Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2011
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21
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Trip End
Jul 03, 2012
Beijing, Beijing, China
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Eight shirdty, eight shirdty, eight shirdty, OK?OK? Bin our tour guide said last night we should meet and leave (8.30!). We are off to Tiananmen Square where we are not allowed to ask any sensitive questions like "when did you come out of the closet Bin?" or maybe he is talking about something else involving a massacre and tanks potentially in 1989.
We are there pronto at eight shirdy, a stunning sunny day and we are off. Bin is a demon walker, charging a head he is tiny and the lack of any significant weight to slow him down means he disappears off into the distance with remarkable speed. I however am not really built for speed and seem to have to spend the entire day trying to catch up.
10 minutes later we arrive at Tiananmen square. There are 2 things you need to know about Tiananmen Square:
1) It is BIG!!
2) It is not a square
Last night it was empty and tranquil this morning it is the exact opposite. There is a queue for the mausoleum that wraps itself a few times around the square and its only 9.15am. There are people everywhere, 99% of the tourists are actually Chinese, there are very few European tourists to be seen. The only thing more obvious is the umbrellas everyone is carrying, these seem to be aimed directly at my eye level, and the other tour guides who have built in tannoy systems blaring out orders, information and panicked directions to their followers.
Next the Forbidden City, it is massive and truly amazing it amazingness only exceeded by the number of people visiting it. It is utter mayhem, the summer palace seems empty in comparison to here (I realise that I have not put any information around the buildings and sights but there is enough of that written by people who know much more than me elsewhere). The Chinese tourists love it and the must flock from all over the country to come and see it…all at the same bloody time! By this time the sun was getting up to factor BURN and it was seriously hot, got poked in the eye a few more times from the umbrellas but hey what can you do?
After this we walked back to the hotel, had some lunch on the way in a Japanese noodle place and chilled for the afternoon. In the evening we went out with the rest of the group and took a bus to have Peking duck, I enjoyed it, Ema didn't really like the taste.
Tomorrow last day in Beijing and then off to Shanghai!
