Forbidden City

Pictures: Craig's / Mary's

After some difficulty getting to the Forbidden City on time (it closes at 4pm), Craig and I finally explored it on a busy Saturday morning/afternoon. Tiananmen square was blocked off for the past few days due to celebration ceremonies for the 60th anniversary of "Chinese Victory over Japanese aggression" and it's been difficult to get to the Forbidden City without having to take a number of back roads and alternate routes.

Since the skies have been bright blue and the sun has been shining everyday, my skin has suffered from the 10-2 sun. I bought some sunscreen here which I forgot to bring. I didn't realize that in the process of protecting my skin, the cream had a whitening agent in it, which gave my face and arms a scary ghost-like look (therefore few pictures of me on this day - I forbid Craig to get the camera close to my Casper the Friendly Ghost face).

The City itself was quite impressive. A lot of pagodas and a lot of construction going on (probably due to the upcoming Olympics). There are supposedly 800 buildings within the City, but Craig and I only explored a total of 10. I'm so impressed by the amount of room that the city and the Temple of Heaven takes up. It's refreshing to know that China didn't destroy everything historical in this city.

BTW, some facts I've learned about China since my stay: 1) Chinese sunscreen can have SCARY ghost-white effects on your skin. 2) Banks are open on Sundays. 3) The roads have street names (which Korea doesn't have), therefore making things a lot easier on Craig and I while exploring Beijing.