We're leaving for the train station in about an hour to take the overnight train to Shanghai. So excited for shopping! Overall, I was underwhelmed by Beijing. I liked it but didn't love it. I'm not sure how much of that is the city and how much is the fact that I was sick. I can't get used to all the smoking indoors--restaurants are literally foggy with cigarette smoke--and spitting and littering on the streets. But it has been amazing to meet extended family and make new friends. However, it bothers me that my cousin always gets offered beer with dinner while I don't. I'm all for acting ladylike when the time calls for it, but I can enjoy a drink as thoroughly as the next guy. Don't worry, I still drink -- I just have to ask for it.
Yesterday we went to the Forbidden City. It was really cool to see and mindblowing to imagine countless emperors roaming those same stone paths. But it was really surreal and almost seemed fake. I don't know if it's because they've done so much renovation in preparation for the 2008 Olympics or if it's because so much of the history I studied was European history, but the palace just didn't seem believable. We entered through the back door so we exited through the front, right under Mao Zedong's face, into Tianamen Square. Then we went to a famous commercial area where cars aren't allowed to drive. We went into a silk store to look for a scarf to bring a friend as a souvenir. Given my superior taste, I had the task of choosing the scarf. I looked at a whole bunch and tried one on. When the lady shopping next to us saw me try one on she liked it so much that she bought it. I AM SO AMAZING.
Duh.
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you probably know this already, but the forbidden city is the oldest and largest remaining complex of wooden buildings.
also, i'm pretty sure there are a lot of places in the palaces where the emperors actually never went to when they were alive, simply because each prince and princess grew up in a different palace.
still...
a family friend is in the same generation as the last emperor, and he used to joke that his students would have to kneel in front of him in class if not for sun yat-sen.
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