Blow by Blow- 1 april

1/4/2011
Another Friday at last! I now remember that I’m in Beijing. Strangely, my parents also went to Beijing when I was a 3 year old kid, and I recall asking them to take them with me.
Fast forward 14 years and I’m here on a school trip without them. Time does strange things to people. In the past my mother would not let me out of her sight, even for a short while. Now, she’s perfectly fine that I call/text back every 3 days or so.
Speaking of that, I need to do that more often. I think it’s the texts I sent to my parents that make them smile, even at work, their jobs look really stressful, and this is the least I can do.
Visited a bird’s nest as the first stop. When we reached the place at 740 am in the morning, there were already hawkers peddling goods towards us. And I thought no one would come this early.

The "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium! At its architectural beauty at 730 am in Beijing Weather. I liked the way the lines were criss-crossing around it like a giant ball of yarn. I hear the ventilation isn't that spectacular.  

Boy, how wrong I am. As we walked in the compound, no less than 5 of them approached us, asking us whether we were interested in any of the souvenirs they had, and they were willing to sell it at a lower price to us. Even though we walked away and ignored them, they still tailed us, hungry to earn money from us. I think I need to dress more conservatively so that I will be mistaken for a local Chinese and not get myself approached by people. It worked for me the past few times when I visited china.
After narrowly avoiding any of these vendors, we clambered up the bus, afraid that any of them would go up and make a final sales attempt (It happened before to me, and it’s not pleasant), we left the car park and got a taste of the “famed” Beijing traffic.

Traffic Jam, at 8+, after we left the stadium. It's really messy, and the cars don't really move, so you can catch a quick nap if you're not driving. I admire Beijing drivers for getting through this kind of traffic every morning. I don't know how do they do it. The sight of so many cars and the constant stop-start motion makes me motion sick.

A slightly luckier shot this time. Like the bus was able to move (YAY) for about 10 m before stopping again, which is considered lucky in that kind of traffic.

 Hmm.. A rather spectacular building in Beijing city. I don't know what's that. But I remembered most being asleep and not being able to see its awesomeness. I wonder how the top of the building stays there with its strangely built base. These people are sheer geniuses. How did my finger get there?><

At 8+, the traffic congestion is so bad the cars are not moving. According to my math lecturer, heavy traffic = cars still moving. Traffic jam = cars not moving.
I think we were caught between heavy traffic and a jam. The bus did seem to move. Strangely, nobody had their hands permanently on the horn, and the roads were quiet (or is it because of my earphones?), and they didn’t horn when there was congestion or something blocking their path, they only horned when they needed to.
Beats shanghai hands down. The sound of car horns there is 24/7, even at 3 am in the morning.
Forbidden City was our 2^nd stop.

This is the back gate of the Forbidden City, the part with the giant portrait of Chairman Mao being the front. This entrance is less crowded, and passes through a downtown estate area, so I recommend going by the back. The Forbidden City was built with the ideal of grand entrances, so taking the back is certainly faster and cuts the chase.

Old palaces are interesting places. There are so many tourists groups inside, and you can count the number of tourists groups. And then there’s the part where the speaker comes in, and you start to hear the explanations about the same places in different languages and dialects, and it’s hard to hear what your guide is saying. Not to mention trying to catch up with them moving around the place. This visit to the Forbidden City only allowed us to cover the emperor’s residential area, study, gathering hall, etc. the emperor’s living area is so huge, I don’t see how can one person live in an area which can accommodate a thousand. Doesn’t he feel bored? i don’t know how anyone can stand it

Nearing the Emperor's residential halls. All the buildings in the compound look about the same to me. I wonder how does the Emperor like his entire house being painted in red? I need color. Red alone will not do. Does he actually recognize the different buildings? 

 Think this was the exit of the private gardens. The entrance is pretty small, judging by Palace Standards, so I'm guessing this is private and used by the royal family only. 

This looks like a sundial, probably used for stargazing or time telling or some geomancer's daily reading. I wonder how did they get the small slab to tilt like that. It's quite heavy. And it holds up after so long? That's amazing.

The hall where the emperor receives his guests. So you would walk through this fenced marble pathway to meet the son of heaven. Ahh, the aura.

 His office. We can put a lot of modern offices in that building, and that's for a single user? No fair. 

 Even the stairs have their own carvings? This belongs to a king then, no doubt. 

 Strangely, the Forbidden City does not have toilets for day trip visitors. So they had to build and install modern ones, and this was taken outside the washroom, like a waiting area. 

I’m going to get an audio tour the next time I go. It’s easier on me as well.

The map of the Forbidden City, depending on the route you used. For visitors who don't bring maps. However, some parts of the palace remained sealed, so you can imagine how much time spent walking inside each hall if you were to go in to all the opened ones. 

When we walked out of the Forbidden City entrance by the main gate,

 That's just 3 dummies. Don't worry. 

Outside the famed entrance. That's a HUGE picture. I wonder does it over the gate entrance if they were to bring it down? And how do they actually bring it up in the first place?

 A underpass route showing the attractions in the area. They even routed it for you,so you can maximize your time to see as much places as possible. 

we had unknowingly entered the 天安门 square, where student protests had once raged against china’s reputation abroad. There were people who approached us, asking whether we would like to take a photograph against the memorial statue.

 Memorial statue. I can't take the picture of the words on it clearly. 

I’m starting to admire their persistence. They don’t mind asking the same question over and over again, and face rejection every now and then. I would have gotten tired by the 10^th try. Also, competition here is cut-throat. The vendors fight tooth and nail against other vendors to get as much business as possible, to the extent of fighting over a potential customer. Even though they may sell the same things, each vendor tries his/her best to package it differently, attracting the most customers possible.
Live and let live. I need to pay more attention to them in the future.
And stop throwing them dirty looks when they approach me for business

 You can only see such things in Beijing. Panda stuffed toy as a tiny flag.

 And another, this a stuffed sheep. 

 Think this was a museum which we walked straight past and didn't go in. I knew I shouldn't have followed them. I'm nerd to a degree of architecture, geography, history and culture. Posing my photos and self portraits is something I fail miserably at. 

 Beijing's shopping street. They fitted those cool grooves on the pavement so that the trams can travel through the street. The trams do move, just that we didn't get on. Geez, WHY do we always miss out on the fun stuff?

A clearer picture of the groves on teh street. Isn't it the coolest thing you've seen?

Street alley. Same shopping street

 Giant Haw Candy on a stick. MUAHGGGEGEJNMAEUM. That looks delicious.

Crossing a street alley. Photo was taken after a slight drizzle, but the air becomes very much fresher and cleaner.

Outside a house. I liked the contrast with the pile of mismatched bricks heftily stuffed in the small hole in the world. A small ounce of disorder adds interest into our lives.

 A entire cartful of charcoal bricks. I've never seen it before, and this is very interesting to me. They would be still using charcoal instead of piped gas like us.