A Not So Forbidden Place – Beijing’s Forbidden City
There are so many things to see and do in Beijing and obviously, The Fobidden City is one of them.
Daniel and I decided to tackle the old city after being on an overnight train for 12 hours that we could only get hard seats for. This probably wasn’t the smartest idea but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I was in my “flip flops” (that’s what I call them on the blog so people don’t misunderstand the term “thongs”) and we were very very tired.
The Forbidden City however was amazing and turned our bad moods instantly. We didn’t realise how massive the place was and yeah I guess the name does suggest it is a city but there are literally hundreds of little buildings in the place that you could spend hours walking around looking at.
Chinese people also love this attraction and to see things such as the kings throne was like being at big day out right in the heart of the mosh pit. People were pushing, screaming, pulling and yelling to get a glimpse at the throne. This was also similar for the controversial room where the empress’ chamber lay. Many people, especially women, flocked to the window to peer inside at the room where an emperess allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself.
Obviously the main highlights are the Chinese architecture, the sheer grandeur and size of the area, the shimmering gold roofs and the paved walkways. You can also see little exhibitions of grand things that were built for the emperor such as vases and sculptures.
The Forbidden City is also surrounded by a few really beautiful parks and one park has a viewpoint you could climb up to. We did plan to climb it but after 3 hours of strolling through the city we were a little irritable due to lack of sleep so decided to skip it.
The Forbidden City was really quite cool but do be sure to take your walking shoes with you and possibly have more than 2 hours of broken sleep so you can enjoy it without a struggle.
