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Tian'anmen square
Yup, its just a big square. With people. And kites. And army guys. Beijing is a modern bustling western city yet strangely very chinese at the same time. Along the main streets, you'll see women sporting the latest western fashions driving the latest sports cars, while in the side streets you'll see sweaty richshaw drivers dragging fat chinese business men around. In the temples, you'll see young girls in mid-rif tops prostrating and bowing before a big buddha statue beside a bald monk dressed in long flowing robes. Its interesting just to wander the streets and watch the people. And if you do decided to watch them, then make sure you really really stare at them - because they LOVED staring at me (I'm Sri Lankan, and I guess many of them hadn't seen a Sri Lankan, so I attracted numerous prolonged stares from every second person).
Our first chore for the day was to book tickets for the Chinese acrobatics. This was supposed to be a quick little 30 minute detour but it ended up taking us 30 minutes just to get a taxi. For some reason, none of the taxis would stop for us, despite our frantic waving. And, when they finally did stop for us, they all decided that the
The Forbidden City
Its just like in Mulan. You can just imagine those guys clambering on the roof, and Mulan fighting with the sword on the roof, and even little Mushu poking his head out from somewhere. place we wanted to go (which the hotel staff had kindly written in Chinese for us) was unknown to them or simply not a possible destination. It was only after half an hour that we started to suspect that they weren't stopping because they didn't like me - I'm Sri Lankan and dark skinned, and we had heard rumours that there is a slight strain of racisim in Beijing. Sure enough, when my wife (who's chinese) flagged the next taxi that went past, he stopped immediately and was more than happy to take her to the required destination. I had to hide behind a bush while she told him where to do, and then had to run and jump into the taxi and last moment before he drove off!!
Anyway, after booking our tickets for the acrobatics, we headed over to Beijing's most famous attraction - the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen square. After a short modern subway ride, we emerged in a near a huge square full of people flying kites and taking photos. This was Tian'anmen square, site of the infamous massacre in the 80s. Today, its a big meeting spot for tourists and locals alike, and has
Intricate bridge carvings
The emperor obviously liked intricate carvings. Every piece of rock around the place had some kind of funky design. an almost carnival atmosphere.
The square itself was pretty boring. In the middle there was the masoluem of Chairmen Mao and a few big monuments depicting communism. Perhaps the most interesting sight here was two guards standing close to the forbidden city that stood absolutely motionless - so motionless that I was convinced that they weren't real. The motionless English guards in Britain are nothing compared to these guys - you can't even see these guys breathing - its amazing.
We then headed over to the Forbidden City which used to be the abode of many of the Chinese emperors. The forbidden city was off limits to everybody except for the emperor and his family, and selected officials and servants. The emperor and his family very rarely left the confines of the forbidden city, and as such, it was much a exclusive hideaway as it was a prison for the imperial family.
You actually have to walk quite a long distance before you get to the actual palace where the Imperial family used to live. Prior to that, you walk through a number of huge red gates and past a number of mini red shrines/temples. All are
Big Urn
What else can I say. immaculately decorated with carvings and paintings and make if for nothing else a fantastic background for taking photos. One of the most pretty things there is the 7-bridges standing before the first major gate inside the Forbidden City - every part of the bridge is intricately carved with exquisite artwork.
Nevertheless, the Forbidden City gets a tad boring after awhile. You can only see so many red buildings that look very similar to each other before you start to question the value of the entry fee. Even the voice of Roger Moore (recorded on the audio tour that we had purchased) wasn't enough to keep us from getting very fidgity and frustrated. So when we finally reached the imperial palaces, our patience had worn thin and we just swarmed through the complex as fast as we could taking a few photos before leaving the place. Thus, I think a valuable hint for anybody who plans to visit the forbidden city is to walk quickly before you get bored.
That night, we gorged ourselves in cantonese style food before retiring the hotel room for a well deserved snooze. Tomorrow we were off to see the most famous attraction of
More bridges
Lots of bridges everywhere in the Forbidden City China - the Great Wall itself.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Could it be they were staring because...
you are such a good looking brother-in-law :) - Dige