CHINALAND: DAY 2: FORBIDDEN CITY, MONGOLIAN HOTPOT AND LOCAL AREA

The view outside my room looks amazing. Here you can see the Drum and Bell Tower from my window.I decide to try and learn to use the Beijing subway: I've been shown just once when my friend Mark showed me just as I arrived in Beijing.

What you see is the Drum and Bell Tower and someone's home.

Here are some pedicabs (rickshaws) nearby. They might be a great way to get around but are generally seen as something you have to be careful with about the cost!

I feel that a good way to learn how to use the subway is to try and get to the Forbidden City: this is one of 2 planned visits as I hope to come when there are fewer people. I get 2 tickets the first time as I'm not sure which is the right one. Anyway you can buy one ticket for any journey and this doesn't cost much, about RMB4 which is 40p sterling. As its a busy day there are many police and soldiers around and I have to keep passing my bags through scanning machines: how annoying. But I accept it just as the locals do. You enter the Forbidden City via Tiananmen Gate, shown here.

This is Tiananmen Gate seen from the other side although the sun is a bit low in the sky. Also this is the Meridian Gate, where ceremonies had to be observed before invited visitors or residents entered. Ordinary citizens couldn't enter, hence the name Forbidden City. The Chinese now call the complex GuGong (Ancient Palace) while its officially called the Palace Museum.

Here is the Gate of Supreme Harmony. There are five bridges over a moat which cross over into a vast square. The gate has 2 bronze lions either side of it as guardians.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the centre of the complex. It contained the Dragon Throne where the emperors received visitors and issued edicts.

It forms the most spectacular part of the complex: a hundred thousand visitors could fit into this vast sqaure. It's also where new emperors were crowned.

Its hard to explain the feeling of emptiness inside the Forbidden City. It's difficult to imagine life here when it filled with concubines, eunuchs, servants, librarians, priests etc. Thousands lived here during the times of Imperial China, but the rituals, incense-filled atmosphere, sounds, music, and intrigue that filled it in those days can only be imagined now. As architecture it's unbeatable.

Vats like this were filled with water for fighting fires. Below are some other beautiful features of the complex, I couldn't photograph all of them as my camera kept shutting down! I got some new batteries that helped. Inside the Forbidden City today are shops, restaurants and even ATMs. I worry that it may one day become a market but hope not.

Here is one of the courtyards where the courtesans lived.

This is the Imperial Garden, a recreation area for the Imperial household. I couldn't get any more photos of this as my camera stopped working, and I was so disappointed as it's so beautiful! But you can always see more online and I hope to go back soon!