Devon Winrick

December 3rd - Beijing, Forbidden City

The next morning our plan was to take a trip to the palace. The palace (The Forbidden City) is in the center of Beijing. I'm sure a lot of foreigners will hear the name The Forbidden City and think it's some mysterious place you can't go. But it's a normal tourist spot.

Before we get there though, have a look at this flyer which was in the hotel lobby that morning. This car has AI. :)

So anyway - let's head off to the palace.

Here's a micro car parked on the sidewalk that we passed on our way there.

After the taxi driver dropped us off we got some drinks to carry around for the day. Here's what Chinese coca-cola looks like. Notice that the bottle is obviously designed for smaller hands. I think it tasted almost the same, there is a very small difference which I think is just in the kind of sweetener used. However I didn't notice until a friend pointed that out.

Here's my first sight of the palace entrance. Note that, we didn't go in this way. We actually got on a small transport which cost a couple dollars that took us around the corner to the entrance.

If you want to buy liquor outside the palace you can.

We also got breakfast outside the palace which unfortunately I didn't take pictures of. My picture taking gets better when I get the idea to actually write this blog - bear with me. :)

For breakfast we had sausage on a stick. There were a couple vendors serving that right outside the entrance. It was pretty good.

After getting into the palace I got to see these little things for the first time. Every major tourist location I went to in China had these automated guides. I guess they are GPS based and little red LEDs indicate paths and where you are in the palace while the automated guide talks to you.

Here's another picture with the LEDs on.

Here's a close up of one of the first buildings I saw.

Right away you'll notice these giant bowls used for holding water for fire-fighting. They're all around the palace and some are very old. The styles vary based on which dynasty they were made in.

Here you can see where the enochs would sleep, if I remember correctly.

Next we go to the clock museum. I'll only post the ones that I find really interesting because there are hundreds.

The clocks are all gifts to China from other countries over the centuries. But first, here's a little alleyway you have to cross to get into the museum. Look at the sloped roof of this building in between, too.

Here's a clock that will actually move around the room. It's composed of a bunch of little clocks and mechanisms that need to be wound individually.

...and then of course we got hungry. Here's some ice cream. It was more creamy than sweet, a trend that I would notice in most sweets I had in China.

Here's one of those things that you can't be a tourist without taking a picture of. It's the wall of nine dragons.

I think this was in a building we had to pass through.

The throne. Notice the use of gold.

I think at this point we passed through another building with jewelry and such. Here's a globe dotted with perls.

Here's a building where performances would have been done. Not shown is the seating around the building.

From here we go back inside for a bit. Here's some large pieces of jade.

Here's another giant piece of jade. If you leaned too close an alarm would sound. This one is from Xinjiang, which we actually go to later (thousands of miles away).

A lot of the doors in the palace had these headings. I didn't take pictures of them all, so here's one.

Here's a little kitty that was in the palace. There was cat food and water nearby, so I guess they are using cats to help fight vermin.

This is also where I learned that the word for cat is literally "mow" (mao).

Here's a railing nearby which you can see the insides of, since it started to fall apart.

Moving on from the courtyard with the kitty we reach this well (which as you can see is now covered). The automated guide tells us a story of when the queen was upset with the king and drowned his favorite concubine in this well (who was pregnant).

Anyway, moving on from that sadness. Here's a long corridor in the palace.

Which led us back into an open area. The first thing you might notice are more of the giant bronze/copper water containers.

... and if you look left, you'd see this.

From there we explored various places that the concubines would sleep. Here's one building I found especially interesting because it had been built in the last 100 years in a Western style, but was in the process of being rebuilt.

Venturing back outside...

This is one of the fun things I noticed in China - these roofs. They're very smooth. A lot of them are worn unfortunately because I'm not the only one that noticed.

Nearing the end of the palace now. This is near the exit - it's a big stone.

If you look closely there is a path through it. The king could go in through the "secret" entrance up to the top.

Here's your view after leaving the palace. You see the garden across the street with the building on top of the hill.

Back into town now. Like all cities in China, Beijing has a lot of people. Here's outside a grocery store - see all the bikes parked.

We ventured into the building that hosed the store. There are around five stories; the fourth floor is all computer/mobile phone repair. I really wish I had someone fix my camera when I was there (but it probably wouldn't matter, as I would later learn the part was super hard to find). I don't manage to do that much later into the trip...

So anyway, the grocery store. Our Western brands have infiltrated China and brands like Lays have their own flavors. I find a lot of the flavors really good, actually, and wish we had them in the US.

Spicy Crayfish (if you haven't had them, crayfish are really good, they're just a lot of effort to eat.).

Here are some really interesting ones.

I'm not sure what Yuzu is, but they've flavored a chip like it.

Dove chocolate is also in China... albeit Duran, Rose, and Lime flavored.

Here are a couple Lays flavors as well. Avacado, Pumpkin, and Sweet Potato flavors...

To finish this day off we had dinner with more of my wife's old friends (who also work for the Government). We had a lot of meat... in fact, I think that's all that restaurant had. There were photos on the walls of famous people, but with meat added. I wish I had taken a picture. This is also where her friends gave me a bracelet with a golden Pixiu (pee-show) on it. The Pixiu is a mythical creature with a mouth and no butt hole, symbolizing the capture and holding of wealth. I'm still wearing my butt-hole-less creature right now.