Paula was well enough to have day out on the city of Beijing! Yay! Our plan, loosely, was to wander the streets of Beijing in the direction of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, then possibly hit up the Pearl Market, which is a collection of stores with knock off designer everything. The day was ours, no one to pick us up or tell us where to go. It was also our last day in Beijing and our last day in China!
Walking along the streets of Beijing was an awesome thing to experience. First, we came to the train station and there were people everywhere! This was the crowded China that we had heard about but not really seen. We were soon befriended by a ‘student’ of an art institute who was having a showing that was on our way to the Forbidden city so we stopped in to take a look and see if maybe we could find something interesting. Whether this story of him being a student or not was true, we didn’t really care. The art that we ended up seeing was magnificent. So we indulged and bought some. We could not help it! At one point this ‘student’ actually even teared up!
We had stumbled upon a huge shopping area, with stores lining the streets and no cars are allowed to drive in. Apparently the rules of the road are more closely followed in Beijing. We decided not to shop just yet since we had a big day ahead of us.
The view of the Forbidden City from outside is interesting. There is a moat surrounding the entire city, and massive walls erected just in case someone conquered the moat. The last inhabitants left in 1911, and the PRC did a good job of maintaining this impressive landmark. This being a tourist area, we paid for entry and upon entering through the first gate were greeted by a massive courtyard, huge gates and fortresses and of course people everywhere! There were dozens of tours taking place, so we opted to veer off to the side where the people were sparser. It turned out to be a good decision. No one to get in our way and plenty of time to see things as we wanted to see them. There are numerous halls and temples that just simply can’t be listed here, and all in all we spent over 3 hours wandering the Forbidden City. The jewelry that was on display was simply gorgeous, and the only thing missing was the exact date these were made. They only gave a year range that ended in 1911, so who really knows how old the stuff was. I had heard of rock gardens before, but nothing compared to what this one was. It spanned city blocks and there was even one that rose over 100 feet to protect a tower at the back end of the city. Why I did not get pictures of that is beyond me.
With our legs moving a little slower after the 3 hour stroll through the Forbidden City, we then headed south to Tiananmen Square. They are directly adjacent to each other, with Tiananmen Square in a way being the entry way to the Forbidden City. I think we approached it from the wrong side, but it still was sort of impressive. We emerged from a massive gate with a ridiculous picture or Mao on the front of it. He is still worshiped here. Across the street was the main part of the Square, and that was something I had no clue about. Yes, a street pretty much bisects the Square into 2 parts. There is no way to cross the street except for walking a ways down to an underground walkway. Since there was really nothing to do in Tiananmen Square except walk around and stand we decided we had seen enough. Not to mention there were guards EVERYWHERE. The memory of what had happened there was not forgotten and any protests are taken very seriously and I don’t doubt that it may be treated in the same fashion as the earlier tragedy there. We did not dawdle in leaving the area!
The walk back was met with some shopping and bargaining, which Paula and I double-teamed a shop for a couple bags we needed to haul all of our souvenirs home in. We had no more room for the things we had bought and needed an easy solution without breaking the bank. Let’s just say we purchased what we needed for about 1/4 what they originally wanted. It was apparent that on our last day here we had finally mastered the art of haggling.
Jesse had originally planned for us to accompany him to one of his friends’ restaurants, but we did not feel up to going to a big elaborate dinner. After a month of being in China, we were tired and needed to relax. So, off to the executive lounge we went for our free dinner and cocktails. This was a much more relaxing way to end the trip, and was good for the 3 of us to have our last meal together without the need to entertain anyone.
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