Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City

Friday, 9 May 2014

Arriving at Tianenmen Square

Are we being watched?

Mao's tomb and visitors

Roped off section of square

Famous portrait

Square gardens

Aussie visitor

Waiting to enter Forbidden City

First full day of our tour and an 8.15 am start.  There are 20 million people in Beijing and today 19 million of them joined us at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  We had a reasonably short drive to Tiananmen Square before alighting and then shutting our eyes as we hurried across the road with our tour guide.  It was really difficult to appreciate the immensity of the square, but there were an awful lot of people there!  After spending some time learning about the revolution, admiring the building containing Mao’s remains (we decided not to queue for two hours to see him) and having our official group photo taken, we moved through the square to the entrance to the Forbidden City.  We entered across a moat and through three gateways, all of which were very similar.  About now, we realised the 19 million people in Tiananmen Square were moving into the Forbidden City at the same time as us. 

Forbidden City Photos

We eventually came to the Emperor’s main palace building, with his throne, but after listening to some more Chinese history, we were quite thankful to follow our guide around the outside of the huge courtyard before being left on our own to literally push and shove our way through the crowds to have a glimpse inside the building.  Then is was another battle away from this building and through another gateway to the next two smaller buildings.  Luckily our guide was carrying a red APT lollypop stick, which helped pinpoint her location – most of the time!

It was during our time in the Forbidden City that the women of the party had their first experience of a Chinese public toilet and there were quite a few moans about squat toilets.  Thank goodness we had been well briefed and came equipped with the necessary paper.  As our guide said, “You gentlemans have no problem.”

 

Summer Palace tranquility among the crowds

 

A quiet moment

Summer Palace lake

The Long Corridor

A Summer Palace pavilion

Dragon boat

Marble boat, which doesn't go anywhere

Cat still looking

Peking Duck

Hope there is more than one duck for all of us

 

As we left the City, we were accosted by dozens of street vendors trying to sell us souvenirs, but we had been warned not to make any purchases and the honesty of these people left a little to be desired.  On our way to lunch, we drove past the Olympic stadium and water complex – just visible through the smog.  The smog today was very, very bad; our eyes are very gritty and throats rather scratchy.  Lunch consisted of a Chinese meal: soup, rice and various meat and vegetable dishes, followed by fresh watermelon and chrysanthemum tea.  One of us drank his and the other had a token taste.

Back on the bus for the drive to the Summer Palace – and probably only 12 million people were here.  The grounds of the palace were so beautiful, it was such a shame that the smog was so thick we were unable to see clearly across the lake.  Another history lesson, then a walk around part of the lake and through the longest corridor in the world (according to Phyllis) before arriving at the departure point for the dragon boat and our return across the lake.  We had to make another street crossing to get back to the bus – and walking across a road in a large group is no guarantee that traffic will stop!  Being Friday afternoon and peak hour starting earlier, the drive back to the hotel took at least an hour, and we then discovered our group photo and “souvenir book” were waiting at the hotel for us.

We were given a break of an hour or so to rest and recuperate before walking to the shopping mall a couple of blocks away and our Peking duck dinner/banquet.  We dined in a private room on the fourth floor of this very popular restaurant and were treated to a large number of appetiser and duck courses.  Some were happy to try all offerings, however, one was a little more selective and gave a definite “No thank you” to the duck’s guts, as they were described!