THE FORBIDDEN CITY

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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 contrast is really nice .

We walked up the hill behind the complex (see pic) to see the view. Then for dinner we headed off to a huige shopping district nearby. We went to a food court where you put money down on a plastic card, then you just go around to any stall and get lots of fresh small dishes and they swipe it off the card - kind of like reverse yum cha. It was really noisy and fun, trying all sorts of different dishes and drinks and the whole thing cost about $12 australian - amazing

Tomorrow we will be going to the great wall and probably the ming tombs - I am doing well with the language and having fun speaking with people

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Photos

inside a small pagoda
inside the gardens, inside the forbidden city

view from the hill
this is looking south across the forbidden city from behind - wow