Today we went to the Forbidden City and it was another long and tiring day! As it is National Day, the crowds were impossibly large and the metro stations either side of Tian’anmen Square were closed, which meant a long walk just to get there. Later it was reported in the paper that over 100,000 people visited the Forbidden City today!). It would be easy to spend a whole day here – we managed four hours battling the throng. Afterwards we made the hour’s trek out to the Olympic complex by metro. As everything here, it is on an enormous scale and the Bird’s Nest stadium is stunning but unfortunately we couldn’t get inside. According to the news there had been some 80,000 entrance tickets for sale and more people came to the Olympic Complex than to the Forbidden City! (There’s a bit more space to accommodate them here though.)
The Forbidden City was the Imperial Palace of the Ming Emperors from 1421 until the abdication of Pu Yi in 1911. The complex has a total of 8,706 rooms in which 8-10,000 people of the royal court lived including 3000 eunuchs, as well as maids and concubines. All within an area of 70 hectares. It is a wonderful example of Chinese classical architecture, but like many monuments in Beijing it is possible only to view the outside of the main buildings; the public are not allowed inside which is disappointing when you’re used to visiting stately homes. Although it is possible to explore the labyrinth of courtyards and secondary buildings which house the museum exhibits, and to get completely lost in the process!
We made it to the Olympic Complex only by chance – earlier today we picked up our flight tickets for Xi’an and the agent gave us complementary tickets for the complex. At the time we didn’t think much of it because we only intended to go and wander around and perhaps buy entrance tickets if they were available. But as we arrived at the last metro change for the Olympic Complex officials were stopping people going any further and it was here that we need the tickets to be able to continue the journey. Without the tickets it would have had a wasted journey.
Spitting seems to be a national pastime for the Chinese – everywhere you go you hear men clearing their throats and spitting. And it doesn’t seem to matter where you are – indoors or out. Even in restaurants. Lovely!