We started off in Tiennamen Square, which is basically just a MASSIVE courtyard. It is the largest town square in the world (i think), and much Chinese history has been made on it. Aside from the history, the Square was pretty uneventful. The weather was pretty shitty too, which was good and bad. Good because it warded off a lot of the people (even tho there were A TON of people there), bad because it was spitting smelly rain at us most of the time.
Next we ventured into the Forbidden City. It is the size of 60 soccer fields and once housed the current emperors of China. We were only allowed in 1/3 of it because the other 2/3 is under construction. 
The 1/3 was SO worth though! The buildings, history and beauty of the city were overwhelming. It was just like all of those asian-like movies I had seen before. Only better. The rain subsided a little, and there were still a ton of tour groups, but it was an amazing experience anyway. We walked 1km through the city and I was never bored or not taking a picture.
The 1/3 was SO worth though! The buildings, history and beauty of the city were overwhelming. It was just like all of those asian-like movies I had seen before. Only better. The rain subsided a little, and there were still a ton of tour groups, but it was an amazing experience anyway. We walked 1km through the city and I was never bored or not taking a picture. This combination tour thing also paid for our lunch. It was at this swingers restaurant that kept bringing food out for us. The bathroom was the best part (aside from the food). The sinks were naked or panty-clad women bent over with the basin being in their lower back. So it was like you were doing them from the behind when you were washing your hands. Yeah. The stalls were weird too. The back wall of them was one-way glass, and yes it was for sure one way glass. We could see out a staircase that we had walked up earlier. Just... weird.
Next was the Hutong/Ricksha tour! Quite possibly the best part of the entire trip (so far that is). We rode rickshas through a living area of the city. 
It is basically alleyways where people have their homes. Our driver (rider?) was so awesome and he drove like crazy! We got off at some place and toured Prince Gong's Mansion, which is basically a devotion to the bat. There were no actual bats, but the shape of a bat took the decoration of everything. There, I also ran up the Staircase of Promotion and sauntered down the Staircase of Longevity. A promotion would be nice... if only I had a job. hahaha Anyway, then we got to tour an actual home in the hutong. They are built around a courtyard and a are basically a square hallway around a square garden. It was the coolest thing ever. The family whose home we got to see was so nice, and they had a lot of pets. They had like 4-5 birds, fish, turtles, a chipmunk thing and a dog. The house was very old, but had modern day things as well. The man that we talked to that lives there was incredibly nice too! More ricksha riding brought us to Hohi (phonetically, I am not sure how it is spelled in Chinese). It is a long strip of an area with shops, clubs and restaurants. So awesome! Some of us actually went back there later that night.
It is basically alleyways where people have their homes. Our driver (rider?) was so awesome and he drove like crazy! We got off at some place and toured Prince Gong's Mansion, which is basically a devotion to the bat. There were no actual bats, but the shape of a bat took the decoration of everything. There, I also ran up the Staircase of Promotion and sauntered down the Staircase of Longevity. A promotion would be nice... if only I had a job. hahaha Anyway, then we got to tour an actual home in the hutong. They are built around a courtyard and a are basically a square hallway around a square garden. It was the coolest thing ever. The family whose home we got to see was so nice, and they had a lot of pets. They had like 4-5 birds, fish, turtles, a chipmunk thing and a dog. The house was very old, but had modern day things as well. The man that we talked to that lives there was incredibly nice too! More ricksha riding brought us to Hohi (phonetically, I am not sure how it is spelled in Chinese). It is a long strip of an area with shops, clubs and restaurants. So awesome! Some of us actually went back there later that night. We walked through there, and ended at the Drum Tower. It is very high up with a huge, narrow staircase to get to it. Inside, there are HUGE DRUMS that were used long ago to tell people the time, i guess. 
We saw a drum show and I realized that drummers are the same everywhere. Cocky. Outside of the high-up drum tower, you could see the many skylines of the city. You could ACTUALLY see them too. It was a non-pollutiony day, so visibility was high. It is amazing how huge this city is. Usually you have one cluster of sky-scrapers then the rest of the city. Here, the tall buildings go on forever! It is incredible how huge this city is.
We saw a drum show and I realized that drummers are the same everywhere. Cocky. Outside of the high-up drum tower, you could see the many skylines of the city. You could ACTUALLY see them too. It was a non-pollutiony day, so visibility was high. It is amazing how huge this city is. Usually you have one cluster of sky-scrapers then the rest of the city. Here, the tall buildings go on forever! It is incredible how huge this city is.
1 comment:
the "hohi" is "Houhai"-means back sea. It is beatiful and fun area right?
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