Forbidden City and Beijing Duck

Our second attempt to go to the Forbidden City was a success, but our attempt to go to the Mao masoleum failed. There were about 500 Chinese people lined up to go in and pay their respects to the former leader of China and it was also freezing, so much to my dad's chagrin we gave it a miss. The Forbidden City is one of my favorite sight seeing spots in China. I believe it was one of my Dad's also. Here are some of our photos of our day.



Dad and Gemma with the gorgeous red doors.



One of my favorite pictures of red doors.









Here are some pictures of the renovation done to the Forbidden City in preparation for the Beijing Olympics.







Here we are in the Forbidden City! Don't we look cold! Gemma and I are sporting our new Beijing Olympic hats we bought from the street vender for 15 rmb for two ($2)!



While we were going to the Forbidden City I called our friend Owen and we had the pleasure of him and Xavier joining us for lunch. We went to one of the most famous Beijing Duck restaurants in Beijing called Li Qun's Kao Ya.



Here is my Dad giving the Beijing Duck a try. Beijing Duck consists of sliced roast duck which you put on a thin pancake with cucumbers, some type of onion that is similar to a green onion, and house sauce. It is absolutely delicious!!!



Here is all of the food we ordered. We had a set menu with lots of different dishes.

After our lunch Owen and Xavier took us to the airport to go back to Chengdu. Here is a picture of Gemma and Xavier before we went back to the 'Du.

Dad's Trip to China

My dad had been planning to retire in October and then make a trip to China to see the sites and visit us! I was so excited to show him the sites, but also interested in his impressions and culture shock. It took us about 1 hour to find each other at the airport because our flight was delayed in Chengdu an hour due to fog.

On our first evening we checked into the hotel and then headed to one of my favorite haunts in China, The Bookworm. It is my home away from home in Chengdu and why should it be different in Beijing! We had a nice dinner and went to bed early.

On our first day we had strict orders from my Mom to have my Dad have a couple suits made. We went to Yashow market which was conveniently located across the street from our hotel, and found a tailor that was recommended by a lady that used to live in Beijing. We found some stylish fabric and a lovely single breasted suit pattern and had those both made for just a little over $200. We ended up doing quite a bit of shopping as Dad wanted to start buying from a long list of family, friends, etc.



After shopping we had a quick bite and we were off to the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. Unfortunately the Forbidden City stops selling tickets at 3:30 pm and we couldn't get in. We ended up walking over the Tian'anmen Square to have a look. Here are some of our photos.



Tian'anmen Square



Gemma flying the flag in the square!



Gemma and Dad in front of Mao's mausoleum. I have tried to talk him out of seeing Mao embalmed, but we are going back on Tuesday.



Gemma and Dad



Across from Tian'anmen Square there are a few government buildings and one sports the Beijing Olympic countdown sign. You can see several of these signs all over town. They are all about the Olympics and have tons of shops set up at every tourist site.