I wake up about 4:30 in the morning and curse a little for not being able to sleep more. My internal clock is still on Calgary time and fighting it just isn't working. I decide to get up. It's going to be an exciting day.
I head over to the window to get a glimpse of the city that zipped past us on our way from the airport last night. It's so hazy you can barely see across the street.
After lounging for a while I get ready and we head down to the hotel Cafe for the buffet breakfast. They have Chinese, Western, and Japanese food to choose from. I head over to the Chinese food and load up on veggies, fried rice, and bacon. It was delicious. Add in a cup of black tea and I'm a really happy girl. My gnawing hunger from the night before didn't stand a chance.
A quick trip back up to the room to grab our stuff for the day and we meet up with our guide to head out. First on the agenda is Tiananmen Square. It only takes a few minutes to get to there from the hotel. As we pull up our guide says something I really didn't want to hear.
"Oh no, it's closed." HUH?
Yup, closed. Guards every 50 feet to make sure no one jumps the temporary fencing and tries to get in. Apparently there must have been a delegate in town (or something) and the square was closed to the public. Our guide decides the best we can do is drive around the square and take a few pictures.
Once around the other side the driver lets us out and we make our way through the underground tunnel to get to the other side of the street. We are able to take a few pictures from here but the haze takes away from the detail just a little. Seeing all we can see we walk on to the entrance to the Forbidden City. It's hard to miss with an enormous picture of Chairman Mao overhead.
Photo by Aaron Salus - sculpture in the Forbidden City
We spent a few hours touring the grounds and it was beautiful. Our guide tells us little tidbits of Chinese history, culture, and customs. The whole place is built respecting Fung Shui principles to ward off evil spirits and keep everything in balance. The architecture is really amazing with the tile roofs and painted rafters. The mythical animals that perch on the corners of the eaves tell the people of the building's status. Intricately carved jade can be found in many of the rooms we viewed, as well as porcelain vases in blues and whites.
The garden area was covered in peonies, the national flower. Our guide was very impressed that we have a peony in our own garden. They only bloom for about two weeks here and we were lucky enough to see them in their white, pink, and purple glory.
Leaving the walls of the city we walk to where our driver is waiting to take us to lunch. We are promised local food at a local restaurant. We are seated in a large room reserved for group tours, though we are the only ones there. We are served a cabbage dish, a potato dish (my favourite), pork with a bean curd wrap, a chicken dish, tomato and egg drop soup, and fruit, all served with rice, of course. I found everything to be very good with the exception of the soup, it was mostly tasteless. Apart from feeling like we didn't quite get the local experience we wanted, it was all very enjoyable.
The Summer Palace is our next stop so we climb back into the car and are sped away. Literally, our driver is a speeder. I don't think he goes anywhere slowly (or safely, but I'll get to that). We wander through the gardens with the bank of the man made lake on one side and the Empress' covered walkway on the other. Walking and chatting we end up at our embarkation point to take a boat in the form of a dragon back to the beginning. Taking the boat back gets us a great view of the temple up on the hill, which is barely noticeable from the banks. It's perched up high above the shore upon the dirt removed to make the lake, and it's stunning.
We have some time to ourselves in the gardens and take a bridge over to the island and take 20 minutes to wander through.
Photo by Aaron Salus - Summer Palace
On the drive from the Summer Palace we make a quick stop at a silk factory. The process of silk production is quite amazing and we contemplate buying a new duvet for our bed but decide against it. I do end up purchasing a couple of very beautiful scarves.
Hot and tired (it was 30 degrees) we decide we have had enough for one day and agree to an early dinner. In our itinerary this is noted to be our welcome dinner. We walk into a very sparsely tabled serving room where we are the only guests, again. It's very elegant, and everything is white leather. I feel severely under dressed. We are asked to choose from 3 set menus. Aaron wants to try the fish. It doesn't say what kind of fish we will be getting but we go for it anyway. Served with rice hot pot and cabbage, the fish with black bean paste is quite good, though I think I liked lunch more.
Sufficiently stuffed and extremely tired we are taken back to our hotel for the evening. I only make it to 8:00 and I'm fast asleep. Tomorrow, we conquer the Great Wall.