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| Standing infront of a Lion, crushing a lion cub under it's massive paw. |
The subway to The FC area was what I expected Chinese subways to be - crowded, uncomfortable and you need some serious rugby skills to get on and off at your stop. To top it off a poor girl chundered all over the floor right next to us - you can't move anywhere so you just have to wait. Great...
The grandness of the FC made the subway experience disappear from my mind. A huge portrait of wonderful Mao was smack bam in your face. Soldiers were on guard everywhere, looking stern and a ton of people asking if we wanted a guide or to go to the Great Wall. We walked in, and I'm so glad we spent the Y60 entrance to enter the actual city.
The entrance to the Forbidden City - Mao watching over you, with the red flags.
There were tons of temples, with yellow roofs and such detail in the nitty gritty. The windowsills had silver dragons carved into them, intricate wooden carvings on the eaves, and finely decorated patterns on the the walls. It must have taken forever! An impressive stone block was displayed between stairs leading up to a temple - with interlocking lotus flowers and curling waves under 9 dragons (a symbol of imperialism). It was one solid block, and delicately bold.
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| The dragons represent celestial power and the emporer. |
The most impressive was the Imperial Garden. I love gardens, and this one was special. Each tree was hundreds of years old, and manipulated to make it interesting. Rocks and fossilised coral were imported to decorate the garden, and artificial hills were made with them - supporting a quaint little pagoda on top. It must have been great to be royality back in the day!
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| A little pagoda atop the artificial hill. On top, a stone dragon spat water onto a lion - too bad it's off limits to tourists. |
Rob and I were marvelling at the scenes, when a young Chinese boy, about 13, took a dump right in front of us in this magnificent garden. Thanks guy - what a way to turn an amazing scenery into a kak one (no pun intended :P ). Despite that the unusual arcitechture was great - round roofs, and jaggered eaves - different to the rectangle Korean temples we're used to.
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| The uinque round and jagged roof of this little pagoda, quite differnt to Korea. |
The cherry blossoms were in full swing, and the garden was interrupted by really beautiful little pagodas everywhere. On the 4 entrances to the Wanchun Ting Pavillion were trees - split down the middle of their trunks into an upside down 'v', representing the Chinese character ren meaning 'human being'. Little details like this fascinated me.
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| Chrissie showing the inverted 'v' for 'human being'. |
Eventually our tummies had the rumblies and we went to Wangfujing Street Market....to be continued
-by Chrissie
Love it, Chrissie! It really takes me back. I'd almost forgotten about the shitty kiddies - mum and I were walking around outside the FC after we'd seen it inside, and suddenly this toddler just squats down and also takes a dump. The really bizarre thing was that his pants already the seam removed, so when he squatted, his pants spread wide enough for him to do his business without having to bother taking off his pants...
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