Well, for starters, if you read the previous blog, I was up at the crack of dawn and waiting outside for the bus.Got on - dont they have heaters here - it was warmer outside.
Only me at this hotel so we travelled for 30 minutes to another hotels where 7 others got on - a famiy of 4, a couple and Steve - oh and Jennifer our tour guide.
First stop - The Forbidden City. One of the best places but its HUGE! Loads of information from Jennifer (who's Chinese) about the different buildings and went on ;-) ;-) - i mean with one emporer having 81 concubines I think ;-) ;-) went on a lot :-)
Learned that all the buildings have some sort of aesthetics to them with regards to Chinese culture, i.e. lots of number 9 (which is a lucky number), references to the 4 seasons, long life etc - they really put some thought into it.
As we went in the north entrance this meant we came out onto the South Entrance (as luck would have it) into Tian'emen Square - which for all its significane is ... just a square. A bit of a let down really.
On then to our next stop which was a visit to a Chinese Medical Centre where they talked us through how Chinese medicine worked etc and then we could have a free check up and they would provide us (FOC) with a recommendation of how to overcome any ailments we may have. Now call me a ( well its sinic or pessimist but I dont think either is spelt right but you know what I mean) non believer but when they look at you, ask you if you drink and then say to me "your liver may not be working right and you need to lose weight" well ... as Mrs Caveen would say ... not exactly rocket science is it?????
So to lunch where I took there advice ... and shoved it where the sun dont shine and ate the food including the dim sum, crispy rolls and the rice, ignored the fruit and had a beer! Cheers to Chinese medicine
What was the Australian bird like on the plane?
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