OK, so most of you won't get that title at all... It's probably better that way.Anyway, we spent most of the day today in the Forbidden City. What an amazing place. The grounds cover over 170 square kilometers, and house some amazing buildings, courtyards, passageways, thrones, gardens, etc. Some of the courtyards are big enough for the emperor (or Chairman Mao) to have reviewed up to 100,000 troops at once! In the afternoon we climbed a sizable hill just outside the grounds that has a temple on top and is totally covered in trees. It was hard to believe, but the whole hill was artificial; it was made with all the soil dug up to make the moat around the forbidden city!
Tiananmen Square was also amazing, if only for the history and the sheer size of it. On the north end, Chairman Mao's huge painting still hangs on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Tomorrow we might stop by to see his body lying in state after we get back from the Great Wall.
Something I've found interesting is the number of Chinese tourists here. In Latin America, it's very rare to find a tourist from the country you are traveling in, or even from another Latin American country. In China though, the Chinese can't seem to get enough of visiting all the amazing places in their own country. The majority of the visitors to the tourist sites we've visited have been Chinese.
Beijing's famous smog was in full force today. I've never seen anything like it. It felt like a cloudy, overcast day, but in reality it was sunny -- the sun just wasn't actually visible through the haze. This made it even more obvious that we were very lucky yesterday, because a rainstorm that kept us from landing on time actually cleared the air enough for there to be blue sky and sun for the rest of the afternoon.
Tonight we ate dinner at the "night market"; a series of (overpriced) street food vendors that sell all sorts of weird meats; almost all on skewers. There were snake, centipede, scorpion, starfish, grubs, and pupas, as well as more normal things like lamb, chicken, beef, etc. We stuck to fried dumplings and corn. =)
Sarah's upstairs writing in her journal, and I think I need to go to bed. The jet lag belatedly caught up with me, I guess. Or maybe it's the 10+ miles we walked today. Who knows.....
Good night!
-Matt!
2 comments:
Cool deal! Pretty amazing to be doing it now, after all the preparation. Interesting about the Chinese tourists, I never would have imagined. Keep on trekking!
Finally made it to Asheville after 8+ days on trains. I spent the first few nights in my cabin and now I'm off to NH for a few days.
Exciting that your trip has finally started! China sounds great -- eat something weird for me....
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