Forbidden city and Lama temple

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Today we went back to Tiananmen square, and walked around in the rain. Thankfully there was less rain than last night when we got totally drenched despite waterproofs and umbrellas!

After Tiananmen square we went on a tour of the forbidden city, which is really quite impressive. Lots of elaborate buildings and courtyards, but it must have been a really odd place in the past when half the residents were the emperor's concubines. After the tour, we stayed in the forbidden city and explored the extensive gardens and many further courtyards - it really is huge. Yesterday we got a view over the forbidden city from the hill in Jingshan park, and you could see the massive scale of it compared to other landmarks.

In the late afternoon we went to yonghegong, the lama temple. Built in the same style as the forbidden city, it's a Buddhist temple with the largest Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood. It even has a Guinness book of records sign to prove it...

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