Hot Day At The Forbidden City

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The Forbidden City lies at the center of the ancient city of Beijing. It was home to 24 emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Today, the Forbidden City is a public museum and World Heritage site, attracting millions of tourists from around the world.

Through chance we left the Forbidden City as our last site to see in China, on our last full day. What a mistake! It was hot, and the place is HUUUGGGEE. Granted, there are plenty of seating areas around, and many of those in shaded areas, it is just that my bad knee could not keep up with all there is to see in this place. Another bad thing with this visit is that there were many closed off places due to renovations in preparation for the Olympics.

One regret I have with this place is that I did not get the audio tour with Roger Moore. I hear its excellent, and a must when visiting this place.

Sadly I can not really remember much about this place since the heat forced us into the sidelines with the shade, many of the areas were closed due to renovations, and by noon, my knee just didnt care about what else is there to discover.

China, we enjoyed you.
What we learned:
1) There is harmony everywhere in China, just look at the traffic and the bikes, never an accident. It is here that Nasty girl learned how to Jay walk, she understood the flow of traffic.
2) Walk in the shade. Especially with the Ozone getting thinner, who needs a tan that increases your chance of getting skin cancer.
3) American Express built the Forbidden City
4) Shanghai is a booming city that feels faster than NYC.
5) We are not cut out for second class coach on the trains
6) Its sometimes cheaper to fly than to ride the train (Elong.net for your flying needs in China)
7) The gardens of Suzhou are not to be missed if you are in the Shanghai area
8) Never rely on lonely planet maps (Stupid map got us lost so many times! UGH!)
9) Lots of Chinese know at least a little bit of english

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Photos

Entrance
Look at all the people! The congestion! UGH! So not nice on a hot humid day.

Courtyard
From the entrance and through the hot courtyard. Look at the sky, not a cloud in site to hide us from the sun

Shade
Of course we go around the long way, cool in the shade, laughing at all those suffering in the heat

Huge Doors
Ancient Chinese sure were huge. On a more serious note, how did they open and close these things?

Renovations
So we walk in from the front courtyard and this is what we see. What the heck!

American Express
Just letting us know who made it possible. Amex built the Forbidden City! Who knew?

M
Right after this picture was taken, various other tourist posed the Y-C-A. Should have taken all the pictures. But since when was it M-Y-C-A?

Us
Had to add a pic of us in

Walk in the shade
One thing we learned in China, they love fairness. Walk in the shade, who needs to get tan and develop skin cancer

Comments

[eric]

your right
it does look really hot