The Forbidden City Outer Court [紫禁城外朝] - Last Imperial Palace & Current Palace Museum [故宫博物院] @ Beijing, China

There is so much online information about the Forbidden City that i shall spare you the details of regurgitating them on my blog.

Following up on my inaugural visit to Tiananmen, it is time to continue the straight pathway towards Duanmen (端门), the final towering gateway before entering the imperial palace, which is now named as the Palace Museum since the monarchy rule has already been abolished for more than a hundred years. 

Visitors would not miss these marble pillars with carvings of dragons and might wonder if they are purely for ornamental purpose. 

The pillars (topped with a mythical oriental beast) are known as Hua Biao (华表) and were originally used for directions and subsequently as a mean for commoners to paste suggestions/advice for the emperor's attention. 

Trees laden with fruits lined the way to Duanmen. 

Persimmons! My dad would have loved to pluck some of them for tea break but to put it nicely, i am 163cm, i am the tallest in the family and the persimmons were way beyond my reach. 

Wumen (午门) - the Meridian Gate is an imposing structure that takes the position as the largest gate of the Forbidden City. Tiananmen pales in comparison.

Imagine standing in the middle of the square with skilled archers ready to shoot you from the top! That's such a scary thought and definitely not one i would want to encounter.

There was a Chinese saying "推出午门斩了" which means to push out to the Wumen for execution. According to my tour guide, the Wumen in question refers to another gate and not this one. 

Sad to say, i was not given the option of climbing up the gate! That is such an irritating impediment for my adventurous streak! Oh well, tour packages are like that anyway.

Apparently, it was not only my mom who feels that rubbing things would help to improve her lady luck!

One of five golden water bridges towards yet another major gate. As you could see, the dragon markings were relatively corroded which were supposedly a result of heavy pollution in the capital.

Iconic lion that always seems to represent the Forbidden City in tourist maps and guide books. 

Gate of Supreme Harmony (太和門) - the entrance to the traditional administrative seat of the emperor. 

The information counter for The Palace Museum [故宫博物院] is also stationed here. For free and easy travelers, i think you can request for a guide here (likely with a nominal fee). 

Finally, a map to tell me where i was situated and give a rough gauge on how much more we needed to walk! Honestly, i could spend the whole day in the palace! 

Seat of the Emperor in the middle - Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿). This is the largest hall within the premises of the Forbidden City and the three-tiered marble stone bases reflect its ceremonial importance in the past.

This contained city might have been brushed aside by many as 'just a place with many old buildings'. They are not wrong although it was really enlightening to hear the history behind it and the interesting references like odd number is good (it symbolises the yang in Taoism), the use of yellow-gold coloured tiles to signify royalty, number 9 is the biggest and 5 signifies the centre; hence the term 九五至尊 for emperor etc.

Those big dark urns were supposed to be bronze incense burners. Guess they were purely decorative to inject some visual 'surprises' to the otherwise sparse surroundings. 

Antiques no doubt - most of the items in the palace have an identification number but shouldn't this kind of labeling be considered as defacing a national treasure?

太和殿 's majestic air could not be ignored as you step nearer. Look at the amount of people scrambling up! It's going to get a lot worse during China's golden week. 

Everyone was rushing to this specific spot after reaching the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Being the curious person i am, i was determined to see what the big fuss was all about.

The emperor's throne! Could not understand what the big hoo ha was as the entire hall was off limit and the most everyone can do was to take pictures. And more pictures. For your information, i had to resort to take this picture on tip toe as there were too many people crowding the area!

A metropolitan like Beijing (it has a population of around 20 million people) should be dotted with loads of skyscrapers and they were conspicuously missing around the forbidden city! 

The lack of any towering structures was due to a government restriction back in 2004. Thank god. 

Note the roof decorations - they were allowed only on official buildings and yellow was reserved only for the emperors. Heading the statues was a man on a phoenix, followed by nine beasts (it must be an odd number) and a guardian and finally ended with a dragon that represented the emperor's authority.

Colourful underside of the roof. Can you spot the CCTV camera? 

Another decoration piece; the laughing tortoise. 

