The vastness of the Forbidden City is mind-boggling!
The day started relatively early, but not as early as the previous. Our Forbidden City tour started at 8:45 AM, and we woke up at 7:30 AM in hopes of beating the crowds. We would eventually learn that it was pointless in doing that because the crowds form regardless, and we could have slept in longer.
The walk to the Forbidden City from the hotel was super short, literally down the street. Here's a picture of a McDonald's on the way.
Definitely one of the prettiest short walks I have ever took!
We got to the gates of The Forbidden City or The Palace Museum around 8:15 AM, and then had to give our passports to the tour guide, so they can purchase our tickets. I was pretty anxious while waiting to get my passport back, but not as anxious as when taking engineering exams last year 🤣.
We officially entered The Forbidden City and started the tour at 9:30 AM. Originally, I did not want to do the tour, but that was probably the best way to go because I learned so much, and I appreciated the experience so much more. If I did not do the tour, I would have had no clue what I would have been looking at, and quickly forget what I saw. This was truly one of the most impressive structures and places I have been too, so I will let the photos do the talking.
The tour guide then took us through a Jade galley exhibit. There are multiple galleries within The Forbidden Palace, but some you need to pay separately. Our tickets only included the tour and the jewelry exhibit.
Tour ended at 12:15 PM, and we had some time to kill before heading to our spot, so we explored more of The Forbidden City.
Here are some photos from the Jewelry Exhibit.
Here are some photos of the Gold gallery!
After the Jewelry Exhibit we decided to leave and walk up north to Jingshan Park.
To get to the viewpoint of Jingshan Park, you need to walk a lot of steps up, probably more steps than Lan Tau Buddha in Hong Kong. Fortunately, I trained a lot on the stair-master back at the UCSD recreation center, so this was a cake walk.
Here are some more photos of me at Jingshan Park:
After Jingshan Park, we headed to Temple of Heaven! Due to the early wake-up time, we skipped breakfast, and were starving. As a result of our horrible planning and bone-headed decision, we ate another moderately expensive meal for lunch within Temple of Heaven at 3 PM.
Oddly enough the meal was very filling for such a short portion, and I was able to catch a second wind after. By this time I probably had 14-16,000 steps already.
I loved the surrounding trees and walking around the Temple of Heaven, but what I absolutely despised is how crowded it was. Just look at this, this is absurd!
Due to the crowd, we were in and out within 30 minutes. Walking out of the Temple of Heaven, we ended up at Hongqiao Pearl Market, which is a famous market for "copy" and "replicas" of goods and electronics. The quality of them are great, and you can come away with insane bargains and discounts. However, you must be aware of exchange rates because I was not sometimes, and ended up spending more than I should have 🤦♂️.
After the market, we headed to Guijie Street (Ghost Street) for dinner. The street is primarily filled with crayfish restaurants, but eating crayfish takes so much effort for so little meat, so we opted for skewers instead. Besides, I am more of crabs off Torpedo Wharf type of guy 🤣!
After dinner, we headed back to Wangfujing Pedestrian Street as it was on the way back to the hotel.
We got back to the hotel around 9:30 PM and crashed because tomorrow was going to be another exhausting, yet fun day!