Day 15 - Beijing/Home

Well, it’s been a fun trip, but we’re going home today.  Since our flight doesn’t leave until this evening, there are still more sights we can go see or things to do: Tian’An Men Square, Forbidden Palace, Wu Dan Historical District (Old Beijing), and shopping.

The day began at Tian An Men Square. We were warned not to talk about anything political or that would be considered bad by the government. They have plain clothes cops wandering about who can read lips. Whether or not they can read English speakers, I have no idea, so why take the risk. 

The Square is immense and there is security that you have to go through. They basically just check your bags, if you have any. In the square is the Mao Ze Dong Memorial Hall. There is a three-hour wait to get in and see Mao in a crystal coffin. I never thought they would subscribe to worshiping a leader since the Communist or Socialist Philosophy is about the people, not the leaders. What was neat was seeing the People’s Memorial. It is a obelisk in the center of the square that has various reliefs inscribed at the base.  The reliefs show the historic events and uprisings throughout China’s history. Unfortunately, they don’t let you get close enough to really see them.

After Tian An Men, we walked to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was impressive in its scale. The courtyards were made purely from stone bricks and it is 13 bricks deep. Apparently, the emperor was afraid of someone digging a tunnel to get in and assassinate him.  The number of buildings in the complex was amazing and it is easy to see how someone could get lost in there. The buildings started in the front as government buildings and as you made it toward the back of the complex it gradually became living quarters. Behind the living quarters were the gardens. Unfortunately, because of the lack of time at this point, we did not get a chance to really go through the gardens or explore.

After the Forbidden City, we went to Wu Dan (old Beijing) and took rickshaws to have lunch at a local family’s house for some authentic local cuisine.  The food was cooked for us by a woman who was 75 years old, but didn't look a day over 50.  She told us that this is how she made her living and throughout her career had hosted people from over 150 countries.

After lunch we did some last minute shopping and then went to the airport.

Overall, we had a good trip. I will definitely come back at some point in the future.