Beijing II: Forbidden City

For starters, I realize that this post is about 4 months late. Apologies. Second, the order of this and the Beijing I post should probably have been switched since I went to the Forbidden City first.

That said, let's rewind to
August 12th, 2007
I had arrived in Beijing that morning after a 10 hour train ride during which my new friend Charles from France kindly gave me his seat, comme Commie Comrade Leifeng. I think I spent the rest of the day vegetating in my room to escape from the scorching heat outside. That night, after dinner at a cheap noodle joint in the houtong where my hostel was, I decided to take a stroll to Tiananmen Square.

My hostel (Far East Youth Hostel. Not nice people. More on that later) advertised that it's the closest abode within walking distance to the Forbidden City, so I proceeded on foot. I suppose that technically, they were correct, but it was quite a hike. Tiananmen square was breathtaking at night. All the buildings, both ancient and modern were illuminated with strings of lights. In characteristic Chinese fashion, the square was full of people of all ages taking their evening stroll. Small children and their parents flew metallic kites that caught specks of the ambiance around. Unfortunately, I could not catch good pictures of it on camera, but here is a the best picture of Tiananmen that I got. Took me several tries with my crappy camera to get it not to be blurry.

Later that night, I met up with Phil (whom I had met in Dalian), and we wandered around Houhai. Phil, a far superior nighttime photographer than I, took some pictures of me around the lake. I love wandering around China in pretty dresses, especially when they catch the colors of reflected lights in lakes.


August 13th, 2007
Inspired to the lovely nighttime scene, I decided to explore the Forbidden City during the day. Phil had left that morning, and Charles was with his sister, so once again, I was left with no traveling buddies. Pictures as follows (mostly of small, strange things, with no pictures of me, as a result of me being alone).

Facade in the daytime. Hello Mao (which could get shortened to lomao -> lmao).

The list of languages available for the overpriced audio guide to the Forbidden City. Note lower right corner.

They had little exhibitions in various rooms of the complex. This is apparently the set of geometric models that an emperor (Qianlong, I think) used in his math lessons.

I like acroterion (acroteria plural?). They're called acroterion when they occur on the pediments of Greek temples. I'm assuming these Chinese counterparts have the same name in English.

Flower relief on a wall.

I think these are supposed to be the "lover trees". The sign talked about some legend and how they're permanently embracing each other or something. I took the picture because they made an X.

An exercise in perspective.