TR: Asia Day 14: Beijing sightseeing, Forbidden City

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The original version of this trip report was posted, along with 48
pictures, and comments on them, to:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1305686#p1305686


Day 14: Beijing sightseeing, Forbidden City

When we last left off, I was about to leave Seoul, after staying up all
night at the bars and clubs of Itaewon in Seoul. It probably wasn�t the
best idea to start a three week coaster tour on no sleep, but that�s what
happened. To save time, I took a taxi to the main Seoul train station, and
then the fast and efficient train to Gimpo airport. Most people traveling
internationally will take Incheon Airport, but since there are many flights
to Beijing�s airport from both Seoul airports, I opted for using Gimpo,
since it is significantly closer to downtown Seoul. Everything went
smoothly at the train station and airport, and I was soon seated on my
flight. Unfortunatly, I was seated next to this very odd old Chinese man,
who would regularly randomly start giggling excessively for no particular
reason. It would have been amusing, but this wasn�t looking good for my
chances of getting at least SOME sleep before China. Luckily, since there
were plenty of empty seats, once it was close to takeoff time, the flight
attendants let me move to an empty row, allowing me to get an hour or so of
much-needed sleep. Also, even on short flights, Asian airlines give meals,
unlike their US counterparts.

I arrived at Beijing�s airport and quickly got through customs. The first
thing I noticed was the smog. It was so bad that I could TASTE it in the
air! And that�s indoors at the airport from the minute I got off the plane!
As I left the secure area, someone was waiting for me with my name on a
sign! That�s the first time I�ve ever had that, so it was kind of an
exciting start to the high-class TPR tour! We had to wait for James� flight
to arrive, and then we were off to the hotel. But when we arrived at the
hotel, I realized that it wasn�t the hotel we were supposed to be at, which
got me very nervous! Here I am in a strange country where not that many
people speak English, and we could be at the wrong hotel. We got to the
desk and it was the right place, so apparently, the travel agency had
changed the hotels without telling anyone. Robb and Elissa would later tell
us that even THEY hadn�t been told. The problem was that several of us had
rented mifi (portable wifi) devices and/or sim cards so that we could use
wifi on our phones for maps, translating, Facebook, etc. that were shipped
to what we thought was our hotel. Not only might we not have those, but if
they�d gotten lost, we�d be responsible for the cost of them! And I�d feel
really bad, because I�d suggested this idea to the others in the group. It
wouldn�t be surprising for a hotel that gets a lot of American tourists to
not accept a package for people that weren�t staying at that hotel �
especially in this post-9/11 world. I went to the room to drop off my bags
(my roommate Bill had already spent one night there) and see if the package
was there. Nope. I checked with the concierge and they didn�t have the
package. He called the other hotel, who said that they didn�t have it
either. Now, I was getting nervous. It took a whole bunch of calls before
it turned out that the hotel DID have my package � and ones for two others
in our group. I agreed to pay for a taxi, if they�d send the packages over
to us.

Meanwhile, two of the other people on the trip were waiting for me, which I
felt bad about. Most of the rest of the group had gone off on a day of
credit whoring, in an official TPR pre-tour day, but since we were arriving
the next day, after they were leaving, we opted out. Plus, we wanted to do
some sightseeing. We�d agreed to meet in the lobby and go to Tiananmen
Square and the Forbidden City. Elissa had said we would be going there, but
we probably wouldn�t be going inside the Forbidden City itself. And as much
as I like credit whoring, there would be PLENTY of that on the trip, but I
really wanted to see the Forbidden City while I was in China. Apparently,
we missed a Chinese knockoff SLC, a spinning mouse, and a few kiddie
coasters. Oh well. Soon James, Bjorn and I hopped into a taxi and headed to
the Forbidden City. We were pretty sure that the taxi driver really ripped
us off, but I guess that�s part of the China experience!

We walked around Tiananmen Sq. for a while snapping pictures. We didn�t
have time to take in the museums and halls surrounding the square, which
was a shame. It would have been nice to at least have seen the National
Museum of China. But The Forbidden City was our priority. Of course, if
we�d known that we would actually end up going inside the Forbidden City
the next day after all, we�d probably have checked out the museum. But we
didn�t. Se we took tons of pictures of everything, including two MASSIVE TV
screens, then headed across the street to the Forbidden City aka the
Imperial Palace and the Palace Museum.

There seemed to be large crowds at the main entrance, but a friendly man
offered to show us a faster way in through a side entrance. As we
suspected, he had another agenda, which involved us seeing a small art
gallery he ran at the side entrance. He wrote our names out in Chinese,
hoping we�d buy nice frames for it � or at least something else. Not only
didn�t we want to lug anything around all day. But I had to watch out what
I bought, since I�d be carrying it for 5 more weeks, and airlines have
strict weight restrictions. But he did let us keep our names in Chinese.
And, as promised, there were no lines at this side entrance. However, we�d
quickly discover that there was no easy way over to the main part of the
Forbidden City, and we had to walk through a large area with not much to
see before we could get over there. So it�s debatable if we actually saved
any time. But there were also some nice museum sections over there that we
walked through. Eventually, we found our way towards the front of the main
area and randomly ran into Scottish Steve and Karl, who we�d continue the
tour with.

