Beijing - Tian’anmen Square（天安门广场）, Palace Museum（故宫）, Jingshan Park（景山公园）& Shichahai（什刹海）

Today we got a list of places to cover. After breakfast, we started off the journey with a public bus trip (No. 82) down to Qianmen (前门). From there onwards, we will be touring each attraction by foot.

*Note: We had almost all of our breakfast in the homestay. The fruits in season, fresh breads and cakes, cookies were something we hunt for each time we went in a convenience store. It was a lazy moment lying on couch while enjoying the Chinese TV show in morning, mouth munching on the signature pork floss cake from Baoshifu bakery（鲍师父糕点）.

Welcomed by plum blossom (梅花) once we got down from the bus :)

Chairman Mao's Mausoleum (毛泽东纪念堂) , which was built to remember Chairman Mao, the founder and the first chairman of The People's Republic of China.

The Monument to the People’s Heroes（人民英雄纪念碑）

Followed the signage, we cleared the security check, walked past the Monument to the People’s Heroes（人民英雄纪念碑） and Tian’anmen Square（天安门广场） before arriving at the entrance of Palace Museum（故宫）. 

Noticed a lot of decoration using fresh flowers, believed that it was the decoration for their National Day's celebration, which was just around 10 days ago during our visit.

Wow!!! This amazed us! Huge and impressive!

Tian’anmen Square（天安门广场）- From opposite of the road.

Followed the signage and we walked pass an underground pathway, to cross to the other side of the road.

Tian’anmen Square（天安门广场）- Directly in front of us!

It was Friday and the queue in front of ticket office was not so bad. We spent about 10 minutes to secure our ticket for The Palace Museum and get into the Museum.

The tickets! CNY 60 for one adult.

The Palace Museum is also known as The Forbidden City (紫金城), housed the largest and most intact ancient building complex in the world. It represents the cultural-rich tradition of China and its outstanding architectural accomplishments 5000 years ago. The complex also served as the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (明朝, 清朝).

We took the typical touring route from South to North. The painted decorations spotted on every structure was crafted with amazing skills. We even noticed the vast compound in between each imperial palace houses nothing (except the crowd) where it is believed to prevent intruders from attempting to enter the palace by keeping no place out of sight.

Familiar scene that we always watched from TV!

The crowds are there for the Emperor's seat!

The big container to store water! Just like nowadays we have fire hose.

Craving on pillars.

Symbol of longevity.

View from exit of the Museum.

We were out of the Museum at 330 p.m. and the next stop is Jingshan Park（景山公园）, situated directly opposite of the Shenwumen (神武门) exit at North of Palace Museum. This park is said to have the best view of Forbidden City overlooking from top of the park. We definitely enjoyed our time here as it hosts lesser crowd and the beauty of greeneries at every corner of it.

Totally worth visit, not only because of the beautiful scene, the entrance fee is just CNY 2!

The best view of Forbidden City, overlooking from top of Jingshan Park!!!

Hazy weather, but still stunned by the awesome view!

From Jingshan Park, we moved on to Shichahai（什刹海）. It was about 20 minutes’s walk along the Gongjian Hutong （恭俭胡同）and The Lotus Market （荷花市场）, west of Jingshan Park. After dinner at Kaorouji（烤肉季）, we were back in the house at 830 p.m. finally. We were all soaking wet as it was raining cats and dogs during the way back.

Shichahai（什刹海）

The Lotus Market （荷花市场）

Starbucks. #Only-in-China.

It was a day well spent at the historical city center of Beijing. Let’s have more rest for the legs tonight before exploring the holiest Temple of Heaven（天坛公园）, which situated in southeastern part of city on the nexy day.


Travel tips:

Tip#1: For more travel information regarding to Palace Museum and other attractions in Beijing city, please visit https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/forbidden.htm

Tip#2: The audio guide is available for rent at the entrance of Museum. For Mandarin and Cantonese languages, the rental costs CNY 20 per device. For other languages, it is CNY 40 per device.

Automatic Guide Service, with multiple choices of language!

The rental booth can be found after the main entrance.

Super convenient with reasonable price! The guide will spot your location and give explanation automatically!

Please return the automatic guide before you exit in order to avoid triggering alarm system installed at the exit LOL!

Tip#3: There were many licensed gifts and souvenir store in the vicinity of Palace Museum. Be sure to check them out and you can look for some creative and cute gifts to add to your shopping list.

Tip#4: As you may require three hours or more touring the central axis of the Museum, it is recommended to stock up bread and water in your daypack prior to your visit. We noticed there were only two or three small restaurants at the Museum entrance. The food was expensive with limited choices.