On walking in theres this massive portrait of Chairman Moa, they reckon its like the Mona Lisa in that he watches you where ever you are standing - not too sure about that as I flipped him the V and got away with it. (only joking he seems to be very much loved by the Chinese people)
Spent about 4 and a half hours in the forbidden city and it was made 100 times better by Vivien being there as we got some great stories.
Not enough time to go in to them all:
1. Concubine soup
2. Male and Female Lion statues
3. 1000 Dragons fill the moat with water
4. Plot to strangle one of the Emperor's and the concubine had 3600 pieces of flesh cut off her body
5. Mick Jagger Lady
6. Numbers of animals of roof corners
7. North, East, West Housing for men, women, Emperor
8. Piano - Last Emperor's was a gift from UK
9. Trees in court yard planted at same time as the building so you can put an age to each building in the city
10. Couple tree - two trees grown together
11. Mosaque in garden telling stories - one Emperor picked out a picture of a male lover because he didnt like the ending of that story.
The place is an absolute wonder. Makes you wonder why so much wealth was used to build such a vast place for one single person - I know they believed the Emperor was their only link to God but still a bit extreme.
The Emperor used to have enough food prepared to feed 1800 poeple just for himself for each meal. Either he was Billy Bunter himself or he was a bit of a knob, when all the poor people were'nt eating properly.
After we went to for pink cake with Vivien (she actually meant pancake which actually meant sugar sandwich) Very nice they were.
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We didn't come in that way - wen entered by the north gate, at the back, and then came out into Tiananmen Square at the end of the day. We didn't have a guide either, so I guess we missed out on all those stories. Some of them I recognise from either the Lonely Planet or the signage, but you'll have to share the rest sometime.
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