Don't assume this was useless; in the olden times, such vats served the important purpose of being water containers to fight fire in the Forbidden City! This particular one in the picture is one out of eighteen that was inlaid with gold but the gold was scrapped off by the Japanese when the city was invaded in 1937. 

Back of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Benches are available to rest your feet! Possible only if you are on a free and easy itinerary! 

Gates were everywhere to block your access. I can understand the rationale for installing them although i personally find them as hindrances to fully appreciate the beauty of the imperial palace. 

Hall of Central Harmony (中和殿) - a square-shaped hall mainly used by the emperor as a resting spot.

Yet another throne! Given that many have tried all means to take pictures of the throne in the first hall, there was a much smaller crowd in the Hall of Central Harmony, resulting in a more decent picture of the dragon's seat.

Grass growing on the rooftop! I am not sure if they were planted on purpose as i didn't find any on the rooftops of the other main halls in the Outer Court. 

The last 'harmony' themed hall - Hall of Preserving Harmony (保和殿). The last fight for the top scholar in the imperial examination was held here. 

Yet another throne. Yawnz... I would only be marginally excited if i can sit on any of them! 

Specially constructed steps that would allow better access for visitors. 

And which might be safety hazards during the Golden Week. According to a news article i read today, the second day of the golden week saw a total of 180,000 people visiting the Forbidden City!

I wanted to go to that pavilion on the hill! It would be a great spot to snap a top-down picture of the entire Forbidden City.

Walking down another pathway to the Inner Court which is more famously known as Hou Gong (后宫) where the empress and the emperor's many concubines live. 

Regretted not exploring this side building that seemed as if the vegetation had taken over most of it. I so wanted to back Beijing again! Definitely as a free and easy traveller! 

Passionfruit trees! Since they were way shorter, the museum deemed it necessary to station someone to guard the fruits! As you can see, they were in pots and should be transportable. Why the need to place the trees over there? Anyone has the answers? 

I am only halfway through the Forbidden City! Look out for part two (Inner Court, 后宫) tomorrow! :) 

Killer Litter - Murderer of the Car Windscreen

I am accustomed to parking my car in an open-air carpark as i could not stand that eerie feeling whenever i have to exit a multi-storey carpark late at night, and all alone! 

There are disadvantages of course; the oven hot temperature in the car whenever i need to drive from mid morning to late afternoon is one. Finding numerous bird poo on the surface is another frequent occurrence. 

The one i could not stand most is the risk of killer litter from inconsiderate residents of the surrounding high rise buildings Singaporeans known affectionately as the HDB flats! 

This was what i saw this evening at the bottom of my block. 

As a car owner who has gone through quite a number of cracked windscreen, i can tell you it is a great inconvenience to find this especially when the workshops are closed and you have expensive items (like a S$200 baby car seat) that have to be vacated from the vehicle.

It would be so not your day if it also happens to rain cats and dogs on that fateful day! Trust me; that is a scenario you really don't want to see. 

In this case, the 'weapon' is just a harmless looking plastic bottle filled with water! It was fortunate that no one was hurt but for the safety of everybody, we have to call the police to the scene. 

An update would be posted if the main culprit is caught! 

p.s. my brother in law is the victim, not me.

Rubbing Off the Dragon for Luck @ The Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Mom has the weirdest practices when it comes to increasing her lady luck for winning Singapore's official lottery; 4D and TOTO. To put it bluntly, anything can be considered an option so long she believes in it!

We were simply walking past the many wooden windows within the Forbidden City when she stopped us in our tracks and made the following comment.

Mom: "See those dragons?"

Me: "Ya"

Mom: "Rub them and you would be ensured of good luck"

Me: "How would you know?"

Mom: "Trust me. Those brighter spots say it all"

I could not find a valid argument to her supposed hypothesis and proceeded to rub the bronze dragons with my hands! Since i could not confirm, i figured there's absolutely no harm in trying out her unorthodox method! 

Gonna win the TOTO soon! 

Tiananmen [天安門] & Tian An Men Square [天安門廣場] @ Beijing (北京), China

A trip to Beijing is never complete if you don't visit three main attractions; namely the Forbidden Palace, the Great Wall of China and Tiananmen Square. 

And the latter was exactly what we did on the very first day of our inaugural visit to the grand capital of China. 

