The second day of our holiday we decided to do the ultimate tourist destinations of the Forbidden City and The Temple of Heaven. On entering the Forbidden City, Kendall left us and went to purchase tickets. On his return several minutes later, once more we had confirmation that you should never get in line behind Chinese tourists. They do not seem to understand the concept of a fixed price. So the 5 or 6 people in front of him all had to argue with the ticket lady, trying to bargain down the entrance fee. Of course there is yelling on both sides with the final answer of course being that they must pay the same price as all the rest. We are of the conclusion that they must welcome western tourists because we simply walk up to the window, hand them the correct amount of money and take our tickets. No questions, or bargaining, asked.
The Forbidden city is considered one of China's best preserved land marks. You can definitely tell that they have repainted and rennovated most of it. Below you can see the traditional chinese painting that covers all the eaves of any relatively old building across the country. They are quite fond of bright colors.
Entrance to the Forbidden City. We definitely understand now why it is called a city. The site is enourmous. It would take several days to explore the whole thing. I can see now why they never wanted to leave.
You would think that a national monument with thousands of tourists each year would have an interpreter that would be able to spell check the signs. But no....and the one below is one of my favorites...along with the switch in the hotel room to turn on the "ceding" lights. I suppose its a combo of reading and ceiling??
The Imperial Chariot. Imagine carrying that on your shoulders.
This huge marble carving is made out of 1 piece of marble that they had to deliver into Beijing on an ice path. It was the official road they could convey the emperor over while he was sitting in the sedan chair above. 
Just a bit of shameless advertising...JB Outdoors goes to China!
The Imperial Throne, well one of them. Apparently there are several.
One of the coolest things in the Forbidden City is by far the Watch and Clock museum. They have preserved over a hundred clocks given to the Chinese emperors during the 19th century mainly by England. They are quite extravangant and perfectly preserved. My favorite is the one below. Look closely and you will see the western gentleman who writes 7 different chinese characters with real ink at certain times when the clock chimes.
The moat surrounding the Forbidden city. All the dirt was taken across the street to create a mountain to protect the city from dust storms.
The entrance into the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is surrounded by a giant park where people simply come to practice tai chi and various intruments. We walked among the various buildings and took part in the Echo wall, which is a circular wall enclosing one of the prayer buildings. Kendall stood on one end and we stood at the other and we could hear each other as if we were standing right next to each other, well minus the screaming chinese tourists in between us. They didn't seem to understand that the concept is to whisper and see if your friend could hear you...
The buildings all have round walls with square bases symbolizing heaven and earth. Below is a picture of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests which has 3 tiers of white marble surrounding it. Everything surrounding the Round Altar consists of something to do with the number 9, which is the imperial number because odd numbers possess heavenly significance and it is the largest single digit odd number.
We finished the day by scouring through the Pearl Market, a five story building selling everything from knock off purses to real pearls. The best part of our brief look around was when we tried to pass through the shoe section. The only way to describe it is as if we were trying to survive the gauntlet. Kendall was in front of me and dad behind. Once we entered the row of shoe sellers, women simply poured out to meet us. Kendall got bashed in the head a few times with some knock off pumas, I was shoved so much that I couldn't help laughing hysterically thinking "Is this really happening?" I looked behind me to find dad surrounded by tiny women shoving shoes at him, his face red from trying to hold in his laughter. We made a break for it and finally got to the end, with all limbs in tact. Though I still think Kendall might have gotten a concusion.
The buildings all have round walls with square bases symbolizing heaven and earth. Below is a picture of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests which has 3 tiers of white marble surrounding it. Everything surrounding the Round Altar consists of something to do with the number 9, which is the imperial number because odd numbers possess heavenly significance and it is the largest single digit odd number.
We finished the day by scouring through the Pearl Market, a five story building selling everything from knock off purses to real pearls. The best part of our brief look around was when we tried to pass through the shoe section. The only way to describe it is as if we were trying to survive the gauntlet. Kendall was in front of me and dad behind. Once we entered the row of shoe sellers, women simply poured out to meet us. Kendall got bashed in the head a few times with some knock off pumas, I was shoved so much that I couldn't help laughing hysterically thinking "Is this really happening?" I looked behind me to find dad surrounded by tiny women shoving shoes at him, his face red from trying to hold in his laughter. We made a break for it and finally got to the end, with all limbs in tact. Though I still think Kendall might have gotten a concusion.
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