Beijing Day 2: The Forbidden City and Tienamen Square

We went halfway around the world to find out.. we were the tourist attraction.  Many a time we found people taking pictures of us, next to us, and even WITH us.  As a traveler who prefers to blend in, this made me very uncomfortable to stand out.  I didn't feel this amount of attention in Mongolia, Thailand, or Cambodia, so I wonder why in China... It took about a day until I noticed it, when it became obvious in The Forbidden City.

The tourist capital of China.  The seat of government.  Forbidden City, Great Wall.  I imagine it's like the Washington DC of the East, with citizens making a pilgrimage from far and wide to see their nation's capital.  At first I was tentative of walking around with my camera out, but soon realized that 1) I cannot blend in here, and 2) Everyone else also had their cameras out.  We were all tourists together.

The day began with The Forbidden City, on which we went on a Sunday.  We entered from the east Tienamen entrance with four metal detectors and bag scanners.  It was the only way to get into the Forbidden City and Tienamen, and I would hope there would also be an entrance on the west side opposite us, as well.  Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds it was, about 10am on a Sunday morning, a weekend, so it was thick, crammed into a barrier corridor.  Don't get anxious of impatient, the shoving and tightness of the crowd is normal, so just go with the flow and don't worry about apologies.

Also known as the Imperial Palace, it is vast.  Once inside, perhaps veer to the left or right to get around the
crowds, then double back at the end of the day when crowds are thinner to see some of the marvelous central buildings.  The day was almost sunny.  That is, we saw apparitions of the sun through some thinning fog.  Perhaps it was the rain that had started to part the blurring smog.  The level of smog was just as I had seen the pictures, but seeing it for my own eyes was almost beyond belief.  I thought I could just come to accept it, but after the next few days of seeing peeks of the sun and clear skies, within only days I could fully appreciate clearer air.

Visions of Peter O'Toole overseeing a tennis match between Puyi and his wives had flashed through my heads, references to The Last Emperor filling in the holes of my guidebook.  It was worth dashing into some of the side buildings that housed small museum collections, if not for the fine art, but for the air conditioning and a break from the throngs outside.  Through the alleys we roamed, taking more peeks around corners than we did covering every inch of the palace.  We had already been there two hours and had already started to feel the exhaustion of the walk to the City, the security line, ticket line, more gates and lines, and the heat.  Highly advised to tuck a snack into your bag with a bottle of two or water.  Thankfully there were plenty of tiny concession stands inside and we took a well-deserved ice cream break from a vendor.

A few important notes about The Forbidden City:

• The gardens by the north gate are worth spending quality time
• You cannot exit through the south gate
• Once you have exited, you have to go back around to the south gate, back through the security line
• The same security line is also necessary to enter Tienamen (so perhaps visit here first, then Forbidden City), or even to get back to the FC gift shop
• The east gate doesn't exit through a gift shop.  And here I thought the Chinese government was embracing capitalism.

By the time we were done with the Forbidden City, it was well past lunch and we tucked into a small restaurant a good block south of the east gate.  We tended to look for places that appeared to have a picture menu so we could point at what we wanted.  The interesting part of this is that one of our party is a vegetarian, so we sure hoped that whatever she ordered was at least tofu and not mystery meat.  Lunch was cheap (about 25Y each), tasty, and even a little stray kitten wandered in and pranced about with discarded napkins and dangling shoelaces.

A couple of us had thoughts of tackling the Temple of Heaven after visiting Tienamen - after just leaving the Forbidden City - but as we nursed our aching feet under the lunch table, visions of a third sight to see started to drift away.  We had just enough energy in us to visit Tienamen... well, I don't think even all of us wanted to go that far.  But listen... we were already south.  It was just one last thing.  It was still the afternoon and a few hours until dinner.  We could just squeeze in the public square, walk home, and still be able to rest a while before figuring out dinner plans.  I know, it sounds like a long day by anyone's standards, and it was... but push on because lord only knows if/when we'd be back.  I felt I should see Tienamen for myself, a sort of personal responsibility to bear witness to a glance into the past.

To get into Tienamen, one has to go back through security then underground through tunnels to surface within the square.  Signage isn't entirely clear, so if you're heading to the square, don't follow the "Exit" signs.  Those are real exits, not exits from the tunnels.  If you exit, you have to back through security underground.

So, yeah, we learned that the hard way.

Frustrations behind us, we surfaced opposite the portrait of Mao across the street, standing in the infamous Tienamen Square.  And honestly, it was eerie.  Perhaps we all had our own pensive moments.  Thinking back of what happened here 25 years ago.  Quietly we spoke together about what did happen, in so few words, and contemplating that an entire generation of Chinese citizens exists right now that has no idea what took place those weeks in 1989.

On return to the hotel, Fay smartly hopped into bed for a nap as the rest of us propped our feet up on a small table while nursing some cold beers and updating Instagram.  The skies opened up again with rain.  Happily it held off through the day and we were safely back at the hotel - DRY - and exhausted as we were, decided to eat in the small restaurant on the premises.  It was acceptable, and inexpensive, and steps from the front door.  The next day ahead would be the hike on the Great Wall so I think we were all happy not to venture far and take it easy for the evening.  Perhaps the rain was a blessing in disguise.