Right. it's been a weekend of great fun. Great outings. So far, we've been to Beijing's version of SimLimSquare, Silk Road Shopping thingy, city walkabouts with yude. That was done on friday. Lots to see. lots to do! Here are some of the photos of Saturday's trip, to Tian Tan Gong Yuan(the emperor's temple), Lao She tea house and a inprompt2 visit to Tiananmen Square.
Tian Tan temple thingy. It's quite blue & round.
i am still healthy as you can see.. lots of beef and veggies.
This is at the Lao She tea house. where we sit around square tables, drink tea and watch cheapo circus shows. There were shadow puppet shows, magic tricks, not-so-funny comedy acts, singing and the best of all, the er hu girl(above). so very pretty.
across the road from the tea place was tiananmen square. down the underpass and then poof! The infamous square.
Some facts:
1. the Biggest city-square in the world
2. It was bloodwashed in some civil war in the 40s.
3. A place of many other things..
We thought that the square was too big to walk in just 2 hours, yude and jarett decided to buy a Kite and fly it as high as possible.
Now.. at sunset, (time varies everyday), yesterday's was at 1842hrs.. everyone sscrambles to the fence at the tip of the square to witness the flag lowering ceremony. And yes.. this happens eveyday.
They treat the flag with such respect, sharp marching discipline and folding the flag swiftly and neatly, awesome show of love to the PRC. I video-ed it.. i can show you when i'm back. =)
Without a doubt, Tiananmen remains the most guarded place in China, the area is surrounded by important buildings, like the The Great Hall of the People, Mao Tse Tung's Memorial, the Forbidden City and the National Museum of China. Military and police personel line the fences, some march around the square, police cars zoom IN, and around the square vacinity yanking their honks away.
When the flag is down, everyone is being squeezed outta the square, police vehicles manovuer like trapping a school of tuna. The square empties out in under 10minutes, it is a mad rush.
The government buildings around the square light up and glow.
-It is grand-
But anyways.. that draws an end to the first week. Ithink there's more stuff to come. It's only the first week and i'm getting excited! =)
More pics during the week. Laters you guys!