After a basic breakfast at the Hotel, I got my bearings to go out to the Forbidden City. I am only about a kilometre from the front gate and it was very easy to find. As I left the main road and went down a couple of side roads, you get a sense of basic street life. As a woman was stocking up her shops vegetables from a small rickshaw, she saw me coming but then spat on the pavement just in front of me. Note sure with all the hype on Bird Flu that people really get the hygiene thing. It was a conversation that Major Tom and I shared about India that was one of his hates.
As I approach the High Walls of the Forbidden City which is also known as the Palace Museum, I had the usual ‘Guides, Beggars and Rickshaws’. They really are a pain. Everyone is an ‘official guide’. That aside, the Forbidden City is an awesome complex which was built some 500 years ago. It is surrounded by walls that must be 50 feet high and a wide moat of about 120 feet. For the youngster among my followers and the Europeans, that would be about a 12 Metres Wall and 35 Metres moat width. While we are talking about Imperial Standards, just for interest, I have found that Japanese and Hong Kong drivers drive on the Left, Chinese drivers on the right and Indian drivers drive wherever there is a gap or a bit of space.
Back to the Forbidden City. Through the main gate and I must have been approached by 50 ‘guides’, who wanted to be my personal tutor for the trip. It is helped by the Palace office that gives a fast track line to allow these ‘guides’ to get quick tickets for their clients. This type of stuff really bugs me as it would be easy to remove the unofficial guides if you really wanted to and send them out to the paddy fields by the North Korean border, where they could sell you tour tickets into South Korea. Argh, I slipped a bit then. ‘Dunmoanin?’. Apologies.
I queued up and got a ticket for 40 RMB, which is 40 Yuan. Really cheap when you see the grounds. Even with the pound being very low against the Yuan it is still a good price.
As you enter the main gate, and I assume there must be another gate as people were walking up from the south as well, you are in a massive courtyard. And the courtyard is full of Chinese tourists. So picture this, you have just arrived by coach from another Chinese city, you are advised by your official guide to stay close as a group so they can keep you all inform and to assist this you should wear a unique Baseball Cap. To be really outstanding, wear a Red or a White one. As I tussle for a place in the queue and then in through the main gate, not forgetting that I have now an Automatic Guide around my neck that works by GPS, you enter another huge courtyard where you get a real feel for this enclosed City. For centuries it was off-grounds for everyone except the Emperors people and with a death penalty for anyone caught without permission. You would have to say that these people would be easy to spot, as they would either have to slip the main gate man a bag of rice or scale the walls and jump down the other side, breaking their legs in the process. Anyway, I am in this courtyard and their hat colour was a brilliant choice. There are red and white caps everywhere, interleved with black ones with a big red star, which are sold to the tourists by the main gate. I’m sure they don’t lose too may people and nobody gets on the wong bus.
So we are in. The grounds are amazing. A few of the buildings are closed due to refurb this month but it still leaves heaps to see. It goes on and on and on. From the photos you will eventually see when I find a way to load them or when I am in Singapore in 6 days time, the scale of the place was hard to capture. As a completely walled environment, I do not think I have ever seen anything of this size. When it was just the Emperor and his entourage, this would have been a very quiet place, very regal.
It was crowded today, but I did manage to get elbow room to get my pictures. It was a bit of a scrum at the main throne rooms, as every Chinese person pushed to get to the front. I was a bit lucky that I was taller than most and have longer arms than most, so with my camera way up in the air and caught most things without going into the ruck.
I was caught out once off my guard, when I stopped for a drink and a ‘volunteer’ said that I could see the private painting exhibition through a guarded wooden door way. We chatted about English accents and specifically the Geordie accent that she brought up, before I downed my drink and went through. It was a University art group selling their work. They were good though and I did buy a couple of small pieces. Even for a ‘student’ she had the haggle built in. She showed me a 4 piece set and they cost 300 Yuan, 30 pounds each. I did like it and for something that gave a hint of China and small enough to replace a pair of underpants in my suit case I agreed. “What about one to balance it?” She said. No, just one, that’s all I want. “I would make it 500 for two”. No I only want the one. “I could do it for 400?” OK, I said. And we struck a deal. They were rolled up and placed into a box. Maybe 2 pairs of underpants I thought!
I spent 4 hours at the Forbidden City before calling it a day. I’m here for 5 days and I will be taking it easy as the last 3 weeks I found that a crammed day knocks you back by two days and you do not enjoy it so much. I also don’t enjoy the constant pitching for business or as I found on the walk back to the hotel the commercial beggars.
The palace was certainly a place to go to again as I missed out so much, so maybe tomorrow afternoon.
My plan for the afternoon is to chill a bit. I believe there is a pool in the hotel somewhere.
There is a large lounge bar in the Hotel, with very attentive staff who speak very little English. I have been trying out my Translation Application and it doesn’t quite work perfectly. I ordered a sandwich and asked if I could have some Potato Chips (Crisps) with it. A toothe pick arrived. Having WiFi and the App, I typed my question and showed them the translation. Eureka! 69 pence investment vindicated. They hadn’t got any Crisps so I ended up with French Fries!
The evening was rounded in the A la Carte Restaurant as I want to be more choosy. Very extensive Chinese menu with a few things cooked that I wouldn’t do on eco grounds, like Shark Fin soup and dishes, but I finally went for the Pan Fried Goose Liver with a Pepper Sauce, delicious and soft, and a main course of Bull Frog with Chilli Peppers and Sticky rice. My question to you all is…Have you ever caught a Bull Frog? No ?, well I chased the pieces around a simmering serving dish for 30 minutes with Chop Sticks. It tasted like Chicken but with more bones and less meat. Well you have to try these things.
I had a small bottle of beer which was difficult to order, even thought I pointed to the next table and said ‘Tsingtao’. What they had difficulty in translation was whether I wanted a cold beer or a warm beer? Well let me think about that one.
First day done and undecided about my feelings on Beijing…hmm?
Dave's Sabbatical 