Elissa had described Forbidden City to us as something to the effect of
�You walk by this big, pretty temple or palace, and you go up and down a
ton of steps, then you go to the next temple or palace that looks exactly
like the last one and you keep doing that over and over until you want to
kill yourself.� On some level, she�s right. The best part, though, is that
each of those temples has increasingly grandiose names that sound very
similar and that probably have nothing to do with the actual purpose of
those temples. There was the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Hall for Worship
of Ancestors, the Hall of Supreme Harmony (you can never have enough
supreme harmony!), the Hall of Preserved Harmony, the Hall of Central
Harmony (they sure love their harmony!), the Hall of Union and Peace, the
Hall of Earthly Tranquility, the Gate of Heavenly Purity, and my favorite:
the Hill of Accumulated Elegance -- a large pile of rocks (but very ELEGANT
rocks!) And tons more. Let�s not forget the large stone carving called �
you guessed it -- Large Stone Carving! It was still fascinating to see such
history, and there�s actually a lot more to see there than that, as you�ll
see in the pictures. But a lot of those temples do look almost exactly
alike, and it takes forever to walk through the whole area! It�s nearly a
kilometer long by � of a kilometer wide. (Or nearly a half mile in each
direction.)

We took our time wandering around and seeing as much as we could, taking
tons of pictures. The architecture and detail was amazing, if somewhat
repetitive. There were some nice displays in a lot of the temples and
on-site museums. The rock garden (including the Hill of Accumulated
Elegance) was particularly impressive. At one point, we saw a building with
a blue dome on top that looked like a giant blue penis. For some reason, we
spent a long time trying to get through the maze of buildings to get to
that giant blue penis, with no luck. Apparently giant penises are very hard
to come by in China. ;-)

Eventually, we�d had our fill of Supreme Harmony, and headed back to the
hotel by subway. The subway system was very modern and easy to find our way
around. And a hell of a lot cheaper than our overpriced ripoff taxi ride!

When I got back to the hotel, the concierge told me that the packages with
the mifi devices had arrived! And it turned out that the sim card inside it
did work in my phone, so I didn�t need the device, but it was good to have
it, just in case. One nice thing about the plan we got is that for $5
extra, we got a VPN service, which allowed us access to sites like Facebook
and Twitter and Youtube, which are blocked in China by the government.
After freshening up in our rooms, and finally meeting my roommate Bill, it
was time to meet up with everyone from TPR for dinner.

We took a bus to a restaurant for the first official meal of the trip. Most
of the meals would consist of us going to big restaurants that were mostly
for tourist groups like us. We�d sit at three or so big tables with
spinning lazy susan turntables in the middle, and they�d continually put
out all sorts of different food for us. I�m a fairly picky eater and
honestly not very experimental. But I always managed to find some things
that I liked. Of course, I imagine that a lot of what we ate was
specifically made for a western crowd and probably locals never ate half of
the things we did! There were plenty of decent dishes of chicken, beef or
pork (and sometimes fish) with various sauces on them � and those dishes
disappeared most quickly. There was lots of more Chinese things too, which
some people were eager to try, while others just watched! Occasionally,
they�d bring us a refill plate, but not often. We also got a drink with
some of the meals (besides tea), but the Chinese use TINY cups. Think maybe
slightly bigger than the cups you use in the bathroom to rinse with!

After dinner, a bunch of us headed out to find some snacks and/or water and
juice and/or booze. Remember, you don�t want to drink tap water in China,
unless you enjoy spending excessive amounts of time in the bathroom, which
wouldn�t exactly be convenient on a roller coaster trip! Luckily, all of
our hotels had at least two bottles of complimentary water, although there
were also bottles you had to pay for, so you had to be careful which ones
you used. But water and other drinks were quite cheap in China, usually
under a dollar a bottle, even at amusement parks. So, it was easy to safely
remain hydrated. But most of us were after liquor anyways. Most people
bought beer, but since I HATE the taste of beer, I opted for a clear liquor
that I�d hoped was vodka. Nope! It was some local liquor (I think it was
ergoutou), which was strong as hell and had a REALLY odd taste. We headed
back to someone�s room and relaxed and hung out for a while. Most people
reconnected, but I didn�t know anyone, so it was good to get to know some
people. Some people had bought some bizarre foods at the store, too, and we
all watched while people ate things like dried duck�s feet. I managed to
drink some of the awful liquor mixed with orange juice, but it wasn�t easy!
Eventually, it was time for bed. Probably a good idea, since I was going on
an hour�s sleep!


"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured,
the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us
all irrevocably." -Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
"The Drumhead", _Star Trek: The Next Generation_