May 8th, Beijing
Tiananmen Square was massive. We got off of our bus and suddenly we're standing in the middle of this huge square, with the entrance to the Forbidden City in the distance profiling the famous picture of Chairman Mao.
The monument behind us on the left is the Monument of the People'
Hero which lies in the center of the square. This monument was
built in the late 50's to commemorate those who have died for change
and revolution in China from 1840 onwards. The large building on
the
right is the Museum of History and Revolution. It's 10 stories
tall and quite a sight.
This is a monument honoring the people from the Peasant's Rebellion in 1939. It's quite impressive - Jenn took the camera and got these great shots while I was fending off merchants trying to sell us 'rolex' watches and Olympic hats.
As soon as our group entered the square, we were surrounded by merchants and
beggars. Folks were selling everything you can imagine, from kites and hats to
knock-off watches and handbags. Our travel mate Greg bought two rolexes for
about $15! Of course we all know that they're real rolexes. This is also the
first time that we encountered people begging. It really drove home the fact
that this amazing country still has a number of social issues to deal with. It
was hard walking through the square and seeing so many people reduced to begging
for a living.
After about an hour and a half in the square, our group gathered together and
headed to the Forbidden City.
As we walked into the Forbidden City through the massive entrance, we were surrounded by people. Once inside my eyes immediately fell on a group of tourists ahead of us. Here we had travelled halfway around the world, found ourselves in the Forbidden City meeting up with several German's wearing Lederhosen!
The forbidden City was extravagant - palace after palace, room after room and courtyards stretching on as far as we could see. It was very busy that day, but the scope of the Forbidden City is such that pictures like the one above were possible.
The number of animal figures on a roof was established by the importance of the building. The more animals, the more important.
After spending several hours in the Forbidden City, we went to the
Drum Tower and there began our Houtong Tour. Houtong literally
means "well dwelling" or a place to live near a source of water.
We all got into rikshaws and off we went. The traffic was
intense, with our rikshaws merging onto roads full of cars and
trucks. No one but us seemed to notice however. On our tour
we got to stop at a kindergarten and pre-school. Since none of us
had met our children yet, the cameras were out in force. The kids
were great fun, singing songs for us and generally hamming it up.
We would highly recommend the houtong tour - it gives you a chance to
see a bit of the 'old' Beijing and also to see a lot of people just
going about their daily lives. The tour ended at the Bell Tower,
where we entered and enjoyed a tea ceremony.
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