Beijing
Our last day of sight seeing.
With a 8:30 departure, we got a sleep in!
We set off for Tianannen Square and the Forbidden city. Because our hotel is out in the country we have to travel a long time on the bus to get anywhere.
Today is our first time in the city of Beijing.
Dam our legs are so saw from all the steps yesterday!
Mary told us that this year the Chinese government announced that Chinese students who study overseas are not aloud to come back to China and work in a government job. This will stop a lot of Chinese students coming to Australia to study and improve their English.
Tiananmen Square- on June the 4th 1989 many students died protesting. Our tour guide Mary left 2 days before the killings. It was emotional to stand in the square knowing what took place here.
Tian=sky
An=peacful
Men=door
From here we entered the gates of the Forbidden city. The Forbidden city took 16 years to build.
The last emperor left the Forbidden city in 1911. From here it is open to the public as a public palace.
Every 40/45 years they re-paint the buildings. The Forbidden city is so vast complex full of lanes, courtyards and huge palaces.
There are so many cameras around and recording devices that can interpret any language within 10 seconds.
9 symbolizes the highest number/power. You can see 9 bolts on all the doors.
From here we could choose to do optional activities. Many people chose to do more shopping but we went to the old town of Hutong. We had a bike drawn carriage transportation that took us around the great alleyways. We got the opportunity to have lunch at a traditional home where the home owner cooked beautiful food for us. After lunch she played a traditional Chinese instrument called a Guzheng.
Next we opted to go to the Temple of Heven. There was only 4 of us that went which was lovely to be in a small group. In the gardens of the temple we did a Taichi class. We weren't very good but it was a peaceful experience although holding in some giggles while people stopped to take photos of us.
Throughout the gardens, the older generations meet to play cards and gamble! Casinos are illegal in China so this is their opportunity to catch up and gamble. It felt like an odd location for it.
The Temple of Heven is a beautifully detailed temple that is circular. It was built in the 1400's! We arrived at sunset which was a calming spiritual experience.
After we headed back out to the country to our hotel. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant with our friends Mark and Sarah who shouted us dinner. We tried some Frog chilli soup! The frog tasted like chicken. We of course had plenty of dumplings too. Was a great way to spend our last night.
We had another hotspring spa before bed. I'll be sad to leave in the morning.
