I have never seen so much smog as we did when we rode
through Beijing to our hostel. The sun
was out, but could barely be seen behind all of the polluted air. We are staying in a hostel in the hutongs;
which are also known as the urban villages.
The maze of hutong houses and alleys are slowly being demolished to build
skyscrapers and big apartment buildings.
After settling into the hostel Candice, Morgan, Emilie, and
I decided to check out Tiananmen Square.
A short walk after our hostel we arrived in the square with traditional
Chinese buildings sitting at all sides of the large open square. When I think of Tiananmen Square I think of
the students that were killed when protesting.
There were so many Chinese tourists.
I wonder what they think of when they visit the square.
We decided to go ahead and visit the Forbidden City while we
had time, but did not get a guide to help us through the site. I wish that we would have paid for the guide,
because we gained very little information about the place by simply walking
through it. All I know about the Forbidden City came from my grandpa’s stories
and the movie The Last Emperor. There were so many people and so many tour
groups. Many people asked to get their
picture with us, so that was rather funny.
Many of the buildings in the vast palace were being remodeled for the
Olympics which start in 275 days.
There are
clocks all over China with a countdown to the opening ceremony. We walked and walked around the Forbidden
city and I was impressed with the size of the place and the intricate
details. Everything seemed to be
embellished with decorative carving or painting.
