The Forbidden City

with Taru and Maiko

After going through the Jinshang Park and having a wonderful interactive experience we decided to stop by a small food place along the streets. It was more of us wanting to experience a local scene rather than the usual Chinese posh Restaurant setting. It was rather a little bit awkward at first because we noticed all of the customers were men...not a single female in the place. You know those cowboy shows where a stranger comes in through those swinging doors, everyone stops talking in the bar and looks at the person... enter cowboy sounds. Well that's what we felt. I guess, imagine a Chinese cowboy though. hahaha. Hilarious. Well, we didn't let the scene intimidate us. We had the grouchy girl take out an extra table along the small space of a sidewalk. We were smiling, proud of ourselves. Cute. However we didn't look cute anymore after trying to finish all of the massive servings. So much for eating. I felt like a, well, cute panda with a stuffed tummy, wanting to have siesta. Errr Spanish Panda? 

The Forbidden City has been captured so many times in Asian History. It was given the names The Palace Museum, The Purple Forbidden City and also Gugong Museum. Located in the middle of Beijing, it is also situated across the known Tiananmen Square. It was built in the 14th century during the Ming Dynasty and spanned through until the Last Emperor in the Qing Dynasty in 1911. As it has been said, The Forbidden City is one of the largest and best-preserved complexes in the world. The main entry faces the South side of the city. The whole complex is shaped like a square, surrounded by a man-made moat which was a strategy to keep off any tries to invade the Palace. The high red wall standing 35 feet high felt like it gave more of a Chinese feel to it because of the hue.

We took a few minutes to stand in front of the grandeur. A few uniformed and non-uniformed guards were lined up at the gate as they meticulously eyed all of us entering The Palace. The crowd was a mix of locals and tourists. I'd say September was a good time because it wasn't hot. However, I realized later on, it wasn't really the best time for me....... I'll explain in the next post. 

We decided to do a toilet stop before walking the confines of the big complex. So that was when the happening..... happened. We were all pouting when we got out of the toilet... Maiko was fuming with rage, Taru was standing tall feeling successful and they were all laughing at me when I got out because I looked defeated and confused. Well... I seriously felt harassed. After a few minutes of toilet experience recap, we moved on and headed for the ticket booth. 

Taru chose the Finnish radio guide and I got curious with the Tagalog, so I rented it for the duration of the exploration. The moment I pressed on the start button, I found it quite weird listening to Tagalog... and not just the typical Tagalog, they were using deep words. 

Not all of the halls were open. A few were getting refurbished and a few had additional fees on top of the first ticket we've paid. The interesting roofs were tantalizing to stare at and I couldn't help but take a few photos.Going through the Meridian Gate, we found ourselves staring at the 5 bridges that represented the five Confucian virtues of humanity, sense of duty, wisdom, reliability and ceremonial propriety. 

The Hall of Supreme Harmony served as the "throne" where the significant events like coronations, birthday celebrations and military expeditions. There were also halls that were solely for the Empress, which was more for the women's activities. 

We finished the walk by going through the Gate of Heavenly Purity and decided to go back to the hostel. We were really exhausted so we just had a quick dinner and hit the bed around 10 pm.