ctbm2009@ystea.org
09-23-2009, 12:02 PM
Finding Peace in the Forbidden CityToday was another day of Beijing sightseeing after we travel to Beijing (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/Travel-to-Beijing), that started out a little later than Saturday’s Beijing tour (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/Travel-to-Beijing). We took a bus ride to the Forbidden City (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/CA4-Forbidden-City), also known as the Imperial Palace in the heart of Beijing. The palace was ordered to be built by Emperor Yongle (the same as the tomb we visited on Saturday) when he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The palace has 9,999 rooms because it was believed that in the Temple of Heaven the emperors who had gone before had 10,000 so they wanted to be close to 10,000 for good luck but not exactly the same. Many of the buildings have a Chinese version of gargoyles on them, with animals to fight off the spirits. The higher the number the better luck you have, but they only do odd numbers so you will only find 1, 3, 5, etc. with 9 being the most prestigious. You will also find lions/dragons guarding the entrances, which are in pairs for luck and Feng Shui. After our tour of almost all 9,000 rooms….it was so hot and humid, we went out for lunch. Lunch was the next stop. We, of course, ***umed that we would have more rice, watermelon and Chinese food. The food was really good but again, it all starts to seem the same. Following lunch we returned to our Beijing hotel (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/CH1-Beijing-Hotels) and had a quick rest before journeying out to the Silk Market for more shopping. Once in the room we found the little critter (seen in photo) on our bathroom floor. I wonder if these are the same bugs that you find at the Night Market on a stick? See more tourists’ blog about china Vacations, please just click on thechina Vacations (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/)