Tiannamen and the Forbidden City

OK, enough about bodily functions. As I mentioned, there was a group outing to Tiannamen yesterday. The tour was hurried and not too detailed. I decided to subway (地铁）back instead of going on the bus, so when the group was breaking up I doubled back and hit some of the side galleries that we didn't go into. I think we were there during the first initial crush of the day, plus the weather was making everyone crowd together under canopies. Regardless of the reason, it was much, much less crowded on my way back through.

I'll spare you all the details about the emperors and their concubines. Besides, I can't remember which palace was which. Suffice it to say that a: it's a big ass palace complex, b: various pieces have been rebuilt through time, c: it's the place to go for out-of-town Chinese.

This morning I checked out our local park. I sat with a little old lady who said my stomach would feel better if I 'played Chinese kung fu'. She said she had learned a bit of English in primary school. It's remarkable that she remembers it at all. It was very cool to have that conversation, although it would have been even better if I had been able to use more Chinese.



One more pleasant thing I keep meaning to mention: people like to take their birds for bicycle rides and hang out in the park with them.



Here's the photos from Tiannamen.