Note that there is a difference between Tiananmen and Tiananmen Square; Tianamen is the gate to the Imperial City (known as Inner City) while the Square borrowed its name from Tiananmen which is located directly North, separated by a major road known as Chang'an Avenue. 

The coach dropped us at the western side of the Square so that we could take in the sights and leisurely stroll towards Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace).

It was a foggy day (and it remained so for the next few days) and please be prepared for pictures that could not fully reflect the splendor and beauty of the place. 

Walked past the Great Hall of the People (人民大會堂); the building where the National People's Congress meets for discussion on national policies and legislation. 

Renovation was ongoing for this public toilet although i am not exactly loving that facade of blue sky and lush greenery. Barricades were on standby maybe because of the upcoming China's national day. 

Guess there would be some kind of show to commemorate the founding of the People's Republic of China! 

1 October also marks the start of the National Day Golden Week and that was the main reason why i had to plan my visit in September to avoid the peak period. 

Tiananmen Square - 3rd largest city square in the world that could accommodate 600,000 persons! The building is the picture was Mao's Mausoleum, the final resting place of Mao Zedong. 

Flag rising ceremony is scheduled twice a day; at dawn and at dusk. Notice the fire extinguisher on the right side of the picture? It would come in handy should there be any self-immolation incidents. 

Guarding the flagpole - security is tight in this politically sensitive arena. Many people might still remember the horrifying Tiananmen Incident in 1989 where student protesters were massacred in large numbers.

Coming back to happier moments; food and drinks were available in this van! I would have enjoyed this kind of mobile business operation - driving to East Coast park on weekends to sell hotdogs and cola etc.

Tiananmen - no one would miss that huge portrait of Mao Zedong even though the original building dated from 1420 during the Ming dynasty. 

One of our tour mates trying to get the best shot of Tiananmen. 

Forgot your camera or you have no trust in your photography skills? Fret not. There were a number of on-site photographers who would take your picture in front of Tiananmen and print it out within a few minutes for a nominal fee.

A final look before we crossed over to Tiananmen. 

Via an underpass that is. Beijing is actually very modernised and i would strongly recommend able travellers to go for free and easy. There is a subway network that connects to major attractions like Beijing Zoo, Summer Palace, Forbidden City etc.

Arriving right opposite Mao's portrait! His eyes follow you from whichever angle you look at him! 

Visitors, both locals and foreigners, were clamouring to take pictures of themselves in front of the portrait. As the tour guide commented, it was an honourable must for every family in China to have a picture of themselves at Tiananmen.

Many times, i have noticed guys in non-uniform standing together with uniformed guards. Are they plain clothes policemen? By the way, the passageway right below the portrait was reserved only for the emperor in dynastic times! 

Our itinerary included a walk up to the main building atop of Tiananmen! 

At a length of only 66 meters, it was not as big as one would expect when viewed from Tiananmen square. 

Light bulbs adorning the roof. According to wikipedia, Tiananmen was rebuilt in 1970 so what we are seeing is not really its original state although the external outlook remained the same.

Netting was noticed somewhere near the roof. Let me guess what it is for - hm..... to prevent birds from nesting within the crevices? 

The highly anticipated imperial city right behind Tiananmen!

A souvenir shop - some of the items could be purchased from touts outside the attraction at a much lower price, so long you bargain. 

Interior of the building. 

There was some information on the history of this building, mainly concentrated during the period after 1951. Given the time limitation of the tour (you are going to see this sentence very often), i could not digest much for sharing in this blog.

A miniature replica of Tiananmen and its surroundings (including Forbidden City) in ancient times. I would like to take more photographs but there was an announcement that no photo-taking is allowed in the gallery.

View of Tiananmen Square!

I took the picture on purpose just to show you the person guarding the perimeter! Here's another picture. Oh, in case i forget, please remember that lighters are not allowed in many attractions! Smokers, you have been warned. 

Panoramic view of the Square. To the left is China National Museum and to your right is the Great Hall of the People. 

Visitors enjoying the view of the Square. 

The mid-day sun above Tiananmen. This is a photoshopped version and the original picture looks nothing like it. However, i thought the effect was quite stunning and deserved to be posted! 

Side view of the building. 

Leaving for our next destination; the Forbidden City!