Day 15: Alone in Beijing

Greg had meetings today, so I was on my own in the city.  I awoke this morning just barely in time for breakfast, and then I headed out.  My first stop was the Forbidden City.  I went to the north gate, which is less visited than the south gate, both so I could go through against the crowd, and so that at the end I would end in Tiananmen Square.  Unfortunately, that meant there was only one guide to choose from, making haggling difficult.  I was only able to get the guide down to 100 RMB (US$15), which is at the top end of guide prices.

Inside of the Forbidden City was very impressive.  Each building was neat, but what made it so cool was how many there were.  The city went on and on; it is about 1km (0.62mi) straight through.  Many of the buildings are quite large, but we could not go inside any of them other than to walk through archways connecting walkways.  There were several places to look in and see throne rooms, bedrooms, etc.  There were lots of bedrooms, as the city was home to the emperor and his 20,000 concubines.  After quite a ways through, my guide turned around and we started heading back.  I told him I wanted to end at Tiananmen Square, so he had me pay, and I continued towards the Square.  I soon realized that he had only taken me about half way through the city, and had left so much unexplained.  So not only did I pay a high price, but my guide ditched me without finishing his job!

Inside the Forbidden City.

It was so big.

And just kept going.

Finally made it to the end!

Looking back.

Coming out of the south gate of the Forbidden City brings you to a wide road, across which is Tiananmen Square.  The square is huge, but does not seem as big as described because it has so much in it.  At the front of the Square is a flagpole with the Chinese flag, and then there are several monuments to various events.  Giant TV screens near the main monument play commercial style videos about China.  There is a new monument under construction, which is a reproduction of the hammer and sickle logo of the Communist Party.  It is strategically placed so that it can be seen through the archway as you prepare to leave the Forbidden City.  Midway through the square, there is an entire government building of some sort, which really helps split up the square.  Behind the building there is not much, but it is still a ways to the official end of the square.  The square is just over 0.5 miles long.

The front of the Forbidden City, from Tiananmen Square.

This reminds me of the Cold War era.

The symbol is still under construction.

Across from the end of Tiananmen Square is a shopping street in classic Chinese style.  It is a very nice area, and all of the buildings have been designed to look ancient Chinese, but everything there is very new, and many of the shops are for western brands.  For example, I saw both a Starbucks and a New Balance store.  In a straight line, it is just over two miles from the north gate of the Forbidden City to the end of the shopping street.  On the next block over was a more standard market, with lots of restaurants.  There, I picked a nice looking restaurant and went in to find some food.  They had a special menu with English pasted in, which was nice, but all the items had pictures anyway, so it was easy to choose.  I had some sort of ham dish, which came in a pan, with flaming heat below, which kept it cooking for a while.  It was very good, much better than I expected, though it was much spicier than I am used to.  I must have looked pretty helpless, because about halfway through my meal, the waitress came over and offered me a fork to replace my chopsticks, but I was much to proud to accept, and assured her that I could finish with my chopsticks, which I managed, though slowly.

A shopping street at the end of the square.

My lunch.

After lunch, I walked west of Tiananmen Square to the National Center for the Performing Arts.  It took a while to get there, so I wasn’t sure if I was headed the right way, but as soon as it came in to view, the dome was obvious.  The building is a very unique shape and is built around a large pond/moat, so it was definitely worth the walk to go see, even though I didn’t do anything there.

The National Center for the Performing Arts.

Next, I needed to find a taxi to take me over to the Temple of Heaven, which proved a bit more difficult than I expected.  Most of the roads in Beijing and lined entirely in fencing, which prevents pedestrians from jaywalking across dangerous streets.  The fences also mean that even though you may see a taxi, you might not be able to get to it.  From the Performing Arts Center, I started walking back towards Tiananmen Square looking for an opening and a taxi.  As I walked by a government building alongside the square, all of the pedestrians were stopped, and about 80 black Audi cars turned into this government building.  Tons of dressed up guys were arriving for some sort of event, though I don’t know if it was the parliament or what.  Past there, I finally found a taxi and headed for the Temple of Heaven.

Outside of the Temple of Heaven I did not find a single guide, which I found rather odd.  Inside, I found the temple complex much larger than I expected.  There was the main Temple of Heaven, but there were also several other buildings and temples, as well as extensive, well-kept grounds.  The grounds were very nice to walk through, but by this time I was getting tired, and I was finding it difficult to find anything as interesting.

Looking at the Temple of Heaven.

A closer view.

This place was very large as well.

After the Temple of Heaven, I walked to the nearby Pearl Market, which we had just gone to yesterday.  Greg had forgotten to take in some some broken earrings, so I stopped by to get that done, which cost 10 RMB (US$1.5).  I could have gotten a better price, but they took them and started working before I could fix the price.  Yesterday, Greg and I had also taken a picture with the ugliest bag we could find, pretending we had bought it.  Since I was there, I decided to see how cheap I could actually get it.  I must be terrible at bargaining, though, because I could not get the price below 85 RMB (US$13), while Greg had it at 50 RMB (US$7.7), without doing anything but walking away.  I did not buy it.

Even getting back out to the hotel was interesting.  There were several taxis outside, but the drivers wanted to set the price beforehand, which is their attempt to rip me off.  They wanted 80 RMB for the ride.  I was adamant that I wanted the meter, and finally one of them caved and said he would use the meter.  He really did use the meter, though he tried to sell me a trip to the Great Wall along the way.  I told him I had already been and wasn’t interested in what he had to offer.  The ride ended up costing 31 RMB (US$4.8), not anywhere close to 80 RMB.

Whew!  That was a long day, and I am certainly tired.  As a side note, Greg said several of you elders might remember these pop tops on cans, which have been phased out in the US, but are still the norm in Asia.

Remember these cans?