Day 13 - Forbidden City

'nin hao' (knee - how) from Beijing.

Oops looks like I didn't update the blog for the 11th and 12th. Not much happened on those days anyway.

Today was our first full day in Beijing and we journeyed to the Forbidden City. This is the Chinese Imperial Palace from the mid Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
This was the home to the Emperor and his house hold.


At the front of The Forbidden City is a picture of Chairman Mao. He is held in high regards by many of the Chinese people for his contributions to the People Republic of China.

Once we purchase our ticket into The Forbidden City, you must walk through these large red doors. The brass knobs on the doors if touched are said to bring you good luck. Right about now Lillian and Hannah would do anything to get a Cheese Pizza, so they are holding these knobs very tightly.



Now you walk down a crowded tunnel into the Forbidden City.


At last you emerge to find that you've got more walking to do and more steps to climb.
This place is huge. The tourist map that I purchased for 5 yuan says its 720,000 square meters. (2,351,600 square feet). All of it just waiting to be walked on.

These rooms are very impressive. They are all made of brick and marble with tile roofs. The construction is said to be original and has only been maintained. This building didn't look 6 to 7 hundred years old.


This is a picture of the throne the Emperor would have sat in. This is an awful big chain. I guess when you are the ruler of China you might need a big chair for such a big country.


These bronze lions were everywhere in the Forbidden City. I though they looked cool, so I took a picture for my friends back home. Oh, don't be shocked if you get a bronze or jade lion from us at Christmas this year. We got a good deal on them in the gift shop.


This picture is one of the houses for the Emperor's wives. The Emperor had many houses for his wives. I guess this guy liked stress. As if managing a country this big wasn't enough, he had to deal with multiple wives.


After walking a little further, Lynn and the girls figured out how the Emperor dealt with all that mental stress. In the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Can you say Sigmund Freud!!!

Our last stop of the day was to The Emperor's Clocks


The hall was filled with hundreds of clocks. I was impressed by the size and detail of some of these clocks. The only clock I did not see was the timex strapped to the boat motor. (You older folks will remember the commercial.)


However I will end by saying that I don't think any of the Emperor's clocks were working. So I suggest you don't buy the fake Rolex watch, or the Chairman Mao watch in front of The Forbidden City as they may stop working soon too.

Our next stop will be to Tienanman Square. I think I will check to see if there are any tanks there before we go!

Day 10 - Dinner for a King

Well it seems like its been much longer than 10 days since I arrived in China. I guess work has been keeping me busy which is a good thing.

In just a few days Lynn and the girls will be arriving in Beijing. I'm looking forward to spending time with them and showing them this "Chinese" experience.

Tonight a group of people went out to dinner after work. We went to this really nice Spanish restaurant. However there wasn't much on the menu that was Spanish. I tried some chicken dish, can't remember the name, but it was delicious. Below is a picture.


Now my wife has informed me that some of you weak stomached people are having problems with the meals I am eating here. Let me say, I've not had a bad meal yet. I've had some surprises, but not a bad meal and I've never had bad service.

Day 9 - Paul's In Trouble

First let me say sorry I missed day 8, it wasn't a very eventful day. It rained on Monday and Chuck said, "Someone washed China". I can tell you they didn't do a very good job. The rain did clear the air and we could see the mountains surrounding Guangzhou, but that's about all it did.

Tonight we were walking back from eating dinner when we saw a Police wagon. Paul knew how to naturally assume the position to be frisked. I guess he's had experience as you can see from the picture below.


As you can see later Chuck and I went to bail Paul out. We were even so kind as to bring him his Star Bucks coffee.


Yes they have Star Bucks in China. It's one of the places we can get a taste of home.

Day 6 - Hong Kong

All Aboard!

Today we took a 1 hour 45 minute train ride to Hong Kong from Guangzhou. Tickets were really cheap only about 190 Yuan or about $27 US Dollars for coach class. This includes a bottle of water which is very important here.


Couldn't see much out the windows, but I did manage to snap a few pictures.


To kill time on the train, Paul was reading the Chinese magazines, written in Chinese.
I don't know if he understood it or was just looking at the pictures.


