Forbidden City

Day 13 - First day proper in Beijing. We have breakfast at the hostel before exploring the city. We always walk on the first day to get our bearings (I'd also brought along my trusty AA Guide city map - AA Guides are excellent for cities btw.. they really do do roads well).

We visit the Forbidden City - it is as big as it looks in the pictures. There is some scaffolding in some Pavilions (I forget which.. they're all called Pavilion of Harmony, or Peace or something..).
Words would be insufficient so I'll have to post the pictures here when I get to Singapore (it takes forever to upload the photos onto the net, even after we managed to install the driver for our camera.. in chinese). JD thinks it is impressive but for me, Mongolia's natural landscape was by far the most awe inspiring.

Forbidden City...


Isn't she cute?
We have lunch in the Forbidden City (there are little canteens selling rice and dishes, nothing special though, looked a bit dirty..) and then take more pictures of the ancient city (I get told off for trying to take a picture of Starbucks.. hello??)
Starbucks