hot, hot, hot

We were warned about the heat in Beijing, however, today was very hot and very crowded...and I was not prepared for it.

We visited people's square, otherwise known as Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. People's Square is the largest public square located in the center of a city. It also the site where student protests were ruthlessly squashed by the Chinese government. The square is nestled between four grand buildings: Chairman Moa's mausoleum, national theatre, national museum and the Forbidden City.

Upon entering the square you can tell there is a significant increase in police, uncovered police, guards, cameras and TOURIST.

Once we explored the square for bit we headed to the Forbidden City, where the constant influx of people, waiting in hot lines, constant pushing, constant touching of sweaty arm to sweaty arm, constant exposure to the sun and walking was all overwhelming. However, the ancient imperial palace itself was absolutely beautiful! The all wood structures (no metal fasteners i.e. no nails), intricate details, elaborate colors and shear magnitude is breath taking! The palace was built in 1420 and is still stand strong and proud today. The emperors who lived here kept many mistresses (up to 3,000) and had 57 bedrooms, but they would never spend the night with any women and would rotate randomly which room he would sleep in for fear of being killed while sleeping.

On of my favorite things learned was that women would step over thresholds with their right food and men with their left because during the Qing time period women were seen to be "always right". For me it seems like the Chinese at some feminist tendencies after all.

After our hot and sweaty morning adventure we headed of to silk, pearl and tea factories to learn more about each industry and how to tell fakes apart.

Interesting fact: Silk is made from silk worms and one silk string can be up to 1,000 feet long.

Funny quote for the day: "happy Buddha belly" is the chinese way for sweetly describing someone with a bit of a stomach.

Lastly, for our 3 hours of free time Kay and I did laundry...in the bathroom sink and tub. This process did not go very well because it ended up making a huge mess in the bathroom, our clothes took forever to dry and they didn't end up being that clean...but it was a funny experience so all's well ends well.

Total mileage: 5.66