What a day!! Wait for the storms to clear and then walk to Tienanmen Square and through to the Forbidden City. Get advised to take a short cut, not quite what it seems as encouraged to go and see a free art exhibition after paying 2 Yuan to walk through a park. The art exhibition was by students of the University of Arts in Beijing and to be honest after spending a lot more than wanted thought it was worth it.
Personalised calligraphy included in the purchase, at extra charge, of course!! But still thought it was worth paying to get original art work.
Through the park where the 2 Yuan ticket allows you to stay on one path!! Some of the trees are impressive, even if the photographer can’t quite get it right!!
This tree is supposed to represent a deer and its antlers. Cranes used to nest nearby which is said to be auspicious. The cranes are now long gone.
I eventually get through the park and on to the ticket office. It is 60 Yuan to go into the Forbidden City; £7-50 is a good price to my mind. The automatic guide is an extra 40 Yuan and is primed for the different palaces as you wander through the city. Well worth the price even if it has its faults of talking before you get to see what it’s talking about and has moved on to the next place. It does give you options of where to go and the pack has a mapping system on the front.
Explaining or describing what is in the Forbidden City would be wrong. If you are tempted to visit Beijing I can only say GO. This day was worth the ignorant people of China, you will get pushed into, stared at, you won’t see many people smiling at you, but you will be pleasantly surprised what is in this attraction. It really is worth every penny, cent or Yuan.
After 4 hours of roaming around different parts of the city I don’t feel I can walk much further. The past few days have felt like I’ve walked further than The Proclaimers!! Bumped, barged, shoved and pushed every which way by the indigenous people. They literally don’t seem to have any form of manners.
Outside the city I’m approached by two ‘ladies’ and they instigate a conversation which ends with the offer to go with them for a beer or a cup of tea. Be aware, these ‘ladies’take you to their favourite place, order what they want and disappear leaving you with an astronomic bill. They return later to collect their share. Forewarned is forearmed, I didn’t go and made my excuses and left them.
A tuk tuk back to Qianmen was in order as the prospect of walking all the way back past the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square was a little much. If you go to Beijing the taxis or tuk tuks will never take you the full distance you have agreed the price for. This one went as far as Tienanmen Square, about halfway, before saying he couldn’t go further as police would not allow him. Offering half the agreed price was the biggest insult for the tuk tuk driver and the others around him. Two thirds was eventually acceptable!!
This is yet another version of the tuk tuk in Asia. Not quite sure what it started out as, but it is petrol powered.
An Australian tourist was overheard talking to his partner, he had been in Beijing a number of years ago and was saying the last time he was here there was one lane for cars, buses and trucks and the other two lanes for bicycles. The situation is reversed nowadays, very few bicycles, or small motorcycles, it is all cars who use their size and speed to ride rough shod through everything. If they can’t get through a space their hand is on the horn. Very few petrol motorcycles as they are now electric powered, silent stalkers until their horn sounds behind you!!
Seen Ming Dynasty on the ‘Antiques Roadshow’ but never thought to see it in real life. Yes, it’s in a cabinet and there’s no chance of touching it. There are much older ceramics in another palace but that wasn’t Ming!!
The hope is that the few photos posted will not deter anyone from visiting this great city. You really need to see the Forbidden City for yourself, posted is less than 5{ad3bec99113c4e4fcc28e4ff4f1b9d876da7ead9363561af026a11af8a91dc05} of the photos that have been taken as I don’t want to spoil this place for anyone.