Beijing was a whirlwind of food, walking, waterways and the stunning Forbidden City and Great Wall. I didn't have long in any city I visited, but Beijing felt the most rushed. Most likely because it's
the city in China to visit, what with Mao's Mausoleum, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the overall mix of old and new in the one place (HISTORY!).
As luck would have it my phone nearly ran out of battery on the train ride up to Beijing, so I had to hide it away in case I desperately needed to contact someone and about 10 minutes into my visit to
Tiananmen Square the low battery light began to flash on my camera! As a result I've mostly got photos of the Forbidden City, as well as a couple I manage to snap along my walk that day before it died just as I arrived at the Hutongs. The worst thing about it was that it meant I had no camera for the Great Wall, and with my phone literally on its last legs (so little battery I could only see the camera button, but not the image it was taking) I wasn't able to snap any of the breathtaking photos that I
should have taken. Le sigh. We can't win them all though can we?
Beijing was stunning, the Forbidden City was so phenomenally huge and maze-like and full of details that absolutely blew my mind. Most of the pictures below are of individual details or aspects of the buildings that took my fancy, and hopefully they convey just how gorgeous this site is. Also, very burnable. Just about every sign which mentioned the history of "whichever" building/hall/temple mentioned it being built, burning down, being rebuilt, burning half down, fixed up, renovated, burned down, rebuilt. Someone should really have taken fire away from the Ancient Chinese!
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| The courtyard at my hostel! |
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| Monument to the People's Heroes, Tiananmen Square, Beijing |
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| Statue outside the Mao Zedong Mausoleum, Beijing |
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| Stunning details on the Zhengyangmen gate tower |
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| Leading into the Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| Details, The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City, I truly picked the most stunning day to visit |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| I was really captivated by these little guys lining up on the roof |
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| Apparently this wasn't a busy day...The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| The Forbidden City |
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| Leaving the Forbidden City via the East gate, so many willows |
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| St Joseph's Cathedral, Beijing |
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| Beijing streets |
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| The waterways were my favourite part of Beijing |
Ugh, you are SO making me want to go to China! The Forbidden City is something that I've seen SO many times, and yet kind of never knew what it was, so actually this was really helpful to me! Haha, here I come Beijing! (not really. But someday)
ReplyDeleteBook a trip to China, and then hop on over to Australia before you head home. Come on, you know you want to!!
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