The Forbidden City

Less than an hour after we checked into our hotel, Douglas and I set out for the heart of Beijing.  Our destination was Tiananmen Squar and the Forbidden City. Before entering the main area of the palace, we were directed to walk through a metal detector and place our bags on the scanner belt. The entrance fee was 60 yuan (about $10). We purchased two audio guides for our tour rather than hiring a tour guide or wandering aimlessly without a clue as to what we were passing. The audio guide was extremely helpful in understanding the many buildings housed in the city.

Once inside, we marveled at the enormous size of everything. The city is certainly vast enough to be a city of its own. The Forbidden City, known also as the Palace Museum or Imperial Palace, once served as the emperor’s home. It also acted as a fortress to protect the emperor and his family. The dark red walls are 26 feet high. The palace has a gate on each side. We entered through the Meridian Gate (known as the main gate) and exited through the Gate of Divine Might. We were told the distance between both gates is 960 meters which is a little over half a mile. Tiananmen Square is directly across from the main gate, while Jingshan Park is across from the Gate of Divine Might. Most people visit the park to get a stunning panoramic view of the Forbidden City and the surrounding area of Beijing. We elected not to visit the park due to the crowds, but the pictures I have seen from this vantage point suggest that it would be worth enduring the mayhem to see.

Chairman Mao looks on in agreement.

It was pretty cool because it would start automatically when you walked through a certain portion of the city. The headphones were not very good; I would advise you to bring your own. Plus, no telling where they've been!

I could not believe we were standing in another UNESCO World Heritage Site. We have now been to quite a few since living overseas. The city holds 980 buildings and almost 10,000 rooms. Beautifully covered tiles and intricately decorated ceilings with carvings fill the rooms. The tops of the buildings were colored in bright yellow glazed tiles. Outside many of the buildings were sculptures and large lions, called Chinese guardian lions, which were placed there for protection. There are many gates, halls, and palaces within the city. We entered most of them and observed others in passing. To fully take in all that the historic Imperial Palace holds, we would have needed a few more visits. The audio guide we purchased greatly enhanced our visit with detailed information about each gate, hall, palace, and garden. We would have surely been lost without it.

Douglas wants two of these for our house. Not quite sure how well that would ship or when we will purchase the mansion to house it...

Selfie + China = Chelfie? (I need to clarify that this comment was written by my husband - I do still love him)

Beautiful hundreds-of-years old glass ceiling fixture...right next to the smoke detector.

If I am not mistaken, these are tree roots.

We exited the palace right at closing time. We wanted to visit Tiananmen Square too. At the time we did not know the exact length of the Forbidden City, but our legs knew we had walked for quite a bit. Instead of walking back to the opposite side of the palace, we opted to take a cyclo. Cyclos are very common in Asia and are used as a slower and cheaper mode of street transportation. My gut was telling me we should have walked, but my feet were telling me I’d been on them all day and needed a small break. 

The driver of the cyclo signaled for both Douglas and I to get into his ride. Although there was room for both of us, we asked him again, because we weren’t sure if it could handle the weight of two people, particularly two people much bigger than him. The driver did the same nod, confirming for us to hop on. Well, okay. No more than one minute later the driver begins to slow down as he passes a fellow cyclo driver, perhaps his partner in crime – and I do mean crime. The other driver turns his cyclo around and pulls up next to us. Both drivers now signal for one of us to get into the other cyclo. Douglas and I both assume it is because our combined weight is too much for the cyclo. Not surprising! One would think the driver knew better. I mean he only drives tourist around in his cyclos every day. Douglas gets off and goes with the other driver. My driver then immediately speeds off like lightning, leaving the other driver and Douglas behind. Starting to get a little nervous, I’m thinking where in the heck are we going? I told him to slow down and wait for my husband. There was no way we were getting separated in a foreign country. Lord only knows where this crazy guy was trying to take me, or if he was purposefully trying to get me away from my husband. At this point I was beyond skeptical. The driver finally slowed down and waited at the corner until Douglas’ cyclo was within sight. We then made a few turns and rode for another minute.

