I was woken quite early by the street sounds of Beijing (Radios and construction noise) I stayed in bed for a while as I was still pretty tired and still shaking the end of a slight chest infection. I decided during breakfast that it would be a good day to see Central Beijing, namely Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. I thought it would be good to go on a Friday in case there were a lot of local visitors on the weekend.. I got up to Tianamen Square and there were thousands of people everywhere and a massive queue to get into Chairman Mao's mausoleum. I started off by going up into the National Gate which is the largest gate in Beijing and is what remains of one of the many city walls. It was worthwhile and gave a good view of Beijing.
I decided not to queue to see Chairman Mao's body so I made my way through Tianamen Square to The Forbidden City. There were people everywhere - I just kept envisioning Moses parting the red sea as I walked (all day long) and made it through the people without getting to agro!
Just outside the Forbidden City a guy approached me and asked if I wanted a guide.. It felt like a good option so after a bit of bargaining Zheng and I went in. Zheng is a lecturer on the Qing Dynasty so he had lots of knowledge about the city. He also explained that - due to the weather - now is the mostly popular time for people to come to Beijing from all over China.
Guide Books suggest that you spend half a day or so in the city - my tour was for 1.5 hours - so Zheng and I moved through pretty quickly. He gave me a really good overview of the city and what the different sections and buildings were for (there were 9999 rooms when it was first built and many palaces and hall and temples). We didn't even go into the first 3 main halls as they are empty - the relics having been moved to Taiwan with the Nationalist party when they left Beijing in a hurry chased out by Chairman Mao. We had a better look at the back court of the city which is where the emperors and their families lived and the 'ruling' was done. I also heard a lot about 'the Dragon Lady' who was formerly a concubine and ended up ruling China for a long time from 'behind the curtain'. Which is a reference to the curtain that she would sit behind while her son and then nephew sat in the throne. We also saw some of her artwork (calligraphy).
Zheng then took me into a small hall up the back of the city and introduced me to an artist who is a nephew of the last emperor. It sounded like a bit of a scam but they showed me some books on him, his name was long and this was inside the official Forbidden City so I was convinced, and bought some calligraphy and had my photo taken with him.
Zheng left at that point and I decided to wander around the city. The size of it was amazing and I was really impressed - it's the best kept temple/ruin that I have visited and the fact that it is in the middle of Beijing is awesome. I had a look through a lot of the old wings where artifacts from the museum are kept - everything from clothing to musical instruments and weapons. The gardens were great and I most enjoyed the jewlery exhibition (I paid extra for) where there were some amazing stones, crystals and golden Buddhas.
Whilst I saw heaps, the day was getting quite long and I missed lunch running around in excitement, so towards the end of the day I decided to leave, having not visited all the different temple and palaces inside. Whilst I did see lots, you might of noticed from this blog that I didn't get to the Gate or the Hall of Literary Brilliance. What an awesome place though and I'm so glad I have visited it.
After exiting the city I wandered over to the park\garden behind the Forbidden City - Jingshan Park. This is walled as well and it well kept. It was nice to have a wander around and get to the top to look out over the forbidden city.
I was on a bit of a high and maybe a bit tired after no lunch when I think I got introduced to one of Beijing scams. I met a nice bloke who was visiting Beijing from northern China for a few days. We wandered around the gardens and talked about what to do and see in Beijing when he suggested we have some tea. I thought it would be nice to enjoy with a Chinese person but was quite surprised at the prices for the tea. The tea ceremony was interesting but it was definitely the most expensive pot of tea I have ever bought and my friend couldn't tell me anything about the cultural experience I thought I was having.. His story was really good up to then and although he bought some tea I have a feeling it was taken back. I know to be wary of this now and it's also a good excuse to make sure I eat Lunch!
Speaking of missing lunch - by the time I made it back to the Hostel I was starving so I went out and ate half a duck for dinner - Peking style of course.
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