China Vacation – Day Nine

26th April was my second day in Beijing and I personally believe that everyone is definitely aware of the fact that Beijing has numerous places worth visiting. 

Our first stop was Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Guang Chang).

It was the site of several political events and student protests in the Chinese history. I was told by our tour guide that there was a massacre here. The Chinese protesters who were not satisfied over some political issues gathered together, marched towards Tiananmen Square. The protesters mostly consist of the city’s colleges’ and universities’ students with the supports of their instructors and other intellectuals.

Guess what was the reaction of the government? They sent the tankers and literally obliterated the protesters. Details of the catastrophe can be found here. Yes, I did a research on that event because it was so horrible that I wanted to know more about it.

There is a notable site before the Forbidden City, the Meridian Gate (Wu Men). It is the formal entrance to the Forbidden City. It is the largest of the four gates of the Forbidden City. In the shape of an inverted-U, it has three passageways.

The middle passageway, known as the Imperial Passageway, was reserved for the emperor; the western passageway was for royal princes while the eastern passageway was for civil and military officials.

Now, finally, one of the few places that I had been looking forward to, the Forbidden City! It was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty and is located at the heart of Beijing. This palace was declared a World Heritage Site and is listed as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

It was really awesome to be in this amazing place!

The place may be an amazing place but I have the suckiest camera lol Above are the best shots that I had.

We explored the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Dian).

I was not sure whether it is me or its name; that name is misleading, huh? I thought it was the place where they kept those psycho wives of the emperors.

This building is situated in the inner courtyard of the Forbidden City. Three Emperors died in the Hall.

This is the front hall where the Emperor discussed court business with his officials.

And this room served as the Emperor’s bedroom.

Next was the Imperial Garden (Yuhua Yuan).

Originally an imperial garden, it is now a public park; Jingshan Park (Jingshan Gong Yuan) was our next stop. It is situated north of the Forbidden City.

Aren’t these flowers lovely? There are more. It is very common for tourists to get so tempted to take pictures with them. But guess what? The authority of this garden does not allow us to step into the garden. There will be guards holding a loud portable speakers (recorded), warning the tourists to not step into the garden. Ignoring them is definitely a NO-NO. They would stand there (as if the warning was meant to be made for you) until you leave lol

Finally I got to see tulips right in front of my eyes. They are really beautiful.

Isn’t he adorable? His mother was trying to capture a picture of him with tulips as well but instead of looking at his mama’s camera, he looked at mine lol

After lunch, we headed to the Summer Palace (Yihe Yuan) without any delay. This palace is also declared as one of the World Heritage Sites.

We had a one-hour acrobatics show at Beijing Theatre. The performances were very thrilling and entertaining :D We were not allowed to take pictures and video when the show was going on. Why? Because they are selling the CDs at the end of the show. 50 RMB for one.

Before we called it a day, we toured the city to enjoy Beijing Night View. My personal favourite is The Place. It is located at Beijing Central Business District, where most of the rich people stay. There, we could a wide screen on the ceiling along the shopping complex’s walkway.

Enjoyed watching the underwater world

The galaxy

The music video of ‘My heart will go on’ by Celine Dion

And some random advertisement :D

I fall in love with this place instantly that I did not want to leave :S