Day 1: Forbidden City

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Forbidden City, also known as The Palace Museum, was on everyone's "To Do" list. Therefore we decided to get it in early in the week, before we were too tired.

We woke up at a decent time, and walked towards the Forbidden City. There was a little confusion as to which direction it was, but that was quickly settled. I am extremely pleased with myself for bringing a map of Beijing with me. It was extremely helpful throughout our trip. I stopped off and brought films for my notoriously old camera en route.

Arriving at the Forbidden City, we joined the throng of people. I only wish that we had all had matching hats, to aid in our quest to keep the seven of us together, or at least within each others' sight! We bought our tickets, and then looked for the purported Roger Moore audio guides. I had been looking forward to being guided around one of the worlds' most famous places by none other than James Bond. Unfortunately, 007 was no longer available, a discovery which we inevitably only made AFTER purchasing our rental sets. We had to endure a Chinese woman with somewhat interesting pronunciation for the duration of our visit. I am still extremely pleased with the rental though, as there was a vast amount of information which I would never have been privy to, had I not had the audio pack.

Off into the city we went, where we were kept enthralled and amazed for the entire day. Words cannot suffice to describe the majesty of the Forbidden City. Beautiful. Ornate. Elaborate. Yet at the same time surprisingly simple. Spacious despite the crowds of people. Colourful whilst at the same time, the prominent colour in my mind is pale grey stone.

We managed to stay as a group until lunchtime, when we realised that we had lost Brandi and Josh amidst the hoards of tourists. Actually, the Forbidden City did not feel as crowded as I had expected. The remaining five of us wasted thirty minutes waiting for the other two to reappear, then had lunch where we could see them if they returned. After a lunch consisting of our first Chinese food in China, we discovered the Forbidden City Starbucks. This is not a typo. There really is a Starbucks in the Forbidden City! We then promised an art student that we would visit her exhibition when we finished our tour of the City.

We continued our exploration, reduced to only five people, and thoroughly enjoyed our time. Allie and I lost the other three in the "Impertal" Garden, as the sign called it, relocating them to take some photos, and then carry on finding more new, fascinating nooks and crannies in the Forbidden City.

We returned to the "Forbidden Starbucks", where we were once again accosted by the art student. This time, we did visit her small gallery, where the quality of art work, despite them all being copies, was astounding. Three out of five of us bought prints, mine was the students' own work. Allie's in particular was exceptional, and he kept it visible in the room for the whole trip, zoning out and admiring his purchase at every opportunity. Both Michael's and my prints are similar, the main difference being size. This print (on silk) was the one real purchase I made during the whole trip.

There is an area in the Forbidden City, which is not included in the main ticket, but it is well worth the extra money to go and see. This section includes a beautiful wall carving, and museums. Allie climbed inside on of the large metal cauldrons, which were used as fire extinguishers, and the photos we have of this show him with a peculiar "get me out of here quickly" expression on his face. I wouldn't recommend doing this, but the opportunity was too good to miss.

We stayed in this area of the Forbidden City, exploring and exclaiming, until they threw us out at closing time. Then we tried to return to the main areas of the City, but it was too late in the day. There were still areas that we hadn't visited due to time restraints, as I for one would love to return to complete my visit to this astounding and immense landmark. There is a reason why it is called the Forbidden "City", one of which is the size. It is all but impossible to see everything there in one day, with time to process the majesty and splendour of the palace.

We left the Forbidden City, and walked back to our hostel, all the while being accosted by rickshaw drivers seemingly convinced that they could fit five relatively large foreigners in their two-or-three-man vehicles. We just ignored them, and this works to an extent; although I always feel rude ignoring people, over the years, and throughout my travels, I have found it the best way to stop myself from spending money and buying hundreds of postcards, too.

That evening, since Brandi and Josh hadn't rejoined us, the five of us went to an Italian restaurant near the hotel. The food was great, and the ambience was amazing. Since I am British, the owner had come over a few times to talk to me. It was nice to be in such a European setting again, and to be included as a member of Europe, even though my countrymen don't realy count ourselves as European. We had so many free starters that we were concerned that we wouldn't ba able to eat our main courses! Towards the end of the meal, people stated congregating in one area of the restaurant, and a guitar was brought out.

Then the singing began: Italian and other European classics, to add to the atmosphere. It was wonderful. My friends are all American, and since I had absolutely zero voice, they sang "Home on the Range (?)", accompanied by the very charismatic guitar player. When we were ready to go home, I approached the guitar man, and thanked him profusely for making our evening so memorable. Then we started chatting about our respective lives, and living away from our native countries. It was a great night, and we promised to try and eat at the restaurant again while we were in Beijing, a vow that we fulfilled on our last night in China.

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