Forbidden City
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2005
1
106
285
Trip End
Jan 25, 2009
Beijing,
China
Saturday, May 6, 2006
Before I forget, I love the toddler's fashion here. Children up to about the age of 4 have a slit from the front of their pants to the back, enabling them to squat and do their business at will. As I was walking around the Tiananmen Square, I noticed one little boy squatting in the middle of the world's largest square doing a pee - I wish I got a photo to share but he was too quick. An interesting concept... Do you see the western world embracing such a concept especially in such conservative places as Australia? Chinese men don't lose their appetite to pee in public... everywhere I've been I have noticed men doing their business anywhere and everwhere - no modesty here.
The poor state of toilets here in China have truly lived up to their reputation
Chinese Flag
. Toileting can be a very public affair, with a row of holes in the ground for both men and women to relieve themselves. There is no toilet paper. I suppose the Chinese use water to clean themselves? At one toilet I went to, there was nothing but a long channel filled with faeces. I had to hold my breath. It was disgusting poo after poo piled up on one another.I have held a somewhat fascination with Tiananmen Square since I was 15 (1989) when China zoomed pictures around the world of a guy waving down a tank in The Square. Back in 1989, these army tanks and soldiers were forcing pro-democracy demonstrators out of the square - I would of joined the protestors if I had of been in this situation - go democracy. Although it seems likely that no-one was actually killed within the square possibly thousands happened to be slaughtered outside the square. Another interesting fact about this square is that back in 1976, a million people piled in to pay their last respects to Mao. Despite being a public place, the square remains more in the hands of the government than the people - plain clothed police are in force to prevent any dissent. Given that it is a holiday here, the square was packed with many, many Chinese and very few foreigners. It is the biggest expanse of concrete I've ever seen.
After the Square, I went through the Gate of Heavenly Peace to Beijing's Forbidden City. This City was off limits for 500 years and housed two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing - these guys didn't stray from this place unless they absolutely had to. To say the least, the place was huge and I spent about 3 hours roaming around its intriguing halls and gardens.
Even though it is a Saturday night here in Beijing, I decided to have a quite one and resort to the comforts of the Hostel
Close up of architecture inside the Forbidden City
. The social life here in Beijing does not really rate up their as being my favourite... on Friday night, I returned to Sanlitun to locate a bar I had heard about but my taxi driver ended up taking me to a demolished sight after having a map and asking many locals where it was. I couldn't be bothered repeating this episode again - will wait for London to catch up on the nightlife. Whilst drinking at the hostel's bar, I met a guy from Berling (Flavion) who is on a two week vacation here from his work in a London Bank. Later on that evening, we were awoken by a VERY noisy, rude and arrogant guy who arrived in the room at about 2am - I couldn't believe how noisy this guy was. Joys of hostel living...! But you get what you pay for... and at $8 a night, I can't really complain. I need to do my travel on a bare bone budget now because I'm way, way behind. China ended up being very costly.
