Stories along the Friendship Highway

Day 4 - Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven

Breakfast was as fun for us as it was for the waitresses. They didn't speak any English and what little Chinese was going to get us any food. My favorite was when I asked what was in the serving dish, she showed me the sign in Chinese. I just looked at her and she realized that wasn't going to help me. She giggled and walked away. The waitresses followed us around and helped us. I think it was exciting for them to have a Westerner in their restaurant.

Sherry and Mr Yu met us in the lobby and we were on our way to the Forbidden City. Last night when Mr Yu took over the driving, I could tell that something was different. Today I know what it was. He was very assertive behind the wheel. Nobody was going to cut in front of him and he would cut into traffic any place he wanted. There were a few times I was sure we were going to scrape another car. His excellent driving skills got us through every encounter. I think I shall rename him Mr Yu Andretti!

Sherry was invaluable today. Although we would have gotten by without an interpreter, she made everything go smoothly. The coordination with Mr Yu on times and pick-ups was easy. I had been to the Forbidden City twice. Both times I was disappointed with the tour. I don't think either guide was happy with our group. Sherry's tour was the best. In the past we would go right down the center. This time we went into some areas that I hadn't seen before. The Forbidden City got its name because common people were forbidden to enter. It was a huge area that included Tiananmen Square where the emperor lived and conducted governmental affairs. As you will see in the pictures, the Forbidden City is very beautiful. I was happy to see renovations being done. One of the reasons I liked this place is the colors of the buildings. Now that some are renovated, the colors are brighter. I made sure I got a picture of the Starbucks for Brian.

Forbidden City

Kim, Jon, and Chairman Mao

We then went to the National Museum beside Tiananmen Square. We liked the displays of pottery and bronzes. I was yelled at by a guard when I tried to take a picture inside one of the exhibitions. The had an exhibition on the Incas as well.

On the way to the Temple of Heaven we stopped for lunch. I expected to have lunch in the main dining room of the restaurant. Instead we were taken upstairs to a private room. Sherry and Mr Yu helped us pick out a nice lunch. Since we got homemade dumplings at the wall, Kim wanted to get them again.

At the Temple of Heaven, we had another great tour. The Temple of Heaven was another huge complex of buildings. The buildings are extremely ornate and each building had a designated purpose. The temple of Heaven was visited three times yearly by the emperor to pray for the harvest and adequate amounts of timely rain and good weather.

Temple of Heaven

Sherry suggested that we go to the Drum and Bell towers next. When we got there, Sherry turned us over to Sonya for the tour. We did the Drum Tower first. There were 69 steep steps to climb. At the top was a room full of drums. Before clocks, the only way for the emperor to tell time was the beating of the drums at certain times during the day. We got there at the right time. There was a performance of drum beating. I told Kim to leave the video camera in the car right before we went on this tour. Now I'm kicking myself. Sonya kept talking about 25 hours of the day. I must have missed something. The Bell Tower had 70 steps as steep as the Drum Tower. When we exited the tower, we took a rickshaw ride around the local neighborhood. We were looking at houses that were a few hundred years old. We even got to tour a house and talk to the owner. He was very proud of his humble home and in the Chinese tradition served us Jasmine tea and candies. Outside of his home he had several cages of colorful birds and stacks of small cages each housing a large colorful crickets.

Drum Tower