The Holiday Inn is only 2 blocks away from the Beijing City Gate. From the tour bus we can see new and old barely separated by a partition. 
I'm not sure what exactly this place sells, but it sure looks like it's ready for Christmas. 
Our guide, Miss Huang tells us about the Forbidden City (our first destination): - Despite no parts being purple, in Chinese it is called the Purple Forbidden City. This name came about because of the belief that the Heavenly King lives in a purple palace.
- It is 580 years old
- The two main things to see and appreciate at the site are (1) Architecture, and (2) Antiques
The tour bus parks a couple blocks away. We take the back door.
Across the street is now a bus station. On the hill a temple. 
Just inside are pomegranate trees in planters.
The back door leads into the garden area of the palace and there are trees here that are 300-500 years old. Instead of being really tall and wide, they are wiry and knarled like bonsai.
Even the ground is beautiful. Cobblestone mosaics outline the walking path. (Do you see what I see?)
Cool rocks. The warnings must be new.
Miss Huang explained these animal figures on the roofs denote the status and station of the person who lives there.
At times it seemed impossible to hear Miss Huang - thank goodness for signs with lots of information.
We walked through areas that looked like period movie sets and arrived in some living space. Glass were added to windows, and glass cases protected the antiques.
This one literally features "golden branches jade leaves" (figuratively this was used to represent royal descendants).
This clock looked interesting to me, but was glossed over in the tour.
Instead, Miss Huang drew our attention to the narrow beds and rooms. Yes, royalty lived here, but not a lot of space was given - likely because in Chinese the words "long" and "skinny" sound really close to "longevity".
If everything looks pretty good for a 500+ year-old palace, you're right. There has been quite a bit of restoration and cleaning done to make the more frequented areas look good. Here's what undusted can look like.
Wow, that's a mercury ball in the chandelier.
Yay! More information. Copper vats are not just a pretty decoration - they were part of the "fire-fighting equipment".
Large Stone Carving. According to the sign, it is "16.75 meters long, 3.07 meters wide, and 1.7 meters thick, and weighs more than 200 tons." The original stone came from the western suburbs of Beijing and was transported by an "ice road" in the winter. The method ("sprinkling water") makes it sound like a curling rink.
Outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony are many sculptures. This mythical creature is a cross between a dragon and a turtle and supposed to relate to longevity (at least that's what Miss Huang said).
Also outside were the Grain Measure and Sun Dial. Symbols of control and power of the emperor.
"Where's the chair? I'm tired!" Alas, we didn't actually get that close to the main throne (located inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony), we had to settle with a side way glimpse and resting on the ledges.
We started our trek to the front entrance. Many, many gates in the hot sun. There are no trees for (1) Security, and (2) Assurance that nothing is higher than the throne.
We started our trek to the front entrance. Many, many gates in the hot sun. There are no trees for (1) Security, and (2) Assurance that nothing is higher than the throne.
Miss Huang continued to explain that the harsh conditions in this area of the palace ensured that anyone approaching the main hall (if not from the journy alone) would be tired - then (quite naturally) would fall on their knees at the sight of the emperor. She also told us each gate had three doors, and each door was only allowed for certain people's use. The centre door was exclusively for the emperor - even the empress had to use a side door (only once using centre door when she arrived newly married, with the emperor).
We, of course, chose this one to make our exit. 
Outside, vendors sell water, souveniers, and other treats (these are skewers of candy coated fruit).
Across the way is Tian'anmen Square. To get there we have to go underground and pass a security check. I saw the beggars Angela had warned me about, and ignored as best as I could. The square is surrounded by important government buildings. The flags apparently are raised and lowered according to the rise and set of the sun.
As we walk to our next destination, we pass by a very European-style building and men with their shirts pulled up revealing their bellies (that's one way to beat the heat).
The Traditional Chinese Medicine Tonrentang wasn't far away, but did require crossing some streets. Mr. Lee made sure no one was left behind, and our big group proved to enough to be an incentive for cars to slow down. The visit was mostly a shopping trip, but the lecturer did have some interesting things to say.
In summary:
- Live a balanced life! Protect yourself! Sleep!
- 12-1 a.m. is when the liver does its best work removing toxins - so if you're not resting at this time it's not able to do so.
- A healthy diet is made up of 30% white meat and fish, and 70% vegetable and fruits
- Keep in mind when choosing veg and fruit the colours red, yellow, white, black, and green
- The "superfoods" (some newly proven) in these categories are:
- Yellow: Sweet Potatoes
- White: Tofu
- Black: "Tree Ear"
- Green: Aloe, asparagus
- The Earth can be see as body - when it is not in balance we have what we see now - four seasons that are undefined and combined natural disasters
After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven.
Apparently they have something against horns. Mr. Lee said these rules are mostly for neighbouring residents. The is no cost for locals to go into the park area, and there were instances of people staging events (dancing, doing karoake, lying on the ground) seeking tourist audiences and attention.
There wasn't exactly anything quite so exciting in our visit. It seemed like a good gathering place for seniors to talk and play cards, and, of course, for people to sell their wares. I saw a woman with crocheted items - among the inch tall pandas was a palm sized replica of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.
Mom in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.
I lean over the railing to get a picture of the inside of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.
Apparently this is also a good place for wedding photos.
Mom takes a photo.
More bicycles. 
One hundred and fifty McDonald's in Beijing - there are no plans for us to go inside any of them. 
I thought the "Ka Jou" beef meant "Canadian Beef. 
Yes! A traffic light for bicyles too. 
We circled the area several times - As Mom said, the roads here are like spider webs. The tour bus driver does an impressive three point U-turn to get us into the Olympic Green. Mr. Lee told us the whole site was farmland 20 years ago. (I thought to myself: it was residential less than 10 years ago.) More amazingly, 10% of Beijing's population (17 million at the time) volunteered for the Olympic games.
The Bird's Nest up close. 
It was a short (bathroom break) and then we were off. As we were leaving I saw this pretty stairwell.
After our show at the Beijing Theatre, Mr. Lee gave us some background:
- It costs usually 60 yuan to see a movie (they a played in another area of the theatre),
- The average wait staff makes only 40 yuan per day.
- VIP passes for the show we saw would be 680 yuan (our seats were 180 yuan - with discounts for the tour).
- This was a medium level show - The acrobats aren't top level and the costumes and props are a bit old.
From all these numbers it becomes obvious: The theatre stays in business not from street traffic and the common Beijing resident, it is the tourists.
Life as an acrobat also sounds hard. Most start training very young. While the amount of money they make is really good for a child, the wages don't increase much over the years. By the time the men reach adulthood, unless they've reached master status or are with a very high level troupe, they're not making the amount of money that would be expected to support a wife and family. Maybe then, the funny skit in the show - where amazing strength, balance, and skill were used to win a wife - is actually a hopeful dream.
1 comment:
Was the photo your mom took of you cropped later? If not, that's quite the radical photographic eye she has. It could be the beginning of a revolution in portraiture.
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