Forbidden City

With only 4 full days in Beijing and trying to recover lost sleep, we decided to limit our sightseeing to the "essentials". Beijing's Forbidden City or Palace Museum as it is known, forms the very heart of the city. The symbolic centre of the Chinese Universe, it was home to 24 emperors who ruled for nearly 500 years. It's considered China's most magnificent architectural complex.

By now we were used to the jostling and queue jumping that is natural behaviour but were still pleased we'd booked tickets online and so avoided the queues. The complex consists of a series of gates leading to huge courtyards, which in turn lead us to various palaces and associated structures. This is an extremely simplistic description and even photographs don't do justice to the grand scale of this complex (but the video might help).

Our impressions were many and varied. The attention to detail - beautifully carved marble, ornate fittings, colorful ceilings and facades, the list goes on. The symbolism - of structures, colors, shapes, words - everything reflected the role of the Emperor as the conduit to God. Indeed the names of the palaces and associated buildings gave us a pretty good idea of how he spent his days - which seemed to mostly be thinking, reading, writing, preparing for and undertaking sacrifices, and of course meeting lots of dignitaries. Amongst my favourite was the Studio of Exhaustion for Diligent Service.

Unfortunately we failed to read the recommendation to bring our own food. After 5 gruelling hours and only an ice cream, we were ready to escape!Read more