Beijing Day 1 - Forbidden City / Tienanmen Square

Forbidden City Gate

Old Beijing Map

A few hungover hours in Amsterdam and I napped a lot of the way into Beijing. My first thought was that it was really foggy again. Turns out it was the usual smog. Instead of getting the airport line and changing 3 times I got a bus into Wangjing. 

No English anywhere and the bus driver told me to get off too early at Dazhoung Electronics. I honestly wonder how tourists coped here during the Olympics.  Tried asking for directions to the subway using a subway map, first person walked away while the second apologized because she was korean and didn't speak much English nor Mandarin. Chatted to her and her North Korean friend for a while (there seems to be a Koreatown near Wangjing) and we got a bus and directions from a branch of Hana Bank.
















It was my first host couchsurfing family. The dad was a journalist for a newspaper that covered a district north of Beijing and the kid Jerry was 4 and ridiculously sweet. He kept on speaking to be in Chinese, despite being told I didn't understand. Had lunch in a Korean restaurant and then headed downtown.  

 My first stop was the Forbidden Palace (紫禁城). In one word - huge. I've been to smaller towns. It's about a square km, 980 surviving buildings with 9,999 rooms. After wandering around the Palace top to bottom I headed through a big beautiful park to Tienanmen square (天安门广场). 

As with the subway there is no way for you to get there without having your bags scanned. Presumably because of it's past during the protests in 1919, 1949, 1973 and 1989. There was the Monument to the People's Heroes (人民英雄纪念碑) and Chairman Mao's Mausoleum (毛主席纪念堂).  There was enough other things for me to do and see so I didn't bother going to the Mausoleum.  I met a gayboy Chinese artist who walked me on a tour around the square and explained some of the history and the buildings. He showed me his studio, wrote my name in Hanja and then tried selling me all his art.. I made my excuses and headed back to the couchsurfers who cooked me dinner whilst I bullied their kid.  I got an early night as had to leave at 7 the next morning.