Shamik and I and our boy Mao Zedong
Elisa and I arrived a day earlier than the others, on Wednesday, although to some degree, the day was a bust with regard to sightseeing. We touched base with Miss Chay in the evening at RBL, which sits on the location of an outhouse that used to supply the forbidden city with ice. The next day was also something of a bust... as I slept in really really late, and only managed to wander around Qianmen looking for a Peking duck restaurant... no luck there.
Areas of note in Beijing: Tiananmen square (天安門) is centrally located in Beijing, in fact the entire city is oriented about the Forbidden city. It houses the Monument of the People, Mao's Masoleum, and adjacent to it are the People's Congress, a mueseum, Qianmen, and the entrance to the Forbidden City. That being said, the area appears very different between night and day:
1. In the morning, towards the Congress
2. Zhengyangmen 正揚門 gate at dusk
3. Qianmen 前門 archery tower near dusk.
4. Kite Hawkers in the square at night
The traffic around the square has been dramatically altered, and tourists and locals alike are steered out (somewhat forcibly, as large police vans speed towards you and direct you with no uncertain terms towards the exits of the square) around 8 PM. I would surmise that it is to avoid situations like this:
One complaint of significant note:
Chinese from all over China line up in the morning to view Mao's pickled body in Mao's Masoleum, shuffling past it quickly in regimented lines. No photographs are allowed.
That is, unless you are a foreign VIP. The guys and I got in line with the peasants and proletariants to shuffle on through, and while we waited, we saw a group of white westerners quickly sent up towards the Masoleum, bypassing all queues. Moreover, by the time we got to the body itself, the line splits. Everyone heads left. Unless you are of course a VIP, in which case you can stand there all you want and zap photos.
While I'm not a big fan of Mao, the Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward and Communist Revolution in general all seem like very bad ideas to me, I must say that Mao likely insisted on class equality, and this reeks of modern imperialism to me. 2cents.
Forbidden City: Not many pics from here, I got lazy and started taking video, Eventually it'll all make its way to the nets.
1. the View from Tiananmen Gate to the sqare
2. With Amanda in front of the gate. There is a bullethole in one of those lions, no joke.
3. Busting out the AZN in the Forbidden City. woohoo!
