China - Day 2 Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square

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Day two in beijing started early, we could not get any sleep the night before either, the beds just have no give in them theres no boing its just a solid thud of a matress. Anyway sleep is sleep!
We met in hotel lobby with the group and started our walk to the forbidden city through back streets and alleys, main roads and cycle paths it was certainly an experience, surprised nobody got hit by one of those crazy taxi drivers and the millions of bikes that travel through the city ringing bells and beeping their horns for what seems to be every second. I hoped that my views of the previous day would be changed, however the start was more of the same, dirty roads and a horrendous smell of sanitation leaks following us for the majority of the walk to the forbidden city.

Before the forbidden city we went into a park directly opposite, this opened my eyes to the different side of the city that I had seen, it was really brilliant and a must see if you go to the forbidden city. Its cheap to gain entry and you can get some of the best views I personally have ever seen, the view directly over the forbidden city towards tianamen square is brilliant. The walk to the top of the hill takes around 10 minutes, however we stopped at like every level to take snaps of the modern city views along with the traditional areas of the city.

When we had finished, we all congregated and made our way directly across the road to the forbidden city. Its really cheap to get in and is a must to visit! We saw a lady be removed from the area for trying to sell merchandise to use, presumably illegally but she seemed unphased by this, its obviously happened before to her and no doubt she will be back selling the hats and flags. Inside the city it is extremely busy like the rest of the city but the layout works well and allows easy access to everywhere within the city, its huge and takes a good hour to see the sights and take pictures of the scenery and building that are dotted around in a strange symetrical style.

We left the city with the group intact and crossed underneath the road in the underpass were we were greeted by security scanners and bag x rays, this was new to me only in airports and train stations have I seen this before. But it seems western tourists are allowed past with out anybody asking to do anything, only being asked to put bags through the scanner and not subjected to the metal detector like the rest of the people passing though are. Its a weird feeling but the idea of having security at every entry point is a good one, but one I cant see being introduced in England. The square itself is huge, apperantly it can hold 1 million people. Opposite sits the forbidden city, along with the huge portrait of Mao sitting alongside the national flag. I didnt feel anything towards with what happened in the previous years, I wasnt moved in any way but in terms of a historical context I was made up to visit such an important sight and take in the surroundings.

After the group dispersed into our seprerate groups of friends, we were starving so went for some food and stumbled on this brilliant restuarant behind the main strip of shops behind tianamen square. It cost us around 45 yuan, £5 in english money and was money well spent! Got a beer included in that too a massive one of Tsing Sao which is gassy but nice.

I think my mind has been completly won over by the sights of today, other than the staring encountered by the non beijing chinese people it was a brilliant day. There are always going to be places that are run down and dirty in a city as large as this but I was definately influenced by the long flight time and travelling. Im completly in awe of the sights I have seen and would reccomend them to anybody who visits. They are all in close proximity to eachother and all costs included a very cheap day!

Im off for some beers now with my friends and maybe a kareoke bar or two.

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