Forbidden City

The first day in Beijing I chose to go to Forbidden City. Mainly because A, I really want to go there and spend as much time as I want. And B, I know exactly how to get there so I don't need to look up a map or anything :) Though after Chengde, I was a bit afraid that I would be disappointed in Forbidden City as well. But I ended up spending two days there.

I picked up one of the audio guide so I could learn more about each place and still travel at my own speed. I didn't find out till the next day that if you get the Mandarin one it is cheaper (RMB 40 vs RMB 10) and it has more detail description. It is an automatic machine so it picked up the signal when you are in the area. The annoying thing is the machine is very sensitive. It picks up the signal even though you are not at the place yet. So there was one time I was in washroom and my stooopid machine started talking!!!

I successfully avoided to use the Chinese washroom in Chengde because my hotel was very closed to everywhere. But I didn't get the luxury in Forbidden City unless I wanted to kill my bladder. The ones in Forbidden City is actually 4 stars :P The only challenging thing is to go to washroom with your day pack and wearing a down jacket. I bet the cleaning lady must think I drowned in there somehow because it took me a freaking 15 minutes to get out the stall. :P

If I complained about how few tourists in Chengde, then Beijing is PACKED with tourist everywhere. There are tour groups from everywhere around the world. I ran into a group of Japanese girls on the first day. The interesting thing is they all wear kimono. I didn't dare to go ask why but I did take a picture of them :)

The whole time I walked around listening to how each place is used, I keep thinking, how could ONE person use that much space! I always thought my tiny 700 square feet is pretty big for one person. But when you look at the Forbidden City, there is a hall for the emperor to dress, a hall for the emperor to prepare to enter the main hall, a hall...man, that is all for one person!! Another thing I found interesting is, how could the empress and concubines walk in those shoes back then. Here I was walking in my runner and I almost fall every now and then. And back then, their small feet....how could they even stand up?! and walk without falling head over heel?! I guess the same skill set that some ladies master to hike in high heel. :)