Day 78
We met Marvin, the tour guide, Julie and all the others at 8:30. We first drove to Tian'an men Square. We walked through the square on the way to the Forbidden City and we were accosted by people selling stuff on all sides! Some got better deals than others, but it was hard to get past them.
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| Tian'an men Square. Government meeting house behind it. |
The Forbidden City was next and we walked a lot. There were three different gates that we had to go through to get to the inner court. Each of the buildings got smaller, but more ornate. The buildings have been burned down many times, but they always build them back again.
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| Palace throne. |
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| Courtyard |
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| Going through the next gate. The middle, largest gate was for the Emperor. The Empress could only go through it once, when she was getting married. |
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| Inside the first courtyard, There were five bridges you could cross over, but not the one the Emperor used. |
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| One of the three gates we passed through. |
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| The more animals that were on the corner of the roofs showed the power of the person living in it. |
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| If a lion has its foot on a cub it is female. It the lion has its foot on a ball, it is male. This one is female. |
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| Courtyard |
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| One of the courtyards in the Forbidden City |
After lunch, we were taken to the "Pearl Bazaar" and told we could shop for an hour. Those merchants were really hungry and they don't let go. I was looking at a silk dressing gown and when she told me the initial price was 1880 RMB, I started to walk away. She grabbed my arm. Wh
at you price? I told her 200 RMB. She gets really dramatic "You killing me! Okay, Okay, 650! I still walk away. She grabs my arm. "Okay, okay, 400!" I keep walking with David pulling me at this point. She is still grabbing onto my arm and eventually gets down to 250, so I bought it. It was close enough to my price. We got some other souvenirs, some were better bargains than others.
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| Not sure what this instrument is called. I got a video that I will upload later. |
We then toured the Summer Palace. It was not as pretty as I am sure it would be in the summer with the beautiful flowers and trees in full bloom then, but it still had its beauty.
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| Summer Palace. Going through renovations. People just line the area along the side and play card games and do other things. |
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| People playing card games at the summer palace. |
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| We had a rick shaw ride before going to dinner. |
It seemed to take forever to drive through the traffic to get to the restaurant where we had dinner and then we went to the Acrobatics Theater. The performance was pretty amazing and we all had fun.
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| One of the routines at the Acrobatics Show. These girls were really flexible! |
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| She was twirling the umbrella with her feet. There were several amazing acts. More video to follow when I have the chance to upload them. |
1 comment:
I had the same experience with a seller from China in Hawaii. She grabbed my arm too, and claimed she wouldn't make enough money to eat. When she finally agreed to my price and took the money, then she said that there was tax. I just let her have it. The whole exchange was very uncomfortable.
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