Technically I have been to Beijing twice. Once for less than 24 hours due to a plane layover when coming back from America in Jan. and another time on a purposeful vacation of 3 days.
When I was booking flights I noticed that I had a 15 hour overnight so instead of wasting my time like I did in Shanghai (I had to kill 6 hours but I was a little nervous leaving and trying to come back on time) I booked a hotel near the forbidden city. Apparently the subway shuts down about 9 or 10 because at around 1030pm I was being told with the meiyo (no) and the unmistakable hand waive indicating no no no anytime I tried to ask how to buy a ticket.
Finally I got an English speaker who said it was closed for the night and to take a taxi. Great, super expensive…comparatively…and you have to have your guard up to pick the right person and not get taken advantage of.
Luckily, I was able to share a cab with two others and one spoke English. Heck they even paid more than me. The hostel was pretty alright and when I entered my 4 person room it had a strong humid feel and 4 aussie girls.
They just finished some college classes locally and traveling and next day were off by train to Shanghai. Washing clothes is great, but they said 4 times in the dryer and the clothes were still damp. Needless to say, that was not the most comfortable room but overall it was fine.
Got up early and made my way to McDonald’s (shameful I know but I got an egg sandwich and coffee) and thanks to google I was able to navigate the streets to my bus stop and make my way to the Temple of Heaven.
When getting close to Temple of Heaven, I couldn’t quite tell if that was the entrance or not so I didn’t get off and then suddenly I was like NOO it was it. Didn’t think much of it until the bus kept on going and going before the next stop.
Then I started thinking that this place does have more than one entrance, but how far am I from that one too. I decided to trek it back a quarter mile or so since I knew that was an entrance and on a limited time frame. Yes I did jog some of it.
This place was built by the Ming and Qing dynasties in the 1500’s, is about 660 acre and was built for prayer ceremonies. Also the Olympics did some of the running through this area…having walked among the 600 year old cypress trees and 500 year old Chinese Junipers there, what a treat it would have been.
If you want a history lesson then Wikipedia the places I mention. Upon entering the main entrance and arch a bunch of red lanterns were hanging and older people were playing hacky sack with a dangling object attached. I was pleased that the building below “Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests” had uniqueness about it.
The circular shape was different than the standard square buildings with traditional art and deco, like the buildings next to it and almost all of the Forbidden City. There was a tour group of kids passing through the place and they all wore the same jacket and I got to hear them say Xīguā (watermelon) (their version of CHEESE!). It was cute!
Next, you walk an extended elevated walkway that connects to the Imperial Vault of Heaven AKA Echo Wall. The buildings are smaller here but the area is surrounded by a circular wall. If you speak to the wall on one end, you can hear it fairly clear on the opposite side…and it actually works. I heard that it is a place you cannot keep secrets. This place is not very large.
Last place to visit here is the Circular Mound Altar and it is 3 levels made of marble and has the culturally significant nine of everything (dragons, steps etc). Apparently the guardrail at the center altar, Heart of Heaven, can reflect sound. I don’t recall hearing anything but that could be because I was listening to music, but I recall taking them out here and there. Generally, I tend to not listen to music when traveling because I want to use the sense of sound to experience the area.
The Forbidden City was directly across from Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square has a huge museum for General Mao the creator of the new modern China. There are a couple of big statues and monuments in the area; one of which is 37.94meters and is for the heroes of China. Other than having your ID checked before entering the square because it is gated since a bombing many years back, the place is um ok to spend an hour. If it wasn’t across the street I would have been disappointed…of course I wanted to go to the museum but it was closed already.
Onward to the Forbidden City. This place is HUGE but honestly a little redundant. It is still a must see though. I’m trying not to make it sound boring because if you haven’t seen as many temples I have at this point than this place will blow your mind and is the epitome of classic architecture.
