Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City & Huton

Second day of our trip. We had a really good rest last night, the beds weren't that comfortable but I guess we were really tired. We met with Jessi Di our tour guide I hired for our stay in Beijing.

Our first stop today Tiananmen square a 10 minutes walk from our hotel. On our way we stop at some shops to get something for breakfast and then Jessie took us through the Changpuhe park were we observed the trees blossoming, yes Spring has arrived to Beijing.

Next we arrived to the huge Tiananmen square via an underpass, big crowds everywhere, on one side stood the National Museum, opposite the Great hall of people and in the middle the monument of people's heroes. According to Jessie during Chinese celebration nearly 500,000 people gather at this square that is the entire population of Gold Coast !!!! . Anyway we didn't spend much time here and headed straight to the Forbidden city.

After walking nearly 200 m we arrived to the Meridian Gate, where tickets are sold. the line for tickets was endless however thanks to Jessie's contacts we managed to get tickets in 10 minutes. passing through the first gate we arrived to a big plaza with 5 marble bridges. I couldn't stop staring at the architecture and the attention to detail shown in roofs. Something that was a constant for the whole trip was dealing with people pushing around, instead of waiting turns to get through a door or downstairs Chinese are used to push their way in.

We access the majestic Gate of supreme and then the hall of Middle Harmony and the Gate of Heavenly purity to finally arrived at the imperial gardens were there were some restaurants for lunch. We didn't stop and instead went to the Jing Shan Park (across the road from the North entrance and additional fee) that offered superb views back to the forbidden city.

Time to leave the complex and have some deserved lunch. We couldn't resist trying the famous Pecking duck so Jessie took us to a restaurant near the drum tower. As expected lunch was delicious and cheap (around 250 Yuan or A$35 for the 4 of us). This was also the first time we had to use the squatting toilet............quite challenging.

We then went to visit the drum and clock towers and the nearby Hutong hiring a rickshaw (the best way to go around the narrow streets). The Hutong is definitely worth a visit, it is a separate world within Beijing where time seems to have stopped.

We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel enjoying the terrible traffic this time of the afternoon.

Jessie left us for the day so we decided to try the night food market at Wanfujing road. The market is a tourist trap, even local were hesitant to try the exotic meal offered however we shared a moment of laugh looking at others struggling with the food.Read more