We got to check out the other statues and monuments though. I think these statues are so interesting. I've been reading a book called "Revolution is Not a Dinner Party" which is about a girl who grew up during the cultural revolution. Such messed up times! It's so crazy that the "bad guys" really won in real life. And everything turned out pretty okay in the end, considering. I came here a few years ago, but the experience this time was much better because I actually know more about communism and how it came to be in this country.
After we got our fill of Tiananmen Square, we crossed the street over to the Forbidden City! Such a massive complex!
We entered the first courtyard and immediately strayed off the normal path. We went outside of the courtyard and found a series of exhibits and museums STILL part of the "Forbidden City". It was then that we realized just how much there is to see there. No way we could hit it all in one day! So we checked out some pots, copied the poses from some old ladies, and headed back to the main flow of traffic.
It is crazy how the Palace was more like a city. Like, an emperor could live in the complex his whole life and have everything he needed right there. Not just that, but he would never know the poverty or whatever else was happening outside his palace wall!
It was so crowded!
We visited the Women's Quarters where the empress would live in rooms right next to her husband's concubines. The whole concubine thing is so upsetting to me. I can't believe that was just normal life back in the day, for men to have concubines. It wasn't even just emperors, it was all men who had at least a decent amount of money!
The buildings were a gorgeous sight to see. However, they didn't do so well with displaying what is inside the buildings. Some buildings had small glass windows where you could look in and see poorly dusted thrones or beds or something. It's kind of surprising that they don't dust them or at least light them up better so we can see. It's like the rooms were just locked up, never to be touched again!
We spent quite a while exploring the complex. We were so lucky with the weather, it hasn't been too hot at all! We saw some cool things such as this pot. We didn't know what it was for, and thought maybe they started fires in them? So here is a pic of my mom with the fire pot.
We eventually learned that they actually used to be filled with water in case of a fire! In winter they would start a fire underneath the pot so that it wouldn't freeze.
Here is Bailey fixing my hair for a picture.
Behind the Forbidden City are some beautiful gardens! They were crowded, but we enjoyed exploring part of them.
After we had had enough of the Forbidden City, we went and found some delicious noodles for lunch! We then went to Jingshan Park. There's not tons to do there except climb up to the top pagoda to see this amazing view of the Forbidden City from above!
We took some time to rest in the park because it was so pretty. We had accomplished today's plans swifter than expected, so we kind of left without a clear idea of what to do. We were approached by an old guy offering tours of the "old town" via rickshaw. I had done that a few years ago and enjoyed it, so my mom paid for us all to do it!
It was.... kind of weird. First of all, we thought it was going to be much longer considering they charged us 60 kuai each! We learned a couple of things but poor mom was sketched out because she thought we were in the slums and were going to get killed. But Bailey and I were unimpressed because it looks like normal China and like what we are used to haha. It ended up being like 15 minutes and it took us away from where we wanted to be so that was kind of a flop.
But the evening still ended well, as we decided we had time to hit the Pearl Market! We helped mom bargain for a few souvenirs, and finished up some souvenir shopping ourselves. The ladies there weren't as pushy as I remembered. Or maybe I'm just used to it now!
We then went back to our apartment to rest up for tomorrow. Our Airbnb apartment is pretty nice! But to get to it you have to go through some seriously sketchy halls, haha.
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