Where In The World Is Kelita? : Chinese History Lesson: Forbidden City

Saturday night we had to say goodbye to Xi’an and hop on a train to Beijing. The train was about 12 hours long but we got a sleeper train, and I literally slept the entire train ride. So it went by a breeze! Seriously sleeper trains are the best way to travel! The hard sleepers are even pretty comfy.

Once we got to Beijing we got a taxi to take us to our hostel. It dropped us off in front of a sketchy looking street and he told us we had to walk the rest of the way so we were wondering around this sketchy looking area in the early cold morning.

This city definitely has a different feel than the south. It seems a lot colder, literally and metaphorically, and more bland. I really can’t put my finger on why it felt different, but it was just a different feel. We finally found our hostel and checked in, freshened up and made our way to Tiananmen Square. Seriously, we had a pretty good hostel location because we were about 10 minute walk to Tiananmen Square- it was just around the corner! We had to go through a lot of security the days we were in Beijing just to go on the metro- even if we didn’t want to go on the metro but needed to use the underground tunnel to cross the street- we had to go through security (it was really just putting your bag through the xray though so not hard core security). That is another thing about cities like Beijing and Xi’an- to cross the street you have to go in underground tunnels.

We walked around Tienanmen square and then went to the Forbidden City. My friend Sarah (Chinese lady who lives in my neighborhood), her son goes to a university in Bejing so he met up with us (and his friend) and they came to the Forbidden City with us. They actually have never gone to the Forbidden City even though they have been in Beijing for two years, but they at least know a lot more about Chinese history than us so they were able to tell us a *little* about what we were seeing. It also helped that they had little descriptions in English.

Heading to Tienanmen Square with the Forbidden City in the background. Looks pretty crowded but it wasn't actually that bad

Drum tower in front of the Tienanmen Square and Forbidden City. We didn't have time to go in it,. The drums are used for telling the time

And this is what it's like *not* on National Holiday (but it was a weekend)

These two ladies were too cute to not get a picture

Jumping in Tienanmen square

We were lucky the day we went they happened to have this giant thing of flowers. Not sure why but literally the next day it wasn't there anymore.

Me in front of the Forbidden city. Note the 9 arches on the building. Remember the number 9, it is kind of important

What do you notice in this picture?

This monk has a canon camera! That just seems a little strange to me

What's cooler than seeing Monks in front of the Forbidden City?

We were unable to go into the rooms, we could only look through the windows, but we saw the famous rooms where the Emperors would get ready, hold meetings, etc. There are hundreds of buildings and thousands of rooms in the Forbidden City but we only managed to see a few things.

The Forbidden City dates back to the 1400’s, and was where the Emperors lived during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Only the Emperor and his wives/ a few caretakers were allowed to live here. Isn’t that crazy? There is so much space! Another important feature of the Forbidden City is the yellow roofs. Apparently Yellow is the Royal color for the Emperor. There are also lots of dragons, which is symbolic of the emperor (power and good luck). The phoenix is a symbol for the empress. And the lion is a guardian for protection.

Look at that detail!!! This is the ceiling

one of the most famous rooms- Throne for the emperor

How many pillars do you see on the top row? There are 9. 9 was kind of the special number apparently, so it occurs a lot in the architecture

These are found all over the city. They were filled with water to be used to douse fires with

These dragons contain a spout to release water- to prevent higher areas of the city from flooding. These remind me of the gargoyles on the Notre Dame. They are different but yet are used for similar reasons (also both stone creatures).

It was really cool to see parts of the palace with the original paint- you can tell it is really old. And then there are parts where it is restored and the paint is vibrant and pops. I like how they have some original and some renovated.

Very vibrant paint, you can tell it is newer

This looks really old and maybe even original

Another famous room with another throne for the emperor

Dragon of course

Also found throughout the city are these incense burners

Here you can see the magic 9 occur again; there are 9 rows and 9 columns of gold knobs

The first buildings in the Forbidden city are dedicated to ceremonies, rituals, and meetings. The back rooms of the city house the emperor, his wife, and concubines. Behind that is where the Imperial Gardens are located. This is for the Emperor and the others to enjoy.

These trees were really interesting- a lot look like they have faces.

After we left the Forbidden City our two Chinese friends (Simon and Leslie) took us to a restaurant to eat- another community meal. I have to tell you, I like these community type deals. We just order a bunch of different dishes, and then you have your bowl of rice and you just pick and choose from all the dishes. So you get to try many different things. I really like it!

After that we went to an antique night market and the Silk market, ending up at a Mexican restaurant afterwards. The owner is a guy named Alex who lived in North Carolina for 20 years. He was so nice! He gave everyone 10% discount, he was really funny and told us we made him feel like home. He ended up giving us a billion of his business cards, so if anyone ever goes to Beijing…I could hook you up with a great restaurant haha. We wanted a picture with him and he says “It’s like beauty and the beast” and we were like “No you aren't a beast” and he says “No…I’m the beauty!” haha what a jokester. He was the best!

Oh and on our way looking for the night market we stopped to ask a lady for directions. She actually knew really good English so I thought Wow! We picked the right person to ask….turns out she is actually from Australia and she was just visiting her sister here. She was also really nice and she accompanied us to the night market to make sure we found the right place.

More artsy fartsy photos

Funny story: I was getting up close to this cool design to take some photos, and then I saw another foreigner look at me and do the same thing. I kind of looked at him with this "are you for reals copying me" look and then he said something in another language and smiled haha.

This ceiling was too cool to not get a picture of

This is was a pillar of a pavillion in the gardens. I really love this picture. There is so much texture, and the ages of time are shown on this photo.