China Day 3

On the third day we hired a guide to walk us through the Forbidden Palace (aka Palace Museum- since it's not forbidden anymore). Our guide's name was Lilly and she was great. If you go to Beijing I would recommend her.

This picture was taken by Elyse. It's the best one we got of our tour guide.

The Forbidden Palace was HUGE! and had stairs, stairs and more stairs. One reason there were so many stairs is because the buildings were built 3 levels up. The first level represents hell, the second represents earth, and the third level (where the buildings were placed) represents heaven. So the Emperor was on the level of heaven.

In addition to the stairs it had a small barrier (6 inches or so) that you had to step over when going through the doors. It was believed that it kept the ghosts out. Since ghosts don't have knees and therefore couldn't step over it.

There were so many building that I forget what each one was, but it I do remember that the emperor would enter through the center most door/bridge, the emperor and the official wife lived in separate building that represented the ying/yang philosophy, and the concubines had a separate area where they lived out the rest of their lives.

I also learned that you could tell the importance of a building by the number of animals on the roof. The eunuchs had no animals on the roof of their living quarters so you know they were the lowest of the low in the system.

I can't remember the real name for this building (something like heavenly harmony), but it's where conflicts were resolved.

After the Forbidden City, Lilly walked us through "the real Beijing" (where the normal people lived) to a restaurant for lunch.

People living in this area paid a lot for their small houses since it was in the heart of Beijing. Many didn't have an indoor kitchen or a toilet. There was a public toilet that people would que up for in the mornings.

After lunch we walked to a lake. The area surrounding it reminded me of Clarke Quay with restaurants and little souvenir shops. Here is a Starbucks :)

Megan and Anastasia admiring the view:

After the lake we walked home, had dinner and went to sleep. Another fun-filled, tiring day.