Day 1: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven

It’s only 4pm on the first day of our tour and it has been pretty much non-stop. We had breakfast in the hotel before meeting the tour group at 8am in the lobby; breakfast was decent and a mix of Chinese and western food although I wasn’t particularly hungry after eating so much last night.

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square; it was only a 5 minute bus journey from the hotel but given it was 9am and 27 degrees, we were delighted. Before we left the hotel, we were given an introduction to the tour by Tony; he set out some ground rules around punctuality (one couple turned up a few minutes late!) and other bits and bobs including some Chinese phrases: 
nǐ hǎo - hello
nǐ hǎo, ma? - how are you?
ding ding hǎo - very very good/thumbs up!

After the 40 minute intro, we met our local guide, Lili (Li means `beautiful`, and she made a point about what her name means!), who will be taking us around Beijing for the next few days. She seems slightly mental but lots of fun. She warned us not to talk about anything political at the square as there are eyes and ears everywhere and we could be whisked away, never to be seen of again! I`m sure this was a slight exaggeration but she made her point!

The square is famous for a number of reasons; in the West, for the student-led protests of 1989 and in the East, Mao Zedongs proclamation of the People`s Republic of China in 1949. The square contains various monuments, the National Museum of China and the Mausoleum of Mao. Located at the north is the “Gate of Havenly Peace,” which separates the square from the Forbidden City.


Mao Mausoleum


Fallen Heroes of Anti-Japanese War (World War 2 to us)


The Gate


Us at the Gate of Heavenly Peace

We walked through the square, before heading to the north gate and into the magnificent Forbidden City; a vast complex with over 900 buildings which cover an area of 180 acres. It now houses the Palace Museum but was the former imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty (1420 to 1912). The architecture is outstanding and because of that, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. We were told many stories about Emperors and their concubines; one was said to have had over 3000! The Palace was amazing but it was so hot, we were melting! We had an ice-cream to cool down before walking out of the gardens and back to the tour bus.




The bus then took us to a hotel nearby for lunch; it was the same as the previous night, lots of dishes to share and a large beer! The food was good and we got to chat to a few different couples. After lunch, we headed to the Temple of Heaven for a wander about. By this point, it was now 32 degrees...queue more melting! The park is beautiful and full of retired people playing chess, knitting, dancing and playing poker. We were told gambling is illegal but I can assure you, we saw cash changing hands!





After looking around for and hour, we were ushered back to the bus and to the hotel to change before dinner. We didn’t have too much time but managed to squeeze in a beer from the supermarket and a visit to the ATM to get some cash for the optional activity that we decided to do.  As the majority of us chose the extra activity, our Peking duck dinner was moved to tomorrow instead. We ended up in a local restaurant where the beers appear to be getting bigger....not that I am complaining! 




We had ten different dishes with dinner including beef with Chinese bok choi, green beans with chilli, kung po chicken and lotus root with ginkgo beans; all very tasty although the kung po chicken wasn’t as good as the one we made with the chef last time we were in Beijing!

After dinner, we headed straight to the bus to go to “The Legend of Kungfu” show; it was the same show that Chancellor Angela Merkel attended on her recent visit to China! The show was in English which seemed to disappoint the numerous Chinese people there, but apparently it has been like that since the Olympic Games back in 2008.

It was awesome and well worth the extra cash.




After the show, we headed back to the hotel. The little supermarket beside us is fantastic so we are having beer and bacardi breezers while watching the Monaco Grand Prix with Chinese commentary.

It’s an early start tomorrow as we are off to find a Great Wall......

And the highlight of our day... we saw this dog in a bikes shopping cart, isn’t China great :)




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