Last Tuesday my mom, dad, and I boarded the fast train for a day of sightseeing in Beijing! The fast train is amazing - we got our tickets through the automated machine (which has an English option available) and were sitting on the train within 15 minutes. Dad took a quick nap while mom and I watched how fast we were going...
Once we arrived in Beijing we took a taxi to Tiannemen Square, where security was upped quite a bit due to the recent anniversary. We had to go through a bag check in order to enter the square. Once on the square we were able to explore the largest public gathering space in the world.
View of the Forbidden City from the "square".
Next we walked underground to reach the Forbidden City. We hired a guide, Sherman (he was definitely better than Betty!!), who shared a lot of history with us surrounding the Forbidden City. Some of the interesting facts that I learned were...the center line that runs through the city is the center of Beijing and only the Emperor could walk on this line, many statues are placed using feng shui, the more dragons that line the corner of the roofs represent the importance of those occupying it (Danny had told me this, but I needed verification!!), and all of the concubines were named after a flower. My dad decided my mom's name would be Dandelion (hehe!!)! It was a beautiful stroll through this most interesting city that was built about 600 years ago!
We decided to get adventurous after the Forbidden City, and I did promise my cousin Laura a picture of mom on a rickshaw, so we searched for one that would take us to the Silk Market to shop! We found two interesting gentleman who agreed to take us there. It was a fun and breezy ride, yet sometimes a bit scary when we went into major intersections! We made it to the Silk Market where we got ripped off on the price, but it's really all about the experience...right?!!!
Mom and I shopped until I almost literally dropped!! She loves to shop and probably would have continued had I not told her she was done!! I think I get exhausted because I get tired of bargaining. It's fun for the first hour, but after that, I begin dreaming of shopping where there are set prices and I know I'm not paying way too much!
Danny had arranged for a car to pick us up after shopping (he knew we would have too many packages to make it back to the train!!), so we enjoyed a peaceful journey back to Tianjin!
1 comment:
Thanks for the picture Kim! Loved it. I am so glad you had fun with your mom and dad there.
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