Return Trip - Day 5: The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace

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Hey it's Hannah today we went to Tian an men square(tian-a-men). We also went to the Forbidden city and the summer palace, we were supposed to go to Xian (shee-on) today but my dads ticket did not get stamped and everybody did exept for him, and all the tickets did not have the right date on them so we're staying at a hotel. Oh yeah,I forgot,my old travel guide was there her name is Rose. She hugged us and we got some pictures with her. We went to dinner at somebody 's house (they're safe,nice ,and friendly). My mom and i got blankets on the pettycab ride - its been really fun so far, except the deluxe sleeper train thing. I'll write back tomorrow _Hannah



Went to Tiananmen Square this am, and then to the Forbidden City. 22 million people in Beijing (I think they were all in the Forbidden City), 72 acres and 60 courtyards in the Forbidden City, and we sat down in a random courtyard and found ourselves right next to Rose, the guide we had 8 years ago when we first went to China (try calculating the odds of that). The Square was much more crowded than the last time we were here - the line to view Mao Zedong's mausoleum was thousands of people long. Overall people have been remarkably nice, although we remain quite a spectacle - everyone takes pictures of, or with our group. I'm not sure if they understand why four American families are walking around with 6 Chinese girls, but they seem to approve. The Beijing Duck lunch was amazing - all the food has been local recipes and not tailored to American tastes. Visited the Summer Palace this afternoon - 3 times the size in area of the Forbidden City and built around a man-made lake. Remarkable architecture, artwork, landscapes, etc. Apparently expanded in the late 1800s by the Emperor, as a birthday present for his mother, the Dragon Lady - hard to top that present! Late afternoon we took a whirlwind pedi-cab tour of a Hutong in Beijing. A Hutong is an old residential area made up of traditional courtyard residences that are divided by very narrow alleyways. The plan was to take a casual ride through the Hutong and then eat dinner at a local house. However, there was a sandstorm blowing in from Mongolia so we raced through the streets, ate dinner in about 10 min, and then raced back to the bus. We then drove to the train station where we were held up by security and missed our train to Xian. Apparently the tix were for the following day so we are staying in Beijing another night and then taking a "bullet train" to Xian tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully transfers will be smoother for the rest of the trip.

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Photos

The girls in the Forbidden City

Rose joins the rest of us at The Forbidden City

Decorative eves

a gazebo ceiling at the Summer Palace

The Marble Boat at the Summer Palace

Comments

[Linda hill]

Hi
Luv all the updates and pics. I check everyday.