Can you see the old man doing a Kung fu move? Perfectly timed snapshot.
Tons of people were doing these funny exercises in Tian. Square.
All the communist government buildings. The beautiful smog makes it so clear, yes?
Forbidden City!
Ok, now the history behind this place was very fascinating to me. There were 6 of us in the tour which was great and our tour guide was the best. Her name was Li Li. Such a cute woman.
The history was shocking. It was forbidden to get in the city, but once you got in it was forbidden to leave. Hence the name. The emperor had a wife but also hundreds and hundreds of concubines. Once the women got in they could not leave. Life inside was brutal and harsh. Many of the women would try to kill each other in jealousy and pride. Children of these concubines would kill each other, especially the boys as one would one day be chosen as the heir to the emperor. It was a dangerous place. Many government and high up leaders were embezzling the money the emperor gave them to help the people. No crime ever got caught because everyone was involved. Some emperors were righteous and some so wicked. One dressed up like a commoner and left the city to see what was going on among his people. He was suspicious of what was being reported to him. He was shocked at their condition as some were starving and dirt poor. He actually wanted to stay there as he realized he loved being among the people and hated the palace life. He returned to the forbidden city and beheaded his entire leadership. Everyone lived in fear and wanted out but couldn't leave. Crazy.
These guys were young and cracked me up. Chinese military is everywhere in Beijing, not just at forbidden city.
Inside the first gate.
They play hoops in the forbidden city!
Another one!
Chinese military train here and had shifts here. Hoops provide some R & R. I wanted to hoop it up with them!
Back to the tour. But wow I love basketball.
They repainted a lot of this for the 08 Olympics. Still can't believe this dump of a city hosted those. The history and sites are awesome, everything else bites.
Our tour was first class. Li Li was incredible and I loved her accent.
Now is a good time to interject a picture of her. Her and i talked all day and she is so awesome! She explained to me how hard chinese people work and how little they are paid. They work literally everyday! She is a nurse too and said they get paid half of what american nurses do. She took a break from being a nurse to do tours to improve her english. English is a great way to advance a career in other countries i am learning. Li Li was the best, I love her I think ;)
While I'm at it here is my tour group. One of those ones you become friends with everyone and it gets emotional at good bye. Just kidding about that last part. Cool group though. The one Dutch couple had just visited North Korea and said it was cool and not dangerous at all.
Incredible shot! I never knew there were so many different sections. Should see them in the back. It's huge!
People were everywhere. Saturday's just get packed in Li Li said.
This was a cool rock thing!
My faces are getting silly. I love doing these cause other people watch in such confusion lol.
Huge mote of course.
Some sort of wedding shoot I think. Or modeling. They asked me to pose with these girls, I said I had to continue on with my tour. Pimpin ain't easy.
Part of our tour was meeting with Chinese doctors to try to sell us Chinese medicine. It was cool though. They believe the kidneys are the key. The yin yang and keeps your body in balance. They ripped on how western doctors give medications but don't try to help solve the actual problem. I bought a medication that is suppose to help my blood flow since I have cold hands. I left the medicine in the hostel, geez Trav!
Lunch! I actually like Chinese food in china. I think it gets a bad rap.
Then went to the temple of heaven which was sweet! This row is lined with retired men people playing games. They retire earlier than Americans and there kids help support them. All your guides and people I talked to send money back to there families.
The temple of heaven is the Beijing Chinese character.
Very impressive building.
We then headed to the summer palace. This was the palace one emperice built for herself. She could take a boat from the forbidden city to this. It was ok. Tool seriously forever to get to it cause so many crazy Chinese tourists! I got lost too because stopped to by a wannabe strawberry ice cream.
Long day but a fun tour and I found it more interesting than I thought I would.
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