Forbidden City - The Great Wall

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Once we arrived in Beijing a group of us went to the Forbidden City. The City was home to 23 Emperors and got its name because it was off-limits to commoners for 500 years. It is the largest preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China, and well worth the visit! Opposite the Forbidden City is Tianamen square which occupies an area of 122 acres; the last two days has seen this area packed with people paying their respect to the people off the Earthquake disaster. The Chinese government don't seem to like large gathering of crowds as they dispersed everyone within 20 min of the gathering and prevented other people from entering.

The highlight of the trip was the visit to the Great Wall of China. The group arrived at 11am after a 3h bus Journey from Beijing; our day was spent hiking the wall which comprises of watchtowers, castles and fortresses. The Chinese have a saying loosly translated to "Your not a real person until you have climbed the Great Wall"... glad we got that sorted!

On route back to Beijing we stopped at the Birds nest (Olympic stadium) for a few photos. Work is continuing day and night for the opening ceremony on 08-08-08 (8 is the Chinese lucky number).

One of the last activities was a trip to Beijing Zoo where we seen the Giant Panda, then a boat trip brought us to the Summer Palace - a large public park with lakes, temples, gardens and corridors.

China has been a really good visit with plenty to see and do, we are both looking forward to watching the Olympics in August. Our next stop is a week in Japan.

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Comments

[mum]

yuk!
OK Ivan just because you have the stomach for eating weird food doesn't mean you have to force my poor daughter into it !!!!lol

[Nuala]

Looks fantastic Gems, but I don't think I'd fancy scorpion on a stick! By the way does anyone else think Grizzly looks a lot like Jason Mullin??

[Jackie]

Photo to be framed.
Gemma you china girl. Great photo on the wall. Surely that will go on the mantle piece above the fireplace. I see you have moved on in the appetitie area from Kangaroo steak to scorpion meat. Cant wait to see the next chapter. And tell your dad its good fun to be an eejit sometimes.