Yup, that's me! But really, the fanny pack was so convenient today. My friend Maddy and I are getting matching awesome ones this week to take on the rest of the excursions.
Today was our first excursion, and we left campus promptly at 8AM to go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. At about quarter to the hour, my suitemate Andrea and I tried to go to the C-Store to buy yogurt, but it doesn't open until 8:30 on weekends, so lesson learned. We had about a half an hour bus ride to our destinations, during which Gu Laoshi and our tour guide Lee gave us some background on the Forbidden City (no comments about Tiananmen Square other than not to bring up politics).
The Forbidden City was the residence of the Emperor during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are three areas: the political area (where events were held), the residential area, and the gardens. The compound was built 1403-1416.
We arrived at Tiananmen Square, and it was very surreal to be in a place that I had seen so many photographs of. We walked all around the monument to the forgotten soldiers, which has friezes around the base of all the wars of China's history. We took a photo in the famous picture of Chairman Mao in the background, and as soon as we broke from our pose, we were bombarded by people trying to sell Little Red Books, Mao watches, postcards, and other knickknacks.
From there, we walked under the street to get to the Forbidden City. We spent four hours inside, walking from area to area with one stop for lunch. All of the buildings are red with gold, blue, and green details. There were many symbols and treasures in the compound, and my favorite stop was the theater. It was beautiful, and it had a system to lower people from the ceiling as well as raise them from under the stage. There was an exhibit of humongous jade carvings in addition to so many other cultural relics. I took over 200 photos because the architecture was so beautiful.
We got back to PKU's campus at 1:45, and had a nice break before heading out for dinner. I went out with a group of four other friends, and we had hot pot (again). I think that's my last hot pot for a while >.< We then stopped at the dorms to pick up a few friends, then headed to the nightlife part of town. We went to three different places, and it was very much a place for foreigners to go. Nonetheless, it was fun, and we headed home around midnight. People have been going out for a few nights now, and I've been curious as to what they're doing, but now that I've gone, I'm not sure if I need/want to go again. It was fine, but I'd rather do something else with my time.
Today is awesome because I got to experience, in person, places I had read about in history books.
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