Blogs from Forbidden City, Beijing, China, Asia - page 9

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Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City March 8th 2011

Kaori was very anxious for today since we were going to the only place she wanted called “Lu Xun’s Museum”. The Museum was somewhat difficult to find except that if you wonder around eventually there is a stainless steel sign that points you in the right direction. This was the only museum visit that was planned throughout the entire trip, so I was interested to see what kind of place this would be. The entrance is free and the exhibit was well coordinated and extremely well kept. Kaori was excited to see this because she read a book published by Lu Xun when in school. Here is a brief history lesson about Lu Xun and his importance to Chinese literature and history. Lu Xun is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered ... read more
Lu Xun Museum (2)
Lu Xun Museum (4)
Lu Xun Museum (5)

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City February 14th 2011

Tuesday 8th February Our taxi from Pattaya to Bangkok cost around £20 and its the usual check in and boarding routine when we get there. We have a one stop flight to Beijing being a 2 hour flight to Kuala Lumpar then 7 hours up to Beijing. We arrived in KL at 10.15pm and caught the flight to Beijing a hour later for an overnight plane journey. Wednesday 9th February The wake up call from the captain at 6am alerts us to the fact that its -6oC in Beijing. Even more bothering is the 45 minutes waiting on the tarmac after landing due to a mechanical fault with one of the wheels which prevented us form reaching the arrival platform. Another long wait at immigration before we are greated outside by our guide and private car ... read more
Monument to the People's Heroes
Great Hall of the People
Tiananmen Square

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City November 15th 2010

Après mes deux nuits à Beijing, dans un hôtel plus que moyen et assez excentré par rapport aux principaux sites culturels, et la visite du Great Wall, je rejoins mon auberge de jeunesse, la Peking International Youth Hostel. Cette auberge est particulièrement bien placée, à 5 minutes à pieds de l’entrée Est de la Forbidden City. Une fois arrivé dans cette auberge, les choses prennent encore une fois une toute autre tournure, à l’image de mon arrivée à Tokyo. Le soir-même, je rencontre deux australiens de mon âge, qui eux, décollent pour Tokyo le lendemain ! Je sympathise très rapidement avec Dan qui fait des recherches sur Internet pour comprendre comment arriver jusqu’au quartier Asakusa depuis l’aéroport de Narita. Le monde est petit, car je viens justement de ce quartier ! Je leur fournis donc un ... read more
Forbidden City (1)
Forbidden City (2)
Forbidden City Garden (1)

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City November 12th 2010

Jinshan Park is just north of the Forbidden City. The hill was created from clearing and flattening the space for the Forbidden City. It was the private park of the Emperor and other habitants of the Forbidden City. At 2RMB enterance fee its a cheap treat. I entered from the West gate. A note on the information board stated that one of the Emperors, can't remember which, escaped to the park when the Forbidden City was overrun by "barbarians" and comitted suicide. It stated that the Emperor is commemorated as one who died for his country. I find it strange that someone who committed suicide rather than live to fight is commemorated as a hero. Maybe suicide doesn't have the same stigma in Chinese philosophy as it does in western. I climbed to the pagoda at ... read more
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Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City November 6th 2010

So we finally arrived in Beijing and to say it was a bit mad is an understatement!! the first thing i did was go and buy me and Dim a cheesburger from MCD's - proper Brits abroad!! At least the Chinese girl Maggie we met had booked our tickets for the next destination for us, as trying to negotiate in Chinese is pretty difficult EXCEPT she had booked us to go to the wrong destination in the opposite direction even though I had shown her our itinerary over and over!! Bless her that is why we all liked her so much - head in the clouds!!! Chilled that night and went to a mad restaurant then met Maggie and Michael the next day to change our tickets and Maggie took us to Tianemen Square and showed ... read more
Bonjour Beijing!
Chinese playing game
Alive fish in market aargghh..

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City November 2nd 2010

This is my second day in Bejing - what an amazing place and we have only scratched the surface. The city of Bejing is approx 190km by about 140km and houses 22 million people. Yesterday most of the tour group arrived at different times. Those that had arrived had our first experience using chopsticks. Most of us are determined to master them, although some of the chinese food is more difficult to pick up than others. Success today at lunch - I didn't have to use a fork at all, things are improving! Anyway this morning we went to Tiananmen Square. It is such an amazing place - it is so huge that the photo's don't do it justice. We took a walk around the square but fortunately we didn't line up to see Mao's Tomb ... read more
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tiananmen1

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City October 13th 2010

BEIJING We were unable to obtain landing permits for the airplane that had to be interchanged on a short term notice and were diverted to Japan. I was unaware that the airline, airplane, group, individuals, ... all needed permits in Beijing, Xian and Kathmandu. Therefore, I decided to take a commercial airline to Beijing splitting from the group and was joined by another couple from Chicago, Sharon and Fred. Beijing was very interesting and informative but crowded. Some areas alotted 5 squaremeters per person ( in the past 3 squaremeters). About 5x5 feet. The smog was impressive as was Tiananmen Square, the forbidden city and of course the great wall. I took 1600 steps ( uneven in height and depth) to reach the 6th tower and was about to have a coronary. Amazing structure. Interesting tidbids: ... read more
forbidden city
forbidden city
vehicle for handicapped, frequently used as illegal taxi

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City September 29th 2010

Finally on my second visit to China and third attempt I actually got into the Forbidden City. Although we did have a run in with some camera sales staff that was a bit stressful. The forbidden city is the most enormous house in the world, I expected it to be huge but until you go through it you can't appreciate the sheer scale of all the buildings with their incredible detail. It really is an incredible place. I was thinking how proud it must make chinese people feel to go there. The outer court is full of huge courtyards and massive 10 story buildings designed to intimidate and awe people at the emperors power, but further on in the more private areas it is full of gardens and is still impressive but far more personable, the ... read more
inside a small pagoda
view from the hill
panda godfrey

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City September 21st 2010

Slight change of plans. They predicted rain for today so I delayed my trip to the wall with one day. Funny that all this is possible the evening before you are planning to leave... I left later then plannned. Used to be up early so I was sure that I would be awake around 8 and ready to go around 8.30 as I didn't need any breakfast, already had bought some for my trip to the wall. I woke up around 6.30 but fell asleep again and it was almost 9 next time I opened my eyes. Still very tired, I decided to start slow and was only at the forbidden city around 11.15. To my surprise, not that crowded or so many mics as I'm getting used to (or often get annoyed by). I thanked ... read more
Classic view of the Forbidden City
Roof tops

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City September 21st 2010

Flight, Palace, Duck... Tuesday So we set out for Beijing at 7:30am in the morning and arrived at the airport very early for our flight. Our friend Carey was traveling with us but she was on a different airline. As we were waiting to get our tickets and check our bags she sent us a text saying that two more of our friends were on the same flight as her. When we got to the counter we asked if we could please have an aisle for Scott and the man at the desk said, “You know you are in business class right?” HAHA! I had just booked the cheapest flights I could find and it turns out our trip to Beijing was in business class and I didn’t even know it! So after getting our ... read more
Before going in
The walls are huge!
DUCK!




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