Beijing Days 1 & 2 (Forbidden City)

I'll be honest here and risk sounding like a spoiled brat- this trip did not start off well. I was sick the week before the trip and the first week of the trip- nothing horrific, just my usual asthmatic dry, hacking cough (but that is unrelenting 24/7). I want to say it was really embarrassing & inconsiderate being that person hacking away on the three flights over, but I was so miserable I didn't even care after awhile. Sounds horrible, I know.

Then on our very first flight- a mechanical delay that resulted in a missed connection to Seoul. However, because both flights were with the same carrier (which was by design since we learned our lesson with Go), we were assured repeatedly by multiple staff members on the flight and on the ground that the next flight would be held for us. But as we literally sprinted across the terminal with all of our luggage, a child and two seniors...we arrived at the gate only to see the jet way disconnected. :-(

And despite the jet sitting there staring at us for another 20 minutes, they said that they couldn't/wouldn't reopen the plane, so we stood there in shock, mouths hanging open watching it sit there. Since it was the airline's mistake, their solution was to fly us to Los Angeles later that night, and then onward via China Air the next day. ???? What the...? LA was in the OPPOSITE direction of our destination, which would add 10 hours of unnecessary flying (to an already lengthy 14.5+ hours of flying). And secondly...we weren't too thrilled about flying a Chinese airline (we have no idea which carriers are reliable). Thirdly, we had prepaid our accommodation/transport for that first night in Beijing, which we would forfeit if we were a no-show. And last but not least- we would lose an entire day of our vacation.

So after much insistence and a very panicked 45 minutes, they agreed to re-book us on their partner airline (Korean...which we have flown for years and think very highly of).  And best of all- a flight was leaving only an hour later than our original flight...allowing us to arrive in Seoul to make our connecting flight to Beijing. Problem solved. Crises averted. For the time being anyway.

Because two days later...we had Crisis #2. After spending 2-3 hours to get to the Beijing West train station (we initially went to the Main train station), we were told that the overnight train departing to Hong Kong (which we were sooo looking forward to riding and I have so many fond memories of) was overbooked. And not only was it overbooked (even though we were there a week in advance, which is normally ample time), the train was booked for days. This required another 2-3 hours trying to hunt down airline tickets at yet another location that cost somewhere in the neighborhood of FIVE times what our train fare would have been. I think we spent about $2500 for the short 3-hr flight & lost an entire day of travel dealing with the crises (which meant our having to give up going to the Guyaju Caves, something I'd really been looking forward to).

At this point, I was sicker than ever (the pollution possibly worsened my cough intensity)...tired from sleepless nights coughing...and frustrated and peeved at the added airline drama x 2. I couldn't think of a trip that had ever started off so poorly, and was starting to think it would be the trip from hell.

Thankfully, thankfully, the worst days were the first 48-72 hours of the trip, and everything from that point on on went fairly smoothly and well. :-) And as I'll talk about more later...all of our previously formed opinions on Beijing were repeatedly squashed (in a good way). China really is different. We were there 14 years ago and had a tough time getting around- from the lack of pinyin signage, to the pushing, screaming, etc. Beijing seemed as calm and modern and easy to navigate as any other First World country large city. The subway is one of the cheapest, cleanest and easiest to navigate in the world. No one littered, spit, pushed or yelled. Everything I've ever read about the city clean up and manners lessons from the Olympics seems to have made a huge difference. We were astounded and repeatedly shocked by the changes. We've never been in a country where nearly every single time we stepped on packed train, that BOTH my parents and Ryan were repeatedly offered seats. Ever. I was very grateful, impressed and shamed by my stereotypes. Everyone in the city (again, we were only in the countryside sporadically) was dressed stylishly and sporting more iphones than I've seen in my life. It was a familiar situation for me to feel like a Clampett in the big city rocking my cheap, on sale from Macy's mom jeans, worn out Nikes and off-brand shirts. ;-)

Our first day of sightseeing was to the Forbidden City, a place that definitely fascinates me. I'm surprised Mao allowed it to remain and didn't deem it too bourgeois and have it burned. I rank Mao's reign in China as riveting to me as my high school fascination with Nazi Germany. I struggle to understand, but I am captivated nonetheless.

The Forbidden City was an imperial Chinese Palace for roughly 500 years and served as the political/cultural center of the country for centuries. If you can imagine the magnitude of this- there are 980 buildings, containing almost 10,000 rooms on the palace grounds. As such, it has the largest preserved wooden structures in the world. I believe 24 emperors ruled there, with the last being in the early 1900s (Pu Yi). The walls surrounding the city are of themselves incredible- over 26 ft tall, and 28 ft wide at the base (it tapers to 26 ft at the top).

My parents in front of the Forbidden City. Gotta love that portrait of Mao (or as I call him, "Uncle Mao") looming over the entrance gates.

This is Tiananmen Square on that day (directly across the street)...hard to miss the insane pollution. It's not cloudy, or dusk. The city is simply choked with pollution, thankfully, the government has launched a huge initiative to clear the air by 2015-17.

Though the Forbidden City was once only open to royalty or eunuchs (men who castrated themselves in order to serve the women of the Imperial Court), now you can get in if you have 50 or 70RMB (roughly $7-10 each). So yeah, I think we got the better deal.

I would estimate the length of the City to be about a mile. It's pretty massive. And in some ways, visually redundant. The pattern is large courtyard, structure. Repeat a half dozen times.

One of my favorite (subtle) features of the city are the marble spouting dragon/alligator heads...I wish we could see them in action today. It'd give the Bellagio a run for their money. :-)

Another detail I love about the rooftops...each corner has a series of animals in line to protect the building. And because yellow was the official color of the emperor, all of the rooftops in the palace are yellow tile.

The emperor was carried over the beautifully decorated center of the main marble stone walkways. Everyone else walked up the less ornate walkways bordering the center. You can see how beautiful both are below...

Even the 'commoner' stairways were intricately detailed and as such, are also cordoned off for preservation.

The largest single piece/slab of marble either in China or the world (I can't remember which). Regardless...stunning.

One of the many thrones in the City

We tried to carry Ryan on our shoulders to give him a sense of what it would be like to be carried everywhere. Bad idea. He loved it.

He may only be 1/8 Chinese, but it's enough to look like China's next emperor! Which would me the Empress Dowager, right?! ...I like it. Should anyone have a dainty wisp of a virgin daughter with already bound feet and a sizable dowry...I'm all ears. Ryan's only 'must have's in a bride are that she be cool with Scooby Doo and like playing with airplanes.

Ryan racing Grandpa back to the entrance of the City

After exiting the City, we exited into a side street for lunch and some window shopping.

At our first meal in the City, we randomly ordered a few things off the menu without knowing the prices thinking, "It's China! How bad can it be?!" Um...oops. China has come a loooong, long way in the last decade...and their prices are almost right up there with the West. I think this teeny, shared very mediocre meal without drinks or rice was about four times what we thought it would be. 

One of my favorite roadside treats...glazed strawberries. I believe that a kebab of them runs about $2.

Need a good luck charm?