Beijing – Day Two
Jul 30 2010
Today we had a trip to the Forbidden City. This was the home of all the emperors through the dynasties, and is an incredible complex. There are many thousands of rooms!
Our hotel is only a few hundred yards from Tiananmen Square, and the photo of Chairman Mao is on Tiananmen Gate – the first gate into the city. We strolled down to the square, and met up with a Chinese tour guide (Helen) who negotiated to show us around the Forbidden City for 100rmb.
Helen was a great guide, who explained at length how the emperors ruled, and what each palace was used for. Believe it or not – over 25,000 people visit the City every day!
What surprised us was how close the city resembled Sultan’s Palace in Istanbul. Whilst the buildings were totally different, the way the city operated was very similar – including the use of the buildings – harems, concubines; locations of officials etc.
The Buildings are being restored – a huge job. A few were done for the Olympics
Believe it or not – the shop in the photo below used to be a Starbucks. The Chinese Government decided (wisely) that for the Beijing Olympics, with so many visitors, maybe a Starbucks in the Forbidden City was a no-no!
After the tour our guide sucked us into getting a foot massage and having a Chinese Natural medicine “diagnosis” – to make sure our Yang and Yang were in harmony. Lol – the yang was certainly taken out of our wallets! It was quite interesting though!
In the evening, we went to the Yashow markets, where all the “fake” brands are sold. I bought a few T shirts etc, and had a loverly meal in a shopping complex close to the market