We had another jam packed afternoon planned for the second day in our tour. That morning, a different tour guide (we'll call him Allen because I don't really remember what it was, but it was something like that) picked us up and we set out at 8:00 am. Unfortunately, Victor was put on a different tour, but we only had two other people with our group, so it was nice to have a small group. We began at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world, and just next to the large open square is a monument dedicated to Chairmen Mao. Chairmen Mao is responsible for the Cultural Revolution which basically turned the Chinese culture into what it is today. Many Westerns would say that Mao ruined the traditional Chinese culture, but the People of China love and respect him for what he did for the culture. At any rate, they loved him so much that they not only build a large monument to honor him, but they have gone through great lengths to preserve his body inside the monument for people to view and pay their respects. His body has been preserved for 35 years in a coffin in the center where people can view only his head because the rest of his body is "incomplete" and filled with herbs, and placed in a freezer each night. The herbs are changed every two weeks. If you ask me, it is completely repulsive! However, people love him so much that they are willing to wait in line for hours on end to get in to view his body. We admired Tiananmen Square and the monument from a distance, but I was happy that we were not going any closer to it!
On the other hand, the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace - called the Forbidden City because common people were not allowed in during the dynasties) was incredible! The city was build during the Ming Dynasty and was the home to 23 different Emperors and Empresses throughout the years. It is not only a couple building, but literally a small city of 900 buildings and over 8,000 different rooms! Of course there were bedrooms, dinning rooms, dressing quarters, wedding quarters, banquet halls, etc. Additionally, there were living quarters where the Emperor housed his concubines (mistresses). Nearly every Emperor had at least a 1000 concubine that were drawn from a lottery to sleep with him at night as he attempted to populate the country! Once a young girl became a concubine, her entire life was dedicated to the Imperial family, and once the Emperor died, all of his concubine were killed and buried with him. Anyway, we heard a lot of really interesting story as our guide lead us in and out of the different building - about the different elements and feng shui incorporated into the city that was the foundation of beliefs. The different traditions that they had, etc, etc - but I wont bore you with all that. It took us nearly two hours to walk down the parallel line in the center of the city from one end to the other. Here are some pictures...
(outside the front of the Forbidden City - Chairmen Mao's photo)
Following the Forbidden City, we went for a foot massage at the Institute for Chinese medicine. It was really interesting because while we were getting a massage, they had a professor come in and talk about Chinese medicine and reflexology. Then a doctor came in and gave us a diagnosis based on our pulse, the lines in our palms, face and tongue. It was the first time that I have interacted with a Chinese Doctor and it was very interesting! Following the foot massage and our lunch, we made our way to the Palace of Heaven, built in the very center of the city. From the top of the Palace, we were able to see a 360 view of the surrounding city. It was neat, but I have seen soo many temples.
Following the Temple of Heaven, we went to the Summer Palace - a second palace built (destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, and rebuilt again and again) for the Emperor and Empress as their summer home along with a man-made lake and island. Unfortunately, we were not able to take the dragon boat to the Summer Palace because it was too windy, but we got to admire the palace from a distance. My mom and I walked around the island and stopped for a while to take some fun pictures!
Last on our list was the Beijing (Peking) Opera... it is one of the things that you are supposed to do when you are in Beijing, so I surprised my mom with tickets! It was interesting enough, but kind of annoying at the same time. The orchestra and music was so loud that you could barely hear the singing, but the singing was screechy and ear piercing anyway. The costumes, make up and head dresses were the most interesting part, to be honest!
Following the Opera, we were beat! We headed back to our hostel, got some pizza and called it an early night. The next morning, we had a plane to catch at 6:00 am! What an incredible trip! By the end, I was exhausted, not only physically, but my mind was overly stimulated with everything we saw and all of the history that we learned! It was pretty awesome that I got to experience this with my mom as well.
