Advertisement
Published: September 22nd 2013
Edit Blog Post
We sleep in, but with a 10am start that’s ok. Ky and I get our sporty gear on and ignore numerous ‘What on earth are they doing’ looks as we run out the hotel, find our way down through back alleys to the roads that circle the Forbidden City’s moat. It’s a difficult run, with pedestrian traffic as unpredictable as the road, and along Bei Chang Jie the footpath is being rebuilt with large rectangular slabs of granite. We opt to run on the left side so we are facing the traffic (Chinese drive on the right side of the road), which makes it easier to play chicken with the workmen’s barrows, pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, cars etc. Along the north side, a large sign faces the moat with one character that I recognise meaning ‘fish’. I guess it is encouraging people to fish, because a few were. Along the south side we pass the main large entrance to the Forbidden City and find our way back to the hotel.
Breakfast is a generous spread of both continental/American style hot and cold breakfasts, and a range of chinese options, pastries, coffee, juices and so on. Fantastic. We are going to get
fat here. I try a ‘century’ egg, basically eggs that have been pickled and buried in ash. True to the sign, they smell and taste of ammonia, which is ok but I don’t like the soft texture. A white preserved egg of some kind reminds me of fetta, which is not the right flavour for breakfast so no more of those. Ky has a cereal dish and tops it with a fruit that is white with black spots, tasting like banana.
Tina picks us up just before 10, and we head off to Tiananmen Square. It is a huge open expanse with on one side, decorative bushes and flowers in preparation for their coming holiday, and in the middle a long screen showing scenes of Tibet – to promote unity. We don’t spend long there as it’s really just a place to walk through to either the museum or Forbidden City.
In the Forbidden City, Liam finds a hat he likes in true comrade style, we admire the blue sky and sun that peaks through. It makes the yellow tile roofs glow: quite spectacular.
The buildings have extensive painting of eaves and ceilings, sculpted ceramics on some
walls, and the roof corners are protected by a range of dragon babies formed into various animal shapes.
I fall in love with the enormous lion statues that protect the entrances to the many buildings.
We get in at 10:30 and exit just before 12:00. The city is closing due to a visit by dignitaries so the exit area is full of people.
Then its off to lunch at the Xi He Ya Ju Restaurant. The Travel China Guide tour includes an allowance for ¥600 which we end up using ¥1 more than. I try the speciality Roast Peking Duck which is delightful. Pieces of duck are eaten in thin wraps with a selection of vegies, dipped in sauce. Ky and the boys don’t like it so I try to get my way through the large dishes of duck. Also on the menu are prawns in breadcrumbs for Liam ( just like chicken nuggets), pepper steak pieces for Joseph, and fried bean curd in chilli for Kylie. Although those were each our primary choice, we shared everything we wanted.
The next stop is Harmony Park. This is another long walk along cobblestones with Tina telling us
a myriad of historical facts about the area. The middle gate of three gates was formerly reserved for the gods only, to which Joseph observes that “it means we are gods”. Her knowledge of everything we see is impressive but I find it difficult to concentrate on so much information with every step. These buildings have a deep blue ceramic tile for the rooves, again with dragons and oher creatures.
At one point, Joseph opts to sit down and read his book while the rest of us look inside a temple. As we come out, we see a bride getting her photo taken beside the building, just behind Joseph who is oblivious to it. Very funny.
Before dinner we have a Kung Fu show, like a broadway production but not as well designed. Later we see the Shaolin Temple show and that is to be recommended above the Beijing show. After the show, we have dinner in the ‘western’ style “Essence” restaurant in the hotel. This proves to be quite pricey, totalling ¥791 (A$143). We’ll have to be more careful of how often we eat at that cost, to stay in budget. The boys have icecream
and try to communicate their desire for two scoops of chocolate icecream. The waitress refers to them as “chocolate balls”. Too funny.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.075s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0444s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb