Beijing - Forbidden City

Wednesday May 1 2013 1:30 am

Jet lag and excitement about seeing the Great Wall today are keeping me awake.  

Yesterday (April 30)

N wandered around the street our hotel is on and found a cool little bakery.  He got this cool breakfast sandwich type thing and a loafs of raisin pineapple bread for quite cheap.  They were very tasty.  

It proved quite difficult to book a trip out to the Great Wall due to the language barrier so we decided to hold off on that and opted to check out Tiananmen Square.  

We walked and took the subway there.  They have a very sophisticated subway system. 

We spent the day exploring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. On our way we accidentally stumbled upon quite a cool little fruit  market and managed to buy some fruit there.  

The  Forbidden City was packed because of the Labour Day holiday, that wasn't really a big deal though.  It quite cool for the first 2/4 km in but about half way we realized that every phase was virtually the same.  I came out with over 150 pictures of what look like all the same building.  It was very pretty but maybe four hours of walking  was a bit ambitious for our first day out.  We were pretty blistered, burned and  beat by the time we got back.   It was a lot hotter than we'd thought (about 25-30*C) so I ended up with a nasty sunburn on my neck.   

The smog in the air is different than I expected.  You might not notice it if no one had said anything to you.  It's just that the air never feels fresh.  And when I got back to the hotel I had a few coughing fits.  It just sort of sticks in your throat and you can't get it out.  

We are really enjoying Beijing.  The people are kind and friendly, but almost no one speaks English.  We feel very safe on the streets, which makes travelling so much more enjoyable.  

Today we plan to leave early (as in normal waking hours 6am...not the middle of the night which it is now) and bus to the Great Wall.  We are hoping that by going early and going to a further away and less touristy parts of the wall we will miss the major mobs and maybe even get a seat on the bus.  It's about a two hour bus ride.