I was then convinced that the driver was attempting to take the most scenic route possible to our destination. Let me remind readers that all we needed to do was walk back to the original gate where we entered the Forbidden City. This required no excursion or turns whatsoever, just one straight and short ride. However, we were there getting a conniving cyclo driver’s unrequested bootleg tour of the immediate area. Our cyclos then stopped in a back alley where no one else was around. The driver said, in not so many words, that we were “here.” Ok, so now I’m thinking, I have seen too many drama movies not to predict what could possibly happen now. I hopped out that cyclo in full New Yorker mode, looking all around me to see if anyone lurked behind the parked cars or dilapidated buildings. I was undoubtedly pissed at this point, but humored that we walked into such a trap knowing that it did not feel good from the beginning. We should have never got in the cyclo in the first place. Once again I presume these things happen to us just so I can write about them.

The drivers then asked us for an absurd amount of money for the sorry distance they had pedaled…$5 each. I could have kicked them both in their chins just for uttering such foolishness. Let me state that before we got in the initial cyclo we agreed to pay $2. How this crazy man converted that to now $10 was beyond my wildest imagination. Really?!?! Of course the driver then signaled that we had to pay his partner in crime as well. Douglas and I gave the original driver the $2 we originally agreed upon and walked away. I was not about to entertain that nonsense. They picked the wrong couple to scam that day. I did look back only to ensure we were not being followed or chased. I am no fool. I wouldn’t put it past those Chinese men to run us down with their cyclos and then whip out a few martial arts moves that would have had both of our heads spinning. I’m positive they were in much better physical shape than the both of us! Thankfully, no such thing happened. But here’s the kicker! To make matters worse, we were not even at our requested destination. Those two idiots left us in an alley several blocks away from the Forbidden City. We had no clue where we even were. Not long after standing at a corner bewildered, we caught a taxi back to the main entrance of the Forbidden City. We were nowhere close to where we aimed to be. Those guys were lucky we didn’t request money from them for wasting our time! We would have been more willing to pay them what they wanted if they had done as we asked, but this half-assed scam just made things worse and made them lose out on money they would have earned if they had just done things the right way! 

This sort of scenario happens all of the time, especially to people who don’t know the area and don’t speak the language. This was actually a pretty unsettling experience and something I never want to go through again. If you find yourself in one of these countries and in this sort of scenario, always go with what you know. It may cost a few extra pennies in the short term, but safety is always paramount! 

When we arrived at Tiananmen Square we saw lots of people gathered around a flagpole. Douglas and I assumed it was because the flag would soon be lowered. Our military affiliation proved our prediction to be correct, though we did not know exactly what time this was happening. I guessed it might be right after the sun went down or at 8 pm. We arrived a few minutes after 7 pm. We both thought it would be nice to observe the lowering of the flag in another country. There was another part of me that was so cold and ready for dinner. We waited patiently amongst the crowd and observed some very interesting sights. The most interesting sight would have to be when I caught the sight of a toddler’s butt cut out from its pants. I heard stories that while in China it was common to see small children in bottoms that left their butt open. Why, you ask? So that it is more convenient for the kid to use the bathroom anywhere. And when I say anywhere, I mean just that. Many people will sit their small child in the street and just let it flow! I have also seen parents assist their child to do their business in the street while in Vietnam too. I laughed when I heard stories from others, because I thought it was a bit crazy and probably an exaggerated description. Nope! It is actually true. And I took a picture to prove it.

There go the cheeks!

This is my "how about this mess" face.

A group of uniformed men marched towards the flagpole a few minutes after the sun went down to begin the flag ceremony. It was brief, no more than five minutes. After the ceremony, we quickly called it a night and went back to the hotel. Our first day in China showed us many sides…the beauty in the historic Forbidden City, the ugliness in the cyclo scammers, the awkwardness of a child’s exposed butt cheeks through a pair of pants, and the honor of viewing the flag ceremony. That was surely way more than I anticipated for one afternoon. We were done and, as always, grateful for the experience.