China - Day 5

Day 5 in China was National Day. National day commemorates the day the People's Republic of China was founded - October 1, 1949. We assumed this holiday would be the equivalent to the 4th of July here in the states. We couldn't have been more wrong. National day was a HUGE deal. We didn't realize it at the time, but the entire nation of China is given the whole week off to travel to Beijing to celebrate.

And I feel quite certain the entire nation of China was in Tiananmen Square with us that morning. It was incredible. I have to say in retrospect it was amazing to see all those people in Tiananmen, but at the time it was quite overwhelming. There were people there selling tiny Chinese flags. They were only 1 Yuan each or around 14 cents so we bought some to participate in the festivities. Wouldn't you know they tried to pawn off the defective Chinese flag on me?? I'm sure they didn't expect the white girls to know it was wrong. I made him trade me for a good one :)



Note my defective flag:




After we walked around Tiananmen Square for a bit we decided to go up in Tiananmen Gate. It was such an incredible feeling to look out over the gate that Mao Zedong had addressed the people from so many years before. As far as I could see there where people. I cannot describe in words how amazing it was.



While we were up in the gate, another Chinese girl asked to take a photo with us. We spoke with her for a bit and found out her name was Stacy and she was studying English in University.



She was so nice and friendly and decided to show us around the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is where many of the Emperors who ruled China lived. It was huge! Much larger than the Summer Palace and very easy to get lost in. It really reminded me of a maze because so many of the buildings looked just alike. We walked around the city for at least 4 or 5 hours and still didn't see everything.

By the ticket booth to the forbidden city. I caught him looking at me so he let me have a pic with him :)






It was supposed to be good luck to touch this handle


The stone we are standing in front of was carved and moved to the palace all in once piece.




This little boy is wearing split pants - much of China's answer to diapers.


This shows a little bit of how crowded it was that day











Empress CiXi had one of her rival concubines drowned in this well


After we left the Forbidden City we headed back to the hostel and took a short nap. We really needed it after the long day of fighting all the people to see things at the Forbidden City. That night for dinner we headed over to HoHai Lake. It was a beautiful area with lots of restaurants, bars, and street vendors. We had a nice dinner and then headed back to our hostel to get some rest because the next morning we were headed for the GREAT WALL!!!

HoHai Lake


Sarah buying some sugar fruit


Some street vendors were blowing heated carmel into animal shapes


One of the Western-geared bars by the lake


And of course we had to have a taste of home before we headed to the hostel for the night