1st Actual Day in China

Hello from the other side of the world!

The Chinese government censors Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogspot...etc so I am writing to you the somewhat old fashioned way with an update.

Today, Thursday October 25th, we got up early and hustled across Beijing to find the Forbidden City.  There was a large canal close to the city and even some Army action taking place nearby.

A singing army!

Fun fact: Approx 18 million people see the Forbidden city every year and today was no exception... It was amazing scenery but also super draining as we had to shoulder our way through hundreds of tourists (mostly Asian = so there was a lot of spitting) and their shouty guides to look at the jewels, pottery...etc. We were also the recipients of continuous stares because of our nationalities and the fact that we were wearing shorts while other tourists were bundled up in fur coats!

We ended up hiring a guide whose English was unfortunately only fair...he would only repeat his spiel or nod and ignore us if we asked any follow up questions, which was actually pretty entertaining but not really that informative.

The Emperor's throne

The uneven number of characters on each wing apparently brings luck! 

Our guide made me get down on one knee in front of the male lion...not sure why but he giggled during this pic

In front of the Lover Tree, a 600 year old Cypress tree

Our guide ended up taking us from the start of the Forbidden City, the Meridian Gate, to the Imperial Garden, which was built in 1417.  He threaded us through the garden paths rather quickly for my taste and led us to a side alley, which ended up being connected to a small shop.  He gestured for us to go inside while he waited outside.  We walked in and were immediately greeted by several vendors, who guided us over to a sixty-ish Chinese man sitting at a table.  The vendor introduced the man as being "The great-nephew of the Emperor" and that for ___RMB he would gladly do some Calligraphy for us right then and there.  We awkwardly backed away and went back outside, and our guide then announced our tour was over.

We decided we weren't quite done with the garden or the grounds and continued on our own.

                                       

500 year old rock formation!

Another oldie and goodie ;)

Pavilion of 10,000 Spring Seasons

Gorgeous roof of the Pavilion

Grain Measure-r

Lovely dragon/turtle creature

Another throne for the Emperor

Discovering the less busy side of the city

Super powerful

View from the highest point

Once we left the madness of the Forbidden City it was only a five minute walk (down into the Underground and up the other side) to Tiananmen Square.

View of the Chinese History Museum in the background

They start their photographers out pretty young...

Republic Guard, guarding the very large screens installed around the square

Arrow Gate, one of the oldest gates to the city

Mao's Mausoleum

We toured around the Square for awhile (Mao's Mausoleum was closed but apparently you can see his embalmed body there on display) we ended up not being able to convince a taxi to take us to our hotel so we had to hoof it back...it was a journey and a half but on the way we managed to buy 4 beer, 1 water and 5 bananas, all for $5!

On our way back to the Red Wall Garden hotel we came across the Wangfujing night market and shopping area but didn't end up seeing it that night...too tired.

Tomorrow our plan is to switch hotels to a cheaper one, but that's a little farther away from the action, so hopefully we can figure out this taxi business so we can check out the sights of Beijing without killing ourselves walking!

Cheers!
M&T