China Day 3

We woke up late and got a late start.  It was extremely windy and bitterly cold.  We went for breakfast at a different hotel up the street where a Chinese wedding cerimony was taking place. 

The clothes of the people and displays were extremely colorful with very bright clothing and ornaments.  Lots of party poppers, laughter, and horns honking.  I couldn’t believe the coppers were so tollerant of the mess they made with shreded paper in the street. 

We began our site seeing with the Drum Tower.  I took some video of the drum beating ritual but don’t know how to upload it onto this site.  The ancient drums announced the time every 30 minutes, 24 hours per day.  I would guess that the room with the drums was about five stories high so that the sound would carry.  I really liked the rythm of the drums. 

We next went to the Forbidden City where I was extremely let down by the tour.  Again…no tour guide as someone was extremely put out every time I attempted to pay for something.  The City was built in the 1400’s and was home to the mistressess of the Emporor (would have liked to party there back in the day…).  The biggest reason I was let down by the places we visited in Beijing was due to the 08′ Olympics…everything is covered up due to rennovations.  The Forbidden City was probably remarkable back in the day, but after modern rennovations, everything was too colorful and too slendid by modern standards.  The size of the grounds was pretty amazing…can only dream about the massive orgies which must have happened back in the day…LOL!

Tien an Men Square:  Blink once and you’ve seen all there is to see.

Temple of Heaven.  Was very cool and beautiful.  I couldn’t believe how large the grounds were since all it was used for was blessing the coming harvest.  Lord knows how many prayers had to be said in order to feed all of the mouths in that breeding haven.  One part of the Temple was built in a circle.  In the old day, one could go to one side of the circular wall and speak to someone on the other side because the sound of the voice would carry around to the other side…impressive engineering. 

We returned to our room and watched a romantic comedy film…bad idea!