China - Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven

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Thursday 13th September

Was picked up from my hotel by my organised tour guide at 6:45am and was off to see the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. After a couple of pickups of other tourists we headed out to a glorious blue sky and sun. First stop Summer Palace. I won't go into the history or things to see but was a worthwhile trip. Next stop was a tour of a fresh water pearl shop. Obviously these additional stops were used to give the tour guide and driver commission on anything sold. So after being shown the different between a fresh water oyster and an ocean oyster (fresh water holds at least 20 to 30 pearls where as the ocean oyster only has 1) we headed to lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. Taste was good but ingredients were cheap.

After lunch we ventured of to the Forbidden city. Was a good trip but not worth a full day unless you include tian'anmen Square and the adjacent parks. I mean as well as learning about each main buildings history and what would occur between each dynasty there is not much else to see as the left and right sections of the city are restricted to tourists. Next stop after the forbidden city was a local silk factory (another tourist trap). Was nice to see live silk worms and how they produce the silk and learning each step from the worm to the end production.

Last stop was the temple of heaven. A picturesque round shaped temple situated in its own tranquil park. This dated back to the Ming dynasty 1420. Now the tour was complete we were all taken back to our respective hotels. I then had time to book a Kung fu show called the legend of kung fu. Was a real worthwhile show. Tickets start at ¥180, ¥280, ¥640 and ¥840. I went for the ¥280 which I later found out was a blessing in disguise. I turned up and was escorted to the 3rd row right smack bang in the middle of stage with no one sitting in front or besides me. It seems as though everyone else (approx 100 people) all paid the ¥180 and were seated in the back. Anyway the show was worth it. It was Shaolin monks who told a storey of a small boy too scared to join the Shaolin monks. Was a very impressive show.

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