September 8 (Tuesday) – Beijing

Back with our guide we started the day at Tiananmen Square…”huge” doesn’t begin to describe the square. There was a line to get into Mao Tse Tung’s mausoleum. People must have been lined up five or six abreast and the line ran from one end of the building, half way around the end, and then doubled back to the other end of the building. The line must have been at least a mile long and was estimated to be a four or five hour wait. So how many people does that make – hundreds or maybe a couple thousand? Many Chinese are on national holiday for the 60^th anniversary and I think most of them were in Beijing to see the tomb.

From the square we walked over to the Forbidden City…home of the Chinese emperors. The city has 9,999 rooms – a lucky number for the Chinese and one less room than reported to be in the Celestial Palace of the God(s) in heaven. The earthly emperor is not to overshadow the gods. One could take forever walking through the city (it covers 178 acres). Some of the paintings, gold detailing and statues on the roofs were very detailed and interesting although to the untrained eye it all begins to look the same after a while.

Lunch was at an unbelievable restaurant…gold everywhere – table cloths, napkins, walls. Plus, there was a chorus of about six greeters whose only apparent duty was to greet guests as they come in…they made Wal-Mart greeters look like rank amateurs. The food was very good but was overshadowed by the opulence of the rooms.

Today our guided tour included a pedicab ride in the hutongs near where we had walked the day before but this area was a bit more polished than where we had walked. As part of the tour we got to actually tour one of the courtyard homes. The “House” was a series of fairly small rooms, all opening onto the central courtyard. The north building was for the elders (letting them get the sun), the south for servants, east for the boy, west for the girl. One of the rooms was converted to a guest room that was run as a bed and breakfast. Since running water and bathrooms are down the street I think I’ll pass on that experience.

We then toured Prince Gong’s Garden, with a labyrinthine combination of rockeries and pavilions. Only the garden is open to the public - the lavish imperial residence is not. 

I headed back to the hotel (bit of traveler upset) and Paul and the guide proceeded to the Temple of Heaven, and Paul got to stand in the Center of the Universe on the Circular Alter, where the emperor alone could stand.

After a good meal we went to see the Peking Opera (I was doing better). It was very interesting with lots of juggling and acrobatics…not too much singing.


Beijing Album