We decided to go to Tiananmen Square, and the sights in that area. The taxi ride over there was very long and the traffic was awful. However, during the ride we passed through one of the historic Hutong neighbourhoods, and we were able to peer into the alleys of some of them enroute.
We finally reached our destination, and were immediately puzzled by the question of which direction to go in. There were no obvious signs, other than the ubiquitous directional signs that give no hint as to specific location or distance. We decided to follow the flow of the crowd, and ended up going towards what we thought was Mao's tomb, as his portrait was prominantly displayed at the front of the building. It turns out that we were heading in to the Forbidden City.
We didn't know where we were until we met Beijing Bob, tour guide extraordinaire:
Turns out that Bob makes his living acting as a tour guide to visitors to the Forbidden City. He approached us (I suppose we looked like we didn't know where we were!), and asked if we wanted to hire him for the day, and after negotiating his price, we agreed, and he stuck with us for hours, explaining every detail of what we were seeing, getting us past line-ups, and generally being an ambassador for this extremely overwhelming place.
The Forbidden City was off-limits to commoners for 500 years; it was the home of the Chinese emperors, the wives and concubines, the Eunuchs, and all of their staff. It is ENORMOUS. It was almost destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and a lot of the relics and antiques were looted by the Japanese during the 1930's, and by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang later.
The whole place is ringed by a moat, and it encircles over 800 buildings and 9000 rooms.
There are three gates to pass through before even getting close to the Emperor's and royal family area. All of it is so beautiful, it's just overwhelming.
The different buildings and halls all have very picturesque names: the "Hall of Mental Cultivation", the "Gate of Heavenly Peace", "Gate of Supreme Harmony", etc. We saw an amazing number of room, including the rooms that the concubines used to entertain the emperor:
At the end of the tour, Beijing Bob showed us the Imperial Gardens. There were really beautiful sculptures made of volcanic rock:
Before we left, Bob took us to a back room where a nephew of the last Emperor had a studio where he exhibited his caligraphy, and would pose for pictures with the public.
We then went to have lunch at a local restaurant with Beijing Bob, and afterwards, he shepherded us (and a large group of young Australian students) off to a bus which would take us to the Pearl Market. Our experiences there are a whole other story!
We didn't realize until later in the day that we didn't actually go into Tiananmen Square! Hopefully we will before we head home.
Drew swims 100 backstroke tomorrow. Go Drew Go!
6 comments:
What a terrific detour! I get the impression your decription covers about 1% of what you saw. Way cool.
I hope Drew is swimming/will swim/has sum perfectly.
Leah
How do you suppose Bob thought you to be tourists? Seems you can't blend in with the crowd. Continue to enjoy!
BK
Go Drew Go!
We are so proud of him.
I love telling people I actually know a swimmer there!
Glad you and Emma are having a great time too.
See you at the pool soon!
Sunday and Rebecca.
thanks for all the support everyone!!
Lesley I am really enjoying your blog. What's the food like?
HI Lesley, Emma and Drew:
Wow - it looks like you guys are having the time of your lives. I am so happy for you all. Lesley - how proud you must be to be the mother of an olympian and to share an experience of a life time with him!
PS - You probably didn't know it but when you were walking toward the big picture of Mau you were in the Square! It is the area right in front of the Forbidden City! Have a great stay!
Go Drew go...we are all very proud of you!
Julie
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