Two Great Days

I've had two fantastic days in Beijing with Dwight and Cindy, and tomorrow promises to be phenomenal. Yesterday, we wandered around Tian'anmen Square and then toured the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was gorgeous and crowded, filled with tourist and people who wanted to make some money selling things to tourists. The Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, 24 emperors reigned in The Forbidden City over the course of 500 years. It's filled with places with fabulous names like the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. And did I mention: beautiful. Here are some photos. There's an enormous picture of Chairman Mao on the gate you enter through:





























Today, we took the subway, a subject worth of an entire entry, I think. I thought the buses in Xi'an were crowded until today. I have never been packed that tightly into a subway train before in my life. Thanks to Dwight and Cindy's expert navigation skills, though, we made it to our destination just fine. Best of all, the subway ticket only cost about 30 cents. Oh yeah. Our destination was a Beijing Hutong. An old neighborhood filled with narrow streets, single family homes, and tiny shops. That description doesn't do it justice. Basically, this is a quickly vanishing piece of China, particular to this region, I understand. Some are being preserved, though. We visited one near a lovely lake, where we rented a paddle boat for a nice, cool ride. We had tea at a great tea house, then wandered around for a long while looking for the subway before hoping in a cab and heading to our next stop. Here are some pics of the Hutong and environs.


















Our last stop was the Summer Palace. Beautiful and crowded describes this site, too. We wandered around for a couple of hours before we limped to a cab. I should say more about this place, but I'm fading fast. I'll give you some images, instead.




















As you can see, I'm exhausted. Tomorrow, we head to the Great Wall. Need to get some sleep so that I can really enjoy this amazing experience. Good night.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad