Today (actually about a week ago this was the 3rd day.. i am on my 10th, just behind on the blog. ) we walked to Jin San Park. In the center of the park is a man made mountain, which was made from the dirt the was unearthed from the creation of the moat that surrounds the forbidden city. The hill has a beautiful 360 view of Beijing, also at the top of the hill is a giant Buddha. Next we walked through a tunnel underneath the street that separates Sin Jin Park and the Forbidden City. The hill was made to the north of the forbidden city and it faces south, these were both done to achieve maximum fengshui because Mongolia lays north of China. The forbidden city was the home of the emporeres of the Ming Dynasty and is so big it blew my mind.
view of the Forbidden City from the man made mountain
looking up at the man made mountain
The city was courtyard after courtyard like this, and huge old buildings.
Me and Mao
Once we made it through the forbidden city we all met in Tianamin square at chinas flag pole. We started taking group pictures and it quickly got out of hand. A group of about 40 Chinese started taking pictures of us while we were filming a small piece in from the the flag pole/forbidden city/mural of emporer mao. But not to worry, the police broke the group up, not before they took their own pictures with their own camera phones obviously.
A few of us decided to visit Beijing famed counterfeit mall, while the rest of the group went back to the hostel to get ready for the night. The mall was a subway ride and a walk away. The subway’s in china live up to the hype that surrounds them. They are crowded as ... it was crowded, and its everyman for himself. (although I rode the subway again a few days later and had a more mild experience). The counter fit mall is 7 stories tall and at first completely amazing, heaven on earth one might say. The basement floor is shoes, wallets which is where is was trapped for most of the time. I got conned into buying a pair of shoes that I was told was size 13, probably a size 11. I also bought a fake rolex, which is piiimp.
Taxi home.
We took the bus 22 bus back down towards tianamin square where we had reservations at a tea house. We had time to kill so we killed a few brews. The tea house was an unforgettable experience we were brought tea (obviously) with traditional snack, the only one of which I could identify was roasted watermelon seeds. There were also small pastries. There were performances including: Musical performances, than a kung foo tea pouring power ranger act with tea pots with probably 2 foot spouts attached, a man who balanced huge flower pots on his face, a for real kung foo act, 2 men who made sound effects.
Sleep.
