Forbidden City Pictures.
Summer Palace Pictures.
Today's breakfast started at 7, and it was quite packed today. Not only is it Saturday, but I'm sure everyone from the heritage tour was here by now. The food selection wasn't quite so exotic or impressive this time.
The Heritage group got together in the lobby at 8:30. Everyone then went to the 7th floor conference room for a pow-wow. Up there, a lady in charge of the Red Thread Tours (used to work for our Agency) talked about what they were going to do today. She also introduced us to the whole group as waiting to adopt. I was surprised she did, but in the end it was nice, as all the friendly families were then able to ask us fun questions about it later.
Chandler then talked about exactly where we were going. He's a young Chinese man that is somewhat short, and very very skinny. He will actually be travelling with us tomorrow morning on our flight to Jilin and will be our guide there. So we all jumped on the bus, and Chandler talked a bunch on a microphone. It was very interesting, and he even has a few anecdotes that he's been working on :) Very funny.
When we got to Tiananmen Square, Chandler told us that we should meet 20 minutes from then down at the big street light. Unfortunately there are street lights every 50 meters, but there were only 2 very big tall ones. It was hard to know which he meant, though, because it was so far away. We took off on our own, because a big group like that moves slowly as a commitee.
We shot pictures willy nilly, silently promising to look up on the internet what meant what when we got home. We all knew the basic story, but we really didn't know what the significance was of each area, building, or statue. I'm sure some were just plain buildings holindg boring jobs. There sure were a lot of people, though. Every few minutes, a contingent of army boys would march by. The first group was just walking in step. It was interesting to see that the last few rows were carrying big sacks of water and juice. The next group was marching much faster, as if they were late for juice time. The last rows were also carrying big sacks of juice, water, and unidentified items.
Eventually we made it all the way around and started to walk towards large street lights. Eventually we found where the group was going to meet (And it was at the farthest speck of a light post) We crossed the busy street the best way possible: We went underground. It was like walkingi in a subway, but it was just full of people, and the guide didn't wait. Walking back up, we were across the street, walking towards the big picture of Chairman Mao. Then we went in. And then we went in again. Then went in further. Eventually we had to get in line, and out guide paid for our tickets to enter The Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City is impressive in age, size, and scope. Unfortunately, the smoggy air and cloudy skies sucked the color out of everything. It just seemed very dreary. Also, almost all the buildings were under renovation to get ready for the Olympics. If you look at the pictures, you'll see lots of scaffolding. And lastly, all the buildings just seemed the same.
Some items of note were the throne rooms (which you had to jostle through the people to take a peek inside. No one was allowed in. People who had been here before said that they've been inside the previous times, and were able to look at lavish pottery and items. They had a coffee shop half way through. We also seemed to spend a lot of time in the first half, and spent very little time towards the end where we actually reached some beautiful gardens and trees. Zoom zoom done. Darn!
We went to lunch, which was close to our hotel. It was already ordered for us, so they put in all in the middle of the tables. Our guide took the time to announce loudly that I was using my chopsticks backwards. The lunch was slightly disappointing because the best dish was chicken and eaten by everyone, the 2nd best dish was a tomato and egg dish that I already had during breakfast.
We then took the bus to the Summer Palace. Again, we were slightly hosed going during the tail end of winter. Not much was growing, the sky was overcast, the fog had rolled in. Couldn't see very far over the water. Lots of walking! There was a lot to see, and a lot we didn't see! Very neat place, and I often stood by the shore, trying to travel back in time and imagining the birds chirping, no crowds of people, and just how peaceful it all probably was. It's good to be king. Or queen in this case!
That night we walked to supper with a few from the group, and I had a hell of a time asking for something spicy. I gave up and randomly ordered something that happened to be spicy anyway.
We went to bed around 8:30 pm. I tried staying up late to type, but eventually got sleepy myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment