China Journal Post 13 - Beijing Photos Set II

Here is the Forbidden City from the top of the hill where the Buddha statue was.  It’s seriously enormous!  We walked from one end to the other.

 

 

And the picture below you may have seen on a post below.  This is Saebra and I eating our ice pops in the Forbidden City.  They were banana flavored, sort of, and only cost 1 yuan which is less than 20 cents!  I didn’t particularly like them, but I have forced myself to at least taste every new food that comes my way on this trip (unless is has tentacles or eyeballs).

 

 

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the English translations here.  I’ve seen signs on the road that warn not to follow too “clowsely” and even a T-shirt that read “Knowledge likes pants… invisible, but very important.”  I still regret not buying that T-shirt, actually!

But the translations in the museum drove me crazy.  It would have a jar with decorations of dragons on it and the translation would say “Ancient jar with dragon decorations.”  Just look at this Yellow flag with clouds above.  And the English translation?  “Yellow Flag with Colorful Clouds.”  Yeah.  Thanks for that.  I couldn’t tell.  To be honest, I really am grateful that they even bother with English in the first place.

This next picture was taken in the gardens part of the Forbidden City.  I love the sign.  In case you can’t see, it says, “Perilous hills, no climbing please!”

 

Here’s another view of those “perilous hills.”

 

It was certainly an exhausting, yet wonderful first day.  We closed it by going out to dinner at a fancy-ish restaurant.  This is Sabrina trying desperately to grab some fries with her chopsticks.  The ladies that the table behind her actually got up and “helped” teach her how to go about it.  Everything else on the table really was legitimate Chinese food, though.

 

 

Saebra and I tried to stay up, but I’m pretty sure I fell asleep around 8 or 9 that night.  It was certainly a rough day, but I enjoyed every minute of it.  In fact, I can probably say that about my whole trip up til now.  It’s been rough.  But I’ve been enjoying almost every minute of it!  I am so grateful for this experience.  I’m on top of the world delighted that everything has gone so smoothly for me.  I couldn’t be happier or more excited for what these next few months have in store.  Of course, I’m scared too.  But I’ll take the fear and the troubles if it means this much happiness and excitement in the end!