Day 8 - Beijing

Our second day with Lily, this one spent seeing all the historical sites around - I hope I can remember all the names. We have again walked miles and miles - Ewa will be proud of me!

First stop was Tiananmen Square, transport by MTR. Much bigger than we expected. The building in the middle is the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, where locals line up to view Mao's body - we skipped that one. Forbidden City is at one end of the Square, and this was even bigger again. The City is 1 km long and 800 meters wide. Lily explained each of the different areas and what they had been used for. We were surprised that the front areas were so stark - no plants at all, but apparently the emperors were worried about 'assassins'. To prevent people digging in under the wall to get to the emperor, there are actually 20 layers of pavers, laid at differing angles, so there is no soil for trees to grow in! There is a garden area, but it is toward the back of the City.

You may be aware that most historical Chinese buildings have a 'board' that you have to step over to get inside, well today we found out why. The ancient Chinese were very worried about bad ghosts getting into their buildings, and everyone knows that ghosts don't step, they glide - apparently this is because they don't have knees! So the door steps are to stop the ghosts getting in!!

There is a hill behind the City, in Jingshan Park, and on top there are 5 temples, and yes, we did walk all the way to the top, again. The hill itself is manmade - made from the soil that was dug out to make the moat Round the Forbidden City.

It was definitely time for a break, so we had an early lunch. Lily took us to a local Chinese restaurant, lunch for 3 total $11. Walked over to check out the Bell Tower and Drum Tower - they are still used today to mark every 2nd hour - bells during the day and drums at night. We then walked through the old Hutongs, Beihai Park and around Houhai - beautiful lake area.

Last stop was the Lama Temple - as in the monks and Dali Lama. Again, with Lily to explain all the statues and buildings, it meant so much more.

We had worn ourselves out, so caught the MTR back to the hotel where we said farewell to Lily. Stopped for some much needed rest time. Then went to wi-fi area to skype the boys and send an e-mail to the new home owners Matt and Anna.

Decided to go back to the shopping centre down the road for dinner - there were several places upstairs that looked interesting Decided on the sushi place - and it was great. We did want to try an interesting noodle/hot pot place, but the menu was all in Chinese, and no-one on staff spoke English.

And so ends another day. Have to decide what to do with a morning tomorrow, then it's off to Vietnam.

Lama Temple