Forbidden and the Lake

Forbidden City and the Summer Palace were how we finished off our tour of Beijing. Both are huge and are easy to get lost in. The Forbidden City is right in the center of Beijing. TiananmenSquare is right outside along with the Chairman Mao Mosoleum.We did not pay to go see Chairman Mao.In all it was an expeience in dehydration for me and Ruby. We were in the Forbidden City for a long time without a meal or water. By the end of the day my lips were peeling and my extremities felt like huge weights (they also tingled). It took forever to find a place to eat and sit down. We ended up at McDonalds which was what Ruby really wanted to eat. A trip to the night market afforded a lot of memorable sights. Caterpillars on a stick, raw frog legs, squid tenticles, liver, chicken gristle, smelly tofu, frozen fruit, hot tea, and all sorts of crazy things that people ate.
Summer Palace was very neat. Of course I am partial to places along thewater so this place had me sold merely by the explanation in the tourist book. It was where the emperor and some staff spent the summer. Big lake, nice woods, wonderful. It was quite a workout of walking and climbing stairs. It felt really good to get my blood pumping. Ask Ruby though, I think she will disagree. It was a bit reminicent of a hiking trip James and Jon took with Crabby where they dragged Crabbys a** all over the mountain. Anyway it was a good experience and a plus to be able to see it. Now we leave Beijing for Xi'an on an overnight train. We sleep in hard sleeper which means we share room with 4 other people. It should be nice.