Saturday, 24 September 2016
China: Day 12 - Beijing
This was a big walking day, starting with a visit to the Summer Palace. It was built alongside a man-made lake, and has a large building sitting on a man-made mountain (actually just a large hill). This is where the emperor of the day would spend his summers.
We then visited Tiananmen Square, which was being brightly decorated with flowers for the upcoming national holiday. In order to get close to the square we had to pass through a security checkpoint, due to the "political sensitivity" of the area. Beside the square is a large building housing Mao's tomb.
After crossing the large square, which they claimed was the second largest public square in the world, we crossed the busy street through an underground corridor. Upon emerging from the corridor, we found ourselves in front of the first gate to the Forbidden City. This was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming to Qing dynasty.
After stopping a couple of times to have our pictures taken with Chinese tourists( yes, we were tourist attractions - especially Brenda), we passed over one of the bridges crossing the outer moat, and through the first gate. You quickly understood why this was called a city. A huge walled area, with multiple large courtyards and gates leading further into where the emperor would have lived. As we saw in Tiananmen Square, the area was being decorated with flowers for the upcoming holiday.
