Watermelon Museum of China

Image: @oo_nmsk_oo via Instagram

Pay homage to the humble watermelon at this, China's shrine to the behemoth of the snacking world. The museum features little in the way of English captions, but plenty of watermelon-themed ephemera spread across over 43,000 feet. Sadly, the fruit fanatics that run this place have failed to capitalise on the appeal of eating watermelon while looking at a waxwork of a watermelon, so bring your own. 

Dongyue Temple

Image: Pier Alessio Rizzardi via Flickr

Some parts of Dongyue Temple, a Taoist place of worship which dates back as far as 1391, are exactly what you'd expect having visited any of the other traditional religious sites in the city. However, if you're reading this list you're probably going to be more interested in the flocks of lurid figures that populate the structure's 76 Departments of Death, in all their gaudily coloured, gruesomely occupied glory. Choose your fate from the range of scenarios on offer, from those featured in the Department of Punishment to the subterfuge taking place in the Department for Suppressing Schemes. Who'd have thought Taoist tableaux would be so, well, tacky? 

Shijingshan Amusement Park

Image: Martin Lewison via Flickr

Shanghai Disneyland, this is not; popularly known as 'knock-off Disney', this is the kind of theme park where childhood dreams go to die, or at the very least take an acid trip through the gates of hell and end up, sprawled in conditioner and completely alone, in the aisles of their local Watsons. Since it was opened all the way back in the dark days of '86, it's been subject to a plethora of both copyright claims and wide-eyed parents muttering about health and safety, but we're trollish fans of its audacity and bargain-bin rides alike. Don't forget your neck brace! 

For some other great things to do in Beijing, hit 'Read more'. 

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