For some reason I forgot to finish my posts from my travels across Asia in 2012! So this post is all about my last days in Beijing including one of the most beautiful and underrated sites, The Summer Palace. If you want to look at other postings of my travels, I have shared the links at the bottom of the page.

Leaving off from the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, I was actually feeling really tired and still sick from catching something in Nepal (who knows what I ate or was it from the water)? So if you see any pictures of me looking not so great, then you know why. I still pushed myself in Beijing but it’s hard to care about any of the surroundings when my stomach kept churning and I’m looking for a bathroom every 15 minutes.

Tienanmen Square

But none the less we, (and when I say “we’ I mean Matt and I), first visited Tienanmen Square, to see where it all went down back in 1989. Prior to that we had gone across the street to marvel at the Forbidden City, which should be on anybodies lists of must dos while in Beijing. Across from the huge Mao Zedong poster is Tienanmen Square, which is pretty much the center of Beijing and arguably China. Not geography of course, but Tienanmen is where China is governed from, and you can feel the power of the Chinese government while standing in the square.

First off it’s really big and to get in the square you have to go underground passed these checkpoints. I’m not sure why they you make you go underground but they fence off the entire square and there are cameras everywhere. I have said repeatedly that it feels like you’re constantly being watched from the time you arrive at the airport to the time you leave. There just feels like there is so much pressure and it was hard to ever feel welcomed. Red is the color and you will see it across all the important government buildings. It’s all in Chinese so I really couldn’t tell you what the mean or say.

Tienanmen Square really doesn’t have that much going on, so you can easily stand and take a few pictures and then move on. It’s interesting to me that the average American knows more about what went down in Tienanmen Square than the average Chinese person. For me, the protest is what instantly comes to my head and I can only think that China is trying to erase that from every bodies memory. I didn’t think the Square was beautiful or anything, it just feels Communistic and not very comfortable. It just is and not really my type of Square. I believe that you can go inside some of the government buildings and museums that line the Square but I didn’t think they were open the day we were there so we didn’t go in. It’s not like I really wanted to anyways.

However there is one thing that everybody should see while at Tienanmen Square. It’s the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, who was the 1st Chairman of the Communist Party of China. Honestly I don’t know much about him but that he was the authoritarian figure of China for so long and he was the one that greeted Richard Nixon when he came in the 70’s. Plus it was free to get in.

The whole thing is actually kind of weird. You must go through extra security and this was on top of going through the security to get into the Square. You’re not allowed to bring cameras in, (we were stopped at the gates) so Matt and I had to go into the Mausoleum one at a time while the other one held the camera. On the outside you have these huge North Korean looking statues that glorify the military and Communist China and then there is this massive Mausoleum built for one purpose. To house Mao Zedong’s body along with some important statues, even though he had asked to be cremated when he died.

When I went in, it just felt weird. They have his body at the end along with a gift shop. After wrapping around in rooms for a bit you approach his body and there are two lines to keep the lines moving. He is placed in the center, in a box, with a glass to see in and is embalmed. He looked a little orange to me and I’ve heard rumors that his body may not be the real deal. Whatever it was free to go, interesting to see and gave us something to do.

The Summer Palace

Arguably one of the most beautiful sites in Beijing, the Summer Palace was the palace so that the emperor could relax and escape from his other palace, the Forbidden City. Back then I guess the Summer Palace seemed like it was much further and was definitely on the outskirts of old Beijing. I can say this though, the Summer Palace is located on hills and has a lake in the middle making it much more scenic than the Forbidden City.

To get there the best way is to take Line 4 on the metro stop, Beigongmen, and then enter the North Gate. The metro is the best way to travel around Beijing but it can take some time to cross the city! There is some food around the area but it’s probably best to eat beforehand.

One thing that is similar to the Forbidden City is that the Summer Palace grounds are also massive. Unbelievably large! I mean there is a whole lake in the center of the palace and to see every part of the grounds would take forever. We entered from the North Gate of the Summer Palace and it’s the area where there are still temples to explore. I was surprised that the Chinese let these temples exist since they don’t really go with the Communist beliefs but I guess they are important to Chinese history. In fact all over the city of Beijing you will see old buildings that contradict the Communist ideal but luckily they have survived and are well-preserved for their age.

The Summer Palace is completely man-made and the Longevity Hill (200 feet high) near the North Gate, is 100% made from the soil extracted to make the lake. Pretty impressive! The Summer Palace is essentially a recreational park and the locals as well as tourist come here to enjoy this huge man-made Chinese garden.

Inside the Summer Palace the atmosphere is much more relaxed than the Forbidden City and people are heading in every which direction. From the North Gate you have to climb to get to where the main path way is. From there you can go in all directions to different ancient temples and religious buildings. It’s also the way to get down to the other section of the Summer Palace.

There is no agenda and there is nothing in the Summer Palace that is important to see but if you need time to relax and enjoy beauty, this is the place. People were renting boats and rowing out to the middle of the lake and there are many great photo shots to take. There were some food stands but it’s probably best to eat outside the palace. The temples, near North Gate, look and feel like the ones at Forbidden City and we saw same designs throughout our travels in China. Down below there is this Long Corridor which is really long, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and the famous marble boat (although I’m not sure why it’s famous).

more pics of my time at the summer palace…

Temple of Heaven

Our last stop, while in Beijing, was the Temple of Heaven. A Taoism structure that the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty visited to pray for good harvest. It was made from 1406 to 1420 and built by the same Emperor who built the Forbidden City. Structurally it does look quite similar to the Forbidden City and the same designs were used throughout.

There are also 3 other temples on the ground that are named the Temple of Sun in the east, the Temple of Earth in the north, and the Temple of Moon in the west. In 1918 the temples were turned into a park and opened to the public. The grounds have been called a great design of architecture and has a symbolic layout according to the moon, sun, earth and the heavens.

Inside the grounds of the Temple of Heaven there are four other buildings that are of significant importance. The 3 halls used during ceremonies and The Imperial Vault of Heaven is a smaller circular building surrounded by a smooth circular wall that can send sounds over large distances.

My experience there was pleasant as the surrounding grounds are used as a park and for exercise. You do have to pay to get into see the temple and I think some more money to see the other temples. Since this was one of the last few days I was running low on energy and cash and really just wanted to see the Temple of Heaven. Inside it was quite beautiful but after a while it’s hard to appreciate it when you’ve seen so much similar designs already. However I do think it’s worth it to see it. I later learned that the original Temple of Heaven was burned down in 1889 and so below is a remake but it’s suppose to look pretty much like the original.