Forbidden City.

We later went to Tiananmen Square:

The police and soldiers there; heavily guarded:

Technically, this is the Tian'an Gate:

The square itself (across the highway):

One of the iconic pillars:

Jumpshot as usual:

Ashley:

Mao Zedong's iconic potrait:

It seems like his eyes look at you everywhere you go... think that is the whole point:

Gate of Tian-an Gate:

That is the Duanmen, another gate before the Forbidden City itself:

This is Forbidden City gate a.k.a. the Meridian Gate (entrance fee to Forbidden City: 45RMB, closed at 4.30pm)

Huge!:

Some Mongolians? Hahaa... or maybe just a group of tribal Chinese tourists:

The Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum. It was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties (built from 1406-1420) and the complex consists of 980 buildings!!!:

This is the Gate of Supreme Harmony (another GATE), its plaza is seperated by a serpentine waterway spanned by the "Golden River Bridges":

The marble walkway you see is where the Emperors walked on:

Past the gate is the Hall of Supreme Harmony:

Rear view of the gate:

Jump shot!
Failed attempt number 1:

Failed attempt number 2:

Failed attempt number 3:

I give up! FAILED:

Just 'peace' will do:

Street fighter style in front of the hall:

Carved stone dragons:

One of the many incense burners:

Where the emperors sat (again had to jostle with locals who never seem to wash their hair):

Dragon-turtle:

Those are for 'fire-fighting':

Hall of Central Harmony (front) and Hall of Preserving Harmony:

Phoenix and dragon:

Hall of Central Harmony:

Interior:

Hall of Preserving Harmony:

Interior:

Past the hall is another complex called the Palace of Heavenly Purity:

Large stone carving:

Entrance to the Palace of Heavenly Purity:

The 'smaller' palace:

More 'Street Fighter' pictures:

Interior, it was used as the Emperor's audience hall:

Case of deja vu?
Those are the Hall of Union (front) and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility:

Inside Hall of Union:

Inside the Palace of Earthly Tranquility where most of the newly wedded emperors would live:

Entrance to the Imperial Gardens:

LOL. Eternal loss of beauty? LOL:

I took a dump at the garden's toilet, I finally crapped solid wastes! YEAH! I'm healed!

The rear entrance/exit of the Forbidden City:

We then decided to walk to the left side of the Forbidden City where more buildings awaited us. See map here for the names and locations of the buildings around the Forbidden City.

Here's a tip: DO NOT fall for the 'free exhibition' trap. There would be people (usually young pretty ladies) who would convince you that there is a FREE exhibition of artworks and paintings.

True, they are 'free' to look at. And true, they are 'exhibitions'... kinda. They are actually galleries of paintings which are for sale! Price tags unabashedly displayed. All the while, the 'painters' will proudly showcase their works. You would feel 'trapped' in the galleries as they close the doors behind you, looking very suspicious. If you are coerced into buying the paintings, make sure they are below 50% percent of the asking price.

The alleyways:

There are actually some historical exhibitions tucked away in some of the buildings, do keep a look out. Definitely FOC entry.

Painting of the longest reigning Chinese emperor, Kangxi Emperor:

Painting of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the most infamous (and 'evil') of the Chinese rulers, she was the scapegoat for the fall of the last Chinese dynasty - Qing dynasty.

Life during the Qing dynasty:

If you don't already know, Qing dynasty was the final Chinese dynasty. Technically, they were NOT Chinese. The emperors were from the neighbouring 'babaric' Manchuria who invaded China and clutched the 'Heavenly Mandate' from the Ming rulers. Under the Manchurian rule, the Chinese had to adopt the Manchurian costumes and the men grew the very familiar pigtails.

We wanted to go to the eastern part of the Forbidden City (the Palace of Tranquil Longevity) but it was closed and there was a seperate entrance fee.

So instead, we hung around at the plaza and found dozens of cats!!!:

'Bullying' the 'hibernating' cat we called 'Yeow' (Yeow is always 'hibernating' too and strangely, the cat responded to me calling it 'Yeow'):

This one looks like a lion:

The sun was setting and we had to leave the Forbidden City complex.

My favourite picture:

The soldiers (I suspect 'recruits' cause they sucked and looked 'blur') practising for the flag lowering ceremony.

Back to Tiananmen, just in time to see the flag lowering at the square.

Young and old, the Chinese were all waiting excitedly to watch. A large crowd had gathered, and the Tiananmen gate was blocked by soldiers.

The lowering ceremony involves the soldiers marching across the highway to the square. Of course, traffic was stopped.

Once again, traffic was stopped as they marched back into the Tian'an Gate with the flag: