Day 28 - Beijing

19.08.09

I occupy my self with the truly epic task of wandering around the forbidden city today. It's absolutely epic and is literally like a small town enclosed in the walls. It's just under a kilometre long and over 700m wide and takes ages to fully explore. I think I hit every room, but it was at a fair pace and I started at 9am. As with everywhere else it was rammed to the brim with Chinese tour groups, I can't work how all these Chinese tourists can afford the entry fees to the sights and the guide fees. It's roughly £6 to get in, which doesn't sound like much, but considering you can get a good meal for about 80p it's an awful lot. The palace has some amazing history behind it and some of the exhibitions are fascinating, especially the one surrounding the last Emperor. He was not allowed to live in most of the palace after the Qing Dynasty was overthrown and then he abdicated, ended up being a Japanese puppet emperor during the war, and ended life married to a nurse and working in the botanical gardens in Beijing.

After the miles of walking around the Forbidden City, I decide more walking is what I need and walk through one of Beijing's main shopping drags. Live scorpions impaled on skewers ready to be grilled or deep fried, massive shopping malls with escalators spanning six floors, chic fashion boutiques, Chinese models in extravagant bridal dresses posing outside Beijing's premier church for photo shoots, it's all part of the scenery.