Yuanmingyuan park and the Forbidden City!

Some of the other excursions we’ve been on include the Old Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. The old summer palace is relatively close to where we live, and we had quite the adventure getting there. Google maps does a remarkably good job with bus routes in Beijing, so we looked up online how to get there, and it turns out that bus 628 left from the gate of the university and went right to the Old Summer Palace! We went to the bus stop indicated, and there was no bus 628 there. We walked down to the next stop on the line where there was also a second bus that went to the Old Summer Palace, but we didn’t really remember the number, and 628 wasn’t there either! We guessed as to the number of the alternate bus, and fortunately got it right, but when we got to our final destination, there was no bus 628 listed on the final bus stop! We just had a phantom bus experience, and fortunately it turned out well, but was so strange to not have the bus exist at all…

The Old Summer Palace is mostly a large park, which was lovely, but much more crowded than other parks we’ve been to, and the ruins were relatively unimpressive, so it was sort of a letdown, but at least it made for a quick afternoon trip, as it takes so long to get places here.

We also made an afternoon trip to the Forbidden City. It is on one side of Tianamen square, and you have to get to it by going in a tunnel under the street. All bags have to go through the scanner, and they patted down everyone that went in. Except, apparently, for foreigners. Very notably, they just waved us through, and every single other person in line (who were all Chinese) got patted down.

The Forbidden City was VAST! There were a lot of the main buildings that you think of, but then there are also alleys and houses off to all sides, along with enormous plazas, old fountains, canals, and one park. We thought a lot about the concubines that were there with their bound feet, and how they would have had to be carried around the whole thing- everything is so spread out, that they couldn’t walk that far, and if they wanted to go anywhere, even within the city, they would have to have someone take them, making them essentially prisoners in their own homes.

As we first got to the Forbidden City, it was very crowded and we were dodging tour groups, but fortunately we circled back around as we left, and found the front areas practically empty. It was nice to get to see it without so many people and to be able to imagine a bit more of the tranquility that the emperor and family were able to enjoy.