Any trip to Beijing without this place is a lost opportunity. Beware of all the scam tour guides though. I didn’t rent the audio guide but my guess is if you did you would appreciate the place even more. It is also the setting to their love of classic Chinese dress and old school culture. Most of their TV shows are based in the 1400-1500s…much like our seemingly obsession with cop shows, doctor shows and of course everything has to be set in New York…as if there are no other awesome cities that you can watch crime shows in.
Maybe that is why I like the Bourne series because they were shot in different countries or just shows like Blue Bloods set in Boston. By the way, your TV shows depict your entire country’s values, like it or not… for example we are obsessed with Sex.
Did you see that soap box…just came out of nowhere. The FC has so much old statues and buildings and art. That is the huge awe factor about it. It is a huge place and I heard that the guys would be force sterilized so as to not sleep with all the king’s ladies. For once an attraction is not over commercialized.
Exiting FC puts you quite far from the entrance… which if you were moving to another event would be fine but I needed to get back to my hostel and then take the subway to the airport. I was looking around and the transportation sign was probably accurately written but I kind of felt confused and so started to walk. Now this is mid-day with people all around.
Walked around the place and realized there was a moat. When I got to a place to turn, one of the bicycle style taxis yelled 3. Well for that price I was like heck yeah. I should have said 3, 30 or 300.
Anyway, the driver went a little while and then driver switched to a younger taller but thinner guy than me. Pedaled around and then he took a “neighborhood” street and I started to get a bad feeling… like oh crap is this the tourist scam they talked about. Well a couple minutes later he stops and you can see that this alley makes a turn…but he stopped and this is obviously not the front of Forbidden City (the destination requested).
Immediately I’m like oh boy what is going to happen. He says hey the front is just around the corner… as a stall tactic, escape route and generally not knowing where I am … I get him to explain exactly how to get out of this alley… as I find our very shortly, it was only one way out and for that I was lucky.
So, after that conversation I go to pay him the 3 and he is like What 300. I’m all nah the guy said 3, and when I confirmed 3 he said yes. He proceeds to pull out his wallet and has some printed price written on it. I go, come on man that is a bit high and I’m not even exactly at my destination.
He raises his voice and tries to be intimidating but not wanting to be violent…yet. At this point, I am staying calm and letting him talk and I am doing my best to only slightly talk him down in price and being a little slow in my responses to him.
He has a hold on my jacket sleeve during this time so while all this was going on (only like one other person is around and it’s a guy who lives in a house nearby) I was planning my escape method.
First, I made a decision that I will not pay him and be ripped off in a scam. Second, how do I get out of this…i don’t want to punch the guy in his face and risk a fight or some crazy cop situation.
Here was my plan: I am going to push him very hard right under his ribs in the diaphragm area. This should stun him, take his breath away and loosen his grip on my sleeve. Immediately after striking him I will also do a Spin Move and use my forearms to further break away his grip and then run like crazy down the alley and figure out where to go from there.
I did the aforementioned plan but on the spin he was able to re-grip my shoulder part of jacket but luckily my forearm chop freed me and off I went as fast as I could… I mean he could run or take his bike after me. The alley did exit on the street and a fast assessment had me turn right ( I could see the forbidden city wall even though I was actually another block or so away from the entrance) and during my run I was constantly scanning for a place to quickly take shelter and hide..just in case he was chasing me.
I found a fence area that also had a big electric box. I stayed there and after a few minutes of not seeing him, I got back to the main street and fast walked it for a half block and saw an indoor restaurant. I was also hungry so I decided to sit in the back and eat too. To my knowledge he didn’t chase me and I think he chalked it up as a failed attempt to scam a tourist.
Close call buddy…. Thanks dad for enrolling me in karate many years ago. Yup, I was a bit paranoid the rest of that walk to the hostel and to the airport. Taught me a good lesson about watching for scams better, and being smarter about transit. Take the metered taxi or bus next time.
Part 2 of Beijing is with the friend and family that I met during spring festival in yuanjiang so no drama like this one.
