2nd Day in Beijing

Me at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest where the Emperor would pray to the Gods.
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I got up early to take a shower before the tour picked me up at 7:15am. There were eight other people on the tour, a family of three from the Phillipines, a couple from Australia, a couple from the US, and a guy from Melbourne. Our tour guide was named Christina and she was a very short Asia lady, so she carried this tour flag in order to keep the group together in big crowds. The first stop was the Forbidden City, where the Emperor use to live. We entered through the Southern gate and went through the middle gate, which was only used by the Emperor and all others had to use the two side gates. No common people were allowed inside the Forbidden City only the top officials, which is where the name Forbidden City gets its name from. The gate doors all had nine knobs across and nine knobs down, because the number nine was the Emperor's lucky number and only used by him. The Forbidden City had 9999.5 rooms, because the God in heaven had a palace with 10,000 rooms and the Emporer did not want to over step the God in heaven. Like much of the rest of the city of Beijing, the Forbidden City was also under renovation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Everything in the Forbidden City was laid out with Fen Sway in mind. Fen Sway has five parts Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Gold that are used and balanced throughout the city. The city is laid out with the structures being very symmetrical and similar to each other. The three building in the outer courtyard were arranged to form the Chinese symbol for Emperor. The roofs of the buildings are all yellow and have animal carvings on every corner on the roofs for good luck and because animals are known to be able to sense danger ahead of time. Due to the fact that all the building were very flammable, there were huge pots that where layered in gold and full of water. Many of the pot had the gold chipped off and stolen by invading soldiers. Lion statues were placed at the entrances of many of the building to show power and strengh and upon exiting a building the lion on the left is a male holding a ball and the one on the right is the female holding a baby lion. We exited out of the Northern gate and jumped on our bus. Then we headed to the Temple of Heaven, which is where the Emperor would visit three times a year to pray for rain and the harvest. The Temple of Heaven is the largest Temple complex in the world built for praying to the heavens, it is actually four times the size of the Forbidden City. The first building we stopped at was the Hall of Prayers for Good Harvest where the Emperor would prayer to the Gods for a good upcoming harvest. This is the building used as the symbol for the hotel I am staying at Taintan Hotel. We then walked across the Danbi Bridge, which is 360 meters long and 4 meter height. The bridge slopes upward from the Circular Mound to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest to give the feeling that you are walking to heaven. The middle of the bridge was for the Emperor of Heaven, the left was for the Chinese Emperor, and the right was for the High-ranking officals. Next we stopped at the Imperial Vault of Heaven, which holds the God's tablets used for the different ceremonies. This building is surrounded by the Echo Wall, which has acoustically characteristics which allow voices to we heard long distances around the wall. The last stop was Circular Mound where the uppermost terrace is paved with nine concentric rings of stone slabs and each ring increases in multiples of nine from 9 to 81 symbolizing the Nine Heavens. The middle stone called the Heavenly Center Stone and the voice of the person standing on it sounds particularly resonant and sonorous. After the Temple of Heavens we headed to a Chinese Restuarant for lunch. I was starving, since I didn't get any breakfast and we basically were walking all morning long. As we walked into the restaurant the workers played a song using instruments just at the entrances to the building. We walked down three flights of stairs and all sat at a table. We were served Chinese food banquet style and I had a beer, but it only cost 5 yuan which is about 75 cent US. We all had red yarn tied to one of our arms for good luck, since in China red is lucky. There was some music and dance on stage during lunch, but I was sitting at the table with my back to the stage so I did not really get to see any of it. Towards the end of lunch I got selected to do this dance on stage. There were four guys each holding the end two bamboo sticks and they were banging them together on stage. I had to put my foot in between the sticks to the beat of the music and then jump through it kind of like jump rope. I messed up a couple of time and got my foot squished by the bamboo sticks. I did get a necklace which brings good luck, so I was extra lucky with the red yarn braclet and the necklace. After lunch, we headed to the Beijing Tranditional Chinese Medical Health Center. There we learned about how Traditional Chinese Medicine used Fen Sway and Yin Yan to divide the body into five different areas and use herbs to promote, prevent, and cure the body. We had very experienced Chinese Doctors examine us by looking at our eyes, tongue, and feeling our pulse to check our health. The doctor said I had a bit of a fast heartrate, had been stressed, and lacked sleep, but I was in general good health. The herb she suggested as a preventative medcine was Dong Chong Xia Cao Fang, which is good for the immune system, reduces cholesterol, and helps blood circulation. We then got free foot massages, which problems in the body can show up as pain the foot. It was free, but I tipped the guy that gave me the massage $20 yuan, just a couple of bucks, since my feet felt fantastic afterwards. It was probably a great thing since I have a lot of walking ahead of me in the next few days. We then went to the Summer Palace, which is were the Emperor and Emperess would spend their summers. The summer palace was also about four times the size of the Forbidden City. There were only two women to control China in its long history. The last one was called the Dragon Lady and she ruled for 48 years. Here favorite place was at the Summer Palace, where she celebrated her birthday and prayed in her buddist temple. The palace contained a huge man made lake, which is about 30 feet deep. We walked down the Long Corridor to the harbor to see the Marble Boat, which is a stone boat that doesn't float, but symbolizes the fact that the Ming dinasty would last forever. We stopped at one of the Art Galleries, where students were learn calligraphy and painting. I really liked these black and white paintings that talk about a man seeing the Yellow Mountains for the first time and not being able to see anything more beautiful in the world. Each scroll had Chinese characters that meant Intelligence, Perilessness, Elegance, and Wonder. I met the artist and decided to buy them, which would help pay for his schooling. I got a good deal, since they were marked at 200 yuan each and I got all four for $500 yuan, about $75 USD. The one thing about Beijing is that everywhere you walk you have people try to sell you everything from postcards to fake Gucci bags and Rolex Watches. The tour guide told us to watch out though, because some may try to steal from you or give you change in other currencies not worth anything. A few people got some stuff as we walked to each place in the city, but they usually got really good deals. They are very persistance and you just have to keep saying no. We then stopped at a Freshwater Pearl shop and we got to see them open an oyster with pearls in it. The one they opened had twenty three inside it and they gave me two of the small pink pearls. I looked around the store and they had all kinds of pearls, even Black Pearls. We tried to stop at the Tian'an Men Square, but it was closed because of political meetings that were in session. I was exhausted after a 13 hour day of mostly walking, so I ordered some room service watched a little TV. I ordered the Pork Chop Swiss style, which is a pan fried pork chop stuffed with ham and cheese with a bacon cream sauce on it and it was quite tasty. I devoured it and the fries that came with it and crashed.

I messed up a couple of time and got my foot squished by the bamboo sticks.