Jai Gurudev !!
When we visited the Tinnanmen Square in the late afternoon of one weekend , we just roamed around the place and happened to see a typical Chinese Architecture opposite to the Square , with Red colour flag posts installed in the front .Then there was a picture of a leader hanged in the front wall , which I came to know later asthe Mao Leader , Chairman Mao .We could see his photo embossed in calendars, wall hangings , Chinese paper fans and other articles too , while shopping. T
his architecture , I just thought , an official building , something similar to the Vidhan Soudha at Bangalore . And we returned back after taking a trip at Tinnanmen Square not showing much interest to visit this architecture . One thing caught my attention was , huge flocks of people were seen moving to this place , which induced interest in that architecture.
The next weekend , we planned to visit another famous tourist spot at Beijing , that is "The Forbidden City " . When we searched for the train route , it indicated the same spot , "The Tinnanmen Square" .
The Entrance to the Forbidden City is nothing but that same old architecture hosting the Mao leader's photo ,which came as little surprise indeed !!
We never thought , Forbidden City would be such a Big place , which we have ever seen in our life. In fact it is a Chinese Palace , which comprises of many palatial buildings in series . We need to walk and walk to just have a quick glimpse of it. If we want to see the things in detail , then a full day is not sufficient to appreciate it's significance , I guess.
People both Chinese and foreigners come in huge crowds to visit this place. The entrance is really attractive with colurful flowers welcoming us. We need to pay a lumpsum entry ticket fee of about Rs.500 in Indian currency .
At the entrance, before the ticket counter , on the way , a wall size mirror fixed on the building attracted us , where we can see our own picture in the photograph we take.
There are several palatial buildings lined up one after another in series , with lengthy space in between , named as Palace of Tranquil Longevity , Palace of Supreme Tranquility , Palace of Heavenly Purity , Hall of Supreme Harmony , Hall of Preserving Harmony etc. There were also shrines seen among the bulidings . The emperors seemed to have lived in those buildings. I wonder , how many people are required maintain that place.
The thrones , the courts , the giant sized Urns , used for cooking purpose or boiling water was also spotted . There was an attractive Lion statue with the Chinese get up ,guarding one of the buildings inside .
By the time , we moved from the entrance to exit , we got exhausted, our energy level drained , partly because of the bright sunny weather too . At the exit side , we could see a huge water body surrouding the palace , perhaps constructed for safety reasons of the emperors.
In fact ,we covered only a part of the Forbidden City , another part , with terrace garden stuffs , we omitted for obvious reasons of time insufficiency .
The name - Forbidden is very apt , we have to call it a city , indeed !!
Love & smiles...
