Forbidden City

During our training & teaching in Beijing, our first day off was a day trip to the Forbidden City on Aug 16th. We were so excited not to teach and train for a day. We took charter buses and got dropped off at Tiananmen Square; the 2nd largest city square in the world (only behind another one in Iran). The ultimate goal was entering the Forbidden City. It is located in central Beijing and for almost 500 yrs, was the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial & political center of the Chinese government. Consists of ~ 1,000 buildings & 8,000 rooms. The City is surrounded by a large wall as well as a moat. Pretty impressive.

It just so happened to turn out to be the most beautiful day in Beijing since our arrival. It was actually clear & sunny. Not sure where the smog went for that day. But it was really hot.

The place was so big and just amazing how many people visit it every day. The amount of money in one day is astonishing. Outside was a lady selling little China national flags. Caught up in the excitement, I decided to get one. Duo shao qian (how much $) I asked? Wu kuai ($5) she said. Tai gui le (too much $) I said and started walking away. She touched me. I turned around. Er kuai ($2) she said. Sold. That's better I said. Laila asked me where I got the flag? I said over there and noticed many vendors selling them. She came back with one. How much did you pay I said? 1 kuai she said. Damn it I said...

It was so crowded and some of the buildings so huge. Some of the squares/courtyards were so large. A lot of the buildings and gates start to look the same after awhile and start sounding the same too: Gate of Divine Might, Gate of Supreme Harmony, Palace of Heavenly Purity, Palace of Tranquil Longevity, Hall of Mental Cultivation, Hall of Literary Glory, etc. You get the picture. But all very cool. You could not enter many and some Chinese would do anything to get close to some of them to take pics of an open window or something. Some of us thought we should take a look too and it was so funny to be pushed by granny on your left and a child to your right. But it was fun. We just pushed back though I'm not sure why I was pushing or knowing what I was suppose to be looking at but I thought it was the right thing to do. Join the mob.

 After we reached the end, a group of us went to Beihai Park for lunch & beers which was walking distance from the Forbidden City. Ate at a nice outside cafe near a lake. I had a good tofu dish I believe.

  

We then walked back to Tiananmen Square to visit Mao's mausoleum. I wanted to see the old man in person but unforunately, the mausoleum was already closed. It closed by like noon I recall. That stunk.

What to do now? We decided to take the subway to Yonghe Gong Temple (AKA Lama Temple) in northern Beijing. It's a monastery & temple of Tibetan Buddhists. It is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. When you buy your ticket, they give you a little CD to play at home which is cool. It was a pretty cool place and you'll smell the incense soon enough as soon as you enter. No wonder I saw so many street vendors selling incense on the walk to the Temple. Dummy me was not paying attention. One of the buildings near the back houses a giant Buddha. It was huge and made in bronze I think. Couldn't take a picture though.

  

After that, I think most of our feet were hurting, so we took the subway back to the hotel to shower up and then we met later that night for dinner near our hotel.