Peking Duck, Tian'anmen Square & the Forbidden City

Most foodies know that Beijing food is delicious & that the most delicious of them all is the enponymously named Peking Duck. Now, the best duck in all of Beijing (according to Crystal, Leon's girlfriend) was to be had at a restaurant near Tian'anmen Square. Peking duck really is indescribable - it's crusty and soft all at once and tastes like nothing you've ever had. The meal was fantastic.. and as I always say.. A full stomach is the best ways to begin long marches (I've got every half witted General in the history of combat to back me up on that!)

We passed by Tian'anmen Square on the way to the Forbidden City and since I dont want the good people at Nomadlife to get in trouble with the authorities in China, I'll hold back on the cliches. It suffices to say that colossal events took place here - the square is massive and very, very busy! It set the tone for the rest of the day almost perfectly! North of Tian'anmen Square is the Forbidden City. Tempted as we were to pick up the Roger Moore Audio Guide; the 40 RMB fee for a single headset kept us from it. Please no mentions about how expensive Peking Duck is, that is food and to me food is not an expense but an investment.

The series of gates and courtyards that lead up to the living and administrative quarters of the Imperial Palace should have given us some sort of indicator as to how vast the Forbidden City really is. There's a reason the palace survived the near total historical purging of the Cultural Revolution - it was probably just too big!! The good emperors of the Qing and Ming Dynasty were obviously not satisfied with their Great Wall and so built this palace as their last line of defense. Oddly enough, a 'simple' peasant revolution, many centuries ago managed to do what generations of greedy Mongols could not & forced the emperor to hang himself rather than fall to their hands.

Once you pass each gate, you enter giant courtyards, the smallest of which was about 200 meters long! At the end of every courtyard are more buildings, built for various purposes - administration, dining, sleeping, sleeping with and just plain relaxing. There is even a gigantic green room built solely for the Emperor, who would get himself all decked up for an evening of revelry.

The imperial gardens, the last locale of the Forbidden City are located far North of the palace and seem almost surreal - covered with tall trees that twist and turn as if they've been severly tortured and with giant boulders that stick out of the ground at all sorts of odd angles. The Emperor's concubines would live around the gardens - it was a nice way to keep them entertained while he busied himself with matters of the kingdom.

Final verdict - this place is steeped in hisory and is definitely worth a visit for it's architecture and just plain "spectacularity"! (I am aware that I just made that word up). The Forbidden City is symbolic of both ancient and modern china in many ways. You find a few hints of a racy new country on the brink of 'superpower-dom' like the Starbucks that's located near where the emperor would take his own meals or the scores of construction workers who are painstakingly restoring sections of the Palace to preseve it better. On the other hand, you find yourself awestruck by how decadent a life the rulers really lived and you notice that some of China's poverty can be seen just as soon as you leave the palace grounds. Give yourself a good 5-6 hours to discover the place, you'll need that long! And don't forget to begin with a good meal of Peking Duck!