When we arrive at the train station in Hong Kong the first thing that jump out at me was the McDonald's escalator. Mommy, can I ride the escalator. I don't think Ronald was at the top, but it was fun non the less.


Of course Paul was up to his usual breaking the rules. If he doesn't end up in a Chinese prison before this trip is over it will be a miracle. I must remember to ask his wife how she puts up with him when we get back home.


Hong Kong was once under Brittish rule, so they have cool things like double decker buses and they drive on the left hand side of the road. So be careful when crossing the street.


We are on a limited time schedule so we visited the Ladies Market. Some of the women in our group wanted to go get purses and watches. I just couldn't believe all the stuff they have at these markets.


Look a rare Avatar sighting. Actually this guy hit us up for money more often than the street vendors did. If you give him some money he'll ring a little metal bowl and say a chant for you. Non of us contributed, but we did keep our eye on this guy.

Crowded streets and lots of traffic were the norm.

It seemed like the building were so tall. Just shot this picture looking up from my point of view in the Ladies Market.


We got back on the train about 7:45 pm and came back to Guangzhou. Got to the hotel at 10:30 pm. took a shower and went to bed. Tomorrow will be Sunday and I have no clue what it will bring.

Day 7 - Pet Shop Street & Buddha

Today I decided to go down the "Pet Shop" street and take some pictures to show Hannah back home. I know how much she loves animals. This first picture is just looking down the street.

On this short street you can find just about any animal in southern asia and a few not from here.
Below are some pictures of the animals I saw today.

(Birds)


(Dogs)


(Turtles)


(Ducks)


(Rabbits)

Ooh, Some one call the Mark and Lisa Champion. They've been looking for a rabbit for there son Drew for some time now. Here they can get a baby rabbit for about 7 yuan or about $1.00 US dollar. However shipping it home would cost you about $300 US dollars. But look at it this way, you'll be the only people in Bartlett with a Chinese rabbit! (LOL)


(Gold Fish)


(Some Other Fish ????)
I have no clue what type of fish this is, but as I said you can find just about anything here.

This guy has a nice selection of fish. When they close up at night, he will put the fish back in the tanks inside the store. But today they get to enjoy the foot tubs and some Sun.

They sell all types of fish and plants. Any kind of animal you can think of was on the street today except for monkeys.

Kept on walking down the street and came to this really nice water garden area. There people were enjoying watching the turtles and frogs swim. Then I started smelling incents burning. After a few minutes of looking around, I realized that I had strolled into a Temple Area.


The next thing I see is these two guys guarding the door to a room of Buddha's.


Behind this door is the room of Buddha's. It felt a little strange and I wasn't sure I should go in, but I just had to see this for myself. So I entered the door.


There were buddha's to the left of me.


Buddha's to the right.


Here I am stuck in the middle with Buddha.



Don't know if I was supposed to be taking pictures, but I tried to be somewhat respectful. I turned off the flash on my camera. The room was filled with 100's of different buddha. I took several more pictures, but they would not fit on the blog. I will create a picture space and dump the pictures on the web so you can see more of the pictures.


After about 10 minutes in the room with buddha and the burning incents, I had to leave. Many people were walking around chanting to the different buddha's and I just couldn't stand it any more so I left the room.


There were more and more people showing up and I noticed they were going to another room around the cornor. Guess my curisoity got the best of me again and I followed. Some were going to the room of the dead. I did not take a picture out of respect. But it was several walls with pictures of dead people on it. The families would go in and light a incent and put it beside the dead person they were there to see. They also had many monks walking around and chanting in this room.

I continued around yet another cornor to find a massive temple. Look at the little dragon on the hand rail. The details in the carvings are extraordinary.


More incents burning. The pot is full of ashes from the incents that have been burnt. Notice the small kid he just put his incents into the pot before I shot this picture.


The columns of the larger buddha temple were carved dragons. Again look at the detail.

Here is a picture of the temple.


Of course I had to know what was inside. So YES again I adventured into the temple and looked at the buddha like statue.


After I finished looking around I left the area. No one said anything to me and I got no strange looks. I guess if someone walked into my church back in Bartlett and took some pictures of the church and maybe the preacher I wouldn't have much to say either. I guess my only hope would be they might stay to her the good word. But I can tell you Buddha said